Albi

Hello!

We hope this finds you all doing well and having a fantastic start to your week--we are well into our Monday over here and I spent the morning running errands and getting last minute things.  This afternoon I will be here in our room working on house chores.  So I thought I would take a break and blog a little. This last weekend Cam and I went to a town called Albi. (Kerry and Melinda left last Thursday and they made it home safe and sound as most of you already know!)  Albi was fine.  I say fine because while I know we are over in France and should appreciate everything--it was hard to really appreciate the town because it was freezing cold.  And by freezing cold I mean we were numb it was so cold.  It was also poor planning on our parts because we arrived right at 12:30 which is when 99% of the town closed for lunch.  I think I have mentioned it before in other posts but lunch over here is a production--it's not like a quick 30 minutes or even an hour--most places are closed until 2:30 pm.  That's a serious lunch break right there!  So it was cold, everything was closed, and we didn't really have a good game plan or even know where we should be starting.  The Office de Tourism was closed as well.  So anyways we made the best of the time--we found a sandwich shop (Cam wanted to eat at a restaurant but I wasn't in the mood for a French menu and unknown food items--I've been a pretty good sport about it the whole time we have been here {especially for how picky of an eater I am!} but for some reason that day I wasn't feeling unknown weird French food).  So Cam was a very supportive husband and ate a sandwich with me.  After lunch we spent some time checking out the church they have in town--which was huge on the outside.  It wasn't the prettiest church we have seen this trip but the inside made up for it--the details were unreal--I tried to take a few pictures but they probably won't do it justice.  After we checked out the church we found a tram/train thing that took you through the town. We decided we might as well and even though the windows were open in the car it was at least out of the wind and cold for a little while.  We got the English translation (papers) so that made it a little hard to follow and after a few stops we gave up trying to figure out exactly where we were and just enjoyed the town. It was a pretty nice little town and I think we would have appreciated it more if it had been a little warmer (several people raved about how cool the town was).  After the train ride we checked out a shop or two (one of them was a chocolate store!  I wanted to visit the chocolate shop where it is in the top 10 chocolate makers  in France but I left my book at the hotel and couldn't remember the name--there were two chocolate shops and we picked the one that wasn't the top 10 but everything still looked fantastic--Cam picked up some chocolate coffee bean things for himself and said they were pretty tasty! After the chocolate shop we went to the Office de Tourism and decided we had hit the highlights so we headed towards home. While on our way we decided to stop at the IKEA in town for something fun to do.  Well when we made it to the IKEA it turns out it was right next to a huge mall and the whole place was PACKED. I mean there wasn't a single spot to park anywhere--people were parked on the off ramp!  We decided to just get gas for the car and try another day--they even had police/security officers directing traffic it was that busy!  We figured we would wait until next weekend and maybe try again (and go earlier in the day!)
On Sunday there was a marathon here in Toulouse and we had planned to check it out. Turns out mother nature thought otherwise because when we woke up on Sunday it was in the 30's with a wind chill that put it into the upper 20's!  Well we didn't bring anything heavier than our mid-weight North Face jackets and I didn't bring gloves or a beanie so we decided that we would skip going outside.  We just hung out in the room instead--leaving only for a little bit to go get Cam some coffee in the lobby.  Cam researched truck stuff and I packed and rearranged our bags again trying to fit everything in and stay within the weight limit--my prediction is that every single piece of luggage we have will be maxed out on wieght when we leave--we don't want to have to pay overweight fees because they are astronomical!  So it is like my personal project and I still have a little bit of time to make it all work out!  Anyways after that we played some YAMS (Yahtzee) and I am pleased to report I'm still in the lead!  After that we did dinner and watched Iron Man 1 (AGAIN! We will have all those movies memorized by the time we get home!! ;)

  I should also mention that yesterday they switched to winter time over here so we got an extra hour which messed me up today while I was trying to get a hold of my family--I forgot about the extra hour making a difference!  Turns out back home they still have another week before they fall back!  Whoops!

I better get going on some house chores so I will upload some pictures and call it a day!

 Trying to show how big the church was!

 It was HUGE!

                                                     Some of the beautiful detail work!

                                                         Some more of the detail...

 Found a really cool garden!

                                                   The garden had some awesome designs!

                                  One of the views on our train/tram ride--that's the church on the left!

We saw a jeep!

    We also saw a TAHOE!  We couldn't believe it!

(We also saw a newer model Dodge Ram pick up truck in Albi!)

{While in Toulouse we also saw a Chrysler station wagon (I know it wasn't an actual station wagon but the equivalent of the Magnum)} It was a weekend for cars!

Hope you all have a great week!!

Jenn and Cam 

Fun in Toulouse

As I promised in my last post I will add some pictures from our journey around Toulouse with Kerry and Melinda!  It seems like it was just yesterday, but in fact it has already been a full week!  Kerry and Melinda will be arriving back here in Toulouse tomorrow and then head home on Thursday so I thought I better get this post done today because the next few days will go fast as well! So last week we cruised around Toulouse showing them around a little bit.  We checked out the Farmer's Market, took them to the top floor of a department tore to see a panaromic view of the city, strolled down by the river, and had fun checking out a few other sites.  Here are a few pictures from that:

                                            Cam's excited to check out the market ;)

                                                     I loved all the vibrant colors!

                                               Kerry and Melinda at the Market...

                                           Cam and Kerry picking out olives and garlic....

                                            In front the fountain close to our hotel....

                     We checked out the hydroelectric plant which had been on our to do list...

                                        Cam at the hydroelectric plant overlooking the river....

                                          Some of the world's best ice cream/gelatto!

                                            I went for their biggest size--little slice of heaven!

                                                      Us in front of the Capitole....

                                            Kerry and Melinda in front of the Capitole....

So those are just a few pictures from our day in Toulouse--I know Melinda has more pictures on her camera that I will have to get once we all get home and get settled a little bit! 

We don't have a ton on the agenda for the next week--we figure with Kerry and Melinda coming tomorrow and then leaving Thursday the next few days will go fast.  This weekend I think we are going to try and make it to Albi for a day trip on Saturday to get out of the hotel.  And fingers crossed the weather holds out for us--the last few weeks have been awesome and then as soon as Friday arrives the weather changes to cool and rainy! We decided we will go regardless of the rain (we have umbrellas and jackets!) but it would be nice to see some sunshine ;)

We hope you are all having a fantastic week! 

J

Paris Day 3

Sunday

On Sunday morning we went to the good 'ole Starbucks again for some coffee and breakfast.  Next stop on our grand tour was Notre Dame. We decided to walk there and it was rainy again (it ended up raining the whole time we were there except for the day we left--of course!).  The funny thing was that the rain just added to our adventure though--we didn't care that we had soaking wet shoes and pants--we just enjoyed every minute of being in Paris.  Back to our walk to Notre Dame--we finally made it and took a few quick pictures in front then got in line to get in.  Once again luck was on our side and we didn't have to wait more than 5 minutes to get in!  SWEET!  Once we were inside it was AMAZING! They had a service going on so we had to be silent as we walked around but everything was beautiful--from the stone to the glass windows.  We spent a little bit of time walking around the entire lower level and then headed outside to get in line to go up the towers.  Even though it was pouring rain we had a great time in line and we waited for about an hour--during the wait we checked out the gargoyles that were spitting water (which had it not been raining we wouldn't have seen!), bought a 4th umbrella so we each had one, got some hot chocolate and hot wine, and people watched.  It was finally our turn to go up and we got our tickets and headed up.  (I should also mention it was really cool throughout the weekend-most places we went offered a discount price for Cam and I since we weren't 25 yet--BONUS! Notre Dame and the Eiffel Tower were included!)  So we make our way up this itty bitty narrow stairs which were really neat!  When we finally made it to the top we spent some time checking out the different views and then checked out the bell! It was hard to get really good pictures in there because it was so dark but we tried...after the bell we went further up to the highest point on the tower and checked out the views from up there.  It was really fun to recognize all the different things we had seen from up high.  It was a neat perspective! 

                                                                 Walking up to it!

                                                                 Almost there!
                                

                                            Waiting in line outside to get into the towers...

First stop up the tower...

                                                        First stop....

                                                     Just one of the views...beautiful!

                                                               Group Picture!

                                                            Out front...

                                                              Out front.....

Once again those are just a few of the many pictures I have...I plan on showg you all lots more when we get home! 

After Notre Dame it was lunch time! We went to this pizza place that Kerry and Melinda had found the night before when they were out exploring. It was some GOOD pizza! 

After lunch we headed out on our adventure again--next stop was Hotel des Invalides.  We decided that it wasn't too far to walk so we were on our way!  It took us about 30 minutes to walk there but it gave us the opportunity to see different parts of the city.  Once we arrived we checked out some of their exhibits including Ancient Armor and Weapons, Napolean's Tomb, and World War I and II Exhibit.  We saw a bunch of cool things and the guys really liked the manly exhibits!  ;)We tried to leave early enough to see the "Thinker" at the garden next to Hotel des Invalides but we were late by two minutes and the guy wouldn't let us in to buy a ticket ;(  Oh well.

Here are some pictures from Hotel des Invalides. 

                                            At the entrance...

                                                   In front of the building...

                                                    Us up front.....

                                                In front of the building....

                                           That baby had three barrels! We couldn't believe it!!

                                                            Checking out the displays...

                                               Checking out the gun show....hahahahah!

                                            Cam's impression of ridin'....

                                              Cam was in a goofy fun mood that afternoon!

After we finished up at the Hotel des Invalides we tried to hurry over to see the "Thinker" but as I mentioned above we were late by 2 minutes and the guy wouldn't let us in.  So after that we headed towards the Arc de Triomphe. 

We strolled down the Champs Elysees and it took us about 30 minutes to get the the Arc but it was really cool.  I had a great time walking down the street and looking at all the different shops and people.  We finally made it to the Arc at about 6-6:15 pm and we checked it out.  We took some pictures and then called it a day for our feet. We took a taxi back to our apartment where we rested for a little bit.

After we rested we went out to dinner at a place right across from whee we were staying and the food was delicious!  I had French Onion Soup, Cam had snails and salmon, Kerry had snails and duck, and Melinda had pork.  It was awesome.  After we finished eating we made a quick bathroom stop and we were on the road again-this time to the River where we were hoping to catch a late night boat tour of the city.  We barely made it in time and the boat ride was awesome--we sat on the top and although it was a little chilly and windy we had a great time.  The announcer would say something in French and then repeat it in English so we were able to follow along with exactly what they were saying! We got to see all sorts of cool bridges, buildings, the Eiffel tower, among many other things.  After the boat ride we started packing up to head home.  

So basically that sums up our two full days in Paris.   A very brief summary though.

Monday morning we got up and ate breakfast and then checked out a bakery where we got some yummy bread.  After the bakery we walked down the streets for a little bit before getting a taxi and heading to the airport.  We got to the airport early but it worked out well because we ate something and then people watched for a little bit.  Our flight was nice and short-- we actually got into Toulouse about 20 minutes early.  We took a bus from the airport back to our hotel in Toulouse.  Once we made it we hung out, ate some snacks like cheese and crackers, and Kerry and Melinda got packed up for their week in Italy. 

On Tuesday we checked out Toulouse with Cam, Kerry, and Melinda and I have a few pictures from that but I will save them for my next post. I have to get going to the store now so I will leave you all with this post for now! ;)   

Paris Day 2

Saturday

Saturday morning we woke up around 8 am and headed aross the street to Starbucks for some coffee and breakfast.  After we got our fill of goodies there we began our grand adventure for the day and our first stop included the Louvre.  Our tour guide from the Blue Bike Tour had told us to get there right at opening in order to try and beat the lines.  We got there right around the time it opened and we essentially walked right in! We couldn't believe it!  It had started to sprinkle on the walk over there so we were al thankful we didn't have to stand outside in the rain!  We did have to wait for just a few minutes inside to get our tickets but we were soon on our way!  The first stop at the Louvre? The MONA LISA! Once again our tour guide was right on and told us to check out the Mona first before it fills up.  We were able to snap some quick pictures with it and be on our way to the next stop! To be honest she was about what I expected--size and color wise--everyone had warned us she was smaller than you think.

                                             Here is Cam and Melinda with The Mona Lisa!

                                                      Me with the Mona Lisa.....

Up next after the Mona Lisa was the largest collection of Egyptian artifacts outside of Egypt...this exhibit was HUGE. It was also AWESOME. For those of you who know me really know will know how much I appreciated this exhibit.  Growing up I wanted to be several things, but at one point I wanted to be a historian and focus on Egyptian history. So needless to say I thought this exhibit was FANTASTIC.  We saw a little bit of everything--the displays were awesome enough by themselves but they were also housed within the Louvre so each room was breath-taking too!  Melinda and I kept looking from the glass cases of Egyptian stuff to the ceiling of the rooms to the doors to the handles that opened the windows--there was stuff to look at everywhere.  Turns out Melinda loves Ancient Egyptians stuff too so we took our time walking thtough all the different rooms together...   And it was all breath-taking! The detail of the rooms was incredible--from the wood carvings in the door to the colors of the ceilings each with a different painting.  I tried taking pictures of the all the different things so it might help to just show you pictures! 

                       I could have stayed in that exhibit all day!  But we had other stuff to see too!

                                 This is just ONE of the many ceilings we saw--awesome, right?

                                                                   Classic replica pose

                                                                           Classic.

                                               Kerry and Melinda with one of the exhibits!

                               Melinda had a fantastic time looking at all the different stuff too!

Okay onto the next part--after the Egyptian exhibit we went to the original Louvre structure which was below the ground...I took a few pics there too!

Our last stop at the Louvre was a few of the sculpture exhibits...we only saw a few of the exhibits--didn't make it every single one but we had a blast checking out the ones that we did!

Okay that isn't every single detail from the Louvre, but rather a brief overview--I have tons of other pictures but I don't think the blog would handle me uploading every single one ;) 

So after we left the Louvre it was pouring rain! We sloshed back towards our apartment and found a cool little pizza place ("Pizza Caesars" I think) to eat lunch. 

After lunch there was a brief siesta time.  After drying out our shoes and socks we were ready for stop 2--the Eiffel Tower!  We took a taxi there and when we arrived the sun peeked out for just  few minutes! 

So we choose to walk up the stairs because the line for the elevator was longer--we only had to wait in line for maybe 30 minutes--SCORE! We were rockstars when it came to picking the right time to go places!  We headed up the stairs and let me tell ya--we were all sucking air by the time we reaced the first look-out point!  Heights aren't my absolute favorite thing in the world so I was good on the first level look-out. Originally the rest of the crew planned to go to the top but we all ended up just staying on the first level (I told them I would wait and they were more than welcome to go but we found a cool little cafe and hung out there for a little bit instead).  The views were pretty cool and we took tons of pictures!  After a while there was a storm a brewing so it was about dusk when we left and we took the elevator down (our legs thanked us tremendously! ;)

                              Waiting in line to climb the stairs--after the sun went away it got cold fast!
                                              

                          At the first level look out--the sun peeked out again but it was cold and windy...

                                                  Made it to the first level look out...

                                         Having some fun in the Cafe.....still on the first level ;)

                                                             Getting ready to leave...

                                   P.S. The Eiffel Tower is 10 times better at night when it's bright...it was beautiful!

So after the Eiffel Tower we took a cab back and had a low key night.  Kerry and Melinda went out and explored a little bit but Cam and I stayed back at the apartment--I was actually able to get a hold of both my parents so I got to chat with them! ;)  We called it a night pretty quickly after I chatted with them. 

That was a pretty brief description of our first full day!  Sorry it seems like a novel though with all the different parts! I have some other stuff to work on so I will write about Day 3 either later this afternoon or sometime this weekend!  We hope you all have a great Friday!