european adventures: paris part 2

Hello bloggers! I am so excited to share with you more of our adventures in Paris.

First, a couple additional shots from champs de elysees.

A little out of place along the cafe's and bistros on champs de elysees is good old McDonald's. However, I'll admit I did go in. Initially I went in because I had to use the restroom. It's nearly impossible to find somewhere to go to the bathroom while you're downtown. I was pleasantly surprised with a little addition to McDonald's that they call McCafe. 

{insert memory: Rachel likes Paris because they sell macarons in McDonalds ... her favorite. Although 2 dbl cheeseburgers, 2 medium fries, and 1 coke costs 13 Euros.}

Look at all of these little treats!

I don't know about you, but I've never been to a McDonald's with goodies like this. I feel like we're getting ripped off here in the States ... apple pies in weird sleeves and chocolate chip cookies just don't compare.

Mini macarons melt my heart.

The next day we made a little trip to The Louvre. I'll admit that I am not an art history person. Before our visit, I couldn't really tell you much about what was housed there with the exception of the Mona Lisa. However, I was pleasantly surprised with how much I enjoyed it. 

Those of you who know E will like this ..

{insert memory: At the Louvre Eric was in a bad mood and threw down his stuff and said, "I'm in a bad mood because I'm carrying all this crap."}

Ohh, E loves to carry around lots of crap and "be prepared".

You actually go into the triangle to get into the museum.

I think it helped that E and I listened to a audio guide while we walked though. This really helped me understand and have a greater appreciation for what I was looking at. Before we left we downloaded a Rick Steve's podcast tour ... for FREE! Deal. 

Aside from the art, The Louvre was worth visiting simply because of the beauty of the actual buildings. I didn't know until we went, but The Louvre was formally the palace to the kings and queens of France ... before it was moved to Versailles. 

A few of the things we saw ...

 Venus de Milo

Winged Victory

She was my favorite piece in the museum.

Michelangelo's Slaves

Don't miss looking up and checking out the detail on the ceiling ... stunning

and of course ... Mona

The picture above is super zoomed in. There is what she really looks like. 

Here is the crowd trying to get a glimpse.

The craziest thing was that everyone was piled in to see the Mona Lisa, and they had their backs turned to this enormous masterpiece behind them. 

E's favorite piece was that enormous painting ...the Wedding at Cana ... you know ... the one where Jesus turned water into wine.

We also saw a few crowns and cups from former kings.

There was also fun live painters throughout the museum.

Did you notice the big no camera sign? Yeah, E got yelled at.

After we left the Louvre, we met the friends we stayed with and took a boat ride around the city.

This little man came along for the ride.

We enjoyed lovely views of the city, and I didn't even get motion sick ... now that's a miracle. E's favorite view from the ride was this right here.

Only in Paris...

{insert memory: We took a river boat tour with Mike and Joe Joe and saw men sunbathing in thongs.}

 

On a holier note ... 

After the boat ride, we went and toured Notre Dame.

 {insert memory: Saw Notre Dame and were absolutely amazed and also somewhat saddened by the thought of it.}

 

 

The guy holding his own head is Saint Denis. In the year 257, he was decapitated with his companions after they were discovered by a Roman governor. He then got up, walked six kilometres with his head in his hands, and gave his head to a Christian woman before collapsing on the ground. The Christian church began to dramatically spread after this miracle occurred.

It was incredibly sad how so many people could be in one church, but seem so empty of the Spirit. It seems like the beauty of the architecture is worshiped, and the God who gave men and women minds to think and create is forgotten.

On our third day in France, we took a train ride into Versailles. We toured the palace and the dormatorie of Marie Antoinette.

The chateau was built by this guy ... Louis.

My favorite part of the palace was this chandelier ... is that sad?

I can already picture this beauty hanging in my bedroom. Or, maybe in my fake bathroom with my fake footed tub. 

This is my astonished face at all the granite countertops you could make with all of this marble. I'd only like a tiny bit to use in my kitchen ... just a little ... no one would miss it right?

 Alright, that's all I have for now. On the next segment of European Adventures we will be leaving Paris. 

Buh-bye Paris. 

Buh-bye pretty macarons...

european adventures: paris part 1

And so it begins...

In case you just tuned in, E and I recently took a little adventure to France and Italy. 

We spent a week in each country.

One thing that I will go ahead and say is that if you're planning on traveling to either of these countries, then go ahead and buy the Rick Steve's travel books. They helped us in so so so many ways. Remember that we planned the entire trip in 3 weeks, and I'm not sure we could have done it without the help of these books.

Just for laughs ... If you think my hair looks big and crazy there, then it only gets worse. Day one into the trip I plugged my chi into the wall using the European converter. I checked the wattage and it looked like it should be OK. Well, it wasn't because about seconds later is started to smell funny and then just shut off. Toast.

I am going to try my best to organize the posts based on places that we visited.

Also, while we were there E kept a daily journal where he made a list of a bunch of memories.

Whenever it seems fitting, I will share a memory from our journal. I'll let you know by saying something like {insert memory}. Easy enough right?

First stop on the trip... The Eiffel Tower {of course} 

{insert memory: Our first day in Paris we went to the Eiffel Tower and saw a homeless man spraying beer on gypsies and met the GM of the Dallas Cowboys stadium}

When we walked up to the tower, we spotted this guy. I'm not 100%  sure what was going on, but this guy had like 3 beers stacked on top of each other. He was just walking through then all of the sudden this gypsy girl came running purposefully knocked them out of his hands. While she was running around, laughing about what she had done, he walked over, shook up the can and totally spayed her with the beer. It was quite a show.

 

There were tons of street performers and dancers also putting on shows.

Including this little guy. Adorable. He was not a street performer ... just a tourist getting in on the action.

There were tons of gypsy ladies begging for money. They knew a couple of English sentences, but very little. They would walk up to you and say - English? 

E decided be would just speak random Spanish to them.

They would just walk away looking confused.

We went all the way to the top of the tower, and enjoyed the lovely views of the city. 

Paris is probably the most beautiful city I have even seen. 

I'll go ahead and say that out of all the places we visited, it was my favorite.

It's just amazing how old everything is confused to the US.

Because the city is so old, none of the buildings are over like 5 stories. There are no sky scrapers. 

{insert memory: we ate macaroons and chocolate croissants at a small bakery)

The French love their bread and pasties. I love their bread and pastries as well.

Notice all of the architectural detail on the ceiling and molding. It seems like the French have a way of taking ordinary things and making them lovely. 

Everything in Paris was so pretty. I think that's why I loved it so much.

Next stop ... Arch de Triumph

The Arc is located at one end of Champs-Elysees. The Champs-Elysees Avenue encompasses Parisian culture. It's kind of like Times Square in New York City. Well it's much classier than Times Square. What I mean is that it's kind of an icon of the city like Times Square is.

We dined outside on this famous street.
 There are a million things that I adore about Paris, but there are a few that I am not found of, and one of those is smoking. 

It seemed like everyone smoked. Nasty. Everyone at the restaurant was smoking ... not my favorite thing.

One of E's favorite things was that all the guys carried man purses. He would fit right in.

In general, the Parisians dress amazing. Everyone wears dark colors {a lot of gray and black}, but at the same time everyone looks so sleek and classy.

I loved all of the adorable little black balconies.

I also wore my gray and black ... trying to fit in. I didn't fit in at all. Turns out the Parisians don't really wear denim or flip-flops. They do LOVE scarves, so I had that going for me.

There was a McDonald's on this street with some amazing treats ... not what you would think of for McDonald's. However, I'll save that for when I do a post on the French food.

So that was day one. 

Oh and I didn't mention that we got into Paris at 6 am, but really it was 12am our time. We took a 3 hr power nap, and then forced ourselves to stay awake.

After a long day we went back to our friends apartment and crashed. 

We did have huge mishap on the train the first night, but I'll share that for another time. Let's just say I got yelled at in French on my first night there. Yelled at for like 5 minutes. Oh well, I still loved the city and it was still a great start to the trip.

More on Paris coming soon.

i need help

If I may .... a brief interruption from the European adventures.

Today, I went out into the garden to start sowing seeds. I had decided to wait until after vacation to plant ... just in case there was some drought and we didn't get any rain for 2 weeks. I don't know what I was thinking, it rains all the time here.

Anyways, before I left E and I house sit for a couple of boys. The weekend I put them to work in the garden pitting out a million of these.

Caused by these little devils.

My garden and flower beds full over these = EXTREME FRUSTRATION

After a couple hours the boys and I pulled all of the mini tress out of the garden. 

When I left for our trip the garden looked great. Perfectly ready for planting.

When I returned ... it was full of this!!!!!!!!

and this 

the ground was literally covered!

I spent about an hour today pulling this crap and there is still tons of it.

A lot of the clover patches are so small, that if I got each one I would be be there forever.

And, my even bigger fear is that I will spend the entire summer picking clover patches.

I'm thinking about spaying some type of weed killer and waiting a few days before I sow the seeds.

Does anyone have any advice??

I'm clueless here...

i'm back ...

Have you missed me? 

After a super long day of travel yesterday, E and I safely arrived in the states.

Saying that we had an amazing trip doesn't even seem to do it justice.

So sad to leave lovely places like this ...

and this 

However, 14 days is a long time to be away from your home, puppies, friends, and family.

I literally don't think that my bed even felt as good as it did last night. 

On the other hand, being wide awake at 6am (because in my mind it as noon) doesn't feel so hot. I have a feeling I am going to crash early tonight.

E took like a 1,000 pictures on the trip, so I am going to have blogging material for weeks and weeks. 

I can't wait to share our little adventure with you, however, my computer is currently standing in my way.

I don't have enough hard drive space to load all of the pictures! haha Tonight, E and I will work on sorting some old stuff onto the external and then the blogging will begin!

Although, I couldn't resist sharing just a couple snap shots with you. 

Lots more to come, but until then a few not so fun things are calling my name

like ...

grocery shopping

giving the dogs a bath

laundry

packaging tons of etsy orders (this isn't so bad)

mowing the grass

I guess this is what happens when you leave your home for 2 weeks!

Right now I am going to put all of those things on hold, and go grab some delicious Zaxby's with my bestie Jen Jen!!

As amazing as French and Italian food is ... I am desperately craving some buffalo sauce :)


See you again soon!