Our Week in Paris!

Elise's school had a week off for autumn vacation, so we went to Paris!

Actually, we rented a house 30 minutes outside of Paris (near Disneyland Paris) in Saint-Germain-sur-Morin. It was a great house in a cute little village with an excellent boulangerie (bakery) and creperie. Elise's goal was to eat as many crepes during the week as possible, and she ended the week at 15! Nathan and Will liked the crepes, but loved the ice cream (and Dave and I ate our fair share of crepes too).

It was a great trip, but busy - and we all came home very tired! We went into Paris 4 days, to Disneyland 1 day, and to some other castles and attractions outside of Paris the other 2 days. Here are the highlights:

Notre Dame was beautiful and fun to see again (Dave and I had each been to Paris separately before we were married, but this was our first trip there as a family). The funny thing was, we came out of the train station and saw a big church and assumed it was Notre Dame. We took a tour, took some pictures, and kept saying, "This isn't how I remember it". Then we realized that it wasn't Notre Dame! It was Saint Eustache. So, we toured one more church - but fitting since it was Sunday. As a quick note, we observed first hand the difference in cultures between France and Switzerland when we attended sacrament meeting earlier that morning. We were late because we couldn't find the LDS church on our navigation system. So, when we arrived 20 minutes late, they were just starting! It was a small branch, but very noisy...just a bit different from the punctual, very reverent sacrament meeting we attend in Zurich!

During the week we went to Musee D'Orsay (my favorite museum in Paris because of the impressionist paintings there) and Elise saw lots of paintings she recognized. We also went to the Louvre - so big and beautiful. We saw the Mona Lisa and Venus de Milo, and the kids also found the Egyptian exhibits to be pretty interesting! We went to the Musee de l'Orangerie which is near the Louvre on the edge of the Tuileries Gardens. It has some of the massive water lily paintings by Monet. Again, it's amazing to see them in person. The other museum we went to was Musee de la Monnaie (money). I thought it would be like the mint in DC, but it really was a museum about the history of money in France and the preceding empires. There was an interesting display about the Euro and all the different countries that have it.

We went on the Bateaux Mouches (mosquito boats) down the Seine and got a good view of the many buildings and monuments. We went up the Arc de Triomphe and saw great views of the city and the Eiffel Tower. We walked down the Champs-Elysees (and bought crepes on the way). And, of course, we went to the top of the Eiffel Tower. This was a highlight for Elise, as she had been wanting to go to the top. I must say, it is pretty high! Dave and I both thought, as we rode the little elevator to the top, "What are we doing here!".

Of the days we didn't go into the city, we spent one day at Disneyland Paris. Some friends of ours from church in Zurich were also traveling through Paris that week, so they stayed with us for a few days and we went to Disneyland together. They have two kids, so our kids had friends to play with. It was fun to be together with friends, and we all had a great time!

We also went to the Sea Life aquarium and toured the chateaus at Fountainebleau and Versailles. The castles were so ornate and the gardens huge!

Then we went to the small town of Givery and saw Monet's house and garden. That was amazing! As we were recounting all of the things we saw and did, that was the favorite for both Dave and me. It was so inspiring to see the ponds and water lilies that Monet painted, his beautiful rows of flowers, and the simple house in which he lived for the last half of his life. We also ate dinner that night at the cutest little traditional French restaurant. That was the last night of our trip, and it was a perfect ending!

The kids did a great job on the trip - riding the trains and walking a lot! Dave flew to Germany for two days for work, so I took the kids to some of the places on my own. It wasn't easy with 3 kids going through the train stations of Paris, but it was definitely worth it!

We drove there and back - about 6.5 hours each way. Pretty amazing that it's so close! And, on the way back, we went through Nancy, France.

One of our family goals in coming here was to visit a lot of places in Europe, and this was a great start! We're off to Germany later this month, and I'm going on a girls' weekend to London. Elise is thinking about a weekend trip for her birthday - maybe Liechtenstein, we'll see...

Hello from Zurich

We've been in Switzerland for 7 weeks now, and in our permanent house for two weeks. We love it! We live in a very traditional old Swiss house with a great yard on a small street in a beautiful neighborhood of Zollikerberg (part of Zollikon - the first village outside of Zurich on the east side of Zurichsee). We're 5 minutes away from Elise's international school (English-speaking), and also 5 minutes from Nathan and Will's bilingual preschool. And, the commute into Dave's office in the city isn't too bad either! We're close to the village church, so we hear the bells ring every 15 minutes - it's so funny to have the boys ask "What time is it," every time they hear the bells ring, as if they have somewhere to go.

Switzerland is absolutely beautiful. We live right next to the forest, and people go walking all the time here - in all kinds of weather! Driving around the area is incredible. It's like a postcard everywhere you look! We're very close to Zurich, but in seconds we can be driving in the countryside. It is so green here, and there is so much open space that has been preserved. Even on the short trip over to the schools, we drive by open fields and forests on either side of the road. And we can see the Alps in the distance from just about anywhere we are!

While we have settled into a routine now with school, work, German lessons, and church, we've also been going on excursions nearly every Saturday - we've been to the Rheinfalls near the German border, Luzern, the Zurich Zoo, Appenzell, Stein am Rhein, Jucker Farm, Mount Santis, and probably other places I can't remember! The weather has turned colder here - although it does still warm up and get nice and sunny in the afternoons. But, we've been told that we'll soon be wishing for that sun!

Dave took a two-week intensive German course (a refresher since he lived in Berlin for a year during college), and I have been taking private German lessons 3 times a week. Starting basically from scratch is a challenge, but it's really fun to be learning a new language. And, I can see a major difference between my first interactions with German-speakers here (some of them quite hilarious) and my ability to understand and speak now. But, I still need to progress a lot farther over the next few months. I spent a lot of my time during the first few weeks trying to decipher German websites to get information on classes and activities for the kids and various other services we've needed. I've resisted the urge to volunteer for too many jobs at Elise's school - but I am a room parent with two other mom's.

Church is in German, with headphones for English translation during sacrament meeting and Relief Society. There's an English-speaking Sunday School class. Everything is so organized here - sacrament meeting speakers and topics are planned out 2 months in advance and published in the bi-monthly ward newsletter (we were just asked to speak at the end of November)! There are several other English-speaking families in the ward for varying amounts of time (many of whom served missions in German-speaking countries). Elise's primary class is taught in both German and English (the teacher translates everything)!

While we certainly miss our great friends in Moraga, we have adjusted pretty well so far. The international school is a great resource and parents are incredibly friendly and welcoming! Elise has made some really good friends in her class and is planning a joint birthday party with one of her friends (they have exactly the same birthday). She also has German class 4 days a week at school and her 3rd grade class just went on an overnight trip to a cabin in Mettmanalp where they spoke German the whole time! Nathan and Will had a hard time adjusting for the first few weeks - but I think it is just their age and all of the changes at once (including living in a temporary apartment in the city for 5 weeks which required a 45-60 minute drive to school and preschool every morning). Now that we're in our house, everyone seems much happier.

We're planning a trip to Paris later this month and also a trip to the Black Forest of Germany. We'll be here over the Christmas holidays (since the baby is due in January), so we'll get to experience our first Swiss Christmas. I'm sure we'll go up to the snow for a few days - everything is so close here!

Speaking of the baby, I'm feeling fine and have a doctor and hospital selected. The hospitals here are very nice, and this one is just about 10 minutes from our house and apparently like a hotel! You order your food from the "restaurant", and have views of the Alps and Zurichsee. And, from what others have told me, you stay in the hospital for 5 days or so - and don't want to leave! We'll see...

We miss all of you who are so far away, but you can call us anytime on our new Skype Number (with a San Francisco area code!): 415-578-3331. And, start planning your trip to come visit us!

All the best from the Michels Family in Zurich!