Chandelles dîner- Candle light dinner

Luxembourg Gardens As soon as the kids were out of school we drove into Paris to fit in a few more of the sights.

First stop-Luxembourg Gardens. What a beautiful place to be on a warm summer day. The park was full of young and old, readers, tourists, runners and the French, but everyone was enjoying the beauty of these fabulous gardens.

Posing the children on this handrail was not the best idea, what is the first thing that goes through a child's mind when they sit on one of these? I'm sure you know and I am sure you can only guess what the next photo will be.

There they go, nothing like a good slide down the handrail.

The hunt was on. One of the goals today was to find the 3rd Statue of Liberty. We knew she sat in Luxembourg Gardens somewhere. We asked several people and were mislead each time. (Of course there is not a sign or any markings on a map to guide you, that would be too easy). We didn't give up and when we turned the corner, Voila- there she was.

This particular statue was the model used for the one that sits in New York.

We were pretty disappointed to watch them close all the play equipment at 6:30 so we made our own fun with a little hide and seek. You really have to be sneaky when you are not allowed to walk on the grass.

Miss Liberty made a perfect home base.

The main attraction of the day was our candle light dinner at the Eiffel Tower. The tower was blue tonight, our guess is that maybe they change the color on different nights, but tonight she was glowing blue.

As it started to get dark we lit our candles and had our dinner while we waited for the lights to sparkle. 11:00 sharp it happened. Over the top of the blue lights there was the magnificent sparkle of the white lights that lasted for 10 minutes. We went with the no flash option so we could get the glow of the tower-it makes it a little tricky to see the children, but they are all there.It happened to be the warmest day of the year so far. It hit 97 degrees and so the warmth lingered long into the night and we were enjoying every minute of it.

Each time we come here we're reminded that this is where it all started.

We were having such a great time that before we knew it the midnight sparkle began. Cheers and applause broke out and you could almost taste the excitement in the air.