Spring and Summer Rundown.....

I never thought I'd say this (because as most people who know me know I prefer colder weather) but I am REALLY enjoying the warm weather. Maybe it's because it was such a miserable (and freaking LONG) winter, but usually right about now I'm done with the hot and praying for an end. Not so this year. It's actually been quite a mild summer and though there's been mostly work work work and lots to take care of, there has been the occasional burst of frivilous fun. Going back a while to Easter, mom and I had a great time preparing little handmade paper baskets for the kids in my church class. I teach the 4-5 year-olds and I love them to pieces. I must admit that mom did most of the work (ok, I helped make the paper "grass") but we were both pleased with the finished product and the kids loved them. By the way, I made the dress because I wanted something very springy and I thought making it would be better than trying on a zillion dresses that don't fit right. The next fun event of my summer was beach trip number one with the gals I work with. This year we had an addition....Melissa's other attendant Amanda Browne!!!! A few highlights..... And yet more fun at the beach (This time Wildwood) with my bestie Amanda Boyd. (Too many Amandas, I know.)
And finally, the last event of the summer so far has been the big move. Mom and I decided we'd had it with apartments and with my dad's help, we bought a house. Needless to say, despite the nightmare (and severe panic attacks) that comes with moving is all worth it because we love our new place! It's three stories so these pics aren't the whole house, but you get the general idea.

Paris Vacation

I've been meaning to blog about my Paris trip for quite some time...two months to be exact, and then I think of my little computer I usually blog on and the sheer volume of pictures I want to upload to my blog, and I think "there's no way". See, my computer is a little tiny Acer the size of a tiny notebook. It's great for certain things, but not for picture uploading. Takes forever. And the computer and I have had more than one argument about it. So I finally managed to steal some time on my mom's computer to do the dirty work. Ta-Da! It's much easier. So I'll do a little pictorial tour of our journey and let's hope we don't have too much "picture overload". (Having said that, you've been warned.)

So the pictures of us on the plane got mysteriously erased from my phone, so you'll just have to pretend there's a picture on here of us taking off. If you really want to see it, just look at my facebook page. For some reason it's not letting me transfer it.

We left from Philadelphia in the evening and they gave us a few blessed hours of quiet (which we didn't sleep because it wasn't time for sleep back in the US) and at 5:30 Europe time (11:30 home time) they woke us up for breakfast. No, I don't wake up in the middle of the night to eat, but thanks so much airline attendants. Needless to say, when we landed in Frankfurt, we were pretty tired. We had a very long layover there so we decided not to waste an entire day at the airport. I had done some internet searching and found a small medieval town 15 minutes away on the high speed train so we hopped on to that and headed over for a little sightseeing.


We spent the day exploring this town, called Limburg, which was started in the 1300s. Some of the original buildings are still standing and it's easy to tell which ones. They literally lean at the top. It's a very facinating to see.








We headed back to the airport, and after much running around ("Oh, your flight's canceled and the next one leaves in just a few minutes") and being frisked by a German security lady (boy, does SHE have an interesting job) we ran to our gate to find that our flight was delayed. We were tired and annoyed.
Then we finally got into the Paris airport. We traveled around there looking for our train, found it and then after struggling to buy a ticket, we finally made it into Paris and eventually found our stop. Keep in mind that we were dragging all of our luggage through the metro stations. When we stepped out of the metro stop, the first sight that greeted us was the Eiffel Tower--almost like it was saying "Welcome to Paris!". So we quickly checked into our hotel and rushed back outside to take a few pictures. Yeah, it was one in the morning and we had been up for about 48 hours straight, but it was so exciting to finally be there that we didn't care.


The next day, we had one thing in mind--The Eiffel Tower. Up close this time. We walked down the streets, meeting a few nice french people that set us on the right way (and by the way, french people are not rude, they're quite nice, and when you try to speak in French to them, they give you a "You're so cute for trying" smile and speak English back to you. I guess they could see a lost cause, but I did try). We finally made it to the Champs du Mars (according to the nice man, that's where the best picture is from) and began snapping pictures furiously. I'll spare you and just share a few.




We then froze our butts off going back to the Metro--and because we were so dang cold we decided to go up the tower later and go someplace indoors. While we were buying our tickets for the metro, there were some American ladies (the first Americans we encountered) who mentioned that they were going to Notre Dame--fine idea, since Notre Dame is indoors. So we headed over there. It is AMAZING! I can't imagine the time it took to put all the detail into this absolute gem of Paris. I had to settle on seeing the gargoyles from the postcards as they are to high up to see from ground level, but there was still plenty to marvel at. And the best part was that there was a service going on while we were there so there was chanting throughout the entire building. It really enhanced the experience.






Unaware of the historical sights we were passing, we wandered around the area, had dinner in a local cafe, and headed home.
The next day we headed to the Louvre. It's everything to be expected--even the Louvre itself is a piece of art--and it's too much to post all the beautiful pieces. Here's some of my favorites.







We then went for a walk. A very LONG walk. See, we thought the Champs Elysee was rather near, just past the garden at the end of the Louvre right? Wrong. More like two miles past. We did find up this street, the Place de la Concorde where all the bloody history of the revolution took place, and strangely enough, they have a ferris wheel right next to it. A little inappropriate, but oh well.
Once we hit the Champs Elysee, we found the largest Sephora you will every see. Apparently that was where it began, so dropping sixteen Euros on an eyeshadow almost seemed like a must. At the end of said Champs Elysee, there's the Arc de Triomphe. Quite beautiful at night, all lit up.




The next day we started out with the Pompidou Center for modern art. In French class in high school, my teacher would show us french educational films and at the beginning, it would show the fountain at the Pompidou Center, most notable for me was the lips that spit water. So I was very disappointed that they had the fountain shut down and taken apart for winter cleaning.



The center itself is quite fun (it's an inside-out building) and the view from the top was amazing.







Having nothing too urgent on our agenda, we took a Parisien walk. Some photos from that venture...






The next day was my birthday, and after much discussion, I decided I wanted to go to Versailles for a day trip. There's not much one can say about it, other than it's incredible. I thought I'd be disgusted with the wealth that was wasted on the palace, but to be honest, the french hold it as one of their precious jewels of history (even though their ancestors killed the monarchy because of it) and so I just enjoyed it.






That night we had intended to go on a cruise of the Seine, but we were unable to make it, so we got all dressed up and went out to dinner for the big 3-0!




The next day was our final one, so we wanted to make it good. Mom had been mentioning the catacombs of Paris since we first started planning our vacation there, so even though I really wasn't excited about that, I thought I'd play along. There's some really interesting history about the catacombs, but for the most part, the story goes like this-- In the 1800s, the evacuated all the cemeteries of Paris and put them in these underground quarries. They even stacked the bones artfully. Its cool to go there but I wouldn't want to go back. By the time we ascended the 30 meters back up to the surface, we'd never been so happy to leave a place in our lives.



We thought it would be a good idea to see the Sacre Couer, which is up at the top of this very enormous staircase, so we did. The view of Paris from up there was another beauty, but my pictures just don't do it justice.



We were finally at the end of our trip, and we decided after having a quick bite to eat on the Champs Elysee, that we would regret it if we didn't go to the top of the Eiffel Tower. So even though it was almost 11 at night, we decided to give it a go. Even though it was a rainy night, we got some of the best pictures of the Eiffel Tower that we'd gotten our entire trip.



It definitely ended our trip with a bang. I can't wait to go back. Maybe next time in the summer or spring. It's the most beautiful city on earth, and I felt completely at home there. Everyone should get a chance to experience Paris.