Notre Dame, Arc de Triomphe, Champs Elysses, Tuileries...Monday

Freestone's yummy breakfast.  He loved the chocolate in the cup that you pour the steaming milk on.

The 850th anniversary of the completion of Notre Dame is coming up and the cathedral is getting ready for some major celebrations, including several dozen organ concerts to take place simultaneously worldwide next April.  We wondered if there would be one in the Salk Lake Tabernacle.  Visiting Notre Dame, we craned our necks upward and marveled to think that humans built such a structure by hand with virtually no machinery.  It's an incredible tribute to God from his children and took enormous sacrifice to build.  It really is humbling.  Freestone wanted to light a candle, but he didn't when he found out you had to leave the candle there.  He did buy a Notre Dame coin, which kept falling out of his pocket for the rest of the trip.  So we made our contribution to the Catholic church. :)

 The afternoon continued at the Arc de Triomphe, walking down the Champs-Elysses and relaxing at the Tuileries Gardens.  The highlight for Freestone was paying 50 cents to use the bathroom at the park.

 Freestone and Tziporah..."We'll always have Paris."

Sitting by the little lake, we were getting tired and Scott wanted to go back to the apartment.  I convinced him to stay a little bit longer to just absorb the experience of being in that beautiful setting with our adorable kids.  It's only once in a lifetime that we'll be sitting in a French garden with these two kids at this stage in their lives.  I will always remember the happiness I felt in this picture, just like I'll always remember Ari sailing her boat in the same spot last year.

Our piano/violin teacher recently wrote an article that talked about the belief in some cultures that we are born every morning and die every night, at least in a symbolic sense.  I love that notion because it really makes you think about each day as a whole, complete, unique gift that you'll never receive again.  It's not every day that you do something remarkable, but every day truly can be filled with moments of gratitude and appreciation, moments you can say, "This is good."  I felt that at the Tuileries, but I also feel like that now, at home, with my familiar mountains and hordes of kids.  Even the mundane is not to be taken for granted.  This day will never come again so I'll try not to waste it being ungrateful for all the little and big blessings around me.

At last, we left the gardens.  the Eiffel Tower at night was to be our next adventure.