Our Three Temple European Trip! Part 1

Rod and I  have long wanted to visit Italy and Greece. These places have so much history. They were  the birthplace of our civilization and have been centers for art and culture for centuries! We actually had planned to visit the Rome Temple after our mission in Spain.  Buuuuut it wasn't finished...it took  4 more years.  Now that it is finally finished we decided it was time.

We managed to cram a lot into our two and a half week trip.  We scheduled stays in Airbnbs most of the time.  That was a fun new experience for us and much cheaper than finding hotels in city centers. We are now big fans. A side benefit of the Airbnbs is that the hosts were able to give us instructions for using public transit to get to our lodgings.  We love that! Another cost cutting strategy was signing up for a flight that was half the price but included a layover of up to 23 hours in a undisclosed city.  Our layover ended up being the whole 23 hours long in Atlanta Georgia.  I've never been there before. We got a place to stay downtown, and were glad for the time to rest and explore.  I was impressed with the amount of sculpture and public art in down town Atlanta.  We also toured the Coke museum.  So much I didn't know....did I need to know? The tasting station was cool.  There are different coke products from all over the world.  There were some pretty yucky ones and some I liked a lot.   It's a big deal there though.  This sign was outside our bedroom window...we were glad for the heavy curtains.

Very beautiful fountain

I checked for rain in all the other places we were visiting and decided not to bring umbrellas....and we got soaked our first day.

A drink with Dr Pemberton, the inventor of the secret formula of the world's most recognized soft drink brand!

We were able to get bulkhead seats for our flight  from Atlanta to Paris.  So nice!  We arrived in Paris at 7:00 am, found our way to our Paris place where she let us leave our bags.  Then we went to the Eifel Tower.  We went to the very top!  Last time we just climbed the stairs.  The elevators are so cool...they move diagonally up the legs.  The weather was warm but nice.

At the far end of the island is the original Statue of Liberty.  Our big one was a gift from France.  There is a good chance that France's support was what helped us win the Revolutionary war!

The elevators have glass panels in the ceiling ....a cool view!

 My cute husband has been working on improving his art ability.  One of his goals was to sit and do quick plein air paintings during our travels. He did his first one of the tower and I was impressed.  He was surprised at how much detail and ornamentation he had to include....or decide not to include.  Lots to learn!  We stopped to eat lunch on the way back to our apartment.  When we got there we discovered that Rod's phone was completely our of charge....and that was where the codes were to get into the apartment.  We went to the little grocery store across the street and they lent us a charger for a few minutes which Saved Us!  So kind!  We were glad to go to sleep...even though our place was rather warm.  We left the window open, which helped a lot, except for the street noise.  Oh well, part of the adventure!  We really enjoyed having breakfast at the apartment from supplies we bought rather than having to find a restaurant. 
The next morning we went to the Paris temple.  We took the metro, a train, and a bus, then a 15 min walk.  We just missed our bus and almost missed the session, but we made it! Whew.  It was a wonderful experience, especially for me.

 I was so much more alert and focused!  Afterward we enjoyed the gorgeous gardens and the visitor's center!

The front of this temple is rather near the street so the gardens are in back!  They are just lovely, so calm and inviting!

 

This is the only Christus displayed outdoors

The stained glass windows have beautiful flower themes.

This tree is out front.  Rod did another painting.

 We went to the city center that afternoon.

I loved the street musicians we came across throughout our trip! 

 

 We couldn't get close to Notre Dame, but we both agreed that the fire left us with a great sense of loss  and it was a comfort to see the work already progressing to restore her.  There are centuries of love, sacrifice, and dedication to God demonstrated in this beautiful building.

We were so intrigued to see the wooden braces under the flying buttresses arches. 

 All along the Seine there are kiosks selling all kinds of art and books...including this water color artist.  Rod bought one of his. 

 

Friday we went to Gare Lyon and took the train to Basel Switzerland!  I love train travel.  It's so much more relaxed (no security checks), easier to get up to the restroom without disturbing people, you can enjoy the scenery as you travel, and train stations are generally located inside the city and so take less time and trouble to reach by public transit than airports.