Paris is over and we are, once again, packed and ready to move on tomorrow. The next time we travel (after tomorrow of course) will be to head home!
Today was another ridiculously hot one here in Paris. It's not hot like home it's hot like STICKY hot. It really is miserably humid and without ac in our room we are more than ready for Amsterdam's high seventies. Rain even sounds nice right now.
Ok enough complaining. Today was nice and relaxed. We slept in, and took our time all morning which was a welcome change. We headed off to the Arc de Triumph which was beautiful, and then walked the Champs Élysées (a famous street for shopping). We realized shortly into walking that this street was a little rich for our blood and so we headed home.
Home however, was ridiculously hot and we couldn't nap so we went and sat in a park and read and stole wifi. Then we took naps on the park benches in the shade just like the bums sitting across from us (only we didn't have a can of beer). It was nice and breezy and relaxing.
Next we packed up and got all ready to leave tomorrow because tonight we are taking a twilight cruise on the Seine river through town to see all the lights and the Eiffel Tower at night. It does a light show every hour so we hope to catch that as well.
Paris has been wonderful, truly an amazing city with lots to see and do, and surprisingly the language barrier has only been a problem a few times. People have been helpful and the Metro (subway) has been really easy to use (although it has also been SMOKING hot on those trains). But so far both of our favorite has been Dublin. There was just something so homey about Ireland, maybe it was the rain :)
Also thanks to all saying prayers for my grandmother. She is recovering amazingly fast and will be headed to a home (hopefully temporarily) tomorrow. I appreciate your support more than you know.
Wish us luck as to getting into and around Amsterdam tomorrow, as the world cup game is on Sunday and we may be two of 50,000 people headed to Amsterdam tomorrow!!
Lots of love!!!
Friday, July 9, 2010
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Day 3 in Paris
Today started out a little rough due to some bad news about my grandmother... We were on our way to Disneyland (which kevin told me he was like a little kid who couldn't sleep all night because he was so excited) when we quickly stopped to check our stuff online and found out that my grandma had had a stroke but that they expect her to be fine so DO NOT try to come home. Of course I felt like if I went home everything would be fixed, but Kevin assured me that there is really nothing I can do except visit her and we will do that the day we get home. So I sent a message to her through my brother, took a minute to cry and then compose myself and my thoughts and realized that we have both worked too hard to get here to let this ruin our trip and that my grandma (who was going to help me pack for the trip because she was worried I wouldn't have a "fresh" pair of underwear every day unless she helped) would not want me to sit around and try to figure out how to get home. Plus, it isn't fair to Kev for me to take away his day in Disneyland :)
We had fun just walking around and looking at all the details in Disney and we actually didn't ride hardly any rides due to ridiculous lines and REALLY hot weather. It was a great day because it felt like we were home again, seeing familiar sights is something we haven't seen much of in a while, and because it was distracting for me and kept me busy. It was maybe just a little too hot for something like that today though.
After we got home and cooled down a bit we walked to an ice cream shop on the island in the middle of town and shopped at some little stores around the shop. We also went to watch some street performers but after sitting on the curb watching some dude warm up his act for 30 minutes, Kevin decided he was way too weird to stay and watch him. I believe he said "this guy is way too much of a freak for me to give my money to him. He's actually making me very uncomfortable." So we went grocery shopping for liquids, and went home.
It has been a nice day, although I feel a bit distracted at times, and I'm so thankful my husband is so good at making me feel like things will be ok. Thanks to all who read this and if you could say a little prayer for my Grandma Ola it would really mean a lot. She is an amazing, intelligent, funny, strong woman and she will be on my mind everyday until I can tell her in person what she has always meant to me. Thank you.
We had fun just walking around and looking at all the details in Disney and we actually didn't ride hardly any rides due to ridiculous lines and REALLY hot weather. It was a great day because it felt like we were home again, seeing familiar sights is something we haven't seen much of in a while, and because it was distracting for me and kept me busy. It was maybe just a little too hot for something like that today though.
After we got home and cooled down a bit we walked to an ice cream shop on the island in the middle of town and shopped at some little stores around the shop. We also went to watch some street performers but after sitting on the curb watching some dude warm up his act for 30 minutes, Kevin decided he was way too weird to stay and watch him. I believe he said "this guy is way too much of a freak for me to give my money to him. He's actually making me very uncomfortable." So we went grocery shopping for liquids, and went home.
It has been a nice day, although I feel a bit distracted at times, and I'm so thankful my husband is so good at making me feel like things will be ok. Thanks to all who read this and if you could say a little prayer for my Grandma Ola it would really mean a lot. She is an amazing, intelligent, funny, strong woman and she will be on my mind everyday until I can tell her in person what she has always meant to me. Thank you.
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Paris day two
It is warm!!! Not good when you are walking miles and rewearing clothes! This outfit will be going straight into the "do not wear again" pile that is for sure!!
We are on a train on our way home from Versailles, about 30 minutes out of Paris where Louis XIII famous palace and gardens are. What a magnificent sight to see! This palace is over the top in every way, including a gold gate at the entrance! We spent the entire afternoon walking around the gardens which were beautiful too.
This morning we went back to the Eiffel Tower and made our journey to the top. It was a lot of waiting (in all about two hours) for about twenty minutes at the top, but was worth it! Plus we met some nice girls from the East Coast and were able to talk with them in each line, which helped us to not realize how long we had been standing in one spot.
We are now feeling over heated and exhausted and Kevin is dying to get to the grocery store because he has just discovered that he has not ate any meat since our last day in Dublin which was six days ago (maybe this has something to do with how tired and hungry we feel right now).
Tomorrow is going to be 92 degrees and we are headed to Disneyland Paris because we have some extra time and like to get out of the city, so tonight is another early night.
And, just for the record, the people in Paris have been much more friendly and helpful and welcoming than the people we encountered in London. We have been pleasantly surprised by this, seeing how we were repeatedly warned against French people.
Another amazing day to go into the record books! Miss you all, and REALLY wished we had our girls with us today in that big amazing park! We cannot wait to see those little furry balls of love :) Night night!
We are on a train on our way home from Versailles, about 30 minutes out of Paris where Louis XIII famous palace and gardens are. What a magnificent sight to see! This palace is over the top in every way, including a gold gate at the entrance! We spent the entire afternoon walking around the gardens which were beautiful too.
This morning we went back to the Eiffel Tower and made our journey to the top. It was a lot of waiting (in all about two hours) for about twenty minutes at the top, but was worth it! Plus we met some nice girls from the East Coast and were able to talk with them in each line, which helped us to not realize how long we had been standing in one spot.
We are now feeling over heated and exhausted and Kevin is dying to get to the grocery store because he has just discovered that he has not ate any meat since our last day in Dublin which was six days ago (maybe this has something to do with how tired and hungry we feel right now).
Tomorrow is going to be 92 degrees and we are headed to Disneyland Paris because we have some extra time and like to get out of the city, so tonight is another early night.
And, just for the record, the people in Paris have been much more friendly and helpful and welcoming than the people we encountered in London. We have been pleasantly surprised by this, seeing how we were repeatedly warned against French people.
Another amazing day to go into the record books! Miss you all, and REALLY wished we had our girls with us today in that big amazing park! We cannot wait to see those little furry balls of love :) Night night!
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Welcome to Paris
Paris is wonderful!! And the Chunnel ride was awesome!! If we could we would ride it all the way home. There is so much more room and more comfortable seats! And I hardly noticed the 15 minutes we spent under the ocean (except for the sudden temperature change). We were both very impressed and are looking forward to riding it again to Amsterdam.
We found our hotel right away and are also impressed with it! It has room to walk AND a toilet in our room :) We were just glad to get out of that closet of a room we had, and this feels like pure luxury now, which believe me, it's not.
Today we went to Notre Dame, which was breathtaking, and then walked the city going through it's parks and ended about four miles away at THE Eiffel Tower!!! It was just like I had imagined!! Only difference was that the park out front of it was littered with garbage which made us both very sad. We stood in line to go up it but after standing for thirty minutes and not being anywhere near the front of the line, we were warned that the waiting on each level would be that long so we left. We decided to go back tomorrow morning as soon as it opens and hope for slightly less people.
After being warned about the amounts of people here, we have been pleasantly surprised. There are WAY less people out walking here than there were in London. And we are both very happy about that! It does make you feel pretty vulnerable when everything is in another language though! With that said, we have rode the metro already twice today and never got lost or missed our stop, my pilot is pretty impressive :) Actually this whole trip we haven't once been lost!! Pretty amazing if you could see these streets.
So I ask Kev every night if there is anything he wants me to make sure and talk about and tonight his request was that I tell everyone that we saw beef flavored lays potato chips in the grocery store tonight... We come all the way to freaking Paris and my husband is astonished by potato chips. Boys will be boys. And as worried as we were about spending eighteen days straight together in stressful situations, I still think he is the most amazing hubby ever and couldn't be more happy to be spending this amazing trip with him!
We have lots planned for tomorrow so we are hitting the hay early tonight! Hope you are all enjoying your hot weather!! Au Revoir!
We found our hotel right away and are also impressed with it! It has room to walk AND a toilet in our room :) We were just glad to get out of that closet of a room we had, and this feels like pure luxury now, which believe me, it's not.
Today we went to Notre Dame, which was breathtaking, and then walked the city going through it's parks and ended about four miles away at THE Eiffel Tower!!! It was just like I had imagined!! Only difference was that the park out front of it was littered with garbage which made us both very sad. We stood in line to go up it but after standing for thirty minutes and not being anywhere near the front of the line, we were warned that the waiting on each level would be that long so we left. We decided to go back tomorrow morning as soon as it opens and hope for slightly less people.
After being warned about the amounts of people here, we have been pleasantly surprised. There are WAY less people out walking here than there were in London. And we are both very happy about that! It does make you feel pretty vulnerable when everything is in another language though! With that said, we have rode the metro already twice today and never got lost or missed our stop, my pilot is pretty impressive :) Actually this whole trip we haven't once been lost!! Pretty amazing if you could see these streets.
So I ask Kev every night if there is anything he wants me to make sure and talk about and tonight his request was that I tell everyone that we saw beef flavored lays potato chips in the grocery store tonight... We come all the way to freaking Paris and my husband is astonished by potato chips. Boys will be boys. And as worried as we were about spending eighteen days straight together in stressful situations, I still think he is the most amazing hubby ever and couldn't be more happy to be spending this amazing trip with him!
We have lots planned for tomorrow so we are hitting the hay early tonight! Hope you are all enjoying your hot weather!! Au Revoir!
Monday, July 5, 2010
Goodbye to London
Tonight my blog comes to you while sitting on the sidewalk outside of a launder-mat. Kevin has gone to get dinner while I wait to change our clothes into the dryer. We were both overjoyed to find somewhere to wash all of our dirty clothes, especially now that the weather has been so warm! Underwear in the sink just don't seem to fit as well as when they've gone through a dryer :)
Today was great. We took our time leaving this morning and jumped on a train to the British Museum. We aren't much of museum goers but this one is free to get into so we felt like we should go. It was actually really neat! Some of the artifacts they had dated back to 1500bc!
Afterward we ate another picnic lunch while sitting on a bench, and headed off to a really great outdoor shopping center called Convent Garden. Here we shopped and watched some amazing street theater performers.
Then off we headed to a park. Parks here and in Dublin are nothing like home. They span for blocks and blocks and everywhere you look there are people sitting or laying on blankets just relaxing. It is something Kev and I have decided to start at home. There are birds everywhere and they all seem to have some kind of water feature or lakes. They have been the perfect place for us to consume our afternoon coffees for the last eight days. Truly enjoyable.
Speaking of eight days, we are halfway through our trip after today. We are both very sad, and kind of excited. We miss our families, friends, neighbors, cat, DOGS and mostly... Our bed!!!! This trip however is truly amazing and we try not to think too much about the dogs and such because we have worked so hard to get here!
Although we have both enjoyed our time in London, it is not somewhere we feel like we ever need to visit again. It is a little too big city for our blood. So tomorrow on we move to Paris! We don't have wifi in our room there so hopefully we will be able to find a nice little spot to blog from. Ta ta for now!
Today was great. We took our time leaving this morning and jumped on a train to the British Museum. We aren't much of museum goers but this one is free to get into so we felt like we should go. It was actually really neat! Some of the artifacts they had dated back to 1500bc!
Afterward we ate another picnic lunch while sitting on a bench, and headed off to a really great outdoor shopping center called Convent Garden. Here we shopped and watched some amazing street theater performers.
Then off we headed to a park. Parks here and in Dublin are nothing like home. They span for blocks and blocks and everywhere you look there are people sitting or laying on blankets just relaxing. It is something Kev and I have decided to start at home. There are birds everywhere and they all seem to have some kind of water feature or lakes. They have been the perfect place for us to consume our afternoon coffees for the last eight days. Truly enjoyable.
Speaking of eight days, we are halfway through our trip after today. We are both very sad, and kind of excited. We miss our families, friends, neighbors, cat, DOGS and mostly... Our bed!!!! This trip however is truly amazing and we try not to think too much about the dogs and such because we have worked so hard to get here!
Although we have both enjoyed our time in London, it is not somewhere we feel like we ever need to visit again. It is a little too big city for our blood. So tomorrow on we move to Paris! We don't have wifi in our room there so hopefully we will be able to find a nice little spot to blog from. Ta ta for now!
Sunday, July 4, 2010
Independence day in London
Happy fourth everyone! Your fireworks haven't even started and we are going to bed. It was a little strange being away where there are no fireworks, bbqs, or neighbors playing patriotic music. However at dinner there were a group of people all in red white and blue with American flags hanging singing the national anthem from their balcony. It was actually a little nice to know others were celebrating.
We got moving early today and went to the breath taking Westminster Abbey for a service which was really really neat. We could have sat there all day and just looked around and the sounds in there were like something out of a movie (the choir and organs).
Next we went to the London Eye which is this ferris wheel like thing that takes groups of people up in these windowed capsules for amazing views of the entire city. We met a nice american family on there and sat and talked while watching the views. This family told us that if we think London is busy we will really think Paris is busy, which made us both cringe a bit.
I have to admit, people are getting harder and harder to be around. There are just SO many different cultures in a place like this, and so many different ideas of what's rude and whats not. For example- pushing in front of people in line- totally not rude here, walking in a row with your friends on the narrow sidewalk and not budging when someone else is coming towards you- not rude at all, and stopping in the middle of a crazy busy sidewalk and collecting your whole group for "peace sign" pictures- completely normal. I feel like I need to sit everyone down and tell them about personal space and manners. Kevin tries to keep me calm, but let's his frustration slip every once in a while. This makes me nervous about what's to come in France.
We are getting a little wore out, but were able to have a relaxing evening sitting in our room watching our four channels on our 14 inch tv :) We will be ready to rock tomorrow morning and have lots planned for our last day in London!
Ta-ta!
We got moving early today and went to the breath taking Westminster Abbey for a service which was really really neat. We could have sat there all day and just looked around and the sounds in there were like something out of a movie (the choir and organs).
Next we went to the London Eye which is this ferris wheel like thing that takes groups of people up in these windowed capsules for amazing views of the entire city. We met a nice american family on there and sat and talked while watching the views. This family told us that if we think London is busy we will really think Paris is busy, which made us both cringe a bit.
I have to admit, people are getting harder and harder to be around. There are just SO many different cultures in a place like this, and so many different ideas of what's rude and whats not. For example- pushing in front of people in line- totally not rude here, walking in a row with your friends on the narrow sidewalk and not budging when someone else is coming towards you- not rude at all, and stopping in the middle of a crazy busy sidewalk and collecting your whole group for "peace sign" pictures- completely normal. I feel like I need to sit everyone down and tell them about personal space and manners. Kevin tries to keep me calm, but let's his frustration slip every once in a while. This makes me nervous about what's to come in France.
We are getting a little wore out, but were able to have a relaxing evening sitting in our room watching our four channels on our 14 inch tv :) We will be ready to rock tomorrow morning and have lots planned for our last day in London!
Ta-ta!
Saturday, July 3, 2010
London day two...
Today in London was a "low key" day... We only walked for five hours this time. Yikes!!
We started off at Buckingham Palace to watch the changing of the guards, which was really cool for the first fifteen minutes but after an hour we took off. Something that is neat to be able to see, but really not all that entertaining to warrant standing with a million other people watching not a whole lot of action for over an hour.
Next we went to Hyde park which is enormous!!! We visited Kinsington gardens and palace and spent the afternoon at Portabello market, which is a whole street of little shops and booths. Really fun!
On the way home we stopped and got a coffee, sat by the water on a bench and just people watched... Let me tell you, this is VERY entertaining here! And then while enjoying our peaceful sit Snopp Dogg started rapping and cussing. Interesting. I didn't know he still even did shows, but we soon realized why he doesn't... He only does the same songs he did in 1997 (brother you would have loved it!) which actually turned out to be pretty amusing for both of us :)
So far we have yet to meet any other Americans here and we kind of feel like there are no other ones, which is fine here because they speak English, but it makes me a little nervous about France! This city is still overwhelming and amazing and tomorrow will be even more adventure seeing as how today was our "low key" day here.
We started off at Buckingham Palace to watch the changing of the guards, which was really cool for the first fifteen minutes but after an hour we took off. Something that is neat to be able to see, but really not all that entertaining to warrant standing with a million other people watching not a whole lot of action for over an hour.
Next we went to Hyde park which is enormous!!! We visited Kinsington gardens and palace and spent the afternoon at Portabello market, which is a whole street of little shops and booths. Really fun!
On the way home we stopped and got a coffee, sat by the water on a bench and just people watched... Let me tell you, this is VERY entertaining here! And then while enjoying our peaceful sit Snopp Dogg started rapping and cussing. Interesting. I didn't know he still even did shows, but we soon realized why he doesn't... He only does the same songs he did in 1997 (brother you would have loved it!) which actually turned out to be pretty amusing for both of us :)
So far we have yet to meet any other Americans here and we kind of feel like there are no other ones, which is fine here because they speak English, but it makes me a little nervous about France! This city is still overwhelming and amazing and tomorrow will be even more adventure seeing as how today was our "low key" day here.
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