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!

Pictures from Paris Day 1

Here are a few pics to go with my first post...hope you have a great day!! 

                                                       First night at the apartment!

                                                                 Our bike ride group!

                                                       One of the stops on our tour....

                                            It was raining when we stopped to look at the tower--beautiful!

                                             Us in front of the tower with our sweet ponchos!

                                 Notre Dame-one of the stops on our tour...also breath taking!

                                               Cam representing with the flat tire!

    This picture should have gone first but oh well---the Pyramid at the Louvre where we met the group....

This is the official center of Paris right in front of Notre Dame--they use it for all the official measurements.  Pretty cool, huh?

Paris Day 1

We can now check Paris off our to do list!  This will probably be a lengthy post and to be honest I might split it up into several posts so I can get a few other things done today!

Last Week

Kerry and Melinda arrived with all their luggage (yay!) on Thursday here in Toulouse.  We spent the afternoon taking care of a few things (Kerry and Melinda took a little nap while Cam went back to work in the afternoon and I ran some errands).   After Kerry and Melinda rested for a little bit I showed them around Toulouse.  We ran a few more errands around Toulouse and headed back towards our hotel.  We spent the evening catching up on stories and munching on grilled cheese and tomato soup.  We also packed for our trip to Paris! We all went to bed at a decent time in order to rest up for our travels! 

Friday

We left for Paris at around 10 am and we walked down the street about 10-15 minutes to the train station.  Our train left right on time at 11:15 am and we were on our way.  We had reserved seats which was the way to go--our chairs faced each other with a table in the middle.  We stopped at a few different stations along the way.  We had grabbed a few sandwiches before we got on the train and we grabbed a few more while we were on the train for our lunch.  We had a great time talking and watching all the different scenery-we saw lots of greenhouses and farm land as well as trees that were planted in straight rows.  About 3/4 of the way to Paris we switched over to high speed which was crazy fast!  We finally made it to Paris a little after 4:30 pm (our total trip time was around 5 hours).  We tried to stop to use the restroom but they were ones where you had to pay.  We decided to skip it and wait until we found our place.  We were able to find a taxi out front and we were on our way! We made it to our apartment which was located at the end of a pedestrian street so it was in a perfect spot--no car traffic down our road!  We decided to head out and grab some food before our bike tour which started at 7:30 pm.  We found a Mexican restaurant right by our room and we chowed down.  We went back to the room to use the bathroom and we headed down to the Louvre which is where we were supposed to meet our guide. We walked down to the Louvre and it was AMAZING.  We had to walk around for a little bit to find the glass pyramid where we our guide was.  We finally found it right on time and we met up with Jean-Baptiste or JB for short.  He is one of three tour guides with the Blue Bike tours and if any of you get to go to Paris you should check them out--we had a BLAST.  We had to follow him to a parking garage where they keep all their bikes and after testing the bikes out we listened to a safety lecture.  We also got some sweet reflector vests as we were riding through the streets in the dark.  We headed out and I stayed really close to the front because I hadn't biked on busy city streets before.  We stopped at several different attractions within Paris and had an absolutely awesome time. I would go into detail about everyone of our stops but it would take a really long time and it still wouldn't do it justice.  About halfway through our tour though it started raining so we had to put some sweet red ponchos on and it made it even more adventurous!  We took a quick break for a snack (a crepe with chicken and cheese--which was FANTASTIC).  We finished up with the viewing of the Eiffel Tower all lit up (lights twinkling--every night starting at 8 on the hour every hour until midnight it looks like Christmas lights twinkling) and it was more than I ever could have imagined.  I could have sat there and watched the Eiffel Tower all night.  We finished our tour and headed back.  We stopped for a late night snack and drink at a place called Tennessee.  We called it a night after that and headed to bed.

I'm going to stop here for now so I can load some pictures and then I will write more about Saturday and Sunday in a little bit--have to go get some stuff done!            

Dinner, Shopping, and Relaxing

So this past week and weekend was a "stay at home and relax before things start to get even more crazy busy" week!  We had a normal work week (both for Cam and I--he at work and I at the hotel).  We still made time for errands and for checking a few things out though.  Two nights we went on a walk and found that if we go a backway through the city it seems to be a lot less crowded so we went that way.  While out on our walk both nights we had the opportunity to listen to live music by street performers.  I thought it was the coolest and could have stayed to watch all night.  Cam liked it but didn't want to stand around to watch so we just walked by and heard the music as we passed.  I think it is the little things like street performers that make this place and it makes me a little sad to think about when we go home how we don't have that type of culture back home (at least in Derby!).  As the time goes faster and faster I find myself appreciating a lot of those moments more and more- the street performers, the friendly English speaking clerk at the grocery store, the sounds when you have the windows open (the hustle and bustle and people speaking French).  It's crazy to think that we have been here almost 2 months already--we looked at the calendar last night and the next month (which is basically all we have left) will go so fast.  We are getting ready for Kerry and Melinda to come visit this week (they get here Thursday!!) And we going to PARIS this next weekend!  I am so so so excited!! :-) So this past week we have been preparing for the next few weeks!  We have Paris this next weekend and then some sightseeing at the beginning of next week then Kerry and Melinda will leave for a few days and then come back to Toulouse as they head home. After they leave we only have two weeks left and we still have some stuff on our to do list to check out. 

But back to this past weekend--

On Friday we were invited to go to a retirement dinner for one of Cam's co-workers here.  We went to dinner in Blagnac and we had a really good time!  We were able to dress up a little (as best we could with what we brought) and I got to meet some of Cam's co-workers.  Funny enough Cam only works with 2 French people, the rest are from the UK--it was really fun to talk with them and hear their accent!  We also had a good time talking about all the differences between France, the US, and the UK.  We ended up staying out really late so by the time we got home we crashed.

On Saturday we slept in and then we decided to go shopping/run some errands.  We were able to check out the open air market they have here (it's open everyday except Mondays).  This market was HUGE!  It stretches down several blocks and it has fruits/veggies, meat/cheese, and a few other misc. things.  I didn't have my camera with me so I don't have pictures to show you but we will go again and I will snag some pictures then.  Once we made it through the market we hit up some shops and then hung out at the hotel (which by the time we got back from shopping it was already like 4 or 5 pm)  So we chatted with some family and had dinner. 

Yesterday was another chill day (the weather here the last few days also helped the chill mood--cool and cloudy with some sprinkles).  We did go out for a small walk during the afternoon to see if they had art down by the river but since it was sprinkling we decided they must not have set up.  We played a few games of Yahtzee and did some research on-line.  (Cam's been itching to work on something but since we are on the 3rd floor of a hotel that limits what he can do so he has been settling looking at truck stuff on-line ;). We had a quiet night and ended up watching The Avengers again--so thankful I have my iPad here to be able to watch movies!

 So basically that sums up our week and weekend--today I have been doing laundry, catching up on emails/blog, and getting things ready for Kerry and Melinda and our weekend trip! I don't have any pictures for this entry--didn't carry my camera with me much this week-but I switched my memory cards out and put a new one in in preparation for the upcoming festivities--I will most likely take ridiculous amounts of pictures in the next few weeks!  We don't get back from Paris until Monday afternoon and then we have stuff planned for Tuesday/Wednesday so I won't probably write again until then (I will probably do a quick update when Kerry and Melinda get here but just a short entry). 

With that I better get going again and get some more stuff done--it's already after 12 here and I have a list for this afternoon! We hope you all have a great week!! 

Jenny and Cam    

     

Cordes-Sur-Ciel

Happy October!

We hope you all had a fantastic weekend! And a great September for that matter ;)  We had a great weekend here--we stayed in Toulouse on Saturday because it was cloudy and it was supposed to rain the whole day.  It didn't end up raining the whole day but we figured we would just hang out anyway (we were originally going to go on a driving tour but decided we wanted to be able to see what we were looking at!)

On Friday we went to the cool park I was talking about in the last post--it is in Blagnac (where Cam works) and it was awesome!  It was cloudy and cool and it was the first time we went running since we have been here!  My family may or may not be a little competitive and I sure as heck wanted to have at least run on my Garmin before we left!!  We didn't go far or fast but it felt so good to stretch our legs!  Cam even said it felt good to get out and move!  We ran/walked for a while just enjoying the fresh air and cooler temps--towards the late afternoon we headed back to give Cam's co-worker a ride to the airport. After the airport we went to the big store at the mall (grocery store) and grabbed a few things.

Saturday

We spent Saturday here catching up on projects, errands, and I even started packing a little bit--I know it's early but I put some of our summer clothes in the bottom of our bags so it made room in the closet for warmer clothes.  The weather has finally cooled down enough to where we aren't wearing shorts much (I'm not at all but Cam still is at times).  Actually the past 3 or 4 days have been cool and cloudy! 

Sunday

Even though it was cool and cloudy we headed out to check out a cool town callede Cordes-Sur-Ciel. This town in the Midi-Pyrenees region which is the same region as Toulouse.  Midi-Pyrenees means it's in the southern France and that it has mountains which serve as a boundary (on the south). So basically it's beautiful geography--green and hilly.  And I mean hilly as in actuall hills not bumps in the road.  The drive was breath-taking--there was farm land, vineyards, and amazing buildings.   Once we made it to the city we parked on the outskirts because the neat thing about this town is that it it built on a hill.  There are virtually no cars that drive up into the town (a few of the residents do but that's it.) So we parked and headed into town.  We stopped at the Office de Tourism on our way in and bought a town map.  The walk up was a work out--it was STEEP at times.  I googled it for fun and Wikipedia said that the town's elevation is from 522 ft-1050 ft. Now I realize that we didn't climb Mt. Everest but let me tell ya--we weren't the only ones huffing and puffing our little selves up the hill. Everyone else was sucking air too.  But it was totally worth it because even the climb up had amazing streets that were lined with the coolest houses.  I wish I were a better writer so I could describe the atmosphere for you guys.  The houses are old and have so much character--the houses themselves are neutral colors generally but then they have bright colored shutters for example.  You just don't see anything like that back home.  We had so much fun walking around (once we finally made it to the top of the hill!)  We checked out all the little shops that were open (since we went on Sunday most were closed but a few were open).  We checked out the views from all the different angles and they were just as breath-taking as the drive.  Green, more green, and beautiful.  In some of the pictures I will add you can see a little bit of it in the background--I wish I could load tons of pictures but that might overload you all and my computer!  I took so many pictures of just the landscape--I figure though that we will see you all when we get back and can share more pictures and stories :)  We ended up eating lunch there before we headed home.  We spent the rest of the afternoon (which we didn't get home until almost 4 so it wasn't all day) playing Yahtzee which we have been playing a lot actually.  We have gone through 4 score sheets each since Wednesday I think--we have a good time :)  We have a running total of games won and right now I am in the lead with 13 games to Cam's 11.  We will see how that long lead lasts though...

Right now (Monday) I am catching up on computer stuff-blog-email-messages.  Then it is lanudry day and other errands to take care of.  We hope you all have a great first week of October!! 

One of the many views on our drive--it was beautiful!

                                                         Welcome to Cordes Sur Ciel!

Welcome to Cordes Sur Ciel!

The colors are just awesome.

Cammy C and I!

I just loved walking up through the streets with all the colors and things to look at!!

Cammy C!  And also a little bit of the view behind him!

Another view from the top of the hill--we just loved seeing all the GREEN!!

This was our lunch!  I had 3 cheese and Cam had one with ham and egg on it! He said he liked it better than the panini--I disagree-while it was good it doesn't top the paninis around here!!

We can't believe we will see you all again in just a little over a month! :-)

 According to my countdown (which varies from Cam's) we have 39 days left!!

We still have lots to see and do so we will be busy this next month!

Love,

Jenny and Cam