Honeymoon Part V

Sunday, August 14, 2011

We got up at 7 and tried to eat our hotel breakfast, but it was terrible. So we went out to try to catch the bus and it left us in the dust. It worked out pretty well though because I had forgotten our lens cleaner that we got to clean off the camera lens. We then waited for 30 minutes for the next bus to Venice. We were really running late at this point and we were definitely not making it to our tour at 9am. When we got to the tourist office and they said we could go on the tour tomorrow.

Then we got in line to St. Mark's Basilica. We went through the museum exhibit that was upstairs and got an up close look of the gold mosaic ceiling. We could also see the interior of the church. The mosaic depicts Bible stories that when read from East to West are in chronological order.

After St. Mark's we were hungry. We ran around in circles trying to find the place we had eaten at yesterday, but when we finally found it they weren't open yet as it wasn't even noon. We went to a place around the corner instead that Frommer's would have had us run from. That had pictures on the menu. I wasn't in a good mood that we weren't waiting for the place we liked, so I only ordered an iced tea. I'm glad I thought better of ordering food because Jason's carbonara looked like Chef Boyardee gone wrong. So, after that crummy meal we went to where we wanted to be in the first place. For our first course Jason had salad and I had vegetable soup. Jason had grilled pork chops and I had grilled chicken for our second course. It was delicious.

After our lunch we went to a Leonardo da Vinci museum that was full of replicas of his inventions. It was really neat to see them brought to life, and a few of them were not for our eyes only, so we got to have a little better understanding of some that we saw in action.

When we got through with the museum we walked through the square to find some gelato. A violinist was playing Ave Maria as we passed. While we ate our gelato (chocolate and coffee flavored) we talked to another gondolier. He had the same prices as before, so it seemed like that was the best we would get, and I know Jason really wanted to go on a gondola ride, but my hair looked terrible, so we decided to wait until tomorrow.

The last stop of the day was the Doge's Palace. It is the most visited paid attraction in Venice. We toured all through the place, saw lots of murals and intricate details in the architecture. We also went in the dungeons. There is a passageway that leads from the newer dungeons across the canal into the basement of the palace, this is actually where the name "bridge of sighs" came from. It was said that as the prisoners were being led to trial they would "sigh" as they glimpsed their last look at freedom.

We ate dinner at a tourist trap because I was tired and needed a break from walking. The food was decent but spendy. Then we took off for our bus stop to head back to our hotel for the night.

Def Leppard Concert

The first time I saw Def Leppard live was in 2005 with my sister Monica. It was awesome, and we had amazing seats. I was super excited to see Def Leppard this time, particularly because it would be Jason's first time seeing Def Leppard and I figured he would understand why I love them so much after seeing them live. This time Def Leppard was touring with Heart and though they didn't have a new studio album for this tour they do have their first ever live album available exclusively at Walmart, which took me until the concert to know, I wondered why every store under the sun didn't have it, I normally don't buy music at Walmart because they only have edited versions, but Def Leppard doesn't cuss so it's all good.

In preparation for the concert we had been listening to Def Leppard and some Heart so that we could hopefully sing along to pretty much everything, or at least that was my plan, I don't remember Jason singing much. What we couldn't prepare for was the opening act, Evan Watson. He was actually really good. Jason liked him a lot too. He is sort of blues/rock if you want to put him in a genre. He did a cover of Purple Rain with Vivian Campbell helping him out on guitar, a hilarious song called Woodpecker which he introduced as a song "about a very horny bird," as well as a couple other really good songs. I even saw him up close when I left for a bathroom break at intermission. He was meeting the fans and signing autographs, but I didn't have anything for him to sign.

When Heart took the stage they opened with a Zeppelin song as I had read in a article on the show. Well, I knew the Led Zeppelin songs that Heart did and most of their songs. They were awesome. Their set lasted about an hour, then there was a half hour or so intermission so the roadies could set-up for Def Leppard.

Def Leppard's show has gotten a lot bigger since the last time I saw them. I was surprised that Joe was still hitting most of the high notes, especially since when I saw them in 2005 he wasn't, maybe he just had a cold that night. I would definitely say that Def Leppard is better in concert. The fans at this concert were better than the Canadian fans in 2005. I didn't get any liquids spilled on me and I wasn't up all night wheezing from people not following the no smoking rule. The Sleep Country Amphitheater was really a nice venue, but if you go there make sure you don't get lawn seating because it didn't seem like they had a very good view.

Of course I sang my heart out. I was screaming at the top of my lungs and it was awesome. Jason, though I said he didn't sing much, did actually sing along a bit. They opened with Undefeated, and that may have been their best song. I liked it so much because of all the real life scenes depicted on the stage screens. It ended with Rick Allen's story and I almost cried thinking about how inspiring he is, he truly is undefeated.

Honeymoon Part IV

Saturday, August 13, 2011

We woke up on the train in our tiny, not even twin size beds, to find that we were in Italy and nearing Venice. We thought it would behoove us to know where we were going to stay in Venice so we looked at our travel documents. It turns out we weren't staying in Venice at all, we had a hotel booked in Mestre, whatever that is. We asked the train guy and he said the train would be stopping at the Mestre station before heading on to Venice, phew. We got off at the Mestre station and tried to find our way to our hotel. It was a bit of a mess because we didn't have a map or anything, and Jason didn't want to get a cab. A nice Australian couple that we met on the train and had stayed in the same car as us helped us out while we were struggling to find out where to go. Eventually we took the bus to the stop before where we were supposed to get off, and did quite a bit of walking with all our baggage to finally make it to our hotel. Jason had already decided he didn't like Venice very much. Poor Venice, we weren't even there yet, we were still on the mainland, and Jason was already giving it a hard time. The important thing was that God kept us safe, and we were together, plus we even made some new friends.

After we got cleaned up at our hotel, we asked the concierge how to get to Venice. A bus stop was close to our hotel and would take us right to Venice. So we got a one-way bus pass from the hotel, we would have to get a 3-day pass later from a tobacco shop, and bought a Nestea lemon flavored iced tea for the bus ride. The iced tea was delicious and that was to become my new drink of choice in Italy, since Fanta tastes funny in Italy. The iced tea was amazing though, it definitely doesn't taste that good in the states, in fact, I don't even like iced tea.

When we got to Venice we were taken aback. It really is like a fairytale or something. No roads, no cars or motorcycles, just narrow walkways and lots of canals full of boats. Since we hadn't eaten anything but cookies and fruit, we decided to find a place to eat. It didn't take us long to find a place that had good food. We got spaghetti carbonara and chicken. I got another Nestea, and Jason had a Coke. The good was amazing.

Frommer's told us to get lost in Venice and then you would discover its true flavor and depth. So, we didn't ask for directions or look at our map, we just walked around. We eventually found a place to buy our Museum Pass and Bus Pass and even though everyone we asked said there were no ATMs or that they hadn't heard of them, we found one.

We found a mask shop and got some really pretty Venetian masks that are a pair. They are crimson and black and have music notes on them. I liked them so much that I was convinced I would not find a pair that I liked better and we had better get them right now. I was right, I didn't find any I liked better.

We continued on to Piazza San Marco, which is huge, after we saw a few cathedrals on the way, and we visited the Correr Museum where we bought a guidebook because no pictures were allowed.

After taking a short waterbus ride, we walked around to find a place to have dinner. We ended up eating at a pizzeria where we ordered swordfish, spaghetti ragu, and a ham and mushroom pizza. It was the first time either of us had swordfish and it was pretty good. It is very fishy tasting though, so you have to be in the mood for that. The spaghetti and pizza were also good, but not as amazing as they should be when we are in Italy. When we finished dinner we hopped the bus back to our hotel. It was a long, but good first day in Italy.

The other side of the coin

Today I am not bored at all. The thing about still being in the same town as my parents, they forget I don't actually live at home anymore. So, after I woke-up to fix Jason monkey bread for breakfast, not exactly the breakfast of champions, but delicious all the same, my dad called to have me come drive a water truck so that it doesn't get too dusty with all the wheat trucks driving over by the elevators. Fine, fine, but I actually had plans for today. I have to wash the cars, I need to put clean sheets on the bed, take the dogs for a walk, fix Jason lunch, blog about our honeymoon, ask Cim if I'm allowed to go on wildland calls even though I don't have my red card, and fix Jason and myself dinner before going to my fire meeting at 1900 hours. Funny how things happen. I guess I just like to plan all my stuff in one day because I haven't been doing much the last few days. Now Jason comes home and tells me that I should write a book and record a cd. I guess he has his own plans for how I should make money but still be home whenever he is because that is where the real trouble lies, I might be a bit bored on occasion right now, but I don't want a job because Jason is about to go on night shift, then we would never see each other. That isn't good for a relationship, but really not a good precedent to set when we just got married. I think for now I will stay happily unemployed and just take care of my husband.

Raul and Lucy

Finally sat down and played guitar tonight. I missed Raul a lot while we were in Europe, and I knew that when I did start playing I wouldn't want to stop so I was waiting for the right moment, even though it was killing me to wait. My fingers are completely out of shape and they hurt now, but it was completely worth it. First I played Lucy actually, had to sing "Sexy Jason" to my husband with uke accompaniment. Then, a little worship and a little bit more serenading my husband; perfect end to the night.

Honeymoon Part III

Friday, August 12, 2011

Our last day in Paris. We had already done so much, that we didn't exactly know what we should do on our last day, so we turned to Frommer's. I did know that I wanted to see the Moulin Rouge, not a show or anything, I just wanted to see the windmill in person. Other than that, not much as far as plans. Jason found a place he thought he wanted to go, it was just a nice neighborhood that apparently had good shopping. Check-out was noon, but they could hold on to our bags, so we checked-out around 1100 hours and got directions to the Moulin Rouge. Actually, that neighborhood was where our concierge told us to go, Montemarte. It also is where a huge basilica is, apparently a place we shouldn't go home without seeing.

When we got there, the basilica was huge. It was built up on a hill and there were tons of steps to get up to the entrance. We weren't allowed to take pictures, so I will try to paint a picture with words. The basilica was huge. It had the typical cathedral design, with multiple altars along the sides. It also had a giant dome, it actually most closely resembles St. Peter's Basilica, but not as large as St. Peter's of course. Huge paintings filled the walls, and stained-glass windows brought in beautiful light through their stories. The organ was not very beautiful, but I'm sure the music it makes pleases Yahweh's ears, which is what matters.

As we walked around the church we found a public toilet or as they say, a Water Closet. It was horrible. After each use it automatically cleans itself , which basically consists of water spraying everything down, so everything is wet when you go in to use it. But Jason and I both needed to pee, so we made sure not to touch anything. Even without touching anything we felt dirty and tried to wash our hands with water from a spicket. A nice lady who was washing her hands with hand sanitizer spotted us and asked if we wanted to use some as well, we gladly accepted.

Then, we walked through some tourist shops, trying to find a place to eat, and found a place run by Asians where we got quiche. It was actually quite good, but the service sucked. After our quiche, we went to a different place and got beef bourguignon. The bourguignon was very strongly flavored with red wine, a bit too strong. We got some more souvenirs after eating, then headed towards the Moulin Rouge.

When we got to the Moulin Rouge it was neat to finally see it in person. It was definitely situated in a seedy part of town. Sex shops lined the street, places with names like Pussy's. We read the history of Moulin Rouge and took a ton of pictures before going back to our hotel. It was a good last day already.

We made it back to the hotel before we needed to catch a cab to the train station, so we walked around our neighborhood a bit and found a mall. There was a grocery store in the mall and the first thing we noticed was an orange juice machine. You just put the oranges in and it squeezed them and gave you fresh squeezed orange juice. We made a bottle, mostly because we thought it looked super cool and wanted to see how it worked. It was really delicious, so we were glad we did. We also got grapes and raspberries; we had to weigh the grapes and print out a price tag for them, which was really neat and would save time at the checkout line if we did it that way here. Then, we saw a loaf of bread for .49 Euros, but it wasn't labeled and we thought we must need to put a label on it. I tried to ask the cheese lady about it, but she thought I was asking her to cut it for us, so we ended up having our bread ready to make a sandwich with. It was a happy miscommunication. So, we got some ham and cheese as well and figured we would have a nice little picnic on the train.

When we got to the train, everything was messed up. The trolley we were supposed to be on was broken, so they put us on one that was supposed to sleep 6 instead of 2. Awesome, 6 twin beds, how were we supposed to cuddle.

Random Ramblings

I've decided I would love to have my own cooking show. Not because I think I am a fabulous chef or anything like that, I just would love to make things, make a big mess, and have someone else clean it up. How nice would that be. I mean, do you ever see the host of the cooking shows you watch washing their pots and pans afterwards. I haven't. Cleaning up isn't all that bad, I'm actually pretty alright with cleaning up as long as I made something good, otherwise it really wasn't worth the mess that was created.

So, where is all this coming from you might ask. Well, I'm starting to get into the whole housewife thing. I definitely did not wake up at 0600 hours this morning to cook eggs and bacon for my husband before he went off to work, but I got got up three hours later and baked him banana nut and chocolate chip muffins. That's gotta count for something. Jason seemed to like the chocolate chip at least because he has already had two. Though I must say, they aren't really chocolate chip because when I added the water to Betty Crocker's pre-made muffin mix, I wasn't thinking and I added hot water because I had just washed my hands recently. The hot water melted most of the chocolate chips, so now it is more of a chocolate muffin, but it was pretty tasty, and I don't even like chocolate muffins, or chocolate chip for that matter. Now that I'm home from church, I decided to bake cookies by myself for the first time in my life. I've always had someone help me with any baking in the past, I'm really not much of a baker. But I got really excited about baking cookies, especially when I realized I would get to use my awesome KitchenAid mixer that my aunt Mary Ann and cousin Lindsay got for us. It worked just as amazingly as I would expect by the way. But I had no memory of how much of a mess you make when mixing cookie dough. I did spill some sugar, but that isn't what I mean. I have like two mixing bowls to wash, a beater, a spatula, and when the cookies are done, three cookie sheets. That doesn't even all fit in the sink. This is what the second person is really for. If only my husband were home to dry and put stuff away as I get it washed. Probably not a good idea to wait until he gets off work to have him help though, stuff would get pretty stuck on by then. I better go get started.

Honeymoon Part II

Back to blogging again because I have no life. I don't understand how anyone can be a stay at home wife, it is so boring. Sure I could make the house look nice and I could spend a lot of time doing that, but I really don't like cleaning, so what does that leave. I already mowed the lawn, you can only take our overweight dogs for one walk a day, if that, and Jason only comes home twice in a day for me to cook for him. Well, maybe I'll start taking pictures with our amazing camera, and I can cut out a practice track for us for cyclocross, and I'm gonna start taking ambulance calls again, so that will be something. One thing is for sure though, I will take the boredom and being here when Jason comes home over having something to do and not being here when he is here.

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Our hotel in Paris was phenomenal, and it ought to be for what we paid for it. The breakfast consisted of scrambled eggs, an assortment of meats and cheeses, croissants, bacon, and they even had cold milk (though it was whole milk, so not quite as refreshing as the 2% I love so much). After we ate our fill, we go directions from our concierge on how to use the metro to get

where we wanted to be, the meeting place for our bus tour. The bus tour took us around to see some of the sights of Paris, a lot we had seen just walking around the day before, and some new things, but we actually learned what we were looking at this time. The bad thing about being in a bus was that I started to get a bit car sick, I guess I should have taken a half dose of Dramamine, but everything worked out.

We had planned on spending our morning at the Louvre. Since I wasn't feeling very well we grabbed a bite to eat and rested in front of the Louvre. We got a baguette, Fanta, and a coke for Jason. After our snack we both had more hop in our step, and there was a huge line to get into the Louvre, but thanks to our CityPass we got to jump the whole thing and we walked right into the pyramid entrance. How cool is that?

The Louvre is huge, multiple floors of multiple football field lengths. And to think, it used to be a palace. Since it is so giant, and you can't possible appreciate it all in one day, we wanted to hit the greatest hits, so we asked the guy at information where he would have us start. He said to start with the wing where the Mona Lisa is, and that we would see a lot of other good stuff on the way.

So, we headed towards the Denon wing, and saw the winged Victory of Samothrace on our way to the Italian paintings. On the way to see Mona Lisa, we saw a lot of amazing works of art that caught our eye, I had a particular interest for the religious paintings, and they were great for both of us because their subjects portrayed Biblical

stories which I could then relay to Jason and when you are hearing truth from the Bible while looking at a painting portraying it I think it really brings it to life for you.

When we arrived in t

he room that is home to Mona Lisa, we could not understand why everyone makes such a fuss about her. I don't know much about art, I just like what looks pretty or something that has a nice

subject. I don't find Mona Lisa particularly pretty, and while my

talents would have to be stretched to even paint something that resembles a human being, I figure if you have as much talent as Leonardo da Vinci you could paint something a little more interesting, or bigger. But props to him for creating so much buzz over something so small and seemingly insignificant. I had my eyes plastered to the other side of the room though. There was a painting directly across from Mona Lisa that was the size of the entire wall! It was more like a mural, but it was painted on a canvas and even framed. The picture shown is of that painting. "The Wedding at Cana" 1562-1563

It took a few hours before we got tired of looking at painting after painting, but it we did eventually grow tired of the Louvre. I think if we would have had our good friend Lael with us telling us some of the artistic methods used or something, it may have taken us a lot longer to grow tired of it, because knowledge helps you appreciate things more, but we didn't have that knowledge. Overall, I think our favorite parts of the Louvre were the sculptures. It takes a different kind of talent for sculptures, but I find it fascinating. If you mess up on a painting, you can just paint over it, but if you knock off a block of marble when you are carving out a sculpture you're pretty much screwed and have to start over. My mom, being a bit of a perfectionist, probably would rather pursue painting over sculpting just for sanity's sake.

After we had enjoyed the Louvre to the point of exhaustion, we took off to use our pass to visit Notre Dame, but the line was extraordinarily long, and our pass didn't work here to cut in line, so we decided to come back the next morning. At least then if we had to wait in line for a long time

it would be cooler than the heat of the afternoon. So, we walked around the corner and grabbed a panini and a raspberry tart for lunch. We grabbed a seat on the backside of a bench where an old man was playing accordion for money, and enjoyed our lunch while enjoying some lovely accordion music. It was the best lunch ever, and one we surely will never forget. I even had Jason take a picture of me and the man playing accordion.

Feeling rejuvenated, we hopped the Metro to Arc de Triumph and used our cool passes to jump the line again. Only to have to hike up a bunch of stairs, but it was worth it. Frommer's says the view from the top of Arc de Triumph is the best view in all of Paris, I think he hit the nail on the head with that one. You can pretty much see all the touristy things from there, and you aren't so high that everyone looks like ants so you can actually make out what you are seeing. We took a bunch of pictures, and someone even took a picture of us with the Eiffel Tower in the background. Too bad they have to have that fence thing on top for safety, if would have been an amazing picture without that.

After as much walking as we had done, we were ready for a nap. On our tour earlier we had noticed a grocery store and decided to walk to that grocery store on our way back to our hotel. We got some cookies, grapes, water and a big Fanta. Then we took a 2 hour nap, something we would need to have enough energy to stand in line for the Eiffel Tower.

When we got to the security checkpoint at the front of the line for the Eiffel Tower, France got a new enemy. They made me give up my Swiss Army knife, like they thought I was some big terrorist threat with my one inch knife blade and nail clippers. Jerks! I almost said, "eff the Eiffel Tower, it's just a big hunk of metal! Who needs it?" But I sadly gave up Swiss Miss to them and cried on Jason's shoulder on our way to the elevator.

The first elevator goes at an angle of maybe 60 degrees and you go to a first landing in that. At

the time we made it up there the top of the Tower was overcrowded so they weren't selling tickets to the top yet, so we hung out on the first landing for about an hour. While we were stuck part way up the Tower, at 2200 hours someone changed the light setting to "twinkle." The whole tower was lit up with these twinkling lights like it was Christmas or New Year's. It was really cool and we wouldn't have been able to appreciate it if we were already up on top. We ate some Ben and Jerry's Chocolate Macadamia Nut and Cookie Dough ice cream while we continued to wait. Then, they had started selling tickets to the top, so we got those and got in line to take the elevator ride the rest of the way up. That dang thing is tall, and you ride up in a glass elevator, so it is kind of freaky. It is like 1,000 and some feet tall though and that is the highest I've been besides in an airplane. It was amazing to be there together, we had already experienced so many things in the last two days that we only ever thought we would see in movies, and now here we were, kissing on top of the Eiffel Tower. Does it get any better? Answer, yes, they could have let me keep my Swiss Army knife, but I have a new one coming, it just won't be the one my mom gave me.

Thursday, August 11, 2011

We had an early start today so we could get in line for Notre Dam. Today was the last day our CityPass was good, and we wanted to make use of it. We took the Metro and got off at the station

nearest Notre Dame. We got in line at 0930 hours to take the tower tour. It doesn't open until 1000 hours, but there was already a sizable line. We probably waited 1 1/2 hours altogether, but it was worth the wait. We had close up views of the gargoyles, and got to further appreciate the amazing architecture that was almost destroyed, and probably would have been destroyed had it not been for Victor Hugo.

After we did the tower tour, we learned that you have to go through a completely different line to see the sanctuary. We were a bit exhausted from the stairs and from having already stood in line for so long, so we decided to grab some lunch before getting in yet another line. Then, we walked to the other island and got an ice cream cone from a place Frommer's suggested. We couldn't understand the French that told us the flavors, so we got 1 scoop coffee and 1 scoop vanilla to play it safe. It was delicious. Since we both needed to use the restroom, we decided to just eat more because public bathrooms in Europe are nasty and hard to find, so it is far easier to eat somewhere and use their restroom. We ate at a nearby place because Jason noticed they had duck, so we ordered duck, which I had been wanting to try, and French onion soup, because surely you can't go to France without eating French onion soup. Luckily the French onion soup was really good because the duck was awful. It looked like Spam straight from the can, slathered in petroleum jelly. It tasted horrific too. But they had a toilet, mission accomplished!

After our interesting three stop lunch, we headed back to Notre Dame to see the sanctuary. It was incredible. We were pretty blown away by it all. We even paid to go in the Treasury because Frommer's said what some people believe to be the crown of thorns is in there, but after a lot of questioning, we found out it is only on display the first Friday of the month. Then, we toured the crypt, which turned out to be archeological ruins of ancient Paris. Still cool, but a very misleading name.

We took the Metro to the Pantheon. Actually, the Metro stop close to the Pantheon is still quite far away, but it saved us quite a bit of walking. Our CityPass got us in the Pantheon and we immediately got in line to go up to the dome. Some lady told us they were only taking 50 people up tonight in their last tour and she had counted and there were more than 50, so she got out of line and suggested we do the same. But she was wrong, ha! We got in just fine and it was actually really cool to go up in the dome. We had awesome views and noticed a cathedral situated behind the Pantheon that we decided to go visit after. When we got our feet back on the ground we noticed the pendulum for the first time. Supposedly, the pendulum in the Pantheon is the pendulum that was used to prove that the Earth rotates on an axis. The pendulum is constantly swinging, but it is not moving, the Earth is. We also toured the crypt here, which actually was a crypt. It was home to Marie Cure, Victor Hugo and others. People were still coming here as their final resting place, the most recent addition was 2002.

As we exited the Pantheon hand in hand, we walked to the church we saw from the dome. There was no line or admission fee, and the sanctuary blew us away. This was our favorite cathedral we saw during our entire trip. I think part of the appeal was that not very many people were interested in it, so it was almost like a forgotten treasure. They had an amazing pipe organ, beautifully crafted wood spiral stairs, stained glass and paintings.

We left the cathedral and headed back towards the Metro station we arrived at. We stopped to get Jason some green seeded grapes, which I didn't know were seeded until I ate one, seeds and all, because Jason didn't tell me. I was done eating them after that. We also got a ham quiche, chocolate tart, and a drink from a shop we had seen on our way to the Pantheon. The quiche was really good, as was the tart, but the tart was a little too rich for me and I could tell that without any milk to drink it would make me sick to my stomach if I ate too much so Jason had to eat most of it.

When I figured out our route back to our hotel, we got on the crowded Metro, and rode back pickpocket free. We were wiped out, so we were going to take a nap, then go for a night boat ride on the Seine. Unfortunately, we were more tired than we realized and we slept past the hour the boats go out. So, we just went back to bed. We still had another day in Paris.

Honeymoon Part I

So, I talked to my sister Monica the other day and she was saying that she wanted to hear all about my honeymoon. The problem is, everybody seems to want to hear all about it. Monica thought I should just blog about it, and since I already did the work of journaling about every day, why not?

We experienced a lot in the time we were gone, and there was so much to experience there was no way we could take it all in, or thoroughly express all of the things we witnessed and experienced. But I will do my best to give some of the highlights and lowlights from the trip. The best thing of all was that our honeymoon brought us closer to God and closer to each other.

Monday, August 8, 2011

We were flying out Monday morning from Pasco to Minneapolis, then to Paris. Our trip started out with a lovely experience for Jason as my husband; he got to see my puke for the first and second time. The first time was while Jason's dad was driving us to the airport, I asked Dave for a plastic bag when we were driving through the hilly section of the highway by the orchards, and Jason got to hold my hair back while I vomited for the first (and hopefully the last time) while I was actually riding in a vehicle. It was only the second time my stomach has successfully emptied its contents due to motion sickness, but the first time was back when I was in the third grade on my way to a basketball game and I was reading to my mom the entire drive rather than keeping my eyes on the road like I know I need to. This time I was looking at the road and everything, but nothing helped. Once we got to the airport, I proceeded to throw up again into a trash can outside. Awesome! Happy first day of our honeymoon Jason, aren't you glad you married me?

I recovered a bit, doped up on Dramamine, and we got checked in for our flight. Everything was going to be golden, a lot because I was going to get knocked out by those drugs. They didn't fail me and the flight to Minneapolis was perfectly fine as far as I was concerned. I honestly don't even remember Minneapolis right now, maybe I'll see if Jason does, but I know we made it to Paris by Tuesday morning (Paris time), and we got our shuttle to our hotel, had them watch our bags, and proceeded to walk about the city.

The first thing we did was go grab a bite to eat at a cafe around the corner from our hotel. A cafe from which you had a view of the Eiffel Tower. We had the most delicious croissant I've ever had in my life, a nasty sandwich which they claimed was "smoked" salmon, but was actually raw, and a tiny little coffee. After our breakfast we enjoyed the view of the Eiffel Tower again, and went back to our hotel to get checked in because our room would be ready now. We both needed to get some real rest, as sleeping on planes is never very restful, so we took a nap and didn't wake up until 1300 hours. When I woke up then, Jason was still asleep and I woke him and asked if he wanted to get up and go have some lunch, to which he replied, "you mean breakfast?" I said, "Breakfast, why the hell would we have breakfast? It's one o'clock in the afternoon!" It was entertaining because he was quite groggy, and I had gotten more sleep on the plane after all, so it was to be expected.

We walked to Arc de Triumph, then got some food, and exchanged some money. After that we walked to the Louvre just to see it. In front of the Louvre there is a big square dedicated to like King Louis I, I think, and it has a big obelisk in the middle and two fountains. After sitting on the edge of one of the fountains to rest our feet for a bit we walked towards the Louvre to get a better look at the pyramid entrance. We stopped to get some ice cream, and it was delicious. As per our usual, I wanted vanilla, and Jason wanted chocolate, so we got one scoop of each. The also put two tiny cones on top, and I had Jason put some ice cream in my piece then I held it up for him to take a picture so that I could come back home and say that I asked my husband for ice cream and all he got me was a baby cone. But it really was the cutest thing, and the cone itself was so delicious I wish we would have gotten a cone instead of a cup, and I don't even normally like waffle cones.

After we walked around the Louvre for awhile, we headed back and got hungry. We ended up eating at an Italian restaurant, and they had an amazing lasagna. Jason didn't really like talking because he couldn't understand anything anyone said because even if they did speak English it was heavily accented. So, I ordered and talked most of the time for at least the first half of the trip. When we headed back to our hotel, we took a different route so that we could see more of the city. We walked under the Eiffel Tower and got an up close view of just how massive it is.

At some point during the night we headed back out because I wanted to see the Eiffel Tower lit up at night. It was incredible. I think pretty much everything is better at night though, except maybe the sun, but that's just because that wouldn't work very well. Anyway, our first day was awesome, and felt like more than one day. We were constantly amazed by the architecture and how much it differs from that which we are used to.