What a day! Thanks so much for reading about one of my favorite Parisian adventures!
The Rick Steves Paris walking tour was probably my favorite walking tour of our whole trip (I think that might be about the fifth time I've mentioned how great Rick Steves is). We saw lots of sites along a three mile Ile de la Cite and Latin Quarter walk, and it took the majority of the day to see everything on the tour. We were super tired by the end of the day, but we made lots of memories and took some great pictures (if I do say so myself). We began at Notre Dame, the great cathedral that took over 200 years to complete. Commoners completed the majority of the construction work - and didn't receive any payment! I enjoyed the interior of the church as much as the exterior, in part because of these gorgeous stained glass windows. The one pictured above is one of the only original windows. Many of the churches we visited had been damaged in the Revolution or during World War II. It was a little strange for this American to comprehend; historic buildings in the U.S. are usually only destroyed if we need space for a new parking lot. This is Point Zero, the center of Paris for over 2300 years. It was the central point of the ancient Parisii tribe, the Roman Temple of Jupiter, the Germanic Franks church of St. Etienne in the 6th century, and now it's the symbolic center of Paris right outside Notre Dame. Just below this spot in the Archaeological Crypt that we decided to check out. The entrance is maybe 100 yards away from the entance to Notre Dame and it contains really interesting information about the archaeological history of Paris. We saw ruins of the Roman and Medieval cities of Paris. Medieval Parisians used great inovation when they dimantled Roman buildings and used the stones to construct their cities; fortunately that allowed researchers to piece together information about the Roman civiliation in France. Charlemagne, King of the Franks!! Proof that great leaders come with great facial hair. A coworker had told me about the Parisian bridges were couples place locks to symbolize their never ending love. We brought our own, but forgot to write our names on it! No worries, we have photographic proof of the lock we left in Paris. Along the Seine, just behind Notre-Dame is the Memorial de la Deportation (Deportation Memorial), the memorial built to the 200,000 French people killed in the Nazi concentration camps. This is one of the best Holocaust memorials I've seen (I had only seen American memorials before this). You walk down into a circular space surrounded by stone, bars impeeding your view of the nearby river. You feel like you're being trapped with only the sky above you unblocked. You can walk into a small hallway where you can see 200,000 lights honoring the French dead. A plaque on the floor reads "They went to the ends of the earth and did not return." We crossed the Seine to the Left Bank and saw Paris' oldest resident: an acacia tree planted in 1602. Parisians have been enjoying this tree for 400 years. Shakespeare and Company Bookstore, a mandatory stop for this book lover, is an English bookstore along the LEft Bank. The original store was opened in the 1920s by Sylvia Beach, an American whose customers included Ernest Hemingway, James Joyce, George Bernand Shaw, Gertrude Stein, and Ezra Pound. Book lover-gasm! Telling people about our trip to Europe, Paul and I have been asked a few times "what was your favorite part?" I've been tough pressed to say anything beyond "the entire city of Paris," but if I had to pick Sainte-Chapelle would probably be in my top five favorites. St. Louis (King Louis IX) built this church to house what he believed to be the original Crown of Thorns. It's a Gothic church that was built in six years between 1242 and 1248 (6 years!! Wisconsin construction projects sometimes take longer than that!). I could have stayed in this church for hours, just taking in all of the colors. This photo is not enhanced or edited in anyway , the colors were really this vibrant. The windows tell stories from - you guessed it - the Christian Bible. Even the colors and decorations on the floor were gorgeous. Our next was spooky - the Conciergerie - the former prison people stayed in before heading to the guillotine. 2780 people including King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette made their last stops here. The architecture just added to the creepy vibe of the building. Even worse, one of the towers is known as "The Babbler" because of all the fun sounds that used to come from it when people were tortured there (remind anyone else of the Game of the Thrones' "tickler"?). The prison houses a memorial to Marie Antoinette, King Louis XVI, and King Louis' sister. The historical memory of the Revolution was really fascinating to me - people seem to be proud of the people's role in overthrowing the monarchy during the Revolution, but then they also visit memorials to the royalty and have turned Versailles into a public historical site. I'm sure it makes sense to them. At the end of a long day of site seeing, Paul and I visited the Rue Cler neighborhood and stopped by a variety of different stores to compile a delicious French picnic. The weather didn't cooperate, so we ended up in the dining room of our hotel, but it still tasted absolutely fantastic!! I managed to communicate with the woman at the frommagerie (cheese shop) en Francais and picked out three delicious cheeses. I even managed to ask her to write the names of the cheese on the packaging so I could remember what they were later.
What a day! Thanks so much for reading about one of my favorite Parisian adventures!
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On our last night in Paris, we climbed to the second level of the Eiffel Tower. This was one of my favorite adventures in Paris, because we had to climb so.many.stairs to earn a chance to see the breathtaking views. Heights make me a little nervous - especially when the only thing between you and the ground is see through metal - and I was super proud of myself for making it up and down without having a heart attack.
When we arrived in Paris, I felt like I was home. I definitely still felt like a cultural outsider, but something about the city just felt right. I was happy to discover that Paris lived up to all of its hype as the city of lights, the city of romance, etc. The four days we spent here were so wonderful. I may already be saving my pennies for a return trip. Maybe. During our first 24 hours in Paris, we checked into our adorable hotel in the Marais neighborhood: Hotel Jeanne D'Arc ... relaxed in our room ... walked around our neighborhood and made a tough decision about which delicious cafe to go to for dinner ... enjoyed an evening stroll on the Ile de la Cite and took pictures of Notre Dame ... found Paris' first hospital across the street from Notre Dame ... took a morning stroll through the Bastille Wednesday morning market ... practiced my French and had my first Nutella crepe of the trip ... planned our Metro routes ... explored a local church with connections to the Jesuit order ... and made a donation to "les pauvres de la paroisse."
We were just gearing up for all the walking and site seeing we would do during the French leg of our journey. Check back later today for sights from our favorite walking tour of the city! We didn't have long in London, so we packed a lot into a short time. On our one full day in London we had lots of walking and museum visiting planned. So of course, it poured down rain all day. We escaped the first drizzle of the day in the British Museum - the largest collection of stolen goods known to man. For a small donation, a visitor can see all of the things the British have "borrowed" from other cultures, and it's absolutely amazing. I don't know if I'll ever be able to get to Greece, Egypt, or Iran so it was pretty incredible to see so many ancient pieces in one place. I tried to imagine what it must have been like to see a statue like this in person. Probably made it easier to think of your ruler as divine, or as least all powerful. Because seriously, that thing packs a punch. This art is over 2000 years old. I stood in front of something that people around the world have been standing in front of since Jesus was alive. That blows my mind. We came out to (you guessed it) pouring down rain and spent thirty minutes looking for Jamie Oliver's restaurant Union Jacks. The search was worth it as this restaurant was both delicious and full of character. I had a cheesy cauliflower dish, and Paul had something made from a dead animal. My stomach and design aesthetic were both very pleased with our choice. We then got very wet looking at lots of cool monuments and historical sites following another one of Rick Steves' London audio guides. We caught so many more details of the places we visited because we had great supplementary info. Can you tell my shoes are a different color than they were at the beginning of the tour? That's because they're soaked! The walking was well worth the effort though, and the crappy weather was a great excuse to visit the National Gallery (in the left of the photo) to dry off. I'm not sure if we would have taken the time to go inside otherwise. My favorite experience in London was seeing Les Miserables at the Queen's Theater. The show was incredible, and Paul and I enjoyed comparing it to the movie (guess which was better?). When we left the theater, the whole area was so lively and full of people. Colorful lights shown on all the buildings, and many streets were closed to cars. Insert "pinch me I must be dreaming moment" here. On our last morning we walked through our neighborhood to the train station and made the 8th best decision of our marriage by going to the most wonderful Indian buffet restaurant on earth. Ok, so who knows if it was actually the best, but just take a look at that spread! Scrumptous! We said goodbye to London here, and I held up luggage traffic by snapping a photo of the lovers statue at the far end of the station. Simply beautiful.
Next stop: Paris! Welcome to London! Where people actually take red double decker buses, make calls in red phone booths, and use words like blimey and bloody. We took the bus from downtown Bath to downtown London and went from relaxed vacation mode to fast paced adventure mode. With only 48 hours in the city, we packed our time with walking tours, museum visits, and lots of food! Our first stop was Westminster Cathedral (not Abbey), the church my mom used to go to when she lived in London. The Cathedral pops out of nowhere in betweeen chain shops and restaurants in a busy part of the city. It was super dark inside as not many of the planned mosaics have been installed, but I think it just added to its ambiance. I especially liked the Cathedral because they didn't bat an eye to us walking around with all of our luggage. We lit a candle in the chapel where my mom prayed after she found out she was pregnant with me (I'm sure she was praying very hard). We stayed in an area close to Notting Hill where writer James Barrie used to live. This was the only European hotel where we had to share a bathroom with strangers; the rooms were so small they could only fit sinks. One of my favorite places in London was the Courtlaud Galleries (not surprising since I'm a huge art lover). We used the Rick Steves audio guide in the museum - if you haven't already noticed, Rick Steves was a big part of our European vacation. I'm so glad we had his tour - it gave us extra information on the best pieces of the museum, which Paul especially appreciated since he had no idea what any of the art was. I married him for his looks, not his art history knowledge. The rest of that first day we followed Rick Steves' (see I told you!) historic London audio tour. It took us through the heart of the City of London. Let me convince you further why audio guides are such a great idea. First, you gain a deeper knowledge of where you're visiting. Second, you gain this knowledge without having to look down at a book the whole time you're walking. Third, following the different stops is like following an amazing scavenger hunt. Fourth, you look awesome wearing your head phones on public streets (right???). The audio tour included a stop at Twinings tea shop (prounounced twine-ings). This tea shop has been around since the 1700s and feels like something right out of Harry Potter. I bought the most delicious orange and cinnamon rooibos tea here, and it's helping me to "make everyday glorious." I found out that you can get Twinings in the US, but what I found doesn't have the same great look that the British brand does. The obligatory telephone booth photo. Our roles probably should have been reversed for this photo op. Our tour took us by The Black Friar, one of the oldest pubs in London. At this friary turned pup, we ordered our first Bristish fish and chips - and even ordered it at the bar like real Londoners. Paul got a cask ale to wash his dinner down, and I drank a yummy apple cider. After dinner we found St. Paul's Cathedral - closed, yet still impressive. We also found THE Monument, a tribute to the survivors and devastation caused by the Great Fire of 1666. The fire was great for getting rid of the plague, not so great for preserving the historic buildings of the city. [We tried on this photo, but again I think our roles should have been reversed. Paul's much better at setting these up (which you'll see in some of our Paris photos).] And finally, we crossed the great London Bridge and saw a beautiful view of the city and the Thames. This was another one of those pinch-me moments. You can't tell where we are in this last photo, but you can tell we're happy.
London Part 2 (RAIN) will be up later today! We've reached the last Bath post of the day! Who would have thought that Bath, UK would have warrented so many pictures? Its beauty really surprised me, and it turned out to be the perfect place to start our vacation. Part of the wonder of the city is that the past is very palpable there. Even though many of the ruins have just been built over (and have had to be uncovered), many of the buildings are a great connection to the city's history. Buildings like Bath Abbey. Wowzers, what an abbey! According to Rick Steves (my new tour guide crush), imporant churches and temples have stood on or near the Bath Abbey grounds since ancient times. King Edgar I was crowned on the spot in 973, and the Roman temple Aquae Sulis overlapped the site far earlier than that. The current Gothic church is 500 years old and is known as the "Lantern of the West" because of its breath taking stained glass windows. Even though the outside has been restored, it still could use a little love in some places. Lots of dead people were buried here/nearby. I loved reading the creative spelling and heartfelt messages on the headstones - it added to the history and mistique of the building. We even found one for an old American congressman. We sat in the church for a while and enjoyed the details and ambiance of the space. Paul snapped some night shots of the abbey while we were on the Bizarre Bath Comedy Tour - which is also worth checking out if you ever find yourself in Bath. Check out those buttresses!
Thank for reliving our trip with us! Check back tomorrow for our photos from London. And our Bath party continues ... with high tea at the Pump Room. Built as a place of entertainment for Bath's elite in the 1700s, the Bath Pump Room is now a place where anybody can enjoy an afternoon tea. Which we did and loved. Our afternoon tea came with scones and delicious cream, tarts, and finger sandwiches. I was so full I couldn't finish it all! We finished our Bath trip with a visit to the big building next door to the Pump Room: the ancient Roman Baths. We had another "is this real life?" moment here. As a former history major, my geekiness level was maxed out here. The bath ruins have been preserved pretty well under the city of Bath, and tourists can now walk around and see really great exhibits recreating what the baths were like when they were in use 2000 years ago. I love being reminded of the finiteness of life by being around buildings that connect me to people who lived so long ago; so much is different, yet so much is still the same. Like many places in Europe, history comes in layers in the city of Bath: the ancient Roman Baths, the 19th century recreation of Roman statues, and the medieval Bath Abbey just nearby. Proof that these really are hot baths - steam rising off the water in the early morning sun. We had to rush through all the exhibits because we had to catch a bus to London, but I was so glad we made time to at least check out the baths. Nothing like a little ancient architecture to provide a humbling reminder that the things we build and create will long outlast us.
Welcome to a week of vacation posts! I am very excited to share our photos with you; thanks for sharing in our adventure! I'll start the posts by saying that I feel so grateful that Paul and I were able to take this vacation together. It was romantic and wonderful and joyful and felt like a once in a lifetime trip (but hopefully wasn't). We saw so many beautiful places and fully enjoyed all of them. Today I'll be focusing on our time in Bath, UK! We left on a Friday afternoon, flew Icelandic Airlines through Reykjavik, then arrived exhausted and smelly in London the next day. We had trouble accessing our money and our bus to Bath was an hour late. Woof. Rough start. But luckily Bath is an extremely walkable city, and we found our adorable hotel very easily. We had this view from our hotel window. Amazing! And we were within easy walking distance of the canal that runs through the city. After we checked into our hotel, we made the 7th best decision of our marriage and took a plunge at one of the city's two hot bath spas (yes Bath is actually full of baths). All the stress and exhaustion melted away in the water, and I fully entered vacation zone. Note to self: try to have every vacation start with a warm bath. We relaxed in a hot pool overlooking the city and had one of those "is this real life?" moments. I think great vacations can be measured in lots of these little moments. The spa had a typical cream colored brick facade that Bath is known for. So beautiful! The bath spa must have been good luck, because afterwards we were able to access our money here! Nice usage of the old telephone booths - they don't have to rip them out like we've done with our telephone booths in the U.S. The city of Bath by night. The next day we enjoyed mass at the city's Catholic church. A passerby told us it was designed by the same person who designed London's hansom cabs. It would be cool if that was true. We toured the city and took lots of pictures. This is one of the city's main squares - just outside Bath Abbey, the Roman Baths, and the Pump Room (more pictures of these things in posts I'll be sharing later today). One of my favorite areas of Bath: the Royal Crescent. It was built between 1767 and 1775 and contains thirty houses - each chimney shows a different apartment/house. There were lots of people picnicing and lots of kids with cute British accents chasing each other around. This spot reminded me a little of a popular wedding photo site in Forest Park in St. Louis, and low and behold a young couple came up with their photographer (you can see them if you squint at the middle of the picture). That first afternoon we did lots of window shopping and exploring - and liked it so much we made it a habit for the rest of the trip. Coke's new advertising gimic has reached the UK! We decided against the Coke and opted for some bread and cheese for a midday snack. We had the perfect weather that day and took our time starting off our epic adventure. Check back later today for more photos of our time in Bath - there were so many, I needed to split them up!
Oh boy do I miss my Papa. It would have been his (I think) 83rd birthday yesterday, and I was missing him all day. I couldn't think of the right way to write this post, so I procrastinated it until today. Here goes.
I'm thankful for... all the trips to McDonalds ... the freethrows ... the fishing trips ... the back to school dinners ... having the tallest Grandpa at all grandparents' days in grade schools ... cheese-its and keebler elf cookies ... having a fan at all my sports games ... birthday cards ... the colorful language ... trips to Kohls and Culvers ... knowing he would be there for every big event, every graduation, every birthday party ... the Michigan vacation ... his rendition of Moon River, marine songs, and Oh Danny Boy ... how much he loved Sammy and Blackberry (the cat, not the phone)... the smell of their old house ... how proud he was of all of us ... how much he loved Paul ... his love of coupons and deals ... forehead kisses and bear hugs ... his unique sense of humor ... always knowing I had someone in my corner ... my favorite Senior Olympian ... being told I could order whatever I wanted as long as I finished it ... the weekly college phone calls ... having someone who loved me unconditionally ... Miss you all the time Papa and still love you so much. Well that was an amazing trip. We arrived back in Milwaukee yesterday, and I'm back at work today. Luckily the relaxation and rejuvination I experienced on our trip hasn't quite left my system yet. I'm looking forward to sorting through all of our pictures and hanging up our new artwork - and eating the sweets we brought back with us. Check back on Monday for a full week of posts of our trip - Bath, London, Paris, Versailles, and Iceland. Can't wait to share our adventure with you.
On our way back to the states, Paul and I talked about living on our own after being in community for two years. We came up with new date night ideas and some fun things we want to do this summer. My favorite of our ideas was a new dinner menu arrangement. To make nightly meal making easier and a little more interesting, we're going to have themes for each night of the week: Mediterranean Mondays (French, Spanish, Italian, Greek, or North African), Tex-Mexican Tuesdays, Date Night Wednesdays (going out, picnics, or candlelit indoor dinners), CSA Thursdays, Fishy Fridays (the only night of the week we'll have "meat"), Soup and salad Saturdays, and Simple Sundays. We'll be starting next week, and I'll keep you posted with how things go. We're excited to be living on our own for the first time as a married couple - let's keep this honeymoon period going as long as it can! P.S. Can you guess what monument that is hiding behind us? |