Last Night In Paris

So tonight is our last. We just got home from a jaunt in the rain for ice cream on the Champs Elysees (the Worlds Best, Berthillion brand no less!) and a glass of wine, at one of the restaurants on the block where we live (Cote Vignes). We had a full day of exploring, shopping, eating, drinking and walking in the blistering sun. Much like the rest of our visit here :) Only difference today was we knew we couldn't go back later to places we fell in love with, (which may account for the rash spending) and the lovely bit of rain that occurred towards evening (the one I have been wishing for since i got my sunburn last week). All in all it was a lovely day and a good note to end the trip on.

I will be posting Paris in retropect all next week as I rummage through photos and my wayword journal, and scan in some sketches Sean and I drew while here. So don't think Paris talk is through! For those of you awaiting our return in Spokane, we will be home tomorrow night! (though don't expect much from us, we will be traveling for 18+ hours tomorrow and arrive at 6am Paris time). Au revoir Paris!

Notre Dame and Little Taste of Paris

Despite my protestations about going up the Notre Dame tower (I must admit I threatened to leave the tour line more than once) it was actually something I enjoyed. I will also say though that 400 stairs is a lot, Gargoyles, chimeras and grotesues aren't nearly as interesting from behind steel cables (erected for our protection and theirs I am sure), and 30 people on a winding staircase makes it hot cramped and airless. I had two distinct "oh my gawd, I think I am going to have a panic attack." moments... but they passed thanks to breathtaking views and a cool refreshing breeze. I doubt I will want to do it again, but it is something I will remember and I certainly know Sean had fun and really wanted to see it. Thank goodness he can be persistent.

Sean and I after we climbed to the top and back down

After the Cathedral we went to the crypts below, but it wasn't really much to see, interesting for an archeaology student, but not much for an overstimulated person whose been to 7 museums in the last 5 days. We had both been expecting skulls and bones, but found out that that is the Catacombs. We will go there next monday or tuesday instead :)

On a completely different subject Sean and I have been married now for 81 months and we celebrated our Lunaversary by going out to lunch at our favorite spot yet in Paris. Le Cheveau de La Colombe, 4 Rue De La Colombe, 75004 Paris, France. The food, superb! the wine... oh the wine... ahhhh! service was excellent the server was really friendly and spoke really fluent english, it was quite nice, all that I expected from Paris and More. We may have to go back there before we leave.





The rest of the day we spent at the Pompidou, but alas our camera had died by then so we don't have any pictures to share tonight. We found, however, a new artist to love. Her name is Louise Bourgeious, and she is the real deal!

Hope your Friday is going well!

Give her a Hug for me Dad

So it was just brought to my attention, by my friend Jillian, that Sunday is Mothers Day. I had sort of forgot, though now that i know I do think I have been seeing Mothers Days advertisements all over Paris. Just didn't connect that it would be before I got back to the States. I guess I will have to go shopping...

in Paris...

some more...

truly my life is so hard!

Bonjour From Paris!

Allo! I hope you guys are enjoying Wednesday. I assure you it will be fabulous even if it started out rough. At least that was our experience :) I will spare you the boring details of traveling since (amazingly enough) they are already fading from my memory as insignificant. Right now it is 22:43 according to the clock here and Sean and I are getting ready for bed (trying to convince our bodies that it is indeed night and not two in the afternoon). Despite all the good advice from friends to stay up all day we ended up taking a nap after breakfast and getting up around five to go explore some more. Hopefully that wont mess us up tomorrow.

(The below picture is our first sight of Paris after we exited the Metro at the Arc de Triomphe).

You can see our first meal here it was soooo delicious.


We started out the day so tired we could barely remember any French and mostly ended up using English for most every interaction. However after our nap we brushed up on our approach and I completed my first complete transaction entirely en Francaise. I was very proud of myself, though he did help by quoting the price in English. Everyone speaks a little English so far that we have talked to and most seem to prefer talking to us in English despite our efforts (and often before we even open our mouths!) I guess Americans stand out.


We have taken a ton of photos and already spent a lot of euros and I don't even feel like we are really here yet! Above is Sean in front of the Place de Geffre stitched into a panorama, I love my new camera. Ok, I am going to watch the rest of French Idol (Nouvelle Star) and drink my tea before bed.

Tomorrow our plan is to hit the Musee Rodin and the Ile-de-Cite. We will keep you all posted! Bon Nuit!

Traveling Like A True American

So my husband and I are going to France. This in and of itself is amazing and I am excited and nothing could get me down... except the more we look around the more this trip is going to cost a fortune. Yes I already knew that, but its going to cost a fortune just outside of our actual money in the bank. Though it is looking like we have a choice. Spend all of our money and stay in Paris and not travel anywhere else, but maybe get closer to actually seeing a large proportion of things on our Paris sites list. Or spend all of our money, and about half again as much again, that we don't have (yes I mean credit card debt!) and stay in Paris half the time and in a little village near Dijon (that is so small it doesn't have a store!) for the other half. We would have already made the sane choice to stay in Paris alone except we got ourselves so excited about the Dijon area now we are torn.

I have a feeling I am going to be paying back this trip to France for a long time...
I also have the feeling that I wont care :)

I'm Going To Paris!

Well we did it. We pushed the little virtual "confirm" button and we are now officially going to Paris!
Oh my gosh I can hardly believe it! I can't believe we can afford this...

I feel tres mal.... i think I am going to be sick....