We went to Europe as a family of four for 10 days to visit family and friends. First we went to London where Arne's cousin Ryan lives. He has two young girls but they were away on a vacation so Elsa got to stay in their room and play with their toys. We saw Karna's friend Grace and went to the Tate Modern and the Millennium bridge.
To get out of the cold - it was snowing - we went on a short boat tour on the Thames. It was perfect for getting Elsa to nap, but Liam stayed awake and enjoyed viewing London by boat.
The next day we headed out to see a bit of Paris and took the bus to a boat ride along the Seine river. It was great to see lots of the sights and also be warm. Elsa stayed awake this time.
The next morning we explored around Ryan's home, seeing daffodils in Kensington Park and going to a science exhibit. We took the train to Paris.
At the Paris train station there was a long line to get a taxi, but because we had a baby we were moved to the front of the line - nice! We stayed with Martine and Jean, Arne's family friends, and enjoyed wonderful meals made by Martine and served with wine made by their daughter, Cécile. Arne's brother Paul also stayed with Jean and Martine five years ago when Paul's daughter Erika was about Elsa's age.
After the ride, we toured around Notre Dame.
I enjoyed navigating via all the maps.
The next day was Sunday and our first sunny day of the trip. We headed out to the Menagerie (zoo). Arne explored the winter garden greenhouse while Karna took the kids to the playground.
It was fun to explore Paris via metro. Elsa enjoyed all the special time with us, and particularly her brother Liam!
Monday arrived and we took a flight to Barcelona.
Once there we headed to Sitges, the home of Arne's friend from first grade, Ben.
Our last full day in Spain we took the train to Barcelona and went to the Parc Guell. Karna went to Parc Guell in 2007.
The next morning we headed for home.
