{Flashback}: Day 3 & 4

Grandpa and Grandma left this morning to see Hampton Court palace, which we have already seen, while I stayed behind to get us ready to travel to Paris.

I was pretty anxious this day as I packed. Nervous of the unknown. Nervous of traveling to a new European city, nervous of not knowing the language this time around like our last trip, and mainly nervous of getting robbed again. I think I'm traumatized for life.

We are very much ambiance people if you haven't noticed yet. And to be honest, I think this is only thing that keeps me sane in this crazy city. It is so easy to feel the weight of a big city, but it is bottling up this small moments here and there that make this city amazing.
So, later at night after walking through Harrods we went to enjoy icecream by the London eye.

This was our view from the park that the girls were playing on, right under the London eye all prettily lit up in blue. Never gets old.

Go to sleep, wake up, and the next day was our departure day for Paris! Our channel tunnel train didn't leave until evening so we took the GPs to the Borough Market for lunch. That NEVER gets old either. (Come to think of it, not much gets old here.)
This time I took pictures of more interesting things like flat peaches...

meat pies...

and the best pesto we have ever had. Seriously.

The best thing we bought was this seriously mouth-watering, to-die-for delicious red pesto. And what is pesto without baguettes?! Bought 2 of those from another stall and dinner was set for the train ride to Paris!

There were many, many things we learned from our Barcelona trip. First, go door-to-door. Meaning, no more trying to take public transportation with all of our luggage and children and a stroller around busy cities. Too chaotic. So this time we got a minicab to pick us up and take us the train station. Door-to-door.
Second, pack extremely light. I am usually pushing the buggy with my toddler in tow and have my other child holding onto the buggy as I manage to keep my purse pockets facing inward and out of pickpocketers hands. All the while Tim is dealing with all the luggage and directions of where we are going AND helping me and the girls climb many, many stairs when there is no lift available. In Barcelona we had two big suitcases, one little one, and a backpack. THIS time just one big suitcase for all 4 of us and one little one that easily attaches to the big one. So technically Tim just has to hold one handle. Oh yeah, and the back pack just had food and zero important documents or items.

Once we successfully arrived and boarded our train with no trouble, (it was our first time traveling EuroStar), we immediately dove into our baguettes with red pesto and green grapes. The smell on the train I'm sure made everyone want to melt in their seats. I actually felt sorry for everyone around me because it smelled divine and they weren't eating it. ;)

The train ride was awesome. Tim is so convinced it is the best way to travel and now he has plans for us to travel to Belgium and who knows where else. Paris is only 2 hours and 20 minutes on the train from London. So cool.

Taxi ride from the station to the apartment and we slept our first night for the first time in Paris.