France Day 2: Notre Dame and the Best Cream Puffs in Paris

Hi! 

So, the plan was to do a breakdown of our France trip by day, but on day 2 we did quite a bit and took so many pictures that I can't combine it all in one "France: Day 2" post. What that means is that my France posts are going to drag on for what seems like forever, which is good for me and maybe bad for you. I don't want to leave anything out because I'm wanting to turn this blog into a book one day, so thank you in advance for sticking with me and all of my vacation recaps! 

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Monday, August 18th

This day was one of my favorite days! After a long day in Versailles the day before, we were exhausted. However, we all woke up this morning feeling refreshed and ready to go. We started off our morning with breakfast in the hotel. I wish I had gotten pictures of the breakfast foods that they served! They had cold cuts, cheeses, all kinds of pastries including my new favorite thing- a chocolate croissant, eggs, sausage, bacon, fruit...you get the picture. We feasted like royalty that morning! 

After breakfast we met our tour guide Marian for our walking tour of Paris! I had been looking forward to this day because I was anxious to get out and about in Paris. I have been to Europe before (Italy) and loved it so much and I was curious about how I was going to feel about Paris. I loved it. There is just something about the way you feel while in Europe that can't be explained.

My mama and our hotel.

We walked to the closest metro station (Paris's underground subway system), boarded, and headed to Notre Dame. 

Sweet sisters, Cindy and LeMoyne. And Melinda with her adorable red Kate Spade bag.

The cathedral of Notre Dame!

We didn't tour the inside since we didn't have tickets and the line was outrageous, but we learned about the sculptures on the outside as well as the construction. It was crazy to me that there were dozens of full sized statues on this building, such amazing detail! Construction started on Notre Dame in 1163 and wasn't completely finished until 1345! So, for 182 years, someone was working on this cathedral!

The middle doorway/arch held my favorite depiction. It was a scene of Judgement Day with the angel Michael on the "Heaven" side and Satan on the "Hell" side. 

Michael and Satan are holding the scales to weigh people's lives and decide if they belong in Heaven or Hell. The people chained on the right side are all going to Hell, while the people looking up to God on the left side are going to Heaven. This image goes to show that anyone is capable of going to Hell, even Kings and Queens, as shown by the people with crowns on their heads. Notice the little demon near Satan's legs pulling down on the scales, trying to send more people to Hell. Asshole. 

Can you believe the detail in that sculpture? All for the outside of a cathedral! It really is amazing.

I thought the gargoyles looked really cool. Also, did you know that gargoyles aren't just for looks, but they are there for water runoff? I had no idea!

The third one is my favorite. They look creepy and I love creepy things.

The side view of Notre Dame. There were flowers everywhere in France and everything was so green, it was wonderful!

I have to add that the weather was absolutely perfect while we were in France! High 60's to low 70's almost the entire time! We got really lucky with that.

After Notre Dame we looked in a couple of tourist shops and had the best cream puffs in France! There are little crepe stations like this all around Paris, I'm not complaining!

Our tour guide was so awesome! She asked, "Do you want to try the best cream puffs in town?" Duh! Apparently, Paris has all kinds of food competitions and the chef who owns this little place won the competition for best cream puff in all of Paris.

You guys. That thing was GOOD.

Continuing along with our tour guide. So many things in Paris to see!

So, Notre Dame and cream puffs is where I'm going to stop!

Next post: The Love Bridge!

France Day 1: Versailles

Read the first post, On Our Way To France, here!

Sunday August 17th 

After arriving to our hotel from the airport we had about 30 minutes to put our stuff in our rooms and get ready for our tour of Versailles. I. Was. Exhausted. No sleep in what seemed like forever. Plus, I was frustrated by the fact that I couldn't contact Garrett and I was crazy hungry. Those things added together made me grumpy and the fact that I was grumpy made me even grumpier because you aren't supposed to be grumpy in France! (You didn't think someone could use the word grumpy so many times in one sentence, did you?)

Our tour guide met us in the lobby of our hotel and, after introducing ourselves, we climbed into a van and were driven to the Palace of Versailles (or in French, Chateau de Versailles).  The place began as Louis XIII's hunting lodge and then his son Louis XIV added on and transformed the site, and in 1682 moved the government of France to Versailles. Kings and Queens continued to live here and embellish the palace until the French Revolution! 

Like I said, I was incredibly hungry.

(Brittany, do you recognize the hair tie on my wrist? It went to France! : ))

After waiting in line for a little bit we finally were able to go inside. This joint was CROWDED! 

The interior of the palace was amazing. The ceilings were gorgeous!

Marie Antoinette with her doggy.

King Louis' fancy bed. I realize you can hardly see anything because it's covered by curtains, but it's King Louis' bed so we had to have a picture!

Marie Antoinette's bed and room. I was loving the floral wall paper! They kept this room dark so that the light wouldn't fade anything so it was difficult to get a picture where you could actually see the detail. There was so much gold and pink!

Proof that it was entirely too crowded. We were herded room to room like sheep. People were shoving and I may have shoved back. Hey, I was grumpy from lack of sleep and hunger, what could I do? Plus, people stunk bad! 

Also, clearly, I was having a bad hair day. That's my frizzy ponytail there.

The Hall of Mirrors was definitely my favorite room in the entire place. So fancy and beautiful! I couldn't get enough of the chandeliers. It reminded me of the Great Hall in Harry Potter. : )

Look how cute these cherub butts are!

A view of the gardens from the palace.

After touring the palace we wimped out on touring the gardens because we were all so tired.They looked pretty and I wish we hadn't had such a long day because I would have loved to see them too.

I wasn't complaining about heading back to the hotel for dinner and bed though! We had cheeseburgers in the cafe in our hotel. One of the waiters was able to finally fix the WiFi on my iPhone and I was able to get ahold of Garrett! I started crying as soon as his face popped up on my Skype screen, I was so happy to see him and let him know that we had made it safely. After talking to him I couldn't think about anything else but sleep so I finally went to bed.

First day in France complete!

On Our Way to France!

Here come the France recaps and I am so excited about them!

 Even though I have a feeling they may make me a little sad. Especially since I have to go to work as soon as I am done with this post. Dumb. One shouldn't have to go to work after looking at vacation pictures, that should be a law.

Soooo...here goes!

Saturday, August 16th

This is the day I have been looking forward to for awhile! Going to France day! Except one thing: I had to say goodbye to Garrett for 10 whole days which sucked. I felt guilty going on vacation while he stayed back to work, but who's going to turn down a trip to France? Not this girl. 

Packing the night before. Junior didn't want me to go. Or maybe he wanted to go with me?

Flew out of Denver around 11:45AM and landed in Dallas to meet my mom and the other ladies that were traveling with us.  

Mom, Melinda, Cindy, LeMoyne, and Sue. Loved these girls! So very thankful they had me on their trip with them!

I learned right away that I was going to have so much fun with these ladies. They are hilarious! After getting Starbucks and a couple of snacks we were ready to go!

One thing I had been dreading was the flight. I do not do good on long flights. I get grumpy. Being tall and sitting behind a person who decides to lean their chair back is uncomfortable. Mom was nice and let me have the window seat. I don't think I have ever flown and not had the window seat. It's a must. I can only sleep laying down, so the window is atleast something I can lean against.

Our flight was supposed to be a little over 9 hours and we were to arrive in Paris the next day (8/17/14). We were delayed about an hour due to the transponder being down and mechanics on board trying to figure it out, so we sat on the plane an extra hour while they did that. Finally it was fixed and we were on our way! I brought books, a magazine, a puzzle book that I never even used, and a neck pillow.

I had mentally told myself several times that I was going to relax on the plane and get some sleep since we had a tour of Versailles that same day. I did not sleep for more than 10 minutes! I tried and tried and just could not get comfortable. I don't see how people do it. Mom didn't get much sleep either. 

Instead of sleep, I had dinner and a movie. I also read quite a bit.

Plane food has improved since my last international flight. The ravioli was good and the brownie was even better. : ) I watched The Other Woman during our flight and really liked it. It's funny and worth watching for sure.

I was so excited about landing in France I didn't even feel very tired. Our bags were there when we got to baggage claim which never happens! After grabbing our things we waited outside for our shuttle to the hotel. European drivers are the worst. I had learned that from previous Europe trips so I wasn't too surprised, but they still kind of scare me. I don't want to die on vacation! 

We got to our hotel around 1:30PM and had an appointment with a tour guide to visit Versailles at 2PM. By this point I was exhausted and worried about Garrett being worried about me since I had not been able to contact him. My dumb phone wasn't working!

The view from our hotel room was AMAZING! That is the Sacre Coeur, a beautiful basilica that we visit later. 

Our tour guide met us at 2 and we left to go to Versailles. I'll start with that in the next post since this one is getting long and it's almost time for me to leave for work. I promise the other posts won't be as boring as this one and will have actual pictures of France, not airplane food. It was the trip of a lifetime and I didn't want to leave anything out!

See you in Versailles! ; )

5 Things I Learned While in France

I'm back!!

And I'm not nearly as excited as the above statement would suggest. France was awesome, as I knew it would be. I wannnaaa go baaaack. Post trip depression is real. I keep thinking, "right now I would be eating lunch on the boat, or right now I would be just waking up". 

I looked forward to that trip for so long, and it seemed to go by in the blink of an eye. Isn't that how it always happens? I don't think I have ever heard anyone say, "This vacation is going by so slow!"

Before we left for Paris I was freaking out over what I was going to eat, wear, how I was going to talk with people when I knew no French, and other equally ridiculous things. So, here are five things I learned while in France:

1. You can wear whatever you want and it will be ok! 

I turn into a crazy person when I pack to go anywhere, multiply that craziness by a thousand when it is a big trip. The night before we were to fly out, I still hadn't really packed anything. Instead I was at my computer Googling things like, "What to wear in Paris? Can I wear shorts to the Louvre? Are jeans ok to wear anywhere?" According to the internet, French women do not wear shorts or jeans but instead wear slacks and dresses. They take their fashion seriously and if you wear jeans and flip flops you are definitely an American tourist. WRONG. This may be common sense to most, but in case there is another person out there like me that worries about what to wear to every little thing in life, let me assure you: there are so many people everywhere you go, all wearing different kinds of outfits.  Whatever you wear will be ok. Jeans, shorts, dresses, skirts, sandals, heels, everything works and you will not get rude stares like the internet suggests.

2. French people do not hate Americans.

This is a stereotype I have heard several times. Once again, according to the Internet, French people do not like Americans and are quite rude to them. This is not true. Of all the people we encountered, not one of them was rude. Some were a little more friendly than others of course, but that is true anywhere. One of our tour guides thanked us multiple times for what America had done for the French people during WWII, saying that French people had not forgotten and were very thankful.

3. French cuisine is very eclectic.

Before our trip, I kept asking everyone, "What is French food?" I was worried I was going to starve I guess. As it turns out, I didn't starve! Granted we ate most of our meals onboard our boat and had a selection of several things each meal. However, when we ate at restaurants I didn't have any trouble finding something to eat. My favorite thing we had there was a Croque Monsieur which is like a grilled ham and cheese sandwich. They had pastas, hamburgers, sandwiches, crepes, seafood, all kinds of "normal" things.

4. You can get by with knowing only a little French.

For the most part, many of the French speak atleast a little English. Knowing certain words like: Bonjour, Bonsoir, Au Revoir, S'il Vous Plait, Merci, and maybe un, deux, and trois for ordering things at a bakery, will get you by. However, I am not discouraging anyone from learning French because that would always be better than having to use your hands to describe needing to go to the bathroom or wanting to get a drink.

5. The French take their bakeries seriously.

And it is glorious! Bakeries in France are almost the equivalent to Starbucks in America. They are everywhere. My favorite bakery that I stumbled upon was in Vernon and it had everything. Macaroons, eclairs, meringues, chocolates, creme brulee, and my favorite thing, chocolate croissants. Anytime I was able to, I stopped and got atleast a chocolate croissant. On Sundays you will see very long lines at the bakeries and it is the French lining up to get their bread.

I'm waiting to get a CD in the mail with all of my mom's pictures on it and then I will start my trip recaps! I am so excited to share our trip with you! I'm warning you now, I am combining my pictures and my mom's so it will be picture overload, but what's new? 

Hoping you guys are having great weekends so far!