I woke up to a message from my mom that said they would be about 3 and a half hours late. Apparently on their flight from Atlanta to Paris a fire alarm sounded and they had to land at JFK. I'm sure that was terribly unsettling to everyone. Later we found out they sat on the Tarmac with no food or water for 4 hours. Because our train wouldn't arrive until 1 pm into Paris, they would still arrive before we did.
We boarded the train and had a very uneventful journey. We did meet some Americans that were complaining about not being able to check their luggage on the train. Bloody Anerican tourists. In the end we chatted with them throughout the trip. They were very nice, I suppose.
Once we got out of the train station we searched for a cab. The first driver said he would do us a deal and drive us to my brother's hotel for 40 euros. Uh, wow! The second one said 70 euros. After not making headway at the exit of the station we rounded the corner to find a taxi that would take us for 20 euros. Deal!
We arrived and were greeted by the whole family. My nieces, sister in law, and I all cried, we were so happy to see each other.
The team finally got into their rooms, but in the meantime they headed to the metro to have a little lesson on how to use it, while Russ, Stuart and myself went to McDonald's for a bite to eat. My nieces took the kids with them so we were free to get our burgers and fries on.
We spent a little bit of time in Morgan and Emily's room as they fought off the sleepies. The kids were yelling and jumping all over them because they were so excited to see them. Jack and Millie's actions helped to keep the girls awake.
While everyone else went for a walking tour of Paris, Stuart and I headed to a remote place to pick up the keys to our hotel apartment. That was a breeze. Finding the apartment was not as easy. Thank goodness for google maps!
We had to use the metro twice. Then, we walked a VERY long way to find the apartment. 
The breakfast nook.
After breakfast we walked to the hotel. We were able to join the team on a bus tour of Paris. That turned out to be really nice because at the end they dropped us off at Notre Dame. We took pictures but didn't go in because the queues were too long. The outside bit is the beautiful part. 
In the middle of the bus tour, before we were dropped off at Notre Dame, we had a stop to take pictures of the Eiffel Tower. We are all about the obligatory selfies at iconic sights. 
We walked along the Seine River after the Notre Dame pictures and decided, after we saw the Lock Bridge and bought a piece of original art work, we would sit and have a crepe. While we were at the cafe we witnessed a police frisk of some suspected pick pockets. I had to take a selfie to get a shot of the criminals. 
In front of the same pyramid there are 4 smaller pyramids on each corner. Stuart stood on this granite stone and wanted me to take a picture that would make it look like the he was sitting on the pyramid. I do think it looks like that, but what a priceless bonus of the jet streams that look as if he'd had gas recently! Ha!
Escargo!
Jack actually started chewing it and then had that look of 'I'm probably going to throw this thing up', which he's had before. But I had to hand it to him. He will try most anything, which I think adds to his life experiences.
Obligatory selfie in front of the iconic Sacre Coeur. 
Sacre Coeur began in 1875 in the wake of the Franco-Prussian War and the chaos of the Paris Commune, Sacré-Cœur is a symbol of the former struggle between the conservative Catholic old guard and the secular, republican radicals. It was finally consecrated in 1919, standing in utter contrast to the bohemian lifestyle that surrounded it.
She is less majestic than you would imagine. But she is behind this huge plate of glass and you have to stay about 10 feet away from her. Although it is a 'bucket' list item for sure. 
Uncle Russ decided he needed to be one of the bust statutes. Morgan got a video that panned across the busts starting on the right, and then she moved it to the left. When I saw my brother appear, it reminded me of something the Saturday Night Live cast would do. It produced a belly laugh for sure.
Here they are! Cute, eh?
We found a place that had seating for all of us, so we went in. Because Nice is so close to Italy, the Italian menus here are not that surprising.
Here is the small street where our apartment was located. On the way we stopped to get some fruit, cheese, jam, and water.
The kitchen.
The living room/sofa bed/Mama and Jack's bedroom.
Daddy and Millie's bedroom.
Our apartment was very cute and only about a 10 minute walk away from the Marriott. Looking down the street towards our apartment, this was our view. You can see the Sacre Coeur at the very top of the picture. Gorgeous view!
We got back to the hotel just before the team showed up from their walking tour, which seemed to last much longer than needed for a crew who had been up for more than 24 hours.
We ended up going to Grammie and Pop's room for them to freshen up. Once 6:30 pm hit we met down in the lobby and headed to Hard Rock Cafe for dinner. I had the absolute largest plate of nachos I have ever seen. Everyone was falling asleep in their food.
A Hard Rock selfie!
Once dinner was over we headed back to the hotel to collect our bags and get a cab to our apartment. The kids were sad we weren't staying at the Marriott, but once they saw our pad they got over it. It takes very little to shift their attitudes.
Showers for the kids were a must from their grimey walk. While I showered the kids, Stuart went out for some provisions (butter, milk, and beer of course). He brought back four 40s! Please! I felt super trashy with a 40 ounce beer in my hand. It didn't stop me from drinking it, but I did think I should have had a wife beater on all the while.
While we had our beer, we watched a little bit of Mission Impossible, a James Bond film and Lethal Weapon in French. Apparently I know these movies well enough to understand them in French. Obviously there were no English channels.
We were going to move Jack to the pull out bed but in the end we laid down on the sofa bed and didn't get up. That won't happen again. It was not a good night's sleep. Every time one of us rolled over it was like a giant trampoline for the other one. Lesson learned.
Monday morning Stuart got up and went to the local bakery to get us a French stick and croissants. Yummy!
Jack woke up just before 8 and started putting together his Legos Aunt Julie bought him. She bought him 5 Mixels (single monster-like things) and a Chima (a small boxed Lego). Someone should have taken out stock in Lego long ago, then we could all retire, or at least get a discount.
It's not a good picture but you can see the police car behind me.
After the police excitement we decided to walk around the Lovre and take pictures.
That is famous glass pyramid of the Louvre that only serves as the place to queue up for tickets. Once your enter it you go immediately to the basement on an escalator for the tickets. We didn't go in on Monday, but made a plan for Wednesday.
We finally headed back to the hotel for a little rest, and maybe a drink or two at the bar. At 5:30 pm we headed to a restaurant with French cuisine. It was a restaurant that accommodated all 35 of us. It reminded me of a place we would take the People to People kids. Stuart ordered escargot (snails) and Jack decided he wanted to try one.
After dinner the team went on a boat tour. Our kids were tired and so we decided to head back to the apartment. On our way we stopped at a Carrefour, which is a grocery store we have in the UAE. It originated in France, but I did feel a bit like we were in Al Ain when I saw the store symbol on the milk.
Once we were back at the apartment Millie had the ice cream cone I promised her if she walked all the way back from the Marriott. The kids both showered, as did I, and they went to bed. Stuart and I stayed up for a little bit to watch French television again. However, there were no familiar shows on. So we decided to call it a night. We moved Jack out to the pull out sofa when we finally did go to bed.
Did we get a better night's sleep? No! Stuart and I had kid parts in our backs all night. I suppose we are looking forward to being back in our super king bed, but there is still a lot of fun to be had so we will have to get over it.
Tuesday we arrived at the hotel about the same time as Monday and the air conditioning was clearly not working. It apparently was confirmed broken and didn't get fixed until late Tuesday afternoon. The girls went with the team to do Paris Amazing Race (scavenger hunt). The rest of us walked to Sacre Coeur (Sacred Heart Basilica), with a detour to our apartment.
We rode the funicular down to the bottom of Sacre Coeur in the Montmartre district. Of course the kids needed their cheap Paris souvenir. We bought Jack an Eiffel Tower that was a bronze color, very realistic. And Millie got the purple, MORE realistic (insert sarcasm) colored one.
After the tour of the seediest area in Paris, we headed back to the Marriott. With the air conditioner not working, the rooms were too hot to be in so we sat in the lobby, which is super fun with a 4 and 6 year old. We decided to go get a bite to eat at the authentic French restaurant, Chipotle. Ha! And Stuart thought he had eaten his last Chipotle burrito until next summer. How wrong he was.
Back to the lobby we went to sweat it out. Once the air conditioning was fixed it started to get more tolerable. Grammie and Pop took the kids up to their room around 4:30 pm while Stuart and I had 'water' in the lobby bar.
We left for the team's first game around 5:30 pm, got to the gym about 6:30 pm, and began sweating our butts off. It was beyond hot in the gym. Sweat was dripping off of me. Ick! But at least the kids were all decked out in their University of Central Arkansas gear. They were representing the team.
They won their game against the professional French team. They played really well. It was exciting to watch. Jack and Millie ran all over the place and would dance during time outs. They were so cute, and no one cared if they were being silly.
We really thought they would fall asleep on the way home from the game, but they didn't. So we walked to our apartment and stopped at Carrefour to get something to eat for everyone. By the time we got back to the apartment, got the kids showered, fed, and in bed, it was 11:15 pm. We knew that Wednesday morning would be a rough one, and we were right.
I didn't get up until about half an hour after my alarm went off, which was around 7:30 am. Stuart had gone out for our morning baguette, but the kids and I kept sleeping.
Once we were all up and about, we ate breakfast and heading back to the Marriott. We had decided that today was the day to go to the Louvre and up the Champs Élysées, which is the wealthy shopping road that leads to the Arc de Triumph.
My feet had been killing me from all the walking we had done to that point. And because I chose to wear flip flops and didn't even bring proper walking shoes, I knew I would need to buy some on that day. My dogs were barkin' for sure.
We rode the Metro to the Louvre and got out right at the mall where the entrance of the Louvre was. It was fantastic. I can tell you that had we not had Stuart with us for this trip, we would have floundered around a lot more than we did. His French and his knowledge of the Metro got us to where we needed to be with very little issue.
We bought tickets to the museum and headed to the Mona Lisa. In my 4 visits to the Louvre I have never known there to be so many people there. Of course around the major, most popular pieces of art, there are always masses of people. But on that day there were people so thick you could hardly get through to see anything. We ended up only spending a couple of hours in the museum because of the crowds. But the time we spent there was actually fun. We were a bit goofy when we took our photos, but very funny!
Family selfie with the lady.
You don't see my dad in this picture because he had a blister on his foot and was having a hard time walking, so he decided to stay at the hotel. We decided, after the Mona Lisa crowd, we would take a selfie of the family in front of a painting that seemed to not get any attention. No one was looking at this poor painting.
Then, of course, there are the statutes with the tiny wieners. Both my kids couldn't stop themselves. I'm not sure how many times the word 'wiener' was said that day, but it was well into the upper double digits. As you can see, Millie had to point at each one.
Zeus was huge, but not everything was proportionate. Shame.
We decided to get a Starbucks and have a rest before heading shopping. When we arrived at Champs Élysées I thought my feet were going to fall off. In fact, I kind of wanted them to do so. It would have been better than the pain I was experiencing. As you would guess, buying something on this road is not cheap. But I managed to get my new kicks, no matter how stupid they will look with skirts, at the Adidas store and it didn't break the bank. Russ and Stuart helped me pick them out while everyone else stayed on the benches by the metro, waiting to go back to the hotel.
Once we got out of the shoe store we headed toward the hotel. Millie had fallen asleep on Grammie's lap on a bench on the Champs Élysées. Who can say that? I had a new lease on life. Although my blisters were still there, right under my arch, where the flip flop strap meets the bottom of the flip flop, my feet were thanking me and I felt I could walk another mile. I carried Millie through the metro and up the stairs, and on to the hotel.
We decided we would catch a cab back to our apartment. Just as we got in, she woke up, which was probably a good thing. She napped for less than an hour so maybe we still have a hope of her hitting the bed relatively early.
We decided not to go to the game on Wednesday night. For one, we had to be at our train to Lyon by 9 am the following morning. Secondly, the kids were wiped out. Millie whined and moaned most of the day on Wednesday and wanted to be held most of the day, which was really a first for her this trip. And Jack actually cried and said his feet hurt. He kept asking if we could go back to the hotel, and he had just been a live wire since our holidays began. So that behavior was odd. Thirdly, the game would start as late as it did the previous night, but it was further away so we wouldn't get back until a bit later. Thus, our decision was easy.
Once we were back at the apartment we munched on some things we had in the refrigerator. Stuart and I had a cup of tea, and we all just sat around doing our own thing. Around 5 o'clock we decided to go out and see if we could find the sushi restaurant we had seen earlier in our stay. With great ease we found it just up the street but it didn't open until 6 o'clock. So we decided to hit Carrefour for some rice for Millie because she will not eat sushi.
Once we were back at the pad, Stuart shaved Jack's head, both kids were showered, I showered while Stuart went back out to get sushi, and Millie ate her rice.
The sushi was really filling. Jack amazes us with his love of the stuff. He ate 14 pieces, which is well above the average sushi consumption. Of course Stuart and I are glad he likes it, but he does cut into our stash, which might make us greedy.
During any dinner you just never know what conversation might take place, but we have some winners, that's a fact. For instance , on this particular night Jack came up with the following:
Jack: Mama, do your nipples just have milk in them when you have a baby?
Me: Yes, (with as straight of a face as I could muster) mamas only have milk in their breasts after they have a baby.
Jack: (Not embarrassed, or being funny, but yet totally straight-faced) So you don't have milk in there now?
Me: Nope.
Jack: Hmmm. (Then he went back to enjoying his sushi without another word being said)
So, there you have it!
I read the kids a story after dinner and put them to bed. Again, as happens often, there is conversation at bedtime. The one Wednesday night started with Millie. She asked me if we were going to see Grandad Tom. I told her that Grandad Tom was no longer living so we couldn't see him. She then asked 'why?' And I responded by saying that he just got old and that's what happens. Jack asked, 'But why?' I said, 'Well, it's just how it happens. You are born, you live your life, and then when you get old, you die.' At that point I expected a few more questions. But all Jack said was, 'I wish Adam and Eve wouldn't have eaten from that tree.' 'Me, too, buddy,' was all I could reply. For just one day, I wish I could be in their little brains. My kids make me laugh!
Thursday morning we were up and out of the apartment at a quarter past eight. We walked about a half a kilometer to get to the metro. We lugged our two, fifty pound bags down several flights of stairs and actually kept track of our kids while doing so. We had to take two different metro trains to get to the train that ran from Paris to Lyon.
We ended up waiting for a bit to board the train. So in order to get to sit on some chairs we bought some gelato, at 9 o'clock in the morning and sat down for a few minutes. Once they announced the train platform that was taking us to Lyon, we boarded and were on our way. The journey was only 2 hours because ours was a fast train that traveled 300 km (180 miles) an hour. The team's bus would take about 6 hours and had to stop midway for them to play a basketball game. So we didn't see the family at all on Thursday because they didn't end up in Lyon until about 10 pm.
Once we arrived in Lyon, we caught a reasonably priced taxi and he took us straight to the hotel. I've said it before and I will say it again, I'm not sure I could have made this trip without his knowledge of French and the transport system.
Once we checked into the hotel we walked toward town center to find something to eat. We ate at a place called Ed's. One of the waiters spoke perfect English as well as French. We found out he was from Philedelphia.
While we were eating it started storming. We walked along this delightful alley way where many of the restaurants were. We ended up ducking into this book shop to stay out of the rain for a bit. Then we decided to forge on to McDonalds for some ice cream.
In Europe it seems there is a lack of free restrooms so part of our reason for getting ice cream was to get a code for the bathroom in McDonalds, or so that's our story.
After ice cream and a pee pee break we headed to the end of the street for a ride on the carousel. We've never met one we didn't like. We bought 8 tokens so the kids could go on more than once. We went with them the first time and then decided we would let them enjoy a ride without us. We saved the last two tokens for a ride on Friday.
We headed back to the hotel and decided to bathe the kids. It was around 5:30 pm by that time and an early night sounded good to us. I went out to find something for the kids to eat, but didn't find anything terribly exciting. I conned them into thinking a quiche was a pizza, but that only lasted two bites before they knew I was a liar. In spite of that Jack still ate half of his and Millie are about a fourth of hers. After a sad little meal, I read them the story of The Ugly Duckling from my phone. I never realized how long that story was. Millie was asleep before the poor thing turned into a swan.
After the kids were asleep, Stuart went out to seek some food for us. Le McDonalds was our evening meal. We sat in virtual darkness. Our hotel was much smaller than our apartment in Paris. Once the sofa bed was pulled out, there was barely walking space between the sofa and the two twin beds Where Stuar and I slept. We had tiny side lights by our beds that we turned on and basically ate in the dark. We watched Star Trek on Netflix and I fell asleep half way through. Shocking!
We got up Friday morning and headed to the team hotel just before 9 am. We decided since we just had the one day in Lyon we would take the open top bus tour around the city. We were told it would take about an hour and a half if we just rode it around one time without getting off. Since we had about 6 hours, it made since to see the city this way and then if we decided to get off we could afford to do that and still make it back to catch the bus for the game.
This was a basilica at the top of the city. We later got off and had a look around inside this beautiful church.
This was a Toman amphitheater that used to be used for productions and presentations.
Here is a view from the top. The steps were steep and there were a lot of them.
Jack and Millie pose in front of the basilica, a bit begrudgingly at least for Jack.
This was a side entrance to the sanctuary.
Sadly, there is no way for a picture to do justice for the magnificent beauty inside this cathedral.
Outside of the church was a man playing a concertina. Millie felt the need to dance.
Once we got back on the bus and finished our tour, we had lunch at Ed's again. We decided to do some shopping and take the kids down to use their carousel tokens.
This fountain was at the center of town. I'm not sure it had much significance but the woman on the side looked like very healthy mermaids.
Once we finished shopping we returned to Grammie and Pop's hotel room with ice cream. After a bit of a rest, we headed to the team's last basketball game.
This was the other team's mascot. Jack, Millie, and Lindsey (Coach Boone's daughter) loved the bear.
Jack had asked at the first game we attended if he could go out and shoot baskets after the game. He wasn't able to do so, but at this game he went out before and after the game to play with the basketball. Before the game he practiced his ball handling skills. Pop told him that as log as he knew how to dribble he could learn to shoot the ball later. He also has become a fan of Russ's assistant coach, Josh Lowery, who was actually a player for Russ when he coached at Grand Canyon University. Josh was helping to 'coach' Jack, as was Morgan. It was crazy how much he picked up in about 20 minutes. He loves any sport, so is very driven to learn as much as he can, and perfect his skills as much as possible. In fact, maybe a little too intense. Tears come about, sometimes, when he is disappointed in himself. It's not pleasant.
The team won, so their record in France was 3-1. It was a successful basketball trip. After the game ended, the international team, which looked a little like a pick-up team that was formed at the YMCA during lunchtime, took the entire team to a pizza restaurant just up the road. The pizza was phenomenal and it was nice to sit and talk with the local people. The downside was that we did not get back to Lyon until close to 1 am. We then walked back to our hotel and threw the kids in bed.
Morning came too early. We set our alarms for 8 am so that we would have time to bathe the kids, pack our bags, eat breakfast, and catch a taxi to the train station at 10 am. Our train left for Nice at 11:06 am. The athletic director from UCA , his wife, and another couple were riding the train to Nice as well. They just joined the tour on Friday.
Jack was finally convinced to take a bit of a nap on the train. Millie had fallen asleep the night before at the pizza place, in my arms, just before 11 pm, but Jack was awake until we got back to our hotel. He definitely needed a bit more rest.
The journey was a 4.5 hours. The last half of the ride was right along the coast. There were some amazing homes along the Mediterranean. It was beautiful. We saw beaches and people enjoying the glorious weather.
We finally arrived in Nice just before 4 pm. Our hotel was just 200 meters from the train station. It wasn't quite a 3 star hotel as advertised, but I can't be bothered by it. When you book with booking.com and it's cheap, then sometimes you just get what you get.
I called my mom to see when they would be arriving in Nice on their coach. She said they were another 2.5 hours away as long as there was no traffic. So we settled into the room, Jack put together one of his Legos, and I took this stunning, typically Mediterranean picture from our hotel room. What a view!
We decided around 5 pm we would go out and try to get something to eat. We wandered around the streets and discover quickly that we might have not picked the best part of town to stay in. However, that was our initial thought of our place in Paris too. But once the night life started, it was perfectly fine and actually kind of quaint. That proved to be the same of our place in Nice. As we walked back from dropping G and P off at their hotel, the streets were lit and the little bistros were hoppin'. So no need to worry after all.
But I moved ahead too quickly. Back to our dinner before everyone arrived. We walked down to the sea and checked out the beaches before eating. It was warm and sunny, so perfect beach weather. We walked along the boardwalk and then decided to head back to the bistro area closest to the sea. We ate at a place called Le Lorraine. 
Stuart had moule (muscles), I had a pizza (too close to Italy not to!), and the kids had sausage (hot dog) and frites (fries). Just as we were finishing our food, the storm rolled in. This is the second time I have seen a storm roll in since arriving in France, and both times the servers at the bistros went into high gear to secure all the items on the tables. The storm lasted all of 15 minutes and rolled right out.
We then went to the Holiday Inn to wait for the bus with the team. The kids were restless and making a bit of noise. Then the bus backed up in front of the hotel. It was a one way street and he backed his big Mercedes bus right in front of the hotel door and unloaded.
Once everyone was in their room, they returned to the front lobby. Then our family went for a walk down to the restaurant area.
We ordered from the original Grumpy Old Man. Since Stuatt and I had eaten shortly before that, you would you would have thought we would have just had water. Um, nope, full on meal.
We walked around for a bit longer and then just before 10 pm it was clear that our kids needed to go back to our hotel. They were falling apart. They are tough, but they had enough for the day.
When we got back I showered the kids. The shower was so small that only one kid could be in the shower at once. Clean kids were ready for bed when I hopped in the shower, or squeezed in the shower.
Prior to that, Stuart went down to ask for more towels. We were told there were four of us and we would only get 4 towels. There was no bath mat, hand towels or wash clothes. Classy joints we've chosen, for sure. 3 star clearly doesn't mean the same in Europe.
Back to my shower experience; 1) I was WAY too big for the tiny linen closet they referred to as a shower, 2) I had to hold the shower head because it was clearly fitted for a 7 foot tall person, 3) I turned the water on to rinse and off to wash, 4) I washed my feet by dripping shower gel on the floor of the shower and then rubbing my foot on the floor, 5) the shower didn't drain completely. Oooo la la, don't be jealous.
Stuart had a similar, but worse experience. Then we settled in for sleep!
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