My Travels Abroad: Paris-Day Two

Our first stop in Paris the next day was the Eiffel Tower.

See all these people taking pictures in front the tower?  They were smart.  This is the best place to take pictures in front of the tower.  It was drizzling and Hans and I didn't want to get off of the bus. I got off for two seconds to snap this photo.  We regretted this later when we tried to get a picture in front of the tower from a different place.

Then we stopped at the Dome les Invalides.  This was the Royal chapel, directly connected to the Church of Saint-Louis.  The dome house the tomb of Napoleon Bonaparte.

From the dome we made our way to Notre Dame. 

This is Stacy.  Stacy and I are a lot alike.  She was also on the youth part of the trip with Hans and got to know him well.  Stacy and I had a good time making fun of Hans the second half of the trip. It was truly a bonding experience.

There were a ton of people "modeling" in front of the cathedral.  Stacy decided to give it a try.

Hans decided he should model too.  

Actually, the ONLY reason I'm posting this picture is to tell you all that while I was going through picture from our trip Anders kept telling me that daddy looked like a "pretty, pretty, princess" in this picture. Must be the poncho.  Hans immediately threw the poncho away.

We stood in a fairly long line to get into the cathedral.  This was the only picture I took inside.  I was thoroughly distracted by the fact that they were holding mass in the center while a ton of people were just walking around.  I felt pretty icky about the whole thing and Hans and I skedaddled out of there pretty quickly.  It was beautiful in there.  But I believe the church should have the right to close while having services.

The weather was drizzling on and off that morning.  After we came out of the cathedral it started to pour.  So a group of us ate at a little cafe to wait out the rain.

My hunky hubby.

Hans and I would like to come back for our 15th anniversary and stay in one of these little apartments for the week.  I can dream, can't I?

My Travels Abroad: Paris-Day One

We made it to Paris around 6 p.m.  On our way to find food we passed by the Arc de Triomphe.

These two.  What a good lookin' couple.

In Paris with my honey.

We didn't have a lot of time out on the town our first night there.  We had to get back to our hotel and relax to prepare ourselves for all the sites we were going to cram in the next day.  This led us to walk quickly through the streets of Paris to find a place to eat.  Usually I'm good with quick. But on this day, it was a little rainy.  This left the stone streets a little slick.  I was wearing my old, comfortable flip-flops.  The ones that have ZERO traction.  I nearly wiped out with every step.  Hans, such the gentleman, decided to hold my hand the whole way.  This meant I nearly wiped both of us out with every step.  We were both laughing so hard by the time we made it to the restaurant. 

These two are loving Paris so far.  Or, they've consumed a large amount of wine.  Maybe it was a little of both.

OR, maybe it was just the good lookin' girls sitting on the opposite side of the table.

After dinner we walked back to meet our bus.  I ended up just giving up and taking my shoes off.  Yes. I know. Eww. Gross!  But it was either that or fall on my butt in front of a ton of Parisians.

When we got to our room this was the view that greeted us.  Beautifully quiet.

My Travels Abroad: La Petite Pierre

The wine tasting was our last stop in Germany.  We were officially France bound.  We arrive in La Petite Pierre right around dinner time.  We had the most amazing dinner at the Hotel Des Vosges.  It was the BEST food we had the entire trip. I didn't want the dinner to end.  I want to make my way there again just to eat.

After the most delicious dinner we all took a walk through town to have a service in their beautiful church.

 Okay, if I can't have a castle I'll settle for this place.

 After a short service in the village church we walked back to the hotel to get a good nights sleep.

 This was the view standing in front of the hotel.  Breathtaking.

 The churches in all of these towns actually looked like churches and stood apart from the other buildings.

This was the view from our room.
The next day we were headed to Paris!