Get Your Guide

While in Rome we signed up for a tour with a group called "Get Your Guide".  On our tour we visited the Vatican Museum, Sistine Chapel, and St. Peter's Basilica.  Our scheduled tour was not until the afternoon so we located our meeting place and then walked around the streets of Rome.  While walking around, a man walked up to Susan and said "Don't I know you?"  It was Richard Westergard.  He and his wife, Carrie served with us when we were in the Adriatic North Mission 7 years previously in 2012/2013.  They were on their way to tour the Vatican and then were going on an ocean cruise.  It is interesting to note that later they posted on Instagram that the cruise ship was delayed a day because of the coronavirus (this was at the beginning of the outbreak).

Prior to our tour, we visited several local shops and bought a few souvenirs.  After lunch, we met at the appointed time and place for our tour.  Our "Get Your Guide" tour was well worth the extra money to have a professional guide with us.  Our guide, Georgia, was very informative and taught us many interesting things about the Vatican, Sistine Chapel and St. Peter's Basilica.  You can take pictures throughout the tour, but you are not allowed to take photographs in the Sistine Chapel - but we must say it was amazing - you can look at pictures on the internet if you are interested.

"In life, you'll meet two kinds of people. The ones who build you up and the ones who tear you down.  But in the end, you'll thank them both."  Daily Inspirational Quotes

Visitors from Home❤️Part 2

Early Monday morning,  Lizzy, Sara and I caught the bullet train from Frankfurt to Paris.  Gary stayed home to do the humanitarian work- mission responsibilities.  The Area Humanitarian Committee was meeting and the couples we support needed help with their projects.

Next stop Paris

We arrived in Paris about 1:00 pm, made our way to our hotel, checked in, and then found our way to the Eiffel Tower. After the Eiffel Tower we went in search of Angelina Restaurant and Galeries Lafayette to do some shopping.  Angelina's was not found - but we did some serious shopping at Galeries Lafayette as well as took a few pictures outside the Louvee.

Day 2 - Was a trip to Versailles. The girls had found a mobile app that enabled us to buy our tickets, hire a guide and skip the lines. It was raining, but because of the app, we were in the rain for a very short time. The tour guide and the tour were both excellent. This was my second time visiting Versailles. I learned considerably more this time than using the audio guide on my previous trip.  The tour guide was well worth the extra money spent.

The line we skipped

After Versailles we went to lunch at the Angelina Restaurant in Versailles. Following lunch we visited Saint Chapelle.  Once again the app used to buy our tickets was very helpful. After visiting Saint Chappelle we went to see the outside of Notre Dame Cathedral.  It is still going through reconstruction, but we got a picture with it in the background.  After seeing the sights, the girls realized how close we were to Galeries Lafayette, so we went back to purchase a few more things to take home.

Day 3 - We had a tour scheduled for the Louvre.  The app, "Get Your Guide" did not disappoint.  We skipped all the lines and had a very informative 3-hour tour of the Louvre.   After the tour, we went to Cafe de la Comedies for lunch - excellent pizza.  The girls wanted to go to the Angelina in downtown Paris, so we went in search of Angelina.  Angelina was found, we stood in line, and had a delightful snack.

Once the snack was over we our their way to the Arc de Triomphe.  When we were there in June there was a protest going on, so we couldn't visit this historical monument.  This time we were able to go and once again the mobile app worked it magic.  We sailed through the lines.  Apparently there was an elevator, but somehow we missed it and climbed the circular staircase all the way up to the top. It was raining when we arrived, but by the time we had climbed the 200+ stairs the sun was out and the view was spectacular.  We took pictures and observed the city from all sides of the rooftop.  Of course, what goes up must go down.  Just as we climbed the stairs back down the Changing of the French Guard was just beginning.  The Arc de Triomphe honors those who fought and died for France in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.  Beneath its vault, lies the Tomb of the Unknown Solider from World War I.  We decided that we did not need to go back to Galeries Lafayette so we returned to the hotel as we were leaving very early the next morning to return to Frankfurt.

Day 4 - The hotel recommended that we take a taxi to the train station rather than taking the metro.  I  told the taxi driver the name of the train station - not knowing that there was more than one train station.  He took us to Gare du Nord (the one I told him) but we needed to be at Gare de l'Est. We had to ride the metro train one stop to the correct station.  This is where we learned why the hotel recommended taking a taxi.  The metro was packed - we had to fight our way through the crowd to get off the train. We went upstairs to the train station where we caught the train, arriving in Frankfurt about 1:00pm.  

From the main train station we took the U-bahn train back to the apartment and unpacked.  After a quick drive to see the Frankfurt temple we all went out for dinner.

Friday afternoon we drove the girls to the Frankfurt Airport.  They caught their plane which took them to Amsterdam where they connected with a flight directly to Salt Lake City.

It was a delight to have them visit.  There is so much to see and do.  They will have to come back again. They assured us that they had a good time. Their families were glad to have them back home.

"Hanging out with your adult children, is like visiting with the most beautiful and precious parts of your life."  Project Forgive