City of Lights

Just a quick note to let everyone know we received the document we needed to prove our medical coverage in Russia and successfully obtained our new Russian visas. So, we can live in Russian another year. I'm now sitting in a hotel room in a suburb of Paris with a view from the window of the top third of the Eiffel Tower in the distance.

We arrived in Paris yesterday around 6pm after a 4-and-a-half-hour drive, checked into our hotel, rested a little and then headed to the Metro to see the Eiffel Tower all lit up at night. Much of the Metro, we discovered, is several stories above ground and as we got nearer and nearer to the Eiffel Tower, we could catch glimpses of it from the train. Ethan and Megan were silly with excitement which was fun to watch. We arrived shortly before 9pm, which we discovered was perfect timing because at 9pm, they turn on hundreds of flashing lights all over the tower. It was pretty spectacular. Without the flashing lights, the base is bathed in green lighting and the top in white. We can't wait to go back today to go to the top!

Taking the advice of the lady working at our hotel reception desk, we crossed the street in front of the tower and walked along the Seine River toward the place where Lady Di was tragically killed, but along the way we stopped for some delicious cheese crepes. Next time, we'll try the chocolate and banana crepes. We found Lady Di's memorial and continued north toward the Arc de Triomphe and then strolled a little ways down the Champs Elysees. Even though it was after 10pm now, the streets and sidewalks were crowded with cars and people, but not so much that it wasn't enjoyable.

As soon as we found a Metro station, we returned to our hotel and retired to bed to get rested up for what promises to be a big day of site seeing with lots and lots of walking. It's a relief to me to be taking the Metro instead of driving. French streets seem to me like a plate of spaghetti. It's just about useless to use a map because it's difficult to discern from it which way the one-way streets go. And that was just Strasbourg, not Paris.

I want to thank you all once again for your endless prayers for us. It's wonderful to be able to leave the the worry of getting new visas behind us. Now, we can concentrate on enjoying ourselves and getting the rest we need. Keep coming back to the blog and look for us on Skype (pcneifert) if you'd like. We should have internet access for the remainder of our trip.

Au revoir,

Patrick

Picture 1 - I don't think this picture needs any explanation. Sorry for the blur, but I don't have a tripod and do have wiggly kids.
Picture 2 - Megan quickly faded on our Metro ride back to our hotel.