Jackie's Journey

Cupcakes and Cemeteries!!!

2009-12-14T06:15:00.000-08:00

It is quite common for people to visit cemeteries in Paris. Checking out the burial place of famous people is not as interesting to me, but i went along for the trip anyways with the promise of getting a cupcake after. Cupcakes in Paris arehard to come by so I had to go. Equally hard to come by is cheesecake, and while i am not a huge fan Jessie is so that worked out. To start of the very adventerous day we met our American friend Cait at Breakfast In America, a really typical diner style place that serves pancakes and eggs and hash browns and other breakfast products that France doesn't do. After that we went to the Pere Lachaise Cemetery. I did take lots of pics. Some were simply because i liked them and others because they were famous. Of course I captures Jim Morrisson and Oscar Wilde's (Cait made us faux kiss it). Then we went to find our cupcakse and came across Vitor Hugo's house. It wasn't that great, but i found one room oddly oriental and so i posted that. Then off course we finally got our treats and I made sure those pictures were posted. Later that night Jessie and I started our Advant calendars so I thought i'd share those as well. There are also some pictures of the metro because I was apparently very into photographing that day. ALSO in case anyone reads this I found out merely and hour ago that i PASSED my french class!!!! Jessie and I picked up our grades today and were both relieved to have scrapped by, it was close. Very excited at the moment. I'll have to upload that photo and post it later :) Anyways, enojoy my cupcakes and cemetery photos!
Oh! and this morning I had my last final and when i was up this morning walking to school it was 1' Celsius, which is like 33.8'F and at noon after the temps rose to a cool 2' (or 35.6')! SO i was literally freezing, but the exam went okay. And we were lucky enough to see snow flurries, but haven't had real snow like Aunt Paula in Houston or those folks in Maine. I wonder how California and Colorado are faring in the December weather.?

Dublin

2009-12-12T02:42:00.000-08:00

After Thanksgiving we went to Dublin. Along for the trip were Wyatt and Marcos who visited Jessie for the week. It was a freezing weekend to be there. On Saturday I wandered around checking out all the museums and parks with Sarah, an Australian girl who i meet in the first muesum, while Jessie and the boys watched a rugby match and ate chicken nuggets and chips. I met up with Jessie later to attend an Evensong service at Christ Church Cathedral. Then we all went to a pub and ordered nice Irish food and Guinness to watch another rugby match. I think there was a tournament or something happening that weekend. My pictures start with my first stop Saturday at Trinity College, where i saw the Book of Kells. Then i went to the National History Museum, the National Gallery, St. Stephens Greens and the other major park. I went to St. Patrick's Cathedral then met Jessie at Christ Church. Sunday we went to the Guinness brewery for a tour and then to a little coastal town called Houth. Most of Houth I was unable to photograph because it was pouring rain, but we ate some really good fish soup and Jessie and I tired their special: Ox tounge. It tasted like bacon. Also I added a lot of Dublin's Christmas decorations because, well, i love Christmas. Enjoy!

St. Stephen's Green

The other Park, which had Oscar Wilde's statue.

St. Patrick's It started raining:

Christ's Church Cathedral

I Love this pic. I made Jessie make sure that Guinness really does only use the best ingredients! They do.

Guinness Christmas Decor

A perfect pour

Holiday Decorations

Saint Malo and Mount St. Michel

2009-12-06T10:11:00.000-08:00

So one week-end in November our abroad program went up North to the coast. We went specifically to two cities: Mount St. Michel (which is really this old, old monastery that is situated on a hill out behind the tides, meaning when the tide comes in it becomes a little town on a hill, other times it is accessible by a stretch of beach.) the other town we went to was Saint Malo. It is a fortified town that has a wall protecting it. We also stopped at some random beach town where Jessie and I had lots of seafood for lunch. Most of the pictures don't have great explanations which is why there is such a great introduction. :) Also in St. Michel a group of us were lucky enough to watch the France v. Ireland football game in a conference room at the restaurant/hotel we stayed at. It was fun.

First our little lunch town:

The oyster market:

The area right next to the market, where we were invited to go and eat. See our group migrated to the steps at the back.

The plate. I tried one. I can now check that off my list and avoid future meetings.

Our lunch was mussels and some fish soup. Both were surprisingly good.

The drive from our lunch town to Mount St. Michel:

Mount St. Michel

The streets wound around the mountain. It was really awesome, but not great fun to hike up!

The original monastery and the one i visited.

Shots in and around the monastery:

Views from the top:

The town streets

Mount St. Michel

The Football/soccer game TV

We were very into it

At night

Saint Malo, a port city and fortifide lair:

Low tide:

We toured the castle where i got a picture of this little old building. Which we later walked out to. Jessie and i also found a mountaint of mussles to climb down in order to reach the water.

Castle

St. Malo's beach. You can see the wet area of the logs, where the water rises to at night. If you look carefully you can see Cait, Jessie and Katie hiding.

beach view of the castle and city walls

Me with my rolled up jeans, which was necessary because the sand and water were wet.

The Kates walking ahead of us. Katie is on the left and Cait is the blonde on the right.

St. Malo the city

A look from the city walls

on the wall

Another view

It was a fantastic trip. Gotta go download more pics!
Oh and Happy December!
XOXOX

Disneyland Paris

2009-12-01T04:34:00.000-08:00

I am very late to post these pix. Back in November Jessie and I went to Disneyland Paris. It was amazing. The parks are very similar to the ones in California. The rides are often the same, but the French tried to out do our rides with extra decor. It was all very pretty, yet reminiscent of our Disneyland, and we were there to see the Christmas decorations.

Our first ride The Haunted Mansion was exactly like the one back home except the ghosts were cheesier. And we were surrounded by a group of British pre-teens.

A lovely tree house that we explored along with the caves under it.

The caves took a weird turn and led into Davey Jones's locker

A sweet bridge that Jessie and I tortured some French kids on.

One of the little towns, i think it was in Adventureland

There was a crazy set-up for the Pirate's of the Caribbean:

I tried to rule Narnia.

Went on the best roller coaster:

A little kid's Aladdin ride that Jessie and I looked outrageous on.

It's A Small World!

The American people in It's A Small World. I think we were represented well.

The Castle at night

Not many pix because i have to start my next post, but Jessie and I went on every ride that both parks had. Luckily not many people were there. And thanks to all those who said that i should try and go to the Disneyland in Paris ( i think that was Phil and Jessi and ...). I loved it.

the Louvre

2009-11-23T04:52:00.000-08:00

Finally decided to post these pictures:

The Entrance to the LouvreThe building itself, which is awesome

And the famous painting:

That was as close as i could get with my camera. It was pretty tiny up close and SUPER crowded. Jessie actually goes to the Louvre for her art history class once every other week and her professor lets me tag along, so I get guided tours of renaissance art! Of course there was a ton of other way interesting art pieces i could have posted, but those you will have to go and see yourself. Plus, i have to go to class again.

Love you all

Amsterdam

2009-11-16T04:17:00.000-08:00

Amsterdam. I'm running late for class, so there are mainly pictures, with some commentary that i typed as i waited for all the pictures to post. We toured the Heineken brewery/museum, wandered around the red light district, saw Anne Frank's house, floated down some canals, and saw a few other random things:

The Canals

the city was swarming with bikes.

Our first tour of the trip:

Anne Frank's house

More Canals:

There were certain things that were all over the city. One was elephants and the other was shoes, check out our favorites:

An Ice Bar. It was very COLD. The seats, bar, cups, everything was made out of ice, unfortunately we were not allowed to take pictures of the inside.

The Red Light District.

And after walking through we left. It might surprise no one that we took part of none of the activities in this area.

Me in a Dutch shoe

A coffee shop

Off the beaten path Amsterdam can be quite pretty, however my camera refused to take a clear picture. The canals are covered with bridges and lights.Me being terrified by some guys on Halloween!

And an awesome haunted house tour
The special at the local McDonald's. Jessie is still not sure what kind of meat was in it!

The other part of the city at night

A human robot A dinosaur:

A diamond factory tour:

And some rain:

That's it.

London

2009-11-09T13:10:00.000-08:00

When in London my camera battery forgot to charge itself, not my fault really. I have quite a bit of pictures but will be posting a link with Jessie's album at the end or tomorrow for more details. Most of the pictures are obvious and so have no title, but others i just wanted to point out, even if they were obvious. The best part (or the one i was most excited for) is first, as i no longer save the best for last. And there are tons of pictures of things that i feel are British and needed to be captured.

First is a train station. It is the most magical train station in existence. I was not allowed to enter into the platform i wanted, but i sure tried!

Some local British things like a cab. If any American has a British speaking friend or acquaintance, i think you should ask them to say "aluminum." It's worth it.

And a telephone booth

The British Museum:Its Library:

The crazy architecture inside the museum:

Some random person wanting in the picture. (I did not include pictures of the awesome stuff the museum housed, but it had amazing artifacts. It kept us busy all day, but it lacked and American section that went beyond our Native American days.)

The London Eye:

It was Halloween time.

Some witches!The London Eye after we were on it. We never even noticed that the whole time we were on it, it was apparently changing colors. Check it out:

Some building and a clock tower.

Some more phone booths

Here is one of the many sidewalk tributes to Princess Diana that i kept stumbling upon:Buckingham Palace and its statue:

And our British Cab:

Like I mentioned my camera was misbehaving. Here is the link to Jessie's photo album, well hopefully it turns into a link, if not just copy and paste.

Jessie's main page: http://s646.photobucket.com/albums/uu188/shepherd_jessie/

The London album: http://s646.photobucket.com/albums/uu188/shepherd_jessie/London/

Hope everyone back home is getting ready for the holidays. We are starting to see decorations here already, but only for Christmas as there is no Thanksgiving in Paris. :( We will be celebrating the holiday though as we are Thankful for the sharing that transpired long ago.
Will post again soon, hopefully.
Love you all.

Ship ride across the Channel

2009-11-08T11:02:00.000-08:00

Jessie and I took a little trip to England. Crossed the Channel in this ship and spent a day in the English countryside before heading to London. Pictures of London will be up later and I can't currently locate the countryside pics, so here is our ride:

The wake it created, which brought tons of seagulls:

And a group that we kept running into that we think secretly wanted to be the next big boy band

Our fans waving goodbye as we left France.

The French Coast and a lighthouse:

London is coming soon!

Chateaux Weekend

2009-11-04T00:43:00.000-08:00

So we spent a weekend in the Loire Valley, just south of Paris. We toured several chateaux and the city of Amboise.
First up is Amboise, which housed an amazing medieval town, Leonardo Di Vinci's house and a chateau.

Amboise:

Leo's house

his paintings as interior decoration for his room:

his kitchen:

Leo preserved in his basement!

his backyard with acres full of his inventions A playground on his grounds

A dwelling in the mountainside in Amboise Amboise Tower:

Food of the Loire Valley at our picnic lunch

A chateau postcard

Amboise chateau

Amboise at night

Villandry Chateau and gardens:

And the playground on the grounds:The last Chateau. I only remember it as Sleeping Beauties Castle.

It was full of mannequins

And us playing in Leo Di Vinci's park:

More to come later

Chocolate, parks and Football!!

2009-10-28T03:33:00.000-07:00

So I'm still way backed up on posts and to accommodate my slow speed I've pushed a lot into this post. It has some pictures of The chocolate exhibit in Paris Salon du Chocolat. I've also attached an outing to one of Paris' lungs The Bois de Vincennes. And lastly I have the photos from the France v. Austria football match (actually a soccer game in the US). So here goes:

Advertisement for Chocolate

A foreign chocolate vendor

There were rows of Chocolate stands everywhere, most wanted to sell you chocolate. All would give you samples, but some we had to work for.

Spicy chocolate

A hot chocolate stand, with real chocolate

Chocolate:

The Bailey's Center. Offering tons of free samples

A Conveyor belt that produced chocolate

Candied bread loaves:

A fake coco tree

Madison

Jessie

The Macaroon tent, which offered the best cookies

More chocolate, some pretending to be avocados!

Fudgy-chocolate

Chocolate Ties and shirts

Refreshing gelato

Some random mannequins on display.

Some foie gras that was there. my first little taste of this stuff. Not something i would reccommend.

Chocolate clothes The chocolate mansion

A weird French talk show at the exhibit

Creepy chocolate wizards

So there ends some of the chocolate. It was a massive thing and we all walked away in chocolate comas.
Next up is Jessie and me welcoming the cold weather before bed one night:

Our trip to the East Lung of Paris. We wanted to start at the Zoo, but it is apparently closed until 2013! So we wandered around and ended up in the floral gardens:

Here is what we could have seen:

And an outside look of an animal's habitat.

A very pretty body of water. I'm a little rusty on when something is considered a pond or lake or whatever. My French skills are confusing my english.

Some people and dogs far off in a field having a play date!

A cave that was under that pretty gazebo-ish structure

Apparently i liked the cave

An abandoned mini-golf course

A horse pulling equipment

And the Floral Land

Some weird spindly things hanging from trees.

A cat that was slinking around behind us.

Some well tended pathways

Some random concrete thing in the park

Me as a giantess kicking the Eiffel Tower.

And the miniatures of other famous structures around the world spread out on a mini-golf course in the park.

We were smart and decided to pack a lunch and eat in the park. While eating we were approached by a little creature. He literally walked up to my boot before i freaked out. Then we switched benches. Here he is:

And his friend:

This is the crazy old lady who took over our bench. You might be wondering what she is doing

She is feeding the squirrel. It is on her knee! This is why the world still has so many diseases like rabies.

The flower garden, which was mainly lots of roses.

The kids section of the park was intense. It had some gigantic slides, playgrounds scattered around in the woods and a tricky rope thing that we were not allowed on.

Jessie and I shared a double bike and rode around the gardens, which was great fun as there were tons of little kid on school trips along the path. Great maneuvering skills were needed.

And finally, my first outing to a European sporting event. It was very exciting. As my outfit will show, i was supporting the French Football team. For the occasion we did face painting and tried to wear what we thought were good French outfits.

The Stade de France, outdoor stadium. at the start of the game.

The many French supporters. They cheered "Allez le Bleu," which means "Let's go Blue" and it only took me like fifteen minutes to figure out what they were chanting. But I did figure it out, so that's good.

Some Football action. The French team is in Blue. They beat Austria 3-1 in a very exciting game. However it was freezing at like 6 Celsius.

The Crazy crowd in the metro line after the game.

So many French people around, i almost felt like I was turning into one of them.

So that was an incredibly long post. As one might notice my pictures were not carefully edited and some appear to be showing almost the same thing (like a cave or squirrel). And my commentary is not as thorough, which might be a nice surprise for some of you. But i digress, the whole point of this post was to show you a whole week of stuff that I did and get you ready for more blogs that will follow with the same amount of minimal time. I wish i had more time, but i'm in Paris, so time is limited as you all understand. I've also tired to supply a link to Jessie's photobucket site, where she has tons of pictures of stuff that we have done so far. hopefully it works as a link:

http://s646.photobucket.com/albums/uu188/shepherd_jessie/Football%20and%20Salon%20du%20Chocolat/

Fontainebleau Chateau

2009-10-27T04:17:00.000-07:00

Like always i am way behind on posts. Not sure how it happens really. Alright, TWO Sundays ago Jessie and I ventured to Fontainebleau. It is another huge chateau that the Kings and Queens used to visit. Its similar to Versailles, except that it has more rooms open to the public and the palace feels bigger than at Versailles however the grounds are smaller and it only houses one palace. But still one big palace in the forest is just as cool as a spread out chateau overcrowded with tourists.

And so the magical town of Fontainebleau:After passing the random merry-go-round we entered a park that we hoped would lead us to the chateau and were shocked to see these peacocks roaming around. This one made a friend and was quite civilized:

As opposed to this one who ran amok and hide in bushes.
Probably he was fearful of Jessie's height and my boots.

back to the creeper seatin' so unnaturally

And this little one, who i thought looked the most fearsome. Actually they all were a little terrifying just wondering around with their eyes looking ready for a charge.
But that might just be my little fear of birds.

And the first fountain we saw

Me, wearing my boots, wondering the old grounds were the French royalty used to hunt.

The first shot of the chateau. It is from the side and not front on because apparently we happened upon the gardens before going through the front.

The gigantic gates and my best shot of the whole palace

Another side view, but from inside the palace this time

Some stained glass

Some wonderful portraits of dogs. I had to include this in hopes somebody will relay the message to my dogs that i am thinking about them. Trust me they would understand the message, even if Rocky was playing dumb.
Also these portraits are attached to the gallery that Francois I had built in 1500's and is the "first great decorated gallery in France." Of course the important pictures from this gallery failed to make my cut, instead enjoy the pups.

Yes these are plates that are encased into a wall, but wait there's more

A whole room of plates randomly encased in a magnificent hall. They were collected by Henri IV

A Royal Bed and chandelier

A Royal desk and chandelier

An amazing door. There were four doors like this in a tiny little room. All with crazy detailed carvings that were just a tad bit creepy.

A sideways picture of the top of the palace's cathedral, from the creepy door room.

And the most interesting room of the palace. It is the famed gallery of Francois I. There are super old neat frescoes to admire on the walls along with engraved and artsy "F"'s everywhere, just in case one forgets who paid for this hall. But the most interesting part is that they have updated the art collection to include a ridiculous new art showcase. So one hand there are respected frescoes and the other a random assortment of chairs. Yep, chairs are the new modern art showcase. All of you artists out there better hop on that trend while it lasts.

Rows of horrid chairs.

The chairs were shocking in the palace and I kind of resented them as a fan of history, but at the same time I laughed at them and thought it was hilarious that they were in such a place.
This is a fine showcase of candlesticks that happened to be next to the chair showcase.

An elaborate fireplace. The French have tons of fireplaces and I have recently noticed that i have accumulated a ton of pictures of them. I'm thinking that when there is a really cold day here i might dedicate a blog to fireplaces. Just a forewarning.

The church in the palace that one of the old rulers had built.

A showcase of vases. There were tons of cupboards of vases dominating the ballroom. Not sure why, but they like the chairs needed to be noticed.

The amazing library. Unfortunately we were not allowed in here.

A very pretty roof and chandelier. It was a very long tour and I think I started taking very random pictures half way through.

The throne room that Napoleon I had built. I wasn't allowed on the chair as this whole room was roped off, but i tried.

And some random rooms were filled with old and new fixtures, like sinks, bathtubs, toilets and such. I thought it was interesting to see our progression as a society.

And now the back gardens.

First there was a pond with little boats on it, but i forgot that picture because i was starring at this creature. I was quite sure that if i took my eyes off it, it would attack so I only got its picture then moved onto the gardens.

The gardens, where Jessie and I had lunch.

Yep a bread, cheese, apple, and champagne lunch.

The bench were we ate and the random assortment of flowers

The palace with the gardens and fountain.

A random row of mini-Christmas type trees that were at the back of the grounds.

An unnaturally strong little guy. We both tried several times to make wishes, yet it was unyielding. I think this is after 4 attempts, then we threw him back into the bushes.

And walking back through the gardens we found more flying things.

Then we walked through a foresty park toward the train station. There was a horse drawn carriage that Jessie missed.

Jessie showing her creepy "I'm in a forest" walk.

And my creepy "I'm in a forest" pose.

I'll hopefully post more this week, because we are going to be gone Friday thru Monday and I'll only come back with more pictures that will put we further behind on the blog. SO, if i'm on my game expect several (maybe 3) new posts soon. And there will be another chateau post, but also non-chateau related stuff if you can believe it.

Giverny Part II

2009-10-16T02:37:00.000-07:00

This is what you've all been waiting for. Or more precisely what one who likes Monet and wants to see his garden through a random blog online would be waiting for, the rest of you just have to look and try and find your zen moment. His garden is heavily influenced by eastern decor and is very peaceful.

The first glimpse of the garden after that crazy green corridor.

The sign that one sees upon entering:The stream bordered with bamboo shoots to the left:

And to the right a cleared field with stacks of firewood:

Back to the garden path:

And the pond:

A close up of the famed water lilies:

Now some photos of the pond and surrounding greenery:

A plant that everyone was taking a picture of.
I wasn't sure why, so if anyone has a guess let me know.

Monet's boats?

The passage out of this area and back toward the house.

The first glimpse of his large estate

The neat row extending out from his house to the gardens:No pictures were allowed of the inside. But i did get a picture of the view from his bedroom:And so ends the tour of his compound, but not the tour of Giverny. The town is supposed to house the Church were he was buried at. I wouldn't normally be interested in that, but it was along the path to the Medieval are of town on my map. Unfortunately the church is under reconstruction. They were kind enough to advertise this outside the building.

Not sure what would have been creepier the church or this giant Monet. And the biggest disappointment of the trip: The Medieval Area. It was a narrow alley way that housed buildings that probably were from the Medieval days but are still used and obviously updated. My it was a tourist spot on my map is beyond me.

Regardless of my let down, it was still an awesome trip. Monet's gardens were incredible, not sure how they translate in pictures. Next up is Fontainebleu. Another chateau that the Kings and Queens of France used to inhabit but is now a tourist circus. I'll either post those pictures later today or tomorrow. Most certainly before Saturday, as we leave very early Saturday to Amboise to see more Chateaux (yay). Not sure why every trip we have involves touring an old building. Don't worry I'll be posting other fun stuff next week too, like a trip to a Chocolate festival and a trip to one of "Paris' lungs."

Giverny Part I

2009-10-13T10:17:00.000-07:00

This is a partial post today. It is currently midnight and I have just returned from the France v. Austria soccer match. I'll have pictures of that as soon as i get caught up. Put first I have pictures from my solo adventure to Giverny. It was a trip I took to Monet's home and gardens. The first set of pictures are mainly of flowers and do not contain the recognizable water lilies. Sorry but those won't be available 'til tomorrow. So, these pictures are pretty basic and showcase his garden, which contains an incredible amount of diverse flowers. I didn't recognize anything as a scene of his artwork, but I don't know much art. The main reason i went here was to get some fresh air and see the countryside. Also I heard there was a medieval area in this town that was pretty well preserved, more on that tomorrow.

Onto the pictures. The lovely road to his house:A sign in case you don't trust what i say. I am in fact at his real maison (house).

The tribute to Monet. It is as creepy in real life as in pictures.

A random field behind his house that I enjoyed and thought represented the French countryside.

The entrance to the garden:

A ridiculously large bee. I mean huge!

A mini wheelbarrow I can only assume belonged to Monet.
That means he must have been a "little person."
Is that the PC term?
The saddest flower in the garden. It just sprouted out of the grass ignoring all the perfectly lined areas where its friends were blooming.

A path to more flowers

I thought somebody would appreciate the variety of pink flowers

Some chickens that i can assure you were the chickens Monet raised.Another path through super diverse plants

Apparently some paths that aren't bordered by green little ropes are forbidden. The French are very nice when they scold you and even run toward you to make sure you can hear their shouts properly.

The creepy underground passage that leads to Monet's pond.

And tomorrow I can show you what is beyond the green walls. Hopefully I'll be suppling better commentary as now i just feel sleepy. But i'm also super proud that i've actually posted 3 days in a row. Yep, i'm my own biggest fan.
XOXOXO

The Pantheon, two dogs and a missing beard

2009-10-13T03:31:00.000-07:00

So Far so good. Two posts in two days. Not much this time, just some Paris night life pics. As I might have mentioned before Paris goes to bed early. So there are these nifty bike stations all around the city that people can rent whenever, which is really helpful if one is out after the bus and metro stop.

One night Jessie and I were on our way home from a movie (500 Days of Summer) when we decided to take the long way home. The long way avoids cutting through the gardens, and leads one to the top of our street, where this cool building sits. I tried to get pictures as i ran across the street, so some are blurry or from side angles. but i still like the pictures, so here they are:

Yep the building was the Pantheon.

And the bikes.

I think i take a pretty good "action" shot. but i am prejudice.

Oh and a blurry shot of some guy roller blading in hot pink shorts.

I wanted to add some to this blog and because I miss them, I'm sure they miss me. Here is what I imagine the dogs to look like:

Rocky outrageously sad waiting for me, then quickly all excited because his attention span is non existent.

And the lovely Gypsy who is constantly waiting for me. I tried to explain my little departure to her before i left, but she turned her head. I assumed it was because she was sad, not because she was mad at me for leaving.

And my last thought of the day:
Has anyone seen this beard?
I heard it disappeared, but have seen no pictures confirming it.
Still to come this week are better art pictures and more gardens, plus a forest and some swans.

Nuit Blance

2009-10-12T08:28:00.000-07:00

Okay, i am WAY behind on posts. So I'm committing to my blog to upload a post a day this week and hopefully get caught up. Way back on October 3rd was Nuit Blanche. It is a night where large parts of the city stay open late and showcase art. Galleries and the like were open, but there were also art projects set up around the city, like a weird art movie about roses that was projected onto a Mosque (no pictures of that, sorry). Nuit Blanche was from 7pm-7am. It was much cooler that I've just described. Anyways, Jessie was on a class trip so I joined Madison and Melanie for the night (I know you're probably wondering who these people are and as it turns out I've made some friends in Paris, although they're not Parisian. They're from North Carolina.) I'll describe the rest of the night through the pictures below:

The Official Logo of Nuit Blanche. Kinda lame for an art's thing, but what do I know about art.

Madison, me, and Melanie before going out into the night and a local bar.

After we left we headed towards the Luxembourg Gardens because that is where everyone told us to start. On the way we found this tree stump on one of the busiest streets in Paris and for some reason thought it was interesting.

See how amazing we thought this stump was. Anyways, right after this we ran into some other North Carolinians who Madison and Melanie knew. At this point it was like 11pm and Melanie and Madison decided to head in the direction of their house and I joined the other NC folk.

This is what we found in the Luxembourg Gardens. A huge gigantic disco fall that was lifted into the air and poured light all across the neighborhood. And it was a little rainy, which is why those spots are on my camera, however it only lasted until the next picture. Go figure. Paris has crazy rain bursts.

This is a closer look. Music was playing from a band at first then just random music from speakers:

Here is a picture that includes the building to the left, which is the huge chateau-like building that dominates the Garden usually:

And this is the light dancing around the building. The light washed everything out with its random spotlight.

The glorious ball.

The last time you'll have to see the ball of light. I'm just showing a billion pictures of it because it had some seriously, impressive rays shooting out of it.

This was some church that was open and had an art project in it. It also had tons of people just sitting.

See them sit. On the church floor. Some are actually laying down. Why you ask?

To have a moment of zen. the speakers placed all around were individually equipped with their own hymn and every ten minutes they would all (well most would) start humming or singing a hymn until all of them collaborated to perform a Gothic hymn. It was pretty cool, but startling at first.

Oh yeah, these were the new North Carolinians that I met. Jessica, in the pink cap, is in my French class, but the day before was her first day.

This was the street along the Seine at about 5am. Usually the streets are empty because nothing except bars (so i've been told) stay open past 10pm

A very long escalator that we took from the metro to go to a park. The park was mostly dull with random signs around it or lamps. Right. I know what most of you should be thinking, and it was too artsy for me too. Check out the "art" below:

AND my favorite art piece is this field. I actually trekked here all by myself, because everybody else wanted to go home at 6am and sleep, but i decided that if i was going to stay up this long i could easily manage a little longer, especially to see this. It was the one piece i had read about that I thought sounded amazing. So i showed up by myself, with my phone and pepper spray in alternate hands, and watched people play for like an hour. it was hilarious and my favorite part of the night, and anybody could play. So your truly was out there on that grass. Not to worry anyone about me trapezing around the city by myself. I did call Jared and had him "walk" with me to the metro station and home. And for that little buddy, I'm still sorry for. I truly forgot about the new time zone. Anyways, my field:

Hope that little tour of Nuit Blanche was entertaining. If not check back tomorrow for the next post, i think it involves more biking. And still to come are Monet's Casa and another Chateaux, which i dub as better than Versailles. Honestly.
Love you all!

Parisian Driving

2009-10-07T02:51:00.000-07:00

saw my first Parisian car accident. surprised it took so long. just thought i'd update quickly on my way to class.
And although it looks sunny, really there has been about 10 minutes of sun. then gray and clouds that will start to pour soon.

A Number's Game

2009-10-05T15:22:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I start to count things around the city, for no other reason than to practice my French numbers. Since Paris is huge so there is a ton of things to count and today, for some reason, I remember most of what i counted. It was also our first really rainy day. But rain aside, I like to think of my counting like those stupid mastercard commercials, except reading to the end isn't priceless. I'm secretly taking your time. And everybody knows time=money, so sorry. Anyways onto some numbers:

1. sun sightings.
2. the number of Jeep Wranglers on the road.
3. classes
4. the number of times i had to take the bus across town.
5. slips around the city.*
45 minutes spent hiding in a Starbucks with my homework and warm coffee.
2.90 the price of my dinner
27 dogs, most walking others soiling the streets.
and
1 butterfly toothpick that found its way into my hair!

* (slips are just that: slips, but not falls. And i was wearing sneakers with proper traction, however Paris is so old that everything is worn and slippery. I have no idea how all the other women wear heels or slippery flats. i literally slipped walking in the bus and on a flat-like tree protector and several other places.)

A Rainy Paris Night. And see that weird shiny disco ball in the background? That has pictures and a story to accompany it later. But I want to make sure you'll all come back, so i'm leaving that sentence as a little teaser. :)

A Crazy close-up of me, that shows an observant eye the red glitter butterfly.

And me holding the butterfly in my largish hands. Really they are not that big, but in Parisian pictures they tend to want to show off and become larger than life. I'm working on keeping them dainty.

That's all the numbers i can remember now in no particular order. Next time I'll have crafty things like the number of people in Paris or the distance between myself and people far away or maybe time or whatever. Now is not crafty thinking time, its actually past bedtime. Hope everyone's having fun and staying warm!

Versailles

2009-10-04T14:19:00.000-07:00

The Bike Tour around Versailles:

This is our group getting on the metro in Paris with our bikes. We loaded them on the metro then toured around the city and palace of Versailles. This was the worst part of the day, but it was all uphill from here, literally.

Jessie and I know how to dress for a bike tour, right?

The line of our tour riding in the streets. Yes mom, I'm riding and taking pictures. I think in this shot we are leaving the city and entering the grounds.

This is the first part of our tour up the tree-lined path. And because everybody reading this loves me and expects it, i'll do some bragging and say that i was the first one (minus the guide) to the end of the path. Later i would also be the first one up the hill to the palace, by a wide margin. ( i can't take all the credit for my biking success, I owe some to Sam for forcing me to bike up hill) Oh and i totally beat that little boy too! Not many others did as he was surprisingly fast.

Jessie riding next to me.

A weird shot of me on a bike. I blame Jessie, the photographer, as we were stationary at the time.

The entrance into Marie Antoinette's Village. Apparently she wanted to reconnect with nature after the birth of one of her kids so she had this village built. It had a vineyard, farming fields and barns full of animals so she could have fresh eggs and milk.

One of her buildings that was by the moat that surrounded her area. She also built a theater in her compound.

A thatch roofed building bordering her village.

Another building. And in the foreground, right behind that little bike path was the moat and then trees that should have hid her walled village.

Another thatched roof place that might have been connected to her barn.

A look at the canals right behind the Palace. Boats were being rowed on the water in the distance. The canals were to help connect the Palace with Marie Antoinette's place and were incredible long.

The ridiculous amounts of people who are just chilling in front of the place. Some are picnicking or enjoying the escape from Paris.

A shot of the Palace from the back. I'm standing next to the canals and people kept walking right into my shot. Blame them not me.

The front view of the Palace. IT was the best I could get considering all the people around. I might have a better shot, but i'll have to try and find it later.

Two shots from the inside showing the backyard gardens.

A beautiful door that I thought would be a good starting point to show the wealth Versailles. It is gold decorated and surrounded by marble. The whole place has ridiculous amounts of rare and expensive resources.

A very detailed golden part of the ceiling. I don't know the exact term, but its the corner region of the room where the walls and ceiling collide. Every room had intricate gold carvings similar to this in all four corners.

Who doesn't need a great gold trimmed fireplace? And those logs are like my size!

These paintings are excellent because they show the whole landscape of Versailles. I tried to get a good picture of everything, but then decided these pictures might be the way to go.

The splendor of the Royals was all over. I can't find the picture of the Hall of Mirrors right now, but it is full of chandeliers like this every five steps or so and lined along one long mirrored room overlooking the gardens.

The Bike Tour was last Sunday. I'll hopefully be uploading my pictures of this weekend before next weekend. And leaving more commentary, because I had lots of thoughts before i started uploading pictures, but have now forgot them.

And for my thoughts about all you back in the states:
Jessi I hope your little mole and back are doing good. I thought only good thoughts for you.
Best wishes for Grace and her exciting news!
AND Congrats to Meli and Jose all the way up in Seattle on their engagement!!!

Pre-Versailles

2009-09-29T01:53:00.000-07:00

This past weekend i was unfortunate to catch my first Parisian cold. It was not so bad because the two worst days were Friday (so I just sat there looking dead in class) and Saturday (my first full day of sleep!). Then Sunday we went to Versailles and took a bike ride around the Chateau. I think the exercise and fresh air (especially compared to Paris's dirty air) really helped and I feel much better now. I will be transferring and posting my pictures soon, like within 30 hours.

Also for those of you are interested my family (Mom, Jacob, Jared, Davey and Nick) are currently crossing the country to join Aunti Doe and Gary in Maine. I'm told they were to head out after the Charger game on Sunday with a quick stop at McDonald's (I think that was a little tribute to Grandpa). Not sure where they currently are but somewhere between CA and Maine. And i believe the second cutest animal in the world is involved on this trek to.

Lucky for you all i have pictures of the Maine house in which Gary and Aunti Doe are currently at and will soon be joined by some of the trekkers and pictures of the aforementioned animal. Enjoy!

Rocky, the second cutest creature in the world.

Rocky after his 2nd birthday in a Dog-Cake coma.

He used to dominate my bed when i was home. Can only imagine how much room he took up when i didn't have to sneak into that little area behind him!

This dog not only always looks tired, but actually is always tired.

See what i mean? His after i wake-up nap.

And him with The most adorable perfect creature in the world. True Fact.

Oktoberfest Part II

2009-09-22T03:31:00.000-07:00

Oktoberfest as many of you know is mainly about drinking. In my experience I saw several ways to handle this and thought it would be fun to share.
1. A person could wear a ridiculous neon green hat, consume too much beer and be passed out on a table by 2pm.
2. A person could slowly easy into drinking at one tent, get some food and/or dessert, check out some of the rides whether willingly or being pulled on by a friend, check out some more tents and drink a little bit more while getting to know some Germans, Australians, New Yorkers, and New Zealanders, then head out to get a pretzel and sneak off with some huge beer mugs for her brothers.
3. A person could drink, grab some food, drag a friend on to terrifying swings, a fun house and a haunted house, before continuing drinking and eating before making out with a guy from Sidney and throwing up all over the Night Train!
4. well, there are many different ways, but those three I saw first hand.
Jessie and I actually took different paths, but I'll leave it up to you to guess which one.

An early shot so you can see how big the tent was and it was a smaller tent.

Here is a lovely example of the Fair-like aspect of Oktoberfest. It is like a huge state fair celebrating beer.

We spent some time in the wine tent, I can't recall the name, but apparently it is the only tent that is not supported by a local brewery but a winery. It only had one option of beer, this great wheat beer.

The two of us right before the drinking started. This was at the wine tent were we started and were lucky enough to get seats at a table in the center. We met some locals from Munich and two guys from New York here.

Another shot of the tents before it got too crowded.

And as the crowd arrived. I think my bench was crooked or something.

A guy literally carrying crates of beer!

Our German friends

And our American friends.

Some of the Rides

The crazy swings that go up really high.

The first ride we went on. It was surprisingly fast and dark with weird Christmas lights inside arranged in what i thought was the shape of either a weird triangle or a Christmas tree. It was really strange but really fun.

Part of the Fun house we went in. There were many obstacles but these two tunnels were ridiculously challenging. Good news I ran through both without falling. I felt like i was running sideways and Jessie said it looked like it, but it worked. Jessie tried to follow but everytime i turned around I found here like the guy in this picture. I think her height made it hard or the alcohol in her.

Oktoberfest Part I

2009-09-20T11:52:00.000-07:00

And now a little info on the big trip to Munich. First I must say that although Oktoberfest is mainly about drinking it could also be considered a really HUGE carnival with loads of international people just hanging out, most drinking, very few sober, but hanging out and enjoying their time.
Because we were without reservations we had to arrive early, like 9am when the Mayor doesn't even open the first Keg until 12. We were lucky enough to be there opening day and so were awarded with seeing the parade and mayor walk around. But before that we had plenty of time to see all the tents, which already had super long lines that early in the morning. We opted for not waiting in a huge line for three hours and wondered around looking for a short line, which we eventually found.

This tent had a huge line and we passed it on our way to our first tent. Eventually we were inside here for a drink, but it was super crowded in the morning!

This tent was awesome looking and right across from the tent we started in. It is the dessert tent and sells tons of goodies. After we left our first tent we conveniently walked straight into this place and grabbed an awesome apple-baked thing.

This picture I put up just to show the difference between an average German and myself. obviously they could be a little better looking. And in reality most did look like this blond bar maid behind me.
I wish I could upload more pictures today but I have my first French exam tomorrow morning and should either study for it or rest and hope that my mind remembers something. But tomorrow I will post about what one could do at Oktoberfest along with the kind of people we met and the rides that we should have stayed off of.
Love and Miss everyone back home in the States

Last Week

2009-09-16T09:31:00.001-07:00

Last week was a very exciting week. Monday night started with a night picnic of wine and cookies. I have no pictures of the people who were with us (they were just girls from our program) as I wasn't really interested in them with the Eiffel Tower behind us. I couldn't decide what picture to post, so I gave you a variety, which you can comment about if you have an opinion. Tuesday was a movie night. Jessie and I saw Inglorious Basterds, which was shown in the Original Version. Apparently the American version had some French and German scenes, which would have had English subtitles but here only needed French subtitles for the German scenes, along with the English scenes. SO basically there were French scenes with no subtitles and French subtitles for other language scenes. We had fun watching it. Thursday we attended the Vogue Fashion Event and drank Champagne in almost every A-List store in Paris, we also sampled some cookies and extra fancy little food. It was pretty amazing and I'm not a fashionista. I don't remember everything about last week, but we attended a lot of class, walked around the city and checked out the Jazz cafe downstairs. I'll have to add pictures of that later along with last weekend and this week, which has been dominated by La Rentree du Cinema Festival. I'll let you guess what that event is all about. Oh and expect some pictures soon of our Munich trip.

Gardens and a Coliseum

2009-09-15T08:34:00.000-07:00

I am WAY behind on posts. School has been crazy, so I'm going back two weekends ago. On that Saturday Jessie and I took time to relax and have lunch in the Luxembourg Gardens, which are like 10 walking minutes away. It was nice until it started to rain on us, which limited my picture taking time. Just as we left the Gardens the rain let up so we went down to the Seine and chilled on benches and read. But the real highlight of the day was when we checked out the Arenes de Lutece. It was something neither of us had heard of until Aunt Ruthie mentioned it. It is way interesting because it is this old, very well preserved, little coliseum, with a history plaque on its entrance and everything. The best part is that the Parisians have decided to use it as a park and people play around in it all the time. There were old men playing some weird rock game and kids playing hide-and-seek. This one little girl crawled up the wall that Jessie and I were standing at the top of and slide right past us to hide in a hole in a tree. These kids were way intense in their game, i mean this little 8 year old scaled a wall! If only the next day had been as nice. But no we were forced to partake in a scavenger hunt around Paris that lasted like 5 hours. Jessie and I won of course. We were a little late to the meeting point, but the only team to actually go to every point. Apparently some of the other girls came back early because they thought we would win anyways because we looked super competitive at the first location. I guess running around Notre Dame and the Jewish cemetery behind it might makes us competitive, but it worked because we won movie tickets and crepes!

A long Week

2009-09-11T08:57:00.000-07:00

It has been a VERY long week. I haven't uploaded any pictures yet, but they will be up later this week-end. I started school Monday as France doesn't celebrate many American holidays. I have class Mon and Thursday at the American University of Paris from 10:30-1:00. It takes about a half-hour to get across Paris to the school by metro. Then I was fortunate enough to have plenty of French lessons at the Sorbonne (part of the University of Paris). Theses classes last from 3-5pm everyday of the week. I also get phonetic lessons to accompany this class from 1:30-2:30pm everyday for the first 4 weeks. The phonetics and French classes are both within walking distance of my apartment, each about 15 minutes away but in opposite directions. So class takes up a lot of time.

However the good news is I haven't let class slow me down. We have had several fun nights which i will supply pictures of later. On Monday we tired out the bar below our apartment called Cafe Universel, its a Jazz place. Tuesday night we had a picnic by the Eiffel Tower's and watched its little light show while drinking some wine. Wednesday we planned for this weekend and Thursday (happy belated anniversary Mom) we went to the Vogue Fashion Night Out Event. That was Jessie's idea has you all who know my fashion taste can imagine. It was a huge thing were a bunch of fancy, well known stores celebrate fashion in hopes of revving up the economy with lots of purchases. As I could not afford anything we simply went and ate little elegant desserts and drank champagne at places like Dior and Louis Vuitton. It was great because it was huge and like was like little parties in all these fancy stores along two blocks. Truthfully it was semi-accidental that we even got in as Jessie knew about it and i convinced her to buy a Vogue magazine to make sure it was real, then it turned out our magazine had an invite in it. so we got into all these places with some invite we happened upon. :)

And now that Friday has come I'm getting ready to go on a night train to Munich. Saturday I will wake up to Oktoberfest! Hopefully I'll be back Sunday and have tons of photos from the whole week to post. All i could find now was this ad from NYC's event that was part of the one in Paris and like 10 other cities.
HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY MELISSA!!!!!

French movies

2009-09-05T02:19:00.000-07:00

They have cinemas everywhere and few American movies. All the English titles have been changed and either reworded in French or just changed in English. Thought it was funny.

Apartment and Moi

2009-09-04T08:53:00.000-07:00

First I must say that some people have put in requests for pictures. At first i thought "alright" then i thought "wow that's so helpful." Because i have tons of pictures and i'm not sure which ones to post right away. So instead of browsing through and selecting pictures while i'm still grasping the idea that i now live in Paris I'm posting a few pictures that i know certain people will enjoy. But first a note on what i've been up to: The last two days we've had orientation for the program that i'm studying with, which is unreal. The orientation included a walk around campus then a Seine Boat Tour one day, then the next we had a L'Open Tour. On that tour we had tickets to take the two-story tourists bus around Paris. Jessie and i decided that we should take the bus and visit all the stops then go back and see the things that interested us later since we have some time in the city. The Bus tour went everywhere 50 stops in total and too many hours. So between exploring the city by bus and ship, we have also learned the subway pretty well, purely out of necessity as we have to find our way to all this tour areas. needless to say it's been pretty busy today also as we did a walking tour of Paris and then Jessie and i went shopping for school supplies, like paper. That's pretty much all i can think of now. my mind is still adjusting to the grand, gigantic size of Paris. Every time I'm outside i'm astonished.

And finally on to the pictures. Today as i have little time to post (even though this appears very long) I'm including the requested pictures, such as the apartment(the pink bed is mine, as our the bags on it containing new notebooks. The mess is surprisingly not), one picture of me (i forgot about that request until now and could only find a quick one on the boat tour) and one picture of that big tower. I've also tried to include a map of the open tour covering most of central Paris just so you get an idea of where it went.

Paris L'Open Tour

Second Class Travelers

2009-09-01T15:51:00.001-07:00

The start of the trip was fun. Rome had by far the worst looking transportation. Mom you'll be happy to know that after this train we only took nicer, cleaner, more comfortable trains. And a photo of the packbacks we carted around and though my red one looks smaller it had to fit this computer in it!

Sienna

2009-09-01T15:32:00.000-07:00

Sienna was towards the beginning of our trip and so I took tons of pictures of random stuff. Not sure if i was still adjusting from jet lag or if i was simply so excited i took tons of fast pictures. Either way these are some of the better photos of the city. It had huge walled streets, many churches, one crazy underwater cave, and tons of shops and statues dedicated to baby Romulus and Remus. There's also a picture of the countryside out of the train window. Besides vineyards sunflower fields are hugely popular.

On the Road to Pisa

2009-09-01T15:18:00.000-07:00

Train rides can be pretty boring. The Tuscan countryside is nice but very repetitive. Aware of this and the trip out of Sienna Jessie and I thought ahead and brought some beverages along for the trip. The first pictures show just how awesome juice boxes could be in America if they were full of wine. We enjoyed our wine boxes and the hike around Pisa, which is mainly like Rome and Sienna but has a huge leaning tower.

Cinque Terre

2009-09-01T14:55:00.000-07:00

The Cinque Terre is a small part of the Italian Riviera. It has five towns you can walk between. We had to stop in town four (Vernazza). The first picture of the map is shows all 5 towns and is there mostly for my mom's sake. She loves to know where i'm at. :) This was the best place we stayed we went in the water but couldn't swim out far because there were jellyfish in the area. Little Italian kids had a game to try and catch the most jellies in this little nets as they hopped around rocks by the coast. It was pretty entertaining. Apparently this town Vernazza was the home of pesto, or so the locals say, which forced me to have authentic pesto for dinner.

The Night Train from Nice to Bordeaux.

2009-09-01T14:47:00.000-07:00

After hiking the Italian Riviera we were so done with the heat. After Nice we left for the North. We took the night train to Bordeaux walked around for a bit then went to Nantes (NAHNT for those who care about pronunciation or who don't want to be yelled at by the French). Nantes was cool and refreshing. Best part was we found an Irish Pub with real UK folk who we watched football with and celebrated Jared's 20th Birthday! Hope you had a fun b-day buddy and if Davey shaved I NEED pictures. Nantes ended as we came to Paris yesterday.

Pictures!!!!!

2009-09-01T14:32:00.001-07:00

The view of Rome from our hotel. Perfectly between the train station and the bus line!

Day 4

2009-08-28T01:05:00.000-07:00

Still no pictures. i probably won't get any up until paris and i can connect my own computer.

So more details on the trip so far:

First was sleeping 20 hours on the plane, i was so tired i fell asleep boarding and slept through take off. Possibly that was the reason it was so hard to sleep the first night we landed in Rome. We got there around 10pm and it was hot and hard to rest.

Day two we spent walking briefly around Rome before heading up to Tuscany, We stopped at some little town and had gelato, then went to Siena. Siena is an amazing walled town, with tall old buildings lining the streets. We toured a bunch of old churches, saw St. Catherine's actual 1,000 year old head and drank a bottle of wine for dinner. After the wine we thought we'd walk around and got lost on some stairs but found this weird underwater aquaduct/cave thing.

Day Three we left Sienna, walked around Pisa for two hours so we could see that leaning tower, it was worth it, then left for the Cinque Terre, which is part of the Itailan Riviera that Rick Steve's reccommends. it's great! we stayed in the water for awhile yesterday eating gelato and sunbathing on some rocks, then had dinner at a waterfront little place because it was cheap.

Just started Day four, we are leaving the coast for Genoa. depending on what's there we will stay or head to the French coast.

Stay tuned for more and hopefully photos. Miss everyone back home
XOXOXO

DAY 3

2009-08-27T03:26:00.000-07:00

no pictures yet. Just running around towns.

So far we've survived the plane rides, landed in Rome, took a train to Siena, explored tuscany, found a train ride to Pisa to see a tower and are sitting in an internet cafe before leaving for the Italian Riviera in a half hour.

Weather is non-stop sweating, scenery is awesome, so far its amazing.

In Two Days...

2009-08-23T18:42:00.000-07:00

Tuesday I'll be landing and starting the journey. Stay tuned for better pictures and information.