Tuesday, June 4, 2013

Our Jaunt to Our Apartment in Paris

Considering Isaiah got only 5 hours of sleep the night before this photo, no thanks to the AC in our London Hotel not working and having to move to another room in the middle of the night, I think he's doing quite well. He was asleep on the Hotel Hoppa within 1 minute. 




Yep, he's still a bit exhausted, on the Underground.






We made it to the Eurostar Station--high speed train that travels through the channel tunnel between Great Britain and France--the Chunnel. Dax's bag got searched because of his tools for work. This guy went through every single item. It took nearly 30 extra minutes. Isaiah and I were asked to stand by the wall with our other luggage and wait. Well, the guy searching Dax's suitcase asked him about us and then the story begins. I will not write on here what Dax told the man; however, if you know us well, you can imagine how the story went. Hilarious!




Our ride to Paris.




Dax and Isaiah enjoying a James Bond movie together on the way to Paris.




Once again Isaiah fell asleep. So, Dax moved back to sit by me.




A nice quiet ride to Paris.





After the wait in the taxi line and  just 12 Euros 
and a short 10 minute ride later, 
we are at our apartment.




I'm pretty sure we have found a place to come and hide! 
This is our front door.




This is our lift. Or, you can take the stairs to the top floor. 




Not sure if you can see how small this lift is, but it is made for one small person.




Okay, this is for real. I held the camera above our heads and snapped the picture looking down. I hope you can now see how small this elevator is. We are crammed in there like sardines.




This is the view looking down the steps as you get off the lift.




Welcome to our home! This is the front door. Straight ahead is lots of storage.




This is looking back at the front door once inside. More storage.



As you enter the apartment, the first door on the left is the bathroom. 
Notice the wonderful towel warmer and the huge window.




The shower. 




As you enter the apartment, the 2nd room on the left is the bedroom. 
Both sides of huge window do open. Just wonderful! 




As you walk in the bedroom and look to the right, there are 2 huge closets 
and lots of storage all the way to the ceiling. Also a full length mirror. 

Our view from our bedroom window.



Instead of going left to the bedroom, if you take a right, this is what you see. 




A sharper right view gives you the table which folds out to twice the size you see here. 




This is looking from the main room back to the bathroom. 
The entrance door from this shot is straight ahead and to the left. 




You can see the front door from this view. 




This is looking from the living room back to the kitchen. The mirror is reflecting 
the living room chair and the big sliding door to our terrace. 




The "left" side of the kitchen.




The right side of our kitchen.




More kitchen.





This is my view from where I do dishes. 




Part of the living room.




The living room from the stairs.




Looking down from the stairs. 




Isaiah's area. Note, there is a bed for his cousin, Griffin,
 if he would like to fly out and join us!



















14 Hour Blast of London


On the Hotel Hoppa to the Train




St. Pancras International Train Station



There were a couple of exciting happenings at Trafalgar Square. This is one of the many Turkish demonstrations against their government that we witnessed.




Dax and Isaiah in deep discussion about all the political unrest (just after entering the "Closer to Israel" event on June 2 at Trafalgar Square). The UK Jewish and pro-Israel community celebrated their 65th anniversary of the founding of the State of Israel with this major event. The purpose is to provide the opportunity to show the extent to which Israel remains a central part of our collective communal identity.




"Closer to Israel" event at Trafalgar Square




Such a sweet man who took time to speak with us. 
He was a British/Jewish soldier in the Suez War.




More at Trafalgar Square--"Closer to Israel"




Just strolling the streets enjoy the PERFECT weather.




More strolling. Isaiah has quickly observed that China is the most 
crowded country he has been in so far. He is enjoying the space. 




Isaiah enjoying his time with a Horse Guard. We weren't really sure where we were, but we noticed lots of people walking into a big arena. So, we just got in line and followed everyone. They searched our bags and let us through without incident.



So, we kindly took a seat and took a picture of this boy excited about this event.
 Apparently, he has an Uncle Matt.





It turns out, we were at the Ride for Heroes. Wounded veterans and service personnel led 1,300 cyclists on a 10-mile ride into Central London for the armed forces charity Help for Heroes. Some cyclists set off from Paris on Tuesday included many British, US, and Canadian servicemen and women. They have cycled more than 350 miles and passed through various battlefield sites of the two world wars.




The below picture is from the internet of the event (source BBC). 




Isaiah taking a bit of a rest.




10 Downing Street, Prime Minister David Cameron's Office




Yep, you are correct, we couldn't crash the party here.




Almost to Churchill War Rooms, WWII. What a fascinating experience.
Loved it!




Big Ben at the Palace of Westminster




House of Parliament




The London Eye, tallest Ferris Wheel in Europe




Lots more pictures from the London Eye











Last one of the London Eye




Being oh so silly.




Still walking across some bridges.



I had to stop taking pictures because it got dark on us. But, we did stumble upon a Starbucks and also a nice Italian restaurant. We enjoyed some delicious food before heading back to our hotel. We arrived back at our hotel late at night only to find our airconditioning was not working. So, they moved us to a new room and we hit the hay at 12:30 a.m. Note, we left for Paris the very next morning. Needless to say, we were a bit tired. Next post will be Paris! 



















Saturday, June 1, 2013

Supper

The boy missed supper since he fell asleep. 
Dax had three different kinds of "sausages" 
with some potatoes and bread. He's sacked out now.