Memories from France - France Day 7: April 22nd 2011

Paris Day 2: Last Day in France. . .

-Woke up early and grabbed some breakfast. . .Fresh fruit and chocolate croissants!

-Cruised down the Seine River by boat (highly recommend this!) and then walked along the river again to see all of the sights up close. . .

-Paid our respects at Princess Diana's Tunnel

-Toured the Jardin des Tuileries and the Louvre grounds

- Swung by the Place de la Concorde

-Gazed at the amazing details of Notre Dame (gargoyles and all!)

-Lounged in the courtyard (oldest one in Paris) of the Place des Vosges

-Grabbed the Metro (finally!) to the Statue of Liberty (yes, Paris has one too. . . it's the model that the French presented to the U.S. - you can thank them for our copy on Liberty Island!)

-Freshened up and enjoyed the most AMAZING pizza that we've ever tasted in our lives

-Attempted (3rd time) at going up the Eiffel Tower. . .WAY too many people. . .instead we strolled the grounds surrounding the Eiffel Tower at night . . .BEAUTIFUL!

-Meandered back to our hotel, grabbed a Crepe at a small street stand (can't leave Paris without devouring one), called it a night and the perfect ending to our vacation!

Voila!!! That was our trip to France! It was everything we had hoped it would be a much more! I would say that one of the best parts is how much Steven fell in love with France and European culture. Since we've been back, Steven likes to have baguettes with dinner, uses the term "Voila" when appropriate, gets disgusted at how spoiled and ungrateful we Americans can be (it's true, we really are. . .we have to have the biggest and the best, right?!) and loves watching House Hunters International (especially when it's in Europe - but he would kill me if he knew that I told you this). We are hoping to go back next summer, if everything goes as planned!

Memories from France - France Day 6: April 21st 2011

Thursday morning we left the train station from St. Die for our two days in Paris! It was hard leaving though. . . I won't lie, I cried, on the train. I had to put my sunglasses on. I love my family so much and I worry about how many more times I will be able to see my grandparents in this lifetime. As we were sitting on the train waiting to leave, I also started thinking about how many good memories I have from spending my summers in France as a child and as a teen. Steven made the comment, "I can see why you love it here so much." Those words meant so much to me! It's like he finally got it! **Side note - Steven was skeptical about a vacation in Europe, but was pleasantly surprised!** As hard as it was leaving St. Die, our time in Paris was wonderful! Our hotel room was nice, nothing extravagant, but simple! All I wanted was to be able to see the Eiffel Tower from my window and that's exactly what we got! We spent the day walking past the Eiffel Tower, to the Hotel des Invalides (which holds Napoleon's tomb), back to the Eiffel Tower's grounds, all the way up to the Arc de Triomphe, and back to our hotel for dinner at a small cafe. We came to the conclusion, that we walked about 9 miles that day. . . so much for using the Metro! Our feet were killing us by the end of the day, but we were so happy to take in the sights as much as we could!

Paris, Je t'aime. . .

Memories from France - France Day 5: April 20th 2011

Wednesday morning, my uncle took us to the Alsace region of France to see the Haut Koenigsbourg Castle, some of the small fortified Alsatian towns, and wine country. The drive was beautiful! Seriously, the pictures don't do it justice. When we were in Riquewihr, Steven kept saying "Wow, I can't believe that towns like this exist. I thought that you only found places like this in Disneyland!" Sorry Steven, but I'm thinking that Disneyland came after these 400+ year old towns! The boy is slowly being cultured. . .

A special thanks to my uncle Michel, for being the most knowledgeable and exciting tour guide! I'm pretty sure that he is one of Steven's favorite people!

Haut Koenigsbourg Castle

Riquewihr

Kaysersberg

Wednesday night, we all got together to say our goodbyes and to snap a few family photos. The next morning we were headed for our two days in Paris! I loved seeing my family in France and introducing them to Steven! After five years of marriage, it was about time!

Memories from France - France Day 4: April 19th 2011

On Monday night, Steven encouraged me to spend the following day with my grandparents. It would give him the opportunity to get some studying done for his Biology Praxis, and would give me the opportunity to spend some quality time with my grandparents. It was very much a "win-win" situation. I started the day by going into town with Mami to the "marche aux legumes" (vegetable market), where we shopped around and stopped into some of the surrounding stores. I found some darling things! When Mami ran into someone she knew, she proudly introduced me as "my granddaughter who lives in the United States" - she seemed pretty pleased to have us there visiting! After our small shopping trip, we (Mami, Papi, and I) headed over to Cora to get some grocery shopping done and to stock up on some goodies for when we got back to the States. Something about running errands around town with my Mami, brought me back to my childhood! After our errands, we had our dejeuner over at Veronique and Michel's (my aunt and uncle) house, rested a bit, and then we (Steven and I) headed over to Mami and Papi's house for the late afternoon and evening. We spent the evening chatting with my grandparents, eating delicious food. . .including my grandma's Tarte au Citron (Lemon meringue pie - my favorite!), and doing a little more exploring around my grandparents' property. I loved every moment of that day!

My favorite part of my grandparents' yard! These woods are so magical!

German dagger from WWII that my grandpa found in the woods a few years back

Memories from France - France Day 3: April 18th 2011

During our Sunday "dejeuner", my cousin Nicolas, invited us to come over to Nancy where he and his girlfriend, Julie live. Nancy is kind of the big city in the Lorraine region of France. . .it's about an hour away from St. Die by train. So Monday morning, we hopped on the train and headed over to Nancy to visit with my cousin and get a tour of the city. Nancy is known for being a big university town. Nicolas and his sister Alice, both went to school there. Since he lives there, he was able to give us an amazing tour! I think we got to see and do a little of everything while we were there! We had a wonderful lunch, saw the Place Stanislas (main square) where most of the iron is gold leafed paint (amazing!), toured some of the cathedrals and parks, stopped at a cafe (where the waiter was really rude - but the only rude French person our whole trip), and even got to do a little shopping. . . I finally got to go to Naf Naf, where I bought a darling dress! It was a great day! I have some of the most hospitable family over there! They are truly amazing people!