Hannah's Trip To Paris

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I wanted Hannah to write this blog... but she's a busy girl...and it is my blog.

Hannah's Grandma Kathy called us back in late December or early January and asked if she could take Hannah on a trip to Paris during Spring Break. Kathy was working a lot of overtime around the holidays and had some extra money on hand, and she had gone on a trip around the world when she was in college and it had been a great experience for her, and Kathy wanted Hannah to have a similar international experience. She picked Paris because Hannah has studied French in school.

We had a few concerns - everything from the possibility of terrorist attacks to their getting hopelessly lost in a foreign country, but in the end, we decided to let Hannah spend this special time with her grandma.

Hannah got herself a passport, but other than that didn't seem to do a whole lot as far as preparing for the trip. She was busy with the musical at the time. Kathy, in her excitement, consulted with us as she got tickets and planned the itinerary with various tours and activities. Time passed, excitement grew, and suddenly the Friday arrived when I picked Kathy up from the airport to spend a night with us before setting off with Hannah on their great adventure. Steven dropped them off at the airport the following morning, and they were off.  We followed them somewhat via texts and Kathy's Facebook posts. It was enough to know they were safe and appeared to be having fun.

Saturday evening we returned to the airport to pick them up. (It was General Conference weekend, and we listened to some of the Priesthood session in the car on the way there. Hannah caught up on the sessions she missed over the following week.) They were tired, a bit jet lagged, but it had been a good experience. Between the two of them they had hundreds of photos, and they even brought back souvenirs for the rest of us! The boys each got a pocket knife. Everyone got a miniature Eiffel tower key chain in a different color, and I got a black beret and a scarf.

Grandma stayed through the weekend and I drove her to the airport Monday morning for her return to her home in Arizona. We are grateful to her for taking Hannah on this trip. I know Hannah had a great time!

Here are few (very few) of the pictures that they took. You can see more here.
At the Denver airport after Steven dropped them off.

Hannah's very first airplane ride. (Now she's a pro!)

They ate lots of meals at little sidewalk cafes.

Hannah took lots of pictures of cool architectural stuff.

They toured lots of cool buildings, including the Notre Dame Cathedral.

Of course they saw the Eiffel Tower. They even had lunch in the restaurant on the tower.

They toured several museums.



Hannah saw the Mona Lisa in person. (Is it really that small?)
 
They took a cooking class!



Hannah loved the pastry shops!
 Thank you Grandma Kathy for taking Hannah to Paris for a week! 

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