Christmas in Glasgow

After our cold and snowy trip to Paris, it was nice to warm up in sunny Scotland!  Oh wait, never mind...

  

Although the temperature may not have been warm, the hospitality certainly was.  We stayed with Dave's Aunt Betty (father's sister) and Uncle Bill.  Although we missed having Christmas with our immediate families, we couldn't have asked for a better replacement.

Cold, but beautiful Scotland.

Aunt Betty preparing the Christmas turkey
and Uncle Bill pestering her.

Mini Haggi!!!!!!!!!

A royal Christmas dinner.
The crowns come from Christmas crackers.

Bill (cousin) carving his first turkey.

David with Millie

The three amigos!
Mark, Uncle Bill, and Rachael
(Betty and Bill's grandchildren)

A visit to meet Alistair and Fraser
(family friends)

Paris - Day 5

Day 5: Versaille
(weather: -1° to 3° C with snow)

We went to Versaille, former home of Louis XIV, Marie Antoinette, and others.  It was snowy, so we didn't do much roaming of the grounds, but it was quite beautiful.  The palace is enormous and the grounds (when it isn't a frozen tundra outside) are very enjoyable to walk through.

We were watching the weather very carefully while we were in Paris because Europe was getting a lot of snow and many airports were canceling flights.  We did manage to make it up to Glasgow from Paris and only a couple of hours late! Even though half of the flights from Charles De Gaulle were cancelled and the terminal next to ours was evacuated because they were worried the roof was going to collapse from all of the snow!

Dave is cold

Tabitha is cold, and next to a golden gate

Dave is slightly less cold

Louis' Cathedral

Every room is ridiculous

See?

Uh-huh

The famous Hall of Mirrors

The queen's bedroom,
used for public births
(no need for birth certificates from Hawaii)

A hall filled with famous French battles

George Washington!

Rene

The beautiful grounds covered in...snow

The beautiful fountains covered in...snow

and more...snow!

The Rue Mouffetard market has fruit...

more fruit...

fish...

ducks and chickens...

and flowers.

Paris - Day 4

Day 4: Opera National de Paris and The Musee D'Orsay
(weather: 2° to 3° C with light rain and snow)


On this day we visited the oft-under construction Opera House and the Musee D'Orsay for some French Impressionist action.  No pictures were allowed inside of the Musee D'Orsay, so you'll have to go check it out for yourselves (it is pretty awesome).  We liked the Opera House so much that we went back that night to see an actual opera, The Bartered Bride.  Our seats were very expensive and did not have an obstructed view, we promise.

Opera National de Paris

Bach (for Tabitha's mom and Dr. Brooks)

Some of the beautiful interior

A beautiful hallway

A beautiful chandelier

A beautiful ceiling and beautiful chandeliers

A ballerina dress used in a real performance (for Erin)

An elephant sculpture outside the Musee D'Orsay (for Tabitha)

Paris - Day 3

Day 3: Sainte-Chapelle and Notre-Dame
(weather: 2° to 4° C with light rain) 

On the third day we visited beautiful Sainte-Chapelle, Tabitha's favorite cathedral, and climbed the towers of Notre-Dame.  We did not find Quasimodo. After a full day of site seeing, we went out for a nice French dinner including delicious escargot and foie gras. One thing we could appreciate while in France was how much Spanish we have learned, and how little French we know.

Beautiful Sainte-Chapelle, Tabitha's favorite cathedral.

It's not hard to see why, look at those windows!

Notre-Dame!

Inside Notre-Dame

Dave thinking????

An elephant gargoyle!

Is a monster going to eat Paris?

A cool gargoyle

A view of Notre-Dame from the Seine

Delicious!

Paris - Day 2

Day 2: The Louvre, Champs Elysees, Arc de Triomphe, and Tour Eiffel
(weather: 3° to 4° C with snow and rain) 

My mom's favorite street, Rue Mouffetard...

... covered in snow

Apparently there is wine in France...

... and CHEESE!

We went to the Louvre

and saw a cool Persian bull god

among other amazing things.

We walked along the Champs Elysees

and saw the Arc de Triomphe

More cheese please!

The Eiffel Tower is pretty amazing at night and surrounded by fog.

Another ancient Persian bull god????