Bonne année from Paris!

Happy New Year everyone!

Another very cold day in Paris by Maisie❄️

Today was another very cold day in Paris! Probably the coldest yet! 🌬❄️

We visited the Moulin Rouge today and Sacré-Coeur church.👯 🕌

Because it was so cold mum bought us crepes with Nutella from a pop up stall. They were very chocolatey and yummy! 

Then we caught the train to Sacré-Coeur.

A family selfie! 

Tomorrow we leave early to catch a taxi to the airport. Then we leave for Rome!

-Maisie 👸🏼

Mona and me by Milla

We lined up for the Louvre.

 Mum asked a man if we were in the right line. He was very nice.  After that he came back and said "come with me" and let us skip the line straight away.👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼🙂😍😊🤗🙂😍😊🤗🙂😍😊🤗

The entrance to the Louvre is through a pyramid and down an escalator.

We headed straight for the Mona Lisa, by DaVinci.  This painting is detailed and is behind bullet proof glass.  It is of a lady and her eyes follow you when you walk around the room.

We also saw lots of other portraits and landscapes. There were lots of sculptures and paintings of naked people.  I like the frames the best because they were gold.  I think they were real gold like the roof because it used to be a palace.  A lot of the sculptures had their arms and legs chopped off.

The Mona Lisa was once stolen by a worker who used his keys to lock up to get in.  They found it in the house of the guilty man. 🗝🔦🔑🖼😠

Paris Metro by Harvey

The Paris Metro is similar to the London Underground.  With one main very big difference, there is no room for Prams and kids and bikes and luggage and big stuff.  Which means we need to squeeze through the push bars with everyone else.

Like in London, we are not paying for the kids so we have to squeeze in with mum and dad.  A few times I've been crushed by the gates.

One time, mum pushed a help button to get someone to let us through but .... it wasn't a help button, it was a distress button and a continuous alarm went off.  It was still going 4 minutes later, loud, when we got on the train.  We can no longer go back to that station because mum will be on a wanted sign.

Some of the new trains do not have any drivers.  This is good because you can go at the front and see what the driver sees.

This is our metro station, Saint Paul.  It is about a 3 minute walk from our apartment.

This is one of only 2 old stations with the metro sign and canopy left in Paris.  Funnily enough, we just happened to stop at it today.  

✨ Paris at night ✨by Maisie

Paris is truly the City of Light! Tonight we took a last minute opputunity to go see the Eiffel Tower at night. Sadly we won't be able to see it on New Year's Eve because we have to leave very early in the morning to fly to Rome! ✈️ The tower is lit up throughout the night but sparkles for 5 minutes every hour. We left at around 6:00 pm after dinner and caught two trains into Trocadero station. We arrived a little early but used this time to soak up the atmosphere.

( A blurry family selfie )

Finally the Tower began to sparkle at 7:00! ✨✨✨

But soon it was over and we hurried out of the cold and back on the train to our apartment though it 

was definitely aworthwhile trip.  

Can't wait to see the Mona Lisa, the Louvre and Sacrecour tomorrow!

An early happy new year to everyone! 🎉🎉🎉

-Maisie 

I will spook you! By Milla

I hope I don't get nightmares tonight because today we went to the catacombs! Oooohhhh!

Before we could get to the catacombes, we had to go through a big line.  Well actually, we didn't.  Mum had already bought tickets so we pushed to the front like movie stars.  Thanks Nannie for helping to buy the tickets in French.  🎟The other people in the line must have been bored.😒

The catacombs are also called "the empire of the dead". 💀💀💀💀👻👻👻👻👻 It is where all the innocent people's bones are stacked in patterns because that is how they can store more bones in a small area.  

They were taken from hospitals from innocent people who had died from illnesses like the plague. 

There were kids bones and adults bones.  

We got to them by going down hundreds of steps down a spiral staircase.  This lead to a dark, wet, sandstone tunnel where the bones were stored.  They copied the name catacombs from the Romans except this was for innocent people who had died😵from illnesses🤒 or accidents🤕.

😱

We had lunch at Notre Dame cathedral.  

It had a statue of Jesus and his mother.  It was very cold.

 It was 2 degrees at lunch time.

I also asked the lady at the counter for 2 baguettes please.  I know she understood me because we got the right order.  I like how I am learning French.

Bonjour Paris! 🇫🇷

We have arrived in Paris, the third destination on our trip! We arrived by Eurostar and have just finished our first day of sightseeing. We visited the most iconic attraction in Paris...the Eiffel Tower! We got off the train at Trocadero Station and approached the tower from the best angle and took lots of photos! This was a real highlight for me so far, it's just so big! It was a bit foggy because we were there pretty early in the morning ( as you can seeing the photo of me jumping, you can't see top ) but when we reached the top most of it had cleared. 

We somehow avoided the long queues and began the daunting and long climb up the stairs. We arrived at the first floor. It had coffee shops, a restaurant and even an ice skating rink! ⛸❄️Part of the floor was glass and you could see down to the people below! We then began the next part of the journey up to the second floor. We had to queue up for a lift to the summit as the stairs didn't go all the way to the top. I took the panorama (below) from this viewing spot.

 The queue for the lift took a while but we eventually got crammed in. The lift ride reminded me of the glass elevator in Charlie and the chocolate factory because the walls were glass and we were going up, up, and through the roof! When we arrived at the top I realised that the 600 steps or so, painful freezing feet (we all had them) and that sacrificed sleepin had all been worth it! The view was fantastic! There was a protective wire mesh around all the sides so taking photos was hard, but I managed to take a selfie ⬇️

On the way down we stopped for a hot chocolate ( the best one so far that I've had )on the first floor.

We then reached the bottom and I was both relieved and sad that it was over ( relief caused by the frozen feet). We took one last look at the Eiffel Tower and headed in the direction of the Arc de Triomph; our next attraction. Along the way we bought 2 traditional baguettes from a fancy bakery. When we arrived at the arc we found a bench to eat our lunch of ham, salami and mayonnaise baguettes. 

We also saw the most dangerous roundabout in the world ( according to dad ). Twelve roads go into it. After lunch we headed in the direction of the Champs Élysées. I enjoyed looking at all the expensive shops! Mum, Milla and I went into H&M and I ended up buying a wool headband sort of thing (see below in the bad photo) and Milla bought a pink Pom Pom.

( I tied my hair up after that! )

At the end of the Champs Élysées there was the Obelisk from Luxor; an Egyptian column approximately 3300 years old!!!!!! Wow!!!!!!! We then caught the train home and I am currently writing this at 7:46 pm. Had an amazing day and can't wait to see the catacombs tomorrow and Notredame cathedral. Here is one final photo of me at the Eiffel Tower just because I love it sooooo much! ❤️

Hope everyone reading this is having a fabulous holiday!

-Maisie 😘

Travel Day by Harvey

Today was a travel day. We got up at 6:00 for a 6:30 start.  When we got in the car it was -5 deg.  Dad had to put de-icer on the windscreen and scrape off the thick ice off the windscreen.

 Even at 7:30, after we'd been on the road for an hour, it was still -3 deg.  

Finally we arrived at St Pancreas international train station.  I had a croissant for breakfast because we hadn't had anything for breakfast.  Then we went thru security and showed our passports.  After an hour wait we finally boarded the Euro star to Paris.  

After a quick stop in the outskirts of London, we started our 2 hr journey to Paris.  45 minutes later we dived into the tunnel and were under water for 20 minutes.  

We reached a top speed 334 km/ hr.  

When we popped back up, we were in France.  After another hour through the French country side we pulled into Gard de Nord train station.  

We had to wait an hour to get a taxi that could fit 5 people.  We then got driven to our hotel.  I was the first person to spot the Eiffel Tower out the taxi window!

The Lolly Shop by Milla

We went down the Steep Hill and stopped half way to look at the Lolly Shop.  But it was closed, so we continued to walk down the Steep Hill for a little stroll before returning to buy some lollies.

The man was very kind and knew we were tourists and wouldn't be coming here very often, so he let me have a go of the old fashioned cash register.  I got to push a button to open the draw that had all the money in it.  I didn't steal any because he had a close eye on me.  

Mum gave us 3 pounds each to spend in the Lolly shop.  Maisie spent it on sour water melon lollies, white chocolate buttons and licorice all sorts.  Harvey sent his money on licorice, mints and assorted mixture.  I bought a twisty Lolly pop for 2 pounds and 100 g of pink sugary sherbet for 1 pound.  

After that, we left the shop with pride and stopped half way up the steep hill and sat on a bench to start our sweets.  Mum headed into a coffee shop to get a strong cup of coffee. 

Boxing Day sport by Harvey

If I was at home, I would have watched the Boxing Day test on tv.  But considering I'm in England, I went one better.  Dad and I went with Pete to watch Hull vs Man City.  

Guess the winner?

The stadium was new and it held about 22,000 people.  It was full of mainly neutral people.  When you looked around not many people had any jerseys on because they all had jumpers on.  There was a small sector, maybe 1/5 of Man City supporters who were surrounded by police.  Then about 2/3 Hull and the rest neutral.

The first goal was a penalty.  The second goal was a great goal, all angles were spot on.  And the 3rd goal was the last kick of the night, an unlucky own goal off one of the opposition's feet or hands.

Lincoln Cathedral by Milla

Lincoln Cathedral is very beautiful and very old.  

We found the Imp! It was above the choir in a dome underneath the pineapple shaped patterns.  We found it because a lady and a man showed us.  We also put money in a box to see it light up. The imp is a small devil with one leg crossed over the other.  He was cheeky to trick the choir master and was immediately turned to stone.  At least that's what they think.

We also saw where the choir stands. I wish I could join that choir one day.  

The things you can do in the cathedral is light a candle and make a wish and write down something that you want people to pray for.  I did both.

Outside the church there are lots of graves.  You are not allowed to walk over the graves because it makes you have goosebumps.

There were lots of graves in the cathedral too.  I didn't walk over any because I didn't want to bring bad luck.