Europe 2023--Tatum's Turn! Part 1: France

    Well....WE DID IT!  We drug all 4 of our kids on their own European trip.  Tatum was our last one to take and we decided to take her a year early due to 2024 being the 80th D-Day Anniversary AND the 2024 Summer Olympics happening in Paris.  I will gladly stay away from this place next year.  

    Like all the others, we started off in France.  Our first night we spent in Paris.  We didn't have a ton of time but needed to stay awake so we quickly hit the Palace of Versailles--which closed earlier than the website said so we only took a quick pic outside and so we then found the LDS Paris Temple.

 ROUEN, FRANCE: On our way out to the Normandy area the next morning, we stopped in Rouen to see the Joan of Arc historical sites:

Joan of Arc Monument

Joan of Arc Cathedral

Notre Dame de Rouen

Sites of Roeun

Restaurant with Teddy Bears hanging all over it...weird.

ST. MERE ELISE:  Parade Day!  This is hands down one of my favorite stops in Normandy!  The D-Day Celebrations are always so much fun.  I love the museum here as well as seeing all the people dressed up in American military gear and come out in their WWII vehicles.  (We teased Tatum the entire time for always "ruining" our photos by blinking or making some crazy face:)

St. Mere Eglise Chapel

Pic Re-do!

Organ in the Chapel

Tempting but we resisted from buying it:)

PARADE TIME!!!

UTAH BEACH:

PONT DU HOC: 

OMAHA BEACH:

BAYEAUX, FRANCE:  

Notre Dame Bayeaux

AMERICAN BRITTANY CEMETERY:

Russell L. Meeker Grave

Tatum & Rusty

Coolest Bagpipe Band--seriously like Celebrities here!

MONT ST. MICHEL:  The President of France came to the Abbey the same day we were here because it is the Abbey's 1000th year!  So lots of security all over the place and we weren't able to climb all the way to the top BUT we discovered some new areas in the place!  There are several museums that we had never seen before so it was a great surprise and so fun to do some things we had never done before.

Creepy Abbey Doll Collection:)

LOVE me some creepy dolls!

MORE LIFE-SIZE CREEPY DOLLS!

We had fun re-creating some photos from last year:

AMERICAN CEMETERY:

Harry E. Beach Grave

PARIS:  We set off to climb the Eiffel Tower but apparently the workers had called a "Strike" that night and no one could go.  So we opted for a River Cruise instead on our first night in the city.

Notre Dame Paris

Seine River

More fun photo recreations:  Max 2022/Tatum 2023 in the "Latin Quarter"

Moulin Rouge: Max 2022/Chris 2023

Paris Catacombs: Max 2022/Tatum 2023

The Madeline Cathedral: Chris had a group performing here today.  I LOVE listening to choirs perform in this Cathedral.  The acoustics are incredible.  Last year I played piano for the previous group.  This year I just got to listen--I like that a lot better:)

Fun Metro Signs Around the City:

Montmarte--Sacred Heart Cathedral:  This is my favorite view of the city and my favorite place to shop.  It is also famous for pic-pocketing.  I've always known this but this year, it was finally my turn.  I was walking along the road going in and out of shops when a man wandered over to be with a baby rattle in his hands.  He asked me for help while the rattle was shaking and touched my shoulder.  I quickly passed by and did not realize for a few minutes that my wallet was indeed taken out of my fanny pack!  CRAZINESS!!!  Fortunately, I had NO cash in it.  Just 4 credit cards and my drivers license.  Within 10 minutes, I had my cards frozen.  My wallet was quickly discarded once it was discovered that it had no cash.  A nice person found it and turned it into a nearby shop.  Could NOT believe how easy a target I was!  Just glad that it was not my phone (my passport was back at the hotel thank goodness:)

On our last morning in Paris, Chris had to be at the airport helping groups get on their flights home.  Tatum and I ran over to the Eiffel to finally climb it!  Thankfully it was open and we successfully navigated our way there and then over to the airport to join Chris!

HIGH 5 on our accomplishment!!!

 So despite my pic-pocketing adventure, it was a fun/successful trip!  We then headed over to the airport to head out to our second destination--SWITZERLAND!!!  Stay tuned...