Lovers In The City Of Lights | Part 2 Celebrating Five Years Exploring Paris And Beyond

5 years. They have gone by in a flash. And yet, at the same time, it feels like we have been together for 100 strong. Life together is hard work but it is more amazing than we ever imagined it could be! Marriage is such a gift from God. Neither of us would be able to achieve our full potential without each other. It’s a beautiful, symbiotic relationship. We need the Lord and we need each other more than we could possibly know.

If you’re just joining us, start by reading part 1 here!

Without further ado, here’s part 2! (Yes, we are and we know it!)

Day 5 | Paris

After a long day trip to Amsterdam, we were ready for another day around Paris. We found our days in Paris to be much more relaxing than our days traveling to other cities. We loved seeing new places, but it was so nice to stay close to our little home away from home on some days!

This particular day in Paris was so special because we got to photograph Pardeep & Jennifer and their suuuuuper cute little girl! Jennifer had seen on Instagram that we were in Paris the same time they were and had reached out about commemorating their trip with a session. And there was no way we were passing up that opportunity! It was also our first time on the Alexander III Bridge which is incredibly beautiful. Not to mention it has a perfect view to the Eiffel Tower in the distance. What’s not to love?! Pardeep & Jennifer, we loved meeting you two and you have the sweetest and cutest little girl!

Day 6 | London & Oxford

By the next day, we were ready to hit the road again so we hopped on a train and traveled beneath the “chunnel,” the tunnel underneath the English Channel. Our ears were popping like crazy! We anticipated that London would be beautiful, just like every other historic European city we had visited. We didn’t anticipate the value of hearing people speaking English again after 5 or 6 days of total French emersion! In fact, as soon as we hopped off the train and we were trying to figure out where to go next, an English gentleman bumped into Ryan and said in his awesome British accent, “Excuse me, mate!” It totally made Ryan’s day right then and there!

Our first stop was the famous Buckingham Palace where we got to see the Queen’s Guard. It was really fun to see. However, they, as you may know, don’t really do much! It’s kind of their thing! Moving on!

We headed, briefly, into downtown to see our new friend Big Ben! It’s an incredible structure to see in person. 100 yards from Big Ben we found Westminster Abby AND our first ever London telephone booth! So cool!

On a slightly serious note, we were in London the day before the terrorist attack. We saw the news and it was sobering to think that we were standing right where the attack took place! In fact, later that evening as we were making our way to our train back to Paris, we took the wrong metro and almost ended up staying in London that night. Ahhh! If that had happened, we would’ve been in the city on the day of the attack. We are truly thankful for the Lord’s protection.

We were only in London for a few short hours because we had other travel plans in England. We hopped on a one-hour train to Oxford, England to see our friends Micah & Katie Coston! Micah is in school at Oxford and they also own the cutest little pottery storefront in the heart of Oxford, Illyria Pottery. We were so glad we had the opportunity to see them and get an awesome tour from Micah, including showing us the streets where C.S. Lewis walked and where J.R.R. Tolkien lived for a time.

And it was our pleasure to photograph this brilliant and talented couple in their city and store as well! We will definitely be back to Oxford. One of the highlights of our trip, even though we were only there for a few hours!

Day 7 | Versailles

Another big highlight of our trip was our day in Versailles! It’s not so very far from Paris. It’s just a 40 minute train ride and well worth the trip. Versailles is the palace made famous by King Louis XIV and it. is. magnificent! Hopefully the images will do it justice, but it’s almost impossible to capture the true beauty of this place!

Doesn’t it look like we have the whole place to ourselves?! We can assure you, we didn’t. But with a little patience and a sweet girl to take our photo, it all came together. This is one of our favorite photos from the trip!

And that’s the end of part 2! Part 3 is coming soon, but until then you can check out part 1 here! Thank you so much for joining us! Follow along with us and see much more from our trip on Instagram!