The times get even better when family comes to town!!!

The times get even better when family comes to town!!!

Written by Jim, Katie and Brett Allen

On December 16th, my brother Mike, sister-in-law Kelly and my niece Katie and Nephew Brett all came to visit us and spend time together over the holidays. In a word our time together was ‘wonderful’.

After meeting them at the airport on the morning of the 16^th we promptly jumped on the train that took us into the heart of the city or what might be better described as the maze of subway (metro) tunnels that would lead us to our humble Paris abode. Although we only had to transfer once onto the metro, it was at one of Paris’ busiest stations (Chatêlet, which at the moment is also under renovation) where five subway lines and three regional train lines intersect. When we finally made it to the station near our place, they said that thank God they didn’t have to do that on their own as they would have never made it through all the tunnels, ramps, escalators, ticket booths and stairways.

That being said when we arrived up onto street level on the Avenue of the Opera they all said ‘Wow, this is so beautiful’. At one end of the street is the Opera and ‘about ten minutes’ in the other direction is the Louvre! After a short walk from the subway to the apartment, roller bags in tow, we arrived ‘home’.

We were happy to hear that they didn’t find the apartment too small. After a brief time of getting settled, a quick nap for Brett and shower, we were off for our first of many walks around the city! We did the ‘less than 10 minute walk to the gates of the Louvre and walked through into the beautiful centre court where we saw the Eiffel tower and Arc de Triomphe off in the distance and took our first photos, including the must-have pics of us in front of the pyramid at the front of the Louvre.

From there we walked through the court yards, into a few churches, in front of the gorgeous City Hall and then we went to Notre Dame Cathedral at the true centre of Paris on the Ile de Cité, with each of these destinations being just about ’10 minutes’ from each other. Now, if you are beginning to sense a theme emerging it is because every time Uncle Jim was asked how far something was, the answer was always about ‘10 minutes away’. Of course this fact was almost always disputed by Rene and by the end of the trip, with Uncle Jim having lost every bit of credibility; every-one else also disputed his claim!!!

After a quick walk through a nearby Christmas market (the first of several we would visit over the holidays), we had our first (late) lunch in the Latin Quarter, in a quaint French restaurant, where we ordered a mix of things most of which were accompanied by the customary ‘frites’. Brett having ordered a crepe, thinking it would be sweet, soon discovered that they also come in a savoury version, and he and Uncle Jim ended up exchanging lunches as his wasn’t really what he had in mind.

We then headed back out and made it through the Tuleries Gardens through to the Champs Élysées, where we experienced the largest of the many Christmas markets that were located throughout the city. We made it part way up the grand avenue and then headed home (along a path that had several destinations, each of which was about 10 minutes away) and relaxed at the end of a very full first day.

On Day 2 we awoke to a snow fall (the first of the season where the snow actually stayed on the ground) and we picked up our touring more or less where we left off, by taking a different route back to the ‘Champs E’ along Rue St Honoré. We continued along the street that some describe as the most beautiful avenue in the world. For sure, when it is decorated for Christmas with thousands and thousands of twinkling lights, one does believe that it lives up to that claim. We made our first entry into one of Katie’s favourite places in Paris the QuickSilver store that sells Roxie!!! We lost count as to how many times we actually went in there!!!

Having this time walked all the way along the avenue to the Charles De Gaulle circle where the Arc de Triomphe is we decided to this time continue our journey and head to the Eiffel Tower. Having arrived at the Trocadero (from where one has the best view of the tower) we were all amazed by the striking beauty of the tower when we realized that no, we weren’t all there looking at the tower. We had temporarily lost track of Katie, who was distracted by the waffle stand and crepe vendors and hadn’t even seen the tower. Having reoriented her towards the real reason we had walked the ‘10 minutes’ to the tower, she too did take in the marvelous view. The view is always fanstastique but with the parks and tower covered in snow it was truly magical!!!

The only thing about viewing the tower from there is that there are a lot of vendors selling souvenir merchandise, and you guessed it, once again we had lost track of our dear Kates who had become the prey of one such vendor who had already placed a bracelet around her wrist, just so ‘she could see what it looked like’!

We took a walk along the Seine River where Mike and Brett engaged in a game of snow ball target practice (we didn’t keep score but memory has it that Brett won the battle)! We then walked along one of the most exclusive shopping streets where all the major designers have their ‘houses’ (i.e. the house of Channel or the house of Dior etc). Kelly … and all of us for that matter … (except for the fashion-minded Venezuelan shopper) were aghast at the prices but Katie managed a couple of fashonista shots with the mannequins (perhaps there is a modeling career there for her beyond the annual high school fashion show!

During the next few days, they and Rene went off to Munich Germany while Uncle Jim went to the Netherlands for work. Since Uncle Jim wasn’t present on this part of the trip, Katie and Brett are going to write about all of the goings on there.

Day 3: Saw the Allen's and Rene board a train in Paris for a 6 hour trip to Munich. As we departed at 3pm, we left Paris at daylight. For 2 hours we were able to see the beauty of the rolling French countryside. We passed many villages that you would love to stop and walk around. Remainder of the train trip was uneventful, except for a women who seemed a little "confused" she seemed to be having an interesting conversation with an imaginary friend. We did not realize it at the time but this lady shared a seat with Rene. We arrived in Munich at 9:30. What an amazing train station. 43 tracks filled with trains and people going and coming. We hopped in a taxi and take us to our hotel. Check -in was easy and after we unpacked we went downstairs to try some German beer.

Day 4: Saw us get up early. After talking at the front desk we can get unlimited subway travel for 10 euro. Subway was a 10 minutes walk from our hotel. We discovered 5 minutes into our walk this amazing little bakery each day would see us stop here for coffee, hot chocolate and fresh baking. This was a great way to start our day! As confusing as the Paris subway system was, Munich was completely opposite. What amazed us was no turn styles to get on and off it was all on the honour system. Not sure where to get off we decided to exit at Mariplatz. When we got to ground level we found ourselves right in the middle of a huge German Christmas Market. Not knowing where to go Kelly approached a police women her English was perfect and she pointed us in the right direction. It was only a 10 minutes walk. This is when we realized the temperature was about -18 Celsius. We got on our bus for the Hop On Hop Off Tour. First stop was King Ludwig's Castle. The size of this castle was nothing that we have seen before. One small part is still used by the German King. Next stop was the 1972 Summer Olympic Park. This was a self walking tour. We saw how all the Olympic venues are still being used. We walked and froze to the main stadium. Kelly took us to the left which resulted in us walking completely around the stadium. If we had "LISTEN" to Katie we would have been less then 100 yards away from the front entrance to the stadium. Katie and Kelly had their pictures with their Olympics mittens taken in front of the Olympic sign. After an in-tasting German lunch we walked across the highway to the BMW building -WOW words cannot describe this building. We got back on the bus and headed downtown and decided to go on the inner city Hop On and Hop Off Tour. While we stayed on the bus we were able to see buildings from Hitler's third Reich. Back downtown we had to be at the train station for 7:00 for the German Beer Tour. Our guide Kathleen was amazing and we soon found out that the Germans treat beer like the French do wine. On this tour they encourage you to mingle with others. We met people from Ireland, New Zealand, Australia, and USA. When in Munich you must do this tour. Tired we return to our Hotel.

Day 5: Saw us up early again and back to the train station. We had to get on a bus and head out to the German Alps for the Castle tour. Our tour guide was a hoot. We can't remember her name but she reminded us of our Nana Dorothy. Rene found her a little bossy and she never said please or thank-you just like good old Dot. As we drove to the castles it had snowed that night. Everything looked like a Christmas card. We arrived at a small village and where told the castle was only 45 minutes away. We quickly realized 45 minutes was a walk straight up hill in freezing temperatures. Brett wanted to take the carriage ride but he was out voted and we need to walk to stay warm and the walk was beautiful. Once we arrived at the top we got in line for the start of our tour. Unfortunately for Kate's another turn style situation developed. Kate's was quickly pulled out of line by a "BITCHY" lady from the castle and escorted through another entrance. This was funny for everyone except Kate's. The castle tour was amazing and the walk down was much better. We had lunch in a beautiful hotel looking back up to the castle. Dorothy had us back on the bus right after lunch in the same seats except for Rene as we where heading to King Ludwig's summer castle. The trip through the Alps was breath taking. Half way to the second castle we stopped at a German Village - Oberammergau for a quick shopping trip. Unfortunately Brett and Rene have a different idea on what quick means and almost missed the bus. The summer castle had only 5 rooms but had millions of dollars of gold in it. When we got back to Munich in our hotel Brett and Mike decided to go for a swim. Unfortunately we did not know some of the German traditions around change rooms, showers, and Saunas.

Day 6: In Munich was a low key affair we shall spend the day touring and shopping through the town. For lunch we went to the world famous Hofbrau House. For lunch we had Sausages, Pork Knuckle, and the best pretzels and the beer was pretty good to. At night we decided to try our Chinese food it was very good. After dinner we took the subway to see the Munich Soccer stadium, which looks like a giant blue ice cube.

Day 7: Our last full day in Munich was to see us take a tour of the Dachau Concentration Camp. This was an extremely moving experience. This was made even better by our superb tour guide Nick. This is difficult to put into words this experience. Suffice it to say it is difficult to comprehend what went on here. We should never forget it. We went back to the hotel after the tour for an early dinner, as we had to get up early the next day to catch the train back to Paris.

Day 8: Saw us return back to Paris by train. The scenery in Germany from the train was spectacular. We arrived back in Paris shortly after lunch.

Upon their return from Germany, we all met back up at the apartment and moved into the second Paris leg of the trip.

This leg included another trip to the Eiffel Tower but this time we went up the tower and Kelly noticed that Brett was checking out some hot chicks more than he was checking out the spectacular view. As luck would have it, they asked us to take their picture, which presented Brett with his first opportunity to talk to them. Alas, it was an opportunity lost as he suddenly transformed from Joe-Cool into Mr. Bashful and didn’t make the move much to the rest of our disappointment.

Anyway, this was his lucky day as when we went down and were once again walking through the Christmas Market where Kelly and Mike did some shopping, we ran into the same girls again. We couldn’t let this opportunity pass by again so we asked if they would have their picture taken with the shy-boy. They did so and that is when we found out that they were Australian chicks visiting France! Let’s just say that he looked very happy and quite at home amidst the blond babes!

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day were at hand. On Christmas Eve we attended a wonderful service at the American Cathedral and despite the rain made a great night out of it. On Christmas Day we had a quiet day together with a minimum of presents … the real gift was in our being together. Christmas lunch included turkey cutlets in crepes with cranberry sauce (given that we have no oven in the apartment it was the best we could do) and Kelly prepared an amazing pasta dish for Christmas dinner.

One of the highlights after Christmas was the day that we took the train and spent at Disney World. Despite the cold weather, biting wind and long ticket lineup(s) that Rene and Brett endured getting into the park, we had a blast. Yes, we were nuts riding roller coasters in the freezing weather, but who cared as it was so much fun anyway? Despite Katie protesting before going on the mine ride, she was the one who seemed to enjoy it the most! We boarded a train after dinner and finally warmed up (or thawed out) by the time we arrived back to Paris.

Katie and Brett also made up their list of Top 10 moments in Paris:

1.The Christmas atmosphere

2. Disney Paris- The Roller Coaster

3. Walking in Paris and everything was 10 minutes apart.

4. Going up the Eifle Tower.

5. Brett and the Australian girls.

6. The light show at the Eifle Tower.

7. Our Christmas Eve dinner.

8. The American Cathedral Service.

9. Our bakery in Munich and the Castle Tour.

10. The river boat cruise.

11. Spending time with Uncle Jim and Rene.

And, no, Rene and I did not add number 11 but we were thrilled to see it on the list!

Between the Louvre and the shopping and dinners and walking, walking and more walking we filled the rest of our days in Paris together. On our last evening the weather warmed up quite a bit and we took the evening boat cruise along the Seine and saw once again, from a different angle some of the beauty of the ‘City of Lights’.

We loved having family come to town … as it made our time in Paris all that more special.