European Adventure--Paris Pt. 2

Our friends Ben and Cassidy Bolick had just gotten married and happened to be in France at the same time as us on their honeymoon, so we met up with them and went to Versailles, Notre Dame, L' Arc d' Triumphe, the Moulin Rouge, and the Sacre Coeur.

This is in front of the Chateau de Versailles. It was so much fun to take the tour inside and around the gardens. King Louis XIV moved the royal courts from downtown Paris to this elaborate palace. Everything is just over the top spectacular. King Louis XIV loved to dance, party, and show off his wealth. I'm currently learning all about him in my dance history class, and it's fascinating to learn about him after having been to his house.

The Hall of Mirrors. One side is all windows, and the other is all mirrors. Louis wanted to "bring the nature indoors" so the mirrors reflect everything outside, making the hall feel like an enormous ballroom. It is decorated so incredibly, with chandeliers every few feet, and carvings all over the walls, along with the elaborately painted ceiling. However, although so much was put into decorating this area of the castle, it simply was only used as a HALLWAY.

The overview of the MASSIVE gardens. Where you see green, those are the gardens for Versailles. The day we were there they turned on all the fountains and played classical music throughout the gardens. It was so magical.

This would be all the boys in our group. Holding all the purses..ahem, sorry, man bags. The girls didn't have to carry a thing! What great gentlemen. Also, behind them...gorgeous gorgeous gardens. The water way in the back is called the Venice Petite and they have all these people in boats going around in it, and the boat guides sing to them. Kinda like the Venician in Vegas, only in France...and awesomer.

At L' Arc d' Triumphe. Napoleon had this made to be a memorial of French Army.

We found the Disney Store in Paris. I was a happy lady.

Notre Dame

Moulin Rouge. The (ahem) prostitute district where the Can-Can was invented. Hence our attempt at a Kickline.

The Sacre Coeur. Priests work in relays to keep prayers going 24 hours a day. They have been praying here for 125 years straight.

The church is up on a very high hill. We conquered the several hundred steps to get up to the church. We turned around, and this is what we saw. Breath taking.

European Adventure--Paris Pt. 1

After our trip to London, we got on the Chunnel, a train that goes under the water and takes you from the UK to France. The train in front of us broke down so we were stuck under water for a long time before we made it to Paris. Not a huge deal, just a slight annoyance. Especially when that was the specific day our bodies decided to have food poisoning from sandwiches we ate the day before. Train+5 Hours+Food Poisoning=Not a Barrel of Fun.

However, by June 12, our one year anniversary, we were feeling back to normal and were able to hit the town hard. We spent the day wandering the streets, going into little shops here and there, and trying on clothes that were WAY to expensive for us. We then met up with a group later that night and went on a river cruise on The River Sienne, which took us all around and showed us a lot of the famous monuments. We also got to see the Eiffel Tower for the first time, and from that night on, we went every night, got crepes, and watched the tower sparkle. At 10, 11, and 12 midnight, they have all these lights go off for 5 minutes and the Eiffel Tower looks like the most magical thing on earth. More magical than Disneyland...maybe.

We were able to go to The Louvre and Musee d' Orsay, which are two ginormous famous art museums. We went with our friend Dane, who is an art major, and he gave us a lot of background history about what everything meant. It was really cool to see the pyramid at The Louvre because that's been in a lot of movies, including The Da Vinci Code.

On the River Cruise

Our first night at the Eiffel Tower, on our one year anniversary

Behind me is the Musee d' Orsay, which used to be a train station before they turned it into the art gallery it is today.

The Pyramid at The Louvre. This is what is in The Da Vinci Code.

Another part of The Louvre. This thing is like 6 floors and takes up an entire city block. If you stopped to look at every piece in the gallery for 10 seconds it would take you about 2 weeks to see it all.

At our favorite Creperie. It was across the street from our hotel and was so delicious and inexpensive. For 5.50 Euro we could get a "formule" which is a combo with 1 panini, 1 crepe, and a "boisson" which is a drink. Our favorite was to get a "Poulet et Fromage" Panini which isChicken and Chesse all melted together on the grilled baguette, and a Banana et Nutella et Coco Crepe , which is a Banana, Nutella, and Coconut Crepe--Kind of like a melted mounds bar with bananas on a delicious crepe. And to drink we'd usually get a tropical fruit juice, or Orangina which is kind of like a carbonated orange juice.

The crepes there are HUGE!! We got crepes every day we were there and I never got sick of them. Some days we would get a savory crepe, my favorite was the Chicken and Cheese with Pepper, but ham and cheese, or tuna and cheese were also delicious. We also ate at the bakeries almost every day, Doug told us to get Pan Chocolate, which is a croissant with really really yummy european chocolate chips through it. So yummy!! We also tried a variety of tarts, breads, and anything else we thought might be tasty. We figured we were on vacation, and we didn't know when we'd be back and Paris, so we basically pigged out. And loved it. France has scrumptious food. I miss it. We were also nervous that the people would be really snobbish since we didn't speak French and couldn't communicate with them. We were surprised to find out that (yes there were some that were rude) most of the locals were very helpful. We tried to be as polite as possible and asked "Par le vous Anglais?" (Do you speak English), before trying to communicate with them. Usually they spoke enough English, and Logan spoke enough French that we got along just fine.

One of Logan's favorite memories about our language barrier was when some dude in a park started shouting over to us in French. We were confused and had no idea what he was saying so we asked if he spoke English so he know we didn't understand him. He came over to us and nudges Logan and asks (in English) "Uh, do you have a paper to roll a, uh, joint?" It took all Logan had in him to tell him no without bursting into hysterical laughter. Of all people to ask, he asks little innocent Logan to help him roll a doobie. Classic.

European Adventure--London Pt. 3

We also got to go see Abbey Road, where the Beatles' Recording Studio is located, Wimbledon (Logan about died and went to heaven), The Tower of London, and 3 broadway musicals (But only took pictures at 1 because we were dingdongs the other two nights and forgot)--Les Miserables, Wicked (favorite!!), and The Lion King.

So which Beatle would this make me?

At Wimbledon with my Tennis Boyfriend, Roger Federer.

In front of the court where the final game is played

Tower of London

Traitor's Gate. They took high profile prisoners through this gate by boat so others wouldn't know that they had them as prisoners.

Medieval Loo

King Henry VIII's armor. Gross, gross, gross man.

Soldier hats

European Adventure--London Pt. 2

We went and saw the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace. The surrounding areas were impressive, and it was fun to say we were there, but it wasn't necessarily a must on our trip. If you ever go to London, stop by Buckingham when it's not so crowded to take a picture of the grounds and the little red soldier dudes, but you don't have to stay at the actual change...just a tidbit of advice.

Buckingham Palace

(Yes, Logan really did take this picture, this is really what it looks like. Amazing, yeah?)

The Horsey Soldiers

Gorgeous Statue/Fountain in front of the Palace

Buckingham Palace, closer up.

European Adventure--London Pt. 1

London is now my favorite place in the world. It is just spectacular. We were there for only 5 days, and I could have tripled that and never have gotten bored. I could live in London and just be as happy as a clam. These are a few hodgepodge random pics we took around town.

The London Eye--the largest ferris wheel in the world. We didn't go on it because it was redunkulously expensive, but it was pretty cool to look at.

Tower Bridge. Way cooler than London Bridge. I thought if London Bridge had its own song, it would be pretty awesome...nope. Tower Bridge is bomb. This is the bridge Sherlock Holmes is on at the end of the movie with the bad guy.

Better view of Tower Bridge. And us kissing just because.

Trafalgar Square. The National Gallery is located here. They have all these amazing structures, fountains, and statues here. These lions mean something, there are four of them and their guarding the big column in the middle, but I can't remember what it all represents.

We're not sure why, but we found a statue of Abraham Lincoln in the middle of LONDON. If you can figure out why it is there, 20 gold stars for you.

Westminister Abbey. As you can see, it is ginormous.

Parliament

Big Ben

European Adventure--Warwick Castle

The morning after our visit to Chatsworth House, we got to go to Warwick Castle, a real castle from way back in the day. They've revamped a lot of it and put in a bunch of wax people and such to show how people really would have lived back when this castle was in use. They also have a few actors that walk around and take pictures with you and talk to you. Some of them were funny, some were cute, others were down right creepy. The castle would be really awesome for kids to go see, and we did have fun, but it was kind of cheesy. However, they have a real dungeon that we got to go into and see where people were kept. It was too dark to take pictures down there, but it was definitely spooky. I'm glad I won't have to be kept in there for anything. It was icky, in a cool and interesting kind of way. We also got to see a trebuchet (spelling?) be shot off, it flung this giant rock a few football field lengths away. At Warwick they also have a falconry show, a jousting show, and a swordfighting/archery show, but we weren't there long enough to see those (much to Logan's dismay).

This is a ginormous picture frame that is carved out of pine and then completely gold-leafed. It is so intricate and ornate and difficult to make that there are only 5 in the world, and they had two in the same room right there at Warwick.

Logan with Princess Giselle

Plague infested peasant people. They were nice enough to let me hold their baby though!

Logan getting ready to go off to war with Edward, the King Maker. They went to war and helped England win some sort of battle which put some king in the throne. I can't really remember the story, but they had a huge walk through museum thing that told the whole tale, and you got to see actors and wax people performing various tasks around the castle.

This, my friends are a sexy, sexy pair of Medieval Panties. Complete with waist and leg draw strings. Hot, I know.