Sudie! Au Revoir! Auf Wiedersehen!

Saturday, March 5, 2016

There was one last thing we really wanted to do while we were in Paris - see the Opera House of The Phantom of the Opera.  So one last time we got up early and pushed ourselves physically and mentally to get into Paris.  Our hotel was by the airport so we didn't have to lug all of our luggage into the city.  But that meant yet another long Metro ride into the city.  Our flight was at 4:35, so we had until 2 to get it done.

As we sat on the subway realizing how hungry we were, we realized that Notre Dame was on the airport subway line.  We went the extra stop and picked up some breakfast crepes for ourselves.  YUM!  

Another Metro ride

There is one subway change we always seem stuck making that we hate - it says on the signs it is an 8 minute walk between the 2 trains we have to switch between.  This was our 3rd time making this particular switch this trip.  But we made it and arrived at the Paris Garnier Opera House.  When we bought our tickets, there was a sign announcing that the auditorium was closed due to rehearsal.  Tyson was SO disappointed.  After seeing Phantom on broadway, coming here was his dream and we had saved it to be our Grand Finale.  Luckily, it reopened by the time our audio tour led us there.  We let him just stand in the box and look at the auditorium for about 15 minutes, telling him to just enjoy it and soak it in.  It was fun to watch him fulfill his bucket list item.

Paris Garnier Opera House

Statue to honor Charles Garnier, the architect

The Grand staircase

The Auditorium

Watching Tyson enjoying his moment.  Just in front of his face in the top picture is the Phantom's box #5.

The Phantom's Box #5

View of Paris from the Opera House

The grand reception room.

Reveling in having just seen something he's dreamed about.

Back on our 8 minute transfer between subway trains.  At least there is a moving sidewalk through part of it.  Jacob got really good at working the subway system.  I would give him the line we needed and our destination, and he could figure out where to go.  He and Tyson both loved getting us around the subways.

We don't know if it was because it was a Saturday, but people kept getting on the Subway with speakers and musical instruments.  They'd play a few songs loudly and then walk around asking for money.  This was the 3rd time it happened today, so these are our annoyed faces.  However, this guy got lucky.  (He's between our heads in the background playing the accordion.)  Since we were headed to the airport, we gave him the last of our coins that we knew we couldn't exchange back to US currency.  He got about 30 cents.

 We got back to the airport a little rushed for time to get checked in, so we took a taxi instead of the bus back to the hotel to grab our luggage.  These are the chairs we always sat in at the hotel waiting for the bus back to the airport.  We had to say goodbye to them today.

I don't have the words to describe what this whole European experience has been for our family.  We've bonded.  We've fought.  We've laughed.  We've grown.  It feels like this has been the blessing after the trial of our faith this past fall.  We all feel so sad to be leaving, yet we feel grateful to be going back to a home we love surrounded by neighbors and family we love.

Sudie!     Au revoir!     Auf Wiedersehen! 

Planes, Trains and Automobiles

Friday, March 4, 2016

It was a travel day - not our favorite.  They're tiring days both physically and mentally.

Timeline:

6:00 am - Alarm clock goes off in Salzburg; shower and pack

7:00 am - Breakfast at the hotel (we will miss the bread and cheese we've had every morning in Austria)

7:20 am - Taxi to the train station

7:49 am - Train leaves for Vienna

10:24 am - Arrive at Westbahnhof station and transfer to the underground

10:50ish am - Transfer to bus 74A

11:05 am - Arrive at Best Western Amedia to pick up luggage and grab a taxi to the airport

1:35 pm - Flight to Paris (Airport food for lunch. Yuck.)

3:20ish pm - Take taxi to hotel near airport; check in; drop off stuff

3:49 pm - Take bus back to airport

4:00ish pm - Buy metro tickets and ride into Paris

We learned that the Louvre doesn't close until 10pm on Friday nights, which fit perfectly into our schedule.  We figured that since we were here and the boys are both still free to get in, that we needed to go and at least show them some of the famous paintings there.  That place is huge and there is no way to see it in a few hours, or really even in a few days.  So you don't try.  You pick a few things and just do that.  Tyson really got into it.  He definitely connects to all things creative.

I wanted to get a picture of my men while we were sitting on the Metro.  Do you think the boys are tired of posing for pictures?  But their personalities, what they do to try to be funny, really show in their faces.

This one is pretty good.  They're all just so cute!

It's always such a shock to walk off of the dirty, crowded subway, climb a million stairs and then to turn the corner and see something spectacular -

 The Louvre

 Louvre selfie

 Smiling with Mona Lisa

 Louvre gallery

Tyson gasped when he saw these originals.  They learned about these Seasons paintings in school.  He never thought he'd get to see them in person.  Glad to know he's learning something in school!

 We saw this statue, and Adam and I both broke into song, "Venus deMilo, was noted for her charm.  Strictly between us, you're cuter than Venus.  And much more, you've got arms."  We sang it in Jazz Choir in high school.  Ironically, it was Mr. Teal's birthday today.

Leaving the Louvre - under the pyramid.

10:00 pm - Caught Metro back to the hotel; exhausted.

From Paris to Vilnius

Friday, January 29, 2016

I write this morning, which is really Thursday night, from our apartment in Vilnius, Lithuania.  Six months ago when Adam was laying in a hospital bed, I never would have dreamed we would be here today.  What a hard and horrible six months we have endured with Adam’s Crohn’s flare up and the remodel on our house.  The flare is lessening, though not over, and we left our house on Monday full of construction workers trying to get our house finished, which was supposed to be done months ago.  But we made it happen.  We knew if Adam ever filmed on location and we had the chance to go with him, we would do it.

So here we are.  Adam and Russ came to Lithuania to film a Christmas movie for BYUtv – the Leo Tolstoy story of the Cobbler.  They are hoping for a snowy scene on the streets of old town Vilnius.  Their crew will consist largely of locals who operate this film location, including a stage on which they are building the interior set.  At the moment, it is raining.  We hope the snow will come…

Our journey began with a direct flight to Paris.  Since we were there, we stayed overnight and spent half a day in the city to see Notre Dame and the Eiffel Tower.  Tyson and I also braved a journey to see the Paris Garnier Opera House, but unfortunately, it was already closed for the evening.  Thanks to our time in New York when Tyson was 11, he was helpful in getting us around on the Metro.  The greatest part of our adventure that day was when we went in search of a restroom, a hard thing to find in the city.  We knew there was a street toilet by the Eiffel Tower, so we headed off in that direction on the subway, which then just sat there.  We finally found someone who spoke English who informed us that the subway was stopped due to someone being on the track.  We had no idea how long we’d sit there, so finally got off and decided to walk.  Tyson remembered Massimilliano telling them in Italy that the best places to eat and find restrooms were on the side streets away from the touristy spots.  So we hit the side roads and soon found a cute little shop with a case of yummy sandwiches and pastries.  They were just getting ready to close, but had a toilet and let us order dinner to go.  We walked to a park and enjoyed quiche Lorraine, a tuna sandwich, carrot salad and a delicious slice of chocolate cake.

Ready for lift-off.  Bon voyage America!

Trying to be excited to see Paris, but just…so…tired… 

The Metro ride knocked them out.

Not sure he’s awake yet, and feeling unsure about 

what we’re seeing.  Dude, it’s Notre Dame!

Crepes gave us the strength to climb the Notre Dame stairs.

A million stairs woke us up.  The Notre Dame bell tower was pretty amazing.

We also had time for a trip to the top of the Eiffel Tower.

Garnier Opera House – Tyson wanted to see it because it is where Phantom of the Opera was written about.

We flew through Brussels and I thought of the Woolfs, who both served their missions there, and landed in Vilnius, where we were met by members of the production staff who got us to our apartment.  We are in a 2 bedroom apartment on the 3^rd floor of a renovated building.  The whole place looks like it was designed by IKEA – which is just a few miles away from here.  But it feels modern and cozy, so we are quite happy here.  Out of every window, we have views of rooftops.  It is so fun just to look out the windows!

The courtyard to our apartment (which is above the Azia Spa).

We take the stairs to the door on the left, then up another flight of stairs to 
our apartment #14 – the red window at the top right is in our dining area.

The fun key to our apartment door.  It also has to be used on the inside 

to lock us into the apartment when we are home.

I'm obsessed with our rooftop views!

We have battled the jet lag since we arrived on Wednesday.  Yesterday we had to just get up and leave before sleeping the day away.  We met up with Christianne Kendall and her 3 kids – Jacob was excited to have a friend – bought postcards, then did a walk around old town.  We are just working to learn the area.  The streets weave around, so it will take some time to understand how everything fits together to where we don’t get lost.  We found the oldest church in Lithuania, built in the 1300s.  There are churches everywhere.  We are also very close to where the Jewish ghetto of WWII existed, so there will be much history and architecture to explore.

Hanging out with the Kendalls

Kids: Braden, Maya, Ari

Church of Saint Nicholas: the oldest church in Lithuania, built in the 1300s

Mostly, I just feel really blessed that we were able to fulfill our dream of taking the boys on an adventure to a new place and culture.  All of their teachers were very cooperative, working with us to be able to do homework abroad so that the boys could have this experience.  It’s that once in a lifetime moment and what a month it will be!