A Few Photos

We Are Home

I just wanted to let everyone know that we made it home safely on Saturday. The baby is doing great - I however picked up a bug on my way out of Ethiopia and have been sick since the customs line at SFO! I think the Cipro is kicking in, but Lauren and Bret have been taking care of the little guy without me. I will try to post photos later today. Thank you for all your love and support. It was an amazing and trying trip and I want to tell you all about it as soon as my head stops spinning! :)

News!

Tomorrow, when we wake up, we are going to take a six-hour drive to meet Alazar's mother.
We are also coming home earlier than expected: the 18th instead of the 21st! And, we didn't even have to pay for the new ticket because the other flight had been cancelled. Just one more day before we go back home to the family!

Ethiopia

We've been here with our little boy. He is very sweet and won't let me out of his sight.
Unfortunately, we do not have running water or electricity. We hope it will come back soon!

Alazar

Just wanted everyone to know we're here safely. I've now had two days with our wonderful little boy!

On our Way to Ethiopia!

We are about to get on the plane for Addis. We will meet the baby in the morning. We will be arriving at about 10am California time.

Our Last Day in Paris

This is our last day in Paris. We take the train back to Germany tomorrow and then on to Ethiopia and our little guy!
The Army Museum

My mom at the army museum...

...and Me.



A fountain in front of St. Sulpice as featured in the divinci code?

Yum!

The Eiffel Tower. My mom and I climbed the stairs to the first level and saw the whole city lit up!

Saturday. We got out by 10 today which was earlier than we had been. We went to the pastry shop across the street. Mom got a roll and I got something called a divorce. We set off on what the woman at our hotel called a lovely 25 minute walk to jardin du luxembourg. We eventually arrived at the park a few hours later! We were looking to replace my camera charger before heading to africa. It hadn't been working. If was a wild goose chase bouncing from one set of french directions to the next. all the stores were so small and specialized. We finally made it to fnac (which was very "circuit city"-like) with the invaluable help of the shopkeeper in Vu D'ici where we bought some treats for Lauren. We ate a lovely lunch and got to St. Sulpice which was amazing. We continued to Luxembourg park which was charming! A toy boat pond. Carousel, tulips, bocce ball, chess, etc. I was able to finally understand and master the metro. We made it back to our hotel in about 15 minutes which included 2 transfers. The weather has been lovely. Today was a little cool and breezy but yesterday and Thursday were very warm. Everyone wears scarves even when we are feeling toasty. I think I have only seen one person in a t shirt and shorts (even though it was warm enough) and he was from Philadelphia! we hope to climb the Eiffel tower tonight and see the city lit up. Love. H
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Sightseeing

Today we ate strawberry crepes and took the metro to note dame. It was breathtaking. My favorite sight so far. We climbed the 400 steps to the top of the south bell tower. We then walked through the latin quarter and had a meal and then some gelato. We then took the metro again back to our hotel. We have met many nice people. The pace here is very different. In the cafes they will take your order. Awhile later they will bring your food and if you want to see them after that you'll have to go get them! Lots of smoking! Hard to come by free water. A soda can set you back 6 euros. Haven't seen an suv yet. All tiny cars and motorbikes. Parallel parkers will bump the cars in their way. Love. H & D


Here is the view outside our hotel.

At Notre Dame...

The view from the mid-level Notre-Dame tower.

gargoyles...

From the top of Notre Dame.

Thank-you for all of your blessings and well-wishes! I can still receive emails here if you'd like to send anything directly to me as Lauren is forwarding comments from home.

Our First Day in Paris

Today we slept very late after being awake for 26 hours. We left our hotel at 11 (Paris time). We walked down the rue cler and then to the eiffel tower. We didn't climb but we may go back. We walked along the Siene river. We visited the museum Orangerie where we saw works by Picasso, Renoir, Monet and Degas. We had crepës in the park. We had a few funny money scams tried on us....more details later. We saw the grand palais and the petit palais. We ended at the Louvre and saw the mona lisa and the venus de milo before they closed. At this point my great shoes were destroying my feet. Mom was still doing ok. We hopped on the metro and got part way back to our hotel. We walked the rest of the way. We had a great dinner with free water, which is hard to come by.

Paris

We have arrived in Paris by means of limo, airplane, regional train, high speed train and taxi. We have not slept in 26 hours. Paris is amazing. Our room is tiny. We are going to bed and we will see a lot tomorrow!