After a week in Marseille, we caught the train North to Paris. We had seats on the upper level of the very fast moving train, and we both enjoyed getting to see the French countryside pass by - from the Mediterranean, rocky, kind of scrubby vegetation around Marseille up through the Loire valley past farms and fields of brilliantly purple lavender and orchards to the green trees and grass as we got closer to Paris.
Our first task in Paris was lunch with our friend Alexis. Alexis had been part of our Bible Study group in Chiang Mai over last summer. He's from Normandy area and is now living and working north of Paris. We walked about 4 miles with our backpacks to get to the Alice-in-Wonderland themed cafe that he'd appointed as our meeting point. We had some delicious food and tea there with him before catching the metro to where Edouard, Gabe's friend from YWAM, and Ellie lived.
It had started to rain, which is what it did for most of the weekend, but Edouard came with his car and fetched us from the metro stop. It was a delight to meet Ellie and we both felt very at-home from the second we walked in the door.
Edouard and Ellie had hoped to get the keys to their new at we arrived, with the plan that we'd help them with moving over the weekend, but unfortunately, the apartment wasn't finished being cleaned. So instead, we were able to help them with some get-ready-to-move stuff - removing make-shift insulation from their toddler's room and then scrubbing the adhesive off the walls. Ellie and I went shopping, also, and got ingredients for making several dishes to freeze for when their little girl is born sometime in the next week or two.
Our weekend was busy with accomplishing the to-do lists and sneaking in some food adventures - a meal at a creperia absolutely bursting-with-flavor fruit ice cream, along with church on Sunday night and some watching of the Euro Cup football matches.
On Monday Edouard had to work and Ellie had some other things planned, so that was the day we headed out to see the sights of Paris, the rain mostly held off for the first few hours, but we got drenched in the afternoon. However, we still got to walk past the Louvre, walk around the base of the Eiffel Tower, walk around Notre Dame, see the Arch de Triumph and wander the old streets of Paris and admire the elegant iron work. We also stopped at a restaurant and splurged on escargot, French onion soup, and creme brûlée. And we found some macarons that were simply divine (olive oil with vanilla was my favorite!).
Our conversations with Edouard and Ellie were the best part of our time there, though. They, also, are pursuing heading to the mission field in the near future (Africa for them), and it is always so encouraging and inspiring to see other people trying to live out their faith - sometimes even struggling with things we've struggled with or conquering things we're still struggling with - and Gabe and I both felt that there were some things brought up in our conversations that we were challenged to seek the Lord about and pray about together regarding our future.
We are truly thankful to have friends like Edouard and Ellie, and we felt like our time with them was such a sweet blessing!
- Dani
Our first task in Paris was lunch with our friend Alexis. Alexis had been part of our Bible Study group in Chiang Mai over last summer. He's from Normandy area and is now living and working north of Paris. We walked about 4 miles with our backpacks to get to the Alice-in-Wonderland themed cafe that he'd appointed as our meeting point. We had some delicious food and tea there with him before catching the metro to where Edouard, Gabe's friend from YWAM, and Ellie lived.
It had started to rain, which is what it did for most of the weekend, but Edouard came with his car and fetched us from the metro stop. It was a delight to meet Ellie and we both felt very at-home from the second we walked in the door.
Edouard and Ellie had hoped to get the keys to their new at we arrived, with the plan that we'd help them with moving over the weekend, but unfortunately, the apartment wasn't finished being cleaned. So instead, we were able to help them with some get-ready-to-move stuff - removing make-shift insulation from their toddler's room and then scrubbing the adhesive off the walls. Ellie and I went shopping, also, and got ingredients for making several dishes to freeze for when their little girl is born sometime in the next week or two.
Our weekend was busy with accomplishing the to-do lists and sneaking in some food adventures - a meal at a creperia absolutely bursting-with-flavor fruit ice cream, along with church on Sunday night and some watching of the Euro Cup football matches.
On Monday Edouard had to work and Ellie had some other things planned, so that was the day we headed out to see the sights of Paris, the rain mostly held off for the first few hours, but we got drenched in the afternoon. However, we still got to walk past the Louvre, walk around the base of the Eiffel Tower, walk around Notre Dame, see the Arch de Triumph and wander the old streets of Paris and admire the elegant iron work. We also stopped at a restaurant and splurged on escargot, French onion soup, and creme brûlée. And we found some macarons that were simply divine (olive oil with vanilla was my favorite!).
Our conversations with Edouard and Ellie were the best part of our time there, though. They, also, are pursuing heading to the mission field in the near future (Africa for them), and it is always so encouraging and inspiring to see other people trying to live out their faith - sometimes even struggling with things we've struggled with or conquering things we're still struggling with - and Gabe and I both felt that there were some things brought up in our conversations that we were challenged to seek the Lord about and pray about together regarding our future.
We are truly thankful to have friends like Edouard and Ellie, and we felt like our time with them was such a sweet blessing!
- Dani
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