Well after a couple of nights of falling asleep at 9:30pm, too many loads of laundry to count, and croissant withdrawals, we are back to reality. In fact, so much so that I'm starting a new job today! Like, a
backtothecorporateworld type of job. Of course yesterday was filled with a heightened Sunday anxiety, but also with excitement! We'll see how the new job goes...prayers are welcome. :) I can do this, right? I mean, people start new jobs everyday and I've done it before and made it just fine. If you could be patient with my blog as I adjust to my new schedule, that would be appreciated. I probably won't be posting everyday and might be traveling quite a bit so it's new territory for me. So, just please bear with me...I promise I won't abandon you! :)
Now...on to the good stuff...FRANCE! What a fabulous, fabulous trip! I would definitely recommend putting it on your travel "to do" list if you haven't been already.
The first day we got there we settled into our apartment and attempted to make it to the Catacombs before they closed. We showed up at 4:02pm and they closed at 4:00pm...I begged the man to let Jon in (I'm not good in small, confined spaces so I was opting out of this) but he told us we'd have to come back another day. So, what else is there to do but eat crepes!
We were so tired and definitely look it!
After we showered, we headed out to check out the Eiffel Tower at night.
The next day we were up bright and early to check out Notre Dame. Notre Dame was beautiful. I really wish we would have been there on the weekend to go to mass. We settled for saying some prayers and lighting a candle.
Next we went on our bike tour (we ALWAYS do a bike tour while on vacation in Europe). We would highly recommend Bike About Tours in Paris...David, our tour guide, was great. We had a bit of rain during our four hour ride, but nothing to hinder us.
A little wet, but having a great time!
The Louvre
After our bike ride, we scooted over to the Catacombs to make sure Jon could get in. Success! Here's what I missed.
We took a little break and headed back to the apartment to relax and get cleaned up for dinner. Then we were off to the Champs Elysees and Arc de Triomphe.
And then I was pretty sure I had died and gone to heaven...we went to Laduree and had the most delicious macarons ever! Seriously...so good!
We got lemon, chocolate, caramel, rose, raspberry, and pistachio.
Friday we headed out to The Palace of Versailles. We had a beautiful day for it and spent quite a bit of time in the gardens dreaming about what it would be like to live there.
Welcome to my front gate :)
And, my backyard.
Picnic time! We brought stuff to make a picnic lunch, but Jon accidentally grabbed my take away bag of pasta from dinner and not the meat, cheese, and fruit. I wasn't too thrilled at first.
Of course it didn't phase Jon...he loves cold pasta and made a sandwich with it.
Not to worry, nothing a little wine can't fix!
The first 3 days of our trip, I had some issues with the turnstiles and gates at the RER and Metro stations. Like my hand got caught while bringing my luggage through the gate, the gate shut on my face (no joke), and a couple of other incidents. Each time I went through Jon and I would bet if I'd make it problem free.
This is the gate that shut on my face.
We stopped at the Eiffel Tower on our way back into town. We relaxed and read in the grass and soaked in the sights!
Then it was time to head up to Sacre Coeur...a BEAUTIFUL basilica. There were plenty of stairs to climb just to get the basilica and even more to get to the top. That's ok...we had to work off those macarons from the night before somehow. The view from the top was amazing!
That evening we went on a boat tour of Paris (thanks Gus!), but our pictures didn't turn out...we didn't have the right setting picked on the camera. The boat ride was fun though!
And, a funny shot to finish up Part 1 of our trip. Sometimes people tell Jon he looks like Mr. Bean so of course we had to take this picture. What do you think?
