Ou est le Tour d'Eiffel?

So I haven't been very good at keeping this blog updated so here's my second post in the same day. Right after our trip to Scotland, we went to Paris for the weekend with Bryan's parents. We rode the Eurostar from London's St Pancras to Gare Nord in Paris and stayed in a hotel about four blocks from the Louvre. I used my limited French vocabulary "Ou est la wc?" and saw some of Paris's famous landmarks. We went to the top of the Eiffel Tower despite my fear of heights and visited Notre Dame and the Louvre.
I have always wanted to go in the Louvre and was not disappointed. We wandered around one wing of the Louvre looking for the Mona Lisa and then the Venus de Milo statue. We only found the statue after we stopped looking for it and started looking for the exit.
The last day in Paris we took a short train ride out to see the palace at Versailles. We toured only the house but I'd love to go back for the gardens. The thing I liked the most about Paris is that its truly the way people portray it, with lots of sidewalk cafes, beautiful architecture and a wonderful vibe to it. For the kids, there are some parks for them to play in and lots of carousels for a quick ride. Touring the Louvre and Versailles did get boring for them but there was lots of wide open spaces for them to burn off steam after the tours were done.

Did we find the Loch Ness monster?

We took a four and a half train ride from London's King Cross rail station to Edinburgh for our first big trip. We spent two days in Edinburgh, exploring the castle and the streets as well as doing a little shopping. I think most people would be surprised to know that castles are wonderful places to take young children.

This picture is of the boys outside the Scottish Parliament. We just happened to be in Edinburgh right after the Lockerbie bomber was released from prison and the political aftermath of that decision.

After a few days in Edinburgh, we drove north to the Highlands. It took us four hours to drive from Edinburgh to Fort Augustus on Loch Ness. The roads were super narrow and it was the first time either of us had driven on the left side of the road, on the right side of the car. We stayed in the Highland Club on Loch Ness, this neat old abbey that has been turned into self-catering apartments. We drove all around the Highlands, going on lots of nature walks. My favorite walk was to Upper Nevis Falls. The scenery was breathtaking. We made sure to visit one distillery (Glen Moray) and see the bridge at Glenfinnan while we were there. Our seven days there quickly came to a close. We all had loads of fun and I would recommend it as a place to visit.