France Day 5:

Today was definitely a more leisurely day, which was good considering how beat up our feet are at this point. I'm too tired to write much about today, but I will say we encountered the worst that America and Paris has to offer today. In the way of people I mean...

We had our first TRULY rude waitress at Cafe Jade. Apparently Americans aren't welcome there and don't even bother trying to speak French, because they aren't listening anyway. We also encountered some LOUD obnoxious Americans, one of whom was proclaiming to the 500 people in earshot that she was friends with George Bush's godson. People actually got up and moved to tables farther away from her. It was terrible.

In other news, I got the rest of my gift shopping done, and managed to find lots of nice little trinkets and things to bring home for everyone, as well as a few little things for myself. We wandered into lots of fantastic little shops in St. Germain, which is a nice area, as long as you get a bit further away from the Seine.

We also FINALLY made it to Pont Neuf for our scenic boat trip that we kept postponing. I'm actually glad we went today, as it was much cooler than the last few days. We made kissing wishes under the Le Pont Marie Bridge.(The Pont-Marie is known as the "bridge of lovers" and legend has it that if you kiss under the Pont-Marie and wish for eternal love, your wish will be granted.)

Well, we have to get up HELLA early tomorrow for our trip to Versailles, so I must get some sleep. Abientot!

(Also, I'll upload more photos tomorrow!)

France Day 4:

Today we got up early and took the metro to the Place de la Concorde. This courtyard is smack dab in between the Arc de Triomphe and the Louvre. It's in the center of a VERY busy 6 lane street in Paris on the Right Bank. There were tons of people out and about today and the walk to the Tuileries Garden was anything but lonely. :)

We wandered throughout the garden in a HOT morning sun, admiring all the flowers and trees and pausing at the various statues and fountains. We finally made it to the Pyramid and easily passed by the long ticket lines with our museum pass (again, what a great investment!) and on into the museum.

The Louvre. WOW. This place is huge. I didn't even comprehend how huge it was until we got lost several times in the bowels of the building. We saw all the important pieces, which were just as breathtaking in real life as I imagined. Except the Mona Lisa. I wormed my way through the crowd to the very front to look at her, and they had roped off almost 10 feet in front of her. I've had better looks at her face in a book. What a rip off. :) In other news... The Venus de Milo is BEAUTIFUL, as is the Winged Victory.

After traipsing about the museum for about 7 hours, our feet were DYING. The crowds had started to wear on both of us, so we finished up by going to see the Egyptian displays which were TOTALLY worth the trip. They have an amazing collection of artifacts that are thrilling to see. After all was said and done, we still missed at least HALF of the museum... and a lot of the stuff we did see, we just had to glide by. It was intense and if I had a summer here, I'd make sure to go back and give everything it's proper due.

After our exhausting day in the museum, we walked out just in time to be caught in a rainstorm. I asked Tim to grab the umbrella from his bag, and he smile guiltily, admitting that he'd left it in our hotel room. We took cover under one of the arches and then waited for the rain to let up. As soon as there was a break in the clouds, we ran for the metro and zipped back across the Seine to our dinner at La Petit Chaise. It was a wonderful meal, although slightly marred by the fact that the restaurant was full of AMERICANS. LAME-O! ;)

We limped back home to soak our feet, and reformat our plan to see another museum tomorrow. I think we are going to take a break... spend a leisurely morning in a cafe and maybe do a little shopping. We need to give our tootsies a vacation!

More photos from our past two days HERE.

More to come...

France Day 3:

Well, we overslept again this morning, but woke up feeling pretty refreshed. We axed the Musee Rodin and took the metro over to the Musee d'Orsay. We had a light lunch at Le Dauphin and then walked over to the museum. We skipped the ticket lines and entered easily with our Museum Pass (such a worthwhile investment) and were AWED by the terrific collection of art. We spent upwards of 5 hours in the museum, and a major chunk of that time was spent in the impressionist wing. Most people were crowded into the Van Gogh gallery, so we had the other galleries to ourselves and saw lots of post impressionistic and realistic paintings that were new to us.

After the museum, we walked along the seine down to Rue de Cler, a market district near the Esplanade. It was a lovely cobblestone street with tons of farmer's markets and everyone around had a baguette under one arm and a cigarette on their lips. It was very quintessential. We popped into a perfumerie and Tim bought me some Givenchy perfume to remind me of the trip... it smells fabulous! :)

At 7 pm, we had a leisurely dinner at Le Bosquet squeezed around a tiny table on the sidewalk. We watched all the Parisians passing by with armfuls of wine, flowers and bread. The men in wrinkled (yet somehow still chic) suits, the women in short flowy dresses (some with black over the knee stockings...it was very Can-Can!)and lots of tiny little dogs. Scooters abound everywhere, along with tiny little smart cars...the only regular size cars are Mercedes, and often hired cars.

With the sun setting, we walked quickly to the Eiffel Tower and were greeted by TONS of people and stunning views of the Parc du Champ De Mars. Lovers sat in the grass and under the trees kissing and giggling in the setting sun.

I know it sounds somewhat silly, but Paris is EXACTLY what I thought it would be. It's a stunning city with tremendous views everywhere you look. The details are gorgeous too and the French people are colorful and stylish. Even the children seem to have this air of confidence that is sincere and effortless.

We took a ton of photos that I haven't processed yet, but I'll add a few more to the collection tomorrow night. We are headed to the Louvre tomorrow and we'll likely spend the whole day in that part of town. I've got to get up at a decent time tomorrow, so it's off to bed... until then, Abientot!

Paris - Day 2

We overslept this morning, but still managed to hit all the sights we had planned for today. Riding the Metro here in Paris is exceedingly easy. We're navigating our way across town like Parisians already.

I put up a few select photos HERE that show a taste of what we're up to. I have tons more but I want to edit them before I share them with everyone.

I am suffering from a bit of information overload! It's so amazing here and I'm learning so much about Paris and the people that live here. My French is getting better already and I'm more confident about asserting various things in my travels (like getting tap water instead of mineral water) and I've already had a few occasions where French people asked me a question in French, and I answered in French and they responded back in FRENCH, not English. Maybe they're just humoring me, I don't know, but it's a fun adventure and a wonderful learning experience.

There are so many little things I want to write about, but it's all just too much to share at this point. I will say that yesterday while we were sitting at a cafe, I told Tim that so far, I was disappointed with the Parisian soundtrack. It sure doesn't sound like any French movie I've seen. Lots of techno... Anyway, when we got on the Metro this morning, there was a fat Frenchman who was busking in our car, playing the ACCORDION! :D It was this totally cheesy Parisian movie moment. I took some video that I'll try to upload to Youtube later.

That's all for now! Tomorrow we're going to Luxembourg Gardens, Rodin & Orsay Museums and Rue Cler... Abientot!

France Day 1:

After the longest flight is the history of my LIFE, we finally landed in Paris. We met other people with Go Ahead on the plane and they filled us in on their past adventures with what they affectionately refer to as "Slow-Ahead, Snow-Ahead, Blow-Ahead Tours". They also got me hooked on crossword puzzles, which I thought wasn't going to happen until I was at least 60, but hey, it was a good way to pass the time. Well, that and the gin. ;)

Our transfer assistant was almost 40 minutes late picking us up, so it took quite a while to get checked into our rooms. We dropped our bags off at the hotel and wandered around the Eiffel nabe. We found a cute little bistro and had some lunch. We attempted our French with the waiter who seemed pretty unimpressed.

Tim: Parlay Vooz ONGLAY?
Waiter: grunt
(we place our order, he walks away)
Erin: I think he likes us.
Tim: Yeah, I think he wants to hang out later.
Erin: He loves us Americans, and he thinks our crappy French is charming.
Tim: Totally. I think he wants to make out.

When we got back to hotel,some of our party (who kept yelling HAPPY BIRTHDAY every time they saw me) bought us some mimosas at the hotel bar. We chatted a bit and finally got settled in our room. SURE it has two twin beds instead of a full (we just pushed them together, no big deal) and sure this internet costs more than my computer. But the point is, that we are here and everything, even the small things are magical because it's Paris.

We are off to Ponte Neuf tonight for a boat tour on the Seine and then off to dinner at Alcazar. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go walk down the hall to the IRONING ROOM. Why yes, the French prefer to iron in a community environment. Thank you France for that fascinating lesson in our cultural differences!;)

The music in my soul...

It was my Dad. He was my biggest musical influence (and in a lot of ways still is). I Love old school rock and country. I like jazz, dance music and trip-hop, but there is something about a stand-up bass and a greaser guitar man that just speaks to my soul.

Tim doesn't always understand, but he's supportive of my rockabilly leanings. I like box electrics and driving country rhythms. I like music I can swing to and I don't like 6 minute long self-indulgent drum solos. So there you go...

Packing for Paris

In the past week, every time a client or friend hears we are heading for Paris, we get a heap of tourist advice ranging from the classic; "Pack half the clothes and twice the money (or maybe 3 times, because of the euro exchange rate!)", to the random; "Make sure you take a tour of the sewers!", and the sartorial; "Just bring a lot of black and a few scarves and you'll blend right in..."

Packing has been a bit of a stress, but I've settled on a lot of comfortable dresses and skirts all in black, white, and navy. Plenty of tank tops and pullovers, and a few light cardigans (and a pashmina or two). I'm bringing one dressy outfit (though I'm not sure I'll ever have time to go back to the hotel and change into it...) and a pair of jeans in case it gets chilly (the weather is supposed to be warm and sunny pretty much the whole time). I'm also bringing my favorite leopard coat, because every time I wear it, I feel like Brigitte Bardot.

I've been frantic trying to wrap up all these projects and Tim is still working his tail off on a few last minute things. All in all, I think we'll make it just under the wire and not a moment too soon. All the stress of the move and work is really getting to us. I think we really need a break. Where better to vacation than the city of love? ;)

I plan on having wi-fi at the hotel, so I'm sure I'll blog here and there on the trip and I'll be posting some videos to Youtube. So, I'll see you all later! I must go finish packing all my black clothes and scarves. ;)

Young Love...

I spent the afternoon today hanging out with my aunt, my cousin and her fiance. It was nice to be out of the house and wonderful to spend time chatting and catching up on the family. I was also informed that they all read my blog and never comment. I was also informed that my Grandma reads my blog almost daily! WOW. I better clean up the language around here... :)

So, HELLO Grandma Louise! And hello all the other lurkers from my family who never comment. Stop being so shy!

Here are some photos from this afternoon: