End of the day Ritual

Sarah took this picture of Kelley and I with our feet up in our hotel room after a day of wandering around New York, and this became a nightly ritual of ours in Paris, as well. I had a yoga teacher end her class with a pose like this and I've adopted it into my travel routine. Highly recommend!

The books I read on this trip

This book was a little disturbing but definitely worth the 3 Euros I paid for it in a used book shop in Paris.


This one was also kind of a downer, but it will sure make you count your blessings!


I read this one today on the 8.5 hour flight from Paris to Charlotte. And then finished it on the 4.5 hour flight to SF.

Long day of traveling!
Ready to sleeeeeeeep.

I'm going to try to steal/borrow some of Kelley's pics when she posts them in the next few days so stay tuned.

Our Last Day in Paris

Today was our last day in Paris. Sadness. We went to the Pere Lachaise cemetery then walked through the Marais, ate cheese and crepes and then visited the modern art museum. Another full day! But I think we've managed to see almost everything we wanted to see. (And left to my own devices I'm sure I would have only seen a fraction of these things.) I'm a little worried about the six day work week ahead of me as soon as I get home, but whatever. I'll sleep when I'm dead, or however that saying goes. Last night's birthday dinner at Verjus was definitely one of the best meals of my life and the wine was so so good. It's been a fabulous trip!



























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My Birthday in Paris

I was afraid I was going to wake up with a hang over on my birthday, but I didn't :D and that's how I know I'm still young, ha! Relatively speaking, I guess.
It was raining this morning so we decided to visit the Musee D'Orsay. I think everyone else in Paris had the same idea because it was so crowded! It got kinda steamy and stuffy in there with so many people and I can't even imagine what it must be like in the peak of the summer. It's a beautiful building and the art was amazing and we had a nice lunch on the 5th floor cafe. But it was a relief to get outside into the fresh air. It was much cooler today, but not at all cold. It was pretty perfect actually.
We spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around Montmartre. We checked out the view from the Sacre Coeur.



And then we went to the Espace Dali, which was so cool!


















Of course the pictures do not do it justice but hanging out with so much art was a pretty sweet way to spend my birthday.
We wandered around some more and it seems like they do not allow dogs in the parks and gardens, which I kind of love.



I had a macaroon that blew my mind from the cutest little shop.



We popped into a seconf hand English book store and I got a new book for the plane ride home, since I finished the book I was reading, Behind the Beautiful Forevers.
Then we chilled for a bit and had coffee and tea in a little square in front of the Theater L'Odeon.



Tonight we have dinner reservations some place fancy (I can't remember the name right now) and I have to figure out what to wear from the strangeness that is what I packed. Ha!


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Hanging out with Laurent in Paris

I used to always tell Laurent that I was going to come visit him in Paris but I don't think he believed me. But yesterday we made it happen! We went to his office to meet him right before they closed.



It was so good to see Laurent sitting in front of a computer screen with Amadeus again!



The office only opened in Feb. and they are still getting things off the ground but it seems like its going well and Laurent is doing good.
Mel from STA in London was in town and so we all went out for drinks with some of the guys who work with ISIC.



It was a very standard STA evening and so much fun! I'm so happy that I got to hang out with Laurent in Paris!!

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Day ...?

I don't even know what day it is. I guess that's when you are officially on vacation.
Today we went to the Louvre. We only spent a few hours in there and I'm sure we only saw a fraction of all that there is to see, but that was enough. And it was pretty spectacular!



















Then we went in search of Domaine de Lintillae which is a little restaurant that serves fresh food (duck mainly) from their farm. We went there to stock up on foie gras for Kelley's friend in anticipation of it's impending ban in California, which the man working in the restaurant said was "ridiculous".



After that we back tracked to this really cute chocolate shop and I went a lil crazy in there. I figure that's all the shopping I'm really going to do on this trip.



Loaded down with foie gras and chocolate we made our way back to our hotel to relax for a spell before we go meet up with Laurent for happy hour/dinner.
The sun was out today and it's been pretty hot, which is nice but also adds to the exhaustion factor. But we are holding up. Kelley is definitely not one to waste any time just sitting around but we did sleep in this morning which was good.
My birthday is tomorrow (I think, lol) and I'm definitely feeling my age in my left knee. But other than that I feel I'm as young and as much of a child as ever :P

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Splitsville

Kelley woke up at the crack of dawn to head out to Versailles but I couldn't do it. I was so tired! I needed a day to sleep in and relax. We've been on the go, non-stop for 5/6 days, with two red eye flights/sleepless nights. So I slept for like 12 hours and it was glorious.
I was going to try to do some shopping and took the Metro to the super fancy mall but it was so overwhelming and if course amazingly expensive so I didn't really buy anything.









I could totally just lay around and read my book, but I'll probably go out and wander around our cute little neighborhood some more.
Last night we realized how close we are to the Pantheon.



I don't know, maybe it's time for some afternoon wine :)



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Location:Rue Linné,Paris,France

Bike Day in Paris

Today was bike day in Paris and it was awesome!



It was a little too much tour and not enough bikes, but it was still ten million times better than being on a bus!
We rode around the Effiel Tower area, through the Arc de Triomphe, around the Place de la Concorde, and probably to some other places I can't remember.



It rained on us a little but not too bad. After that we went to the top of the Tour Montparnasse to check out the view.



Then we walked through the Jardin du Luxembourg and through a few churches.









We had some delicious gelato and coffee, which was oh so necessary to get us home.



And now we are back at the hotel, exhausted, contemplating dinner plans.
Another good day :D

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Location:Rue Jussieu,Paris,France

Grumble grumble

There is not enough hot water and my hair dryer doesn't work. Not my favorite way to start the day, cold shower and wet hair. But what can you do?

I forgot to mention that we went to the Musee de l'Orangerie yesterday and saw the Monets. It was pretty sweet.

Today we are going to ride bikes and hope it doesn't rain.

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Location:Rue Linné,Paris,France

JFK - CDG

We made it to Paris! Lost an ATM card along the way (Kelley's), which was slightly tragic but also not the end if the world.
We flew American Airlines, which I was expecting to be horrible but it actually wasn't that bad. Even though it was an old funky plane I was more comfortable in those seats than on our Virgin America red eye.
We landed in Paris, realized the ATM card was missing, panicked. Recovered. Took a shuttle to our hotel. We got in early and our room wasn't ready so we dropped our bags and started wandering.



We walked around the outside of the Louvre, but we aren't going to attempt to really tackle it until Thursday.



We walked around so much and on just a little sleep in an airport seat and I was kinda dying. But they have these awesome lounging chairs by fountains where you can kick back and put your feet up for a bit. Rad!



Kelley ate snails.



And it was an awesome first day!!




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Location:Rue Jussieu,Paris,France