My parents and Aunt arrived in Henley 2 weeks ago and in what felt like just a few days, they were headed out the door and back to the airport again this morning. It was a sad, sad morning of goodbyes, but the two weeks that we got to spend together made today's depression well worth it.
On the day of their arrival, we took the family out to Henley's Three Tuns pub for some good English eats to celebrate my dad and Dorian's birthdays. The next night, we got to take my dad out for his first pub drinking experience: awesome. Everybody was in good spirits-- including my dad...who was a bit jet-lagged!
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| Zzzzzzzz... |
The weather was amazing in Henley that first weekend! We took the family on a stroll along the river and had a picnic by the bridge.
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| Walking to town |
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| At the Bull on Bell with Lesley and Richard |
The day after Dorian's birthday, we packed our bags and took a taxi to St. Pancras International train station to board the 2 hour Eurostar train to Paris for the rest of the week. Warning: major photo and caption blogging ahead!
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| Taxi ride to Eurostar |
When I asked my dad what he hoped to do during our week in Paris, his reply was simple: "Nothing" (well, except eat and drink wine of course!). We spent 5 days walking the beautiful streets of the City of Lights, ate baguettes, drank vin rouge, practiced French, tried not to get mangled by the fast-closing metro doors, and enjoyed some touristy attractions. This was a completely different experience compared to my trip with Stegen 7 years ago for our honeymoon--ah, kids do change everything, don't they?
Here are some shots from our trip:
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| Notre Dame |
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| At Point Zero |
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| Night Louvre pyramids |
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| Daytime Louvre |
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| Picnic at Eiffel Tower |
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| Sacré-Cœur |
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| Doors of Sacré-Cœur |
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| Across La Seine from Eiffel Tower |
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| Louvre with Mummy |
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| Rare family shot at Eiffel Tower |
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| Dad and Stegen at Arc de Triomphe |
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| Bateaux Vedettes du Pont Neuf (Seine cruise) |
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| Glace at Eiffel Tower |
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| Pont de l'Archevêché (Lovelock Bridge) |
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| Climbing up Eiffel Tower (Go Dad!!!) |
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| Go Dorian! |
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| 3/4 way up to 2nd floor before I had to carry him up...impressive! |
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| Dad at the top of the tower |
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| Montmarte |
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| Night tower (tres jolie!) |
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| Eurostar back to London |
We returned back to Henley and the kids went back to school. For the rest of the visit, my Mom frequented Waitrose (she told me she'd miss that market the most), built Legos, my Dad whipped up some mean Chinese cuisine, my Aunt explored the city, and we took a day trip out to London for some sightseeing. Of all the beautiful places we saw, my mom was most excited to see the Tower Bridge (her lego set in real life!). I love these pictures of my parents:
Isn't it funny how relationships work? I never really had a good one with my parents--always arguing with each other and never truly enjoying each others company. Insert a crazy move across the world and I'm left down and weepy, missing them now that they're gone. We love you Mom, Dad, and Niang! Thank you for coming to see us, we'll never forget it.
On a happier note, Audrey has started a collection of "jump shots" from around the world. I'll be posting them to the blog and hopefully she'll have a nice photo book of her travels (and jumps) by the time this adventure in England is complete! First up: jump shots in Paris.
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| Arc de Triomphe |
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| Arc de Triomphe with Dad |
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| Champs-Élysées side of Arc de Triomphe |
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| Pyramid at the Louvre |
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| Louvre |
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| Louvre (again) |
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| Louvre (again, again) with Dorian |
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| Eiffel Tower |
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| Sacré-Cœur |
Happy jumping!
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