Last Day

Our last day in Paris was almost a carbon copy of our first. Rainy, overcast and a bit colder than most other days. We had planned on going to the Eiffel tower one last time so we could get a daytime view of the city but that was not possible due to the weather. We decided to visit St. Michel one last time, so we could savor the crepes at a stand we had tried out earlier in the week. We also had one last pastry and a cup of thick, thick chocolate. Now, that was good!!! We will remember that for a long time (and so will our expanded waistline).

We headed back to Brussels in the P.M. Grateful that we got to experience Paris even under not the best weather conditions. We got the most of it and learned so much from a rich city on so many levels.

Our afternoon trip back to Brussels was rainy as well but a pretty good close to our entire trip. We had dinner at a local restaurant close to our hotel. It was the prettiest place that we could have found, quaint, and extremely cozy. So cozy that we must of all been sitting less than a foot from our neighbors at the next table. Interesting concept for us Americans used to a lot of space between us. The tables at this restaurant must of been about 6" (inches) from each other, they almost seemed communal! We ate a very simple late dinner and spend more on the water that accompanied our dinner than we did on an entree...We learned to order soda instead, just a little late.
God has been gracious and kind to us these last few days. We did not get sick despite all the smokers exhaling in our faces (Europeans smoke soooooo much!), all the drenched clothes and the exaggerated chocolate and french fries, pardon us, Belgium fries, that we ate.
We are happy to report that we have decided to visit Europe once again, hopefully in the near future, so until then...
Arrive'derci (clue to our next destination)
Thanks for following our Blog These last few days. See you all soon....

Saint Chapelle

What a difference a day makes. Today we visited in our opinion one of the most beautiful Cathedrals since our trip began. We almost missed it too. On Friday we were turned away because they close the tours for their two hour lunch. Since we are on a schedule we couldn't go back. How happy we were to get the opportunity today. St. Chapelle is such a pretty place, hundreds of stained glass windows with awesome stories to tell in simple gorgeous frames! The passion of a person to build something so long ago that would be worthy of worship. Very nice, well worth the line (unlike Versailles that we still can't get over ;-)
Today was shopping day, we had been told that the Marais area was open every day of the week, yet we found that many shops were closed because it was Sunday.
Our second and third stops were the Orsay museum and the Orangerie. Pretty fun to see Monet, Manet, Renoir, and Van Gogh "in person" we had a good fun art learning experience. Our museum pass was put to good use although the cutting in line part of it didn't work at the Orangerie because it was a "free day" anyway. At the St. Chapelle it doesn't apply so we stood in line for about 15 min. and met a Mexican guy from Veracruz that now lives in Paris. Funny but we had met another guy from Veracruz on our second day in Paris. He was the boat narrator, his name was (is) Miguel, with perfect Spanish, good English and what sounded like pretty good French. Better than ours at least.
Well, time has flown by here and we must get ready to go home pretty soon. We look forward to seeing and telling you more of our stories in person. We still have another entry. Until then

Hasta Manana

Versailles & Dinner Cruise

Saturday was a different day from all the rest that we have spent in Paris.
Not because we had to get up at the crack of dawn to be out of our room and at the metro stop by 8:00 A.M. Not because we had to travel far from our hotel room to get to our destination. Not because it was rainy and cold, of course not! It has been rainy and cold every other day that we have been here! It was because we finally visited a place that we felt was not worth our time. Many would probably disagree and perhaps in disbelief that we would feel this way. But it truly was not worth getting up so early, traveling a whole hour to get to a palace with hoards of people in every inch of the place. Lines everywhere! Even the restroom must of had at least 50 people in line. Yes the palace is nice and opulent but is it worth all the time to see rooms of pictures with people that looked like they didn't want to be there? None of us are really into
King Louis XIV furniture (we prefer the simple IKEA style), our passion is not in that era. We would have gone to the gardens but since it was raining it was not possible to enjoy those either. So in summary if you like 1600's furniture, history or art, Don't miss Versailles! If you enjoy standing in long lines and paying for breathing stale air full of people in small rooms (they seemed small because the hundreds of people) go for it, otherwise, Paris has much more to offer locally.
In the evening after the Versailles fiasco we had dinner on the Seine River, beautiful scenery and full on boat experience, very nice to make up for the morning. The food is not the specialty but we had a good time and that is what really matters. We probably won't remember the food a week from now anyway.

4th of July in Paris

Today we got a chance to stop by an internet cafe in the middle of the day, but typing on a French Keyboard is tough, I can't get used to the where the letters are. It must make sense to the French this way. we will have to continue at the hotel. In the meantime; happy 4th of July to all our friends and family north of the U.S. border. we will miss the fireworks this year....Until later tonight.

4th of July P.M.

We finally arrived at our hotel exhausted and satisfied from all the new places we got to see. We had awesome weather today, kind of to make up for our welcome two days ago.

Our first stop today was the Cathedral of Notre Dame. We were in awe that we could stand and touch a building constructed over 900 years ago, without the technology and without the power cranes etc. Awesome. Surely there is a God that helps people who want to worship in a magnificent Cathedral as is Notre Dame.

Since it was our Independence day and we were in the neighborhood, we decided to eat at the Hard Rock Cafe Paris. Hence the Picture of Julio and Alec with the U.S. flag in the background.

Finally we rode on a boat along the Seine river, at one point we were right behind (or to the side)

of the Eiffel tower. Which lend itself to a Great picture. We think fireworks around the Eiffel would have been nice but we will sacrifice for this year...

Tomorrow we visit Versaille and take a dinner cruise on the Seine. Until tomorrow, happy holiday to you.

Eiffel Tower Jekyl and Hyde day

Today was the most extreme day we have experienced since we began our vacation. It rained it poured than the sun came out and was the most beautiful day of the month (it's only July 3rd ;-) It was warm and it was freezing at different times of the day and throughout that extreme weather we managed to
visit the Eiffel tower at sunset (10:30 P.M.), and the Arc the Triomphe in the day time. We also climbed a total of over 900 stairs and walked many many blocks. We have searched during our day for an Internet cafe so we could log on and post some pictures but were unsuccessful. Hopefully tomorrow we can share some of the awesome pictures we took today. We are so tired we will sign off for the day and provide more details of our day tomorrow.
Good night....z-z-z-z-z-z

Welcome to rainy Paris in July

We finally arrived in Paris, only to be welcomed by a very wet gloomy city. Parisians say this is the "good month" with lots of sun and nice weather. That is not what we are seeing....
Despite the rain however we were able to take the metro to the Louvre and see the Mona Lisa and many other paintings that we wished we all know more of.
Speaking of the Metro, what an experience, for someone like me that is a germaphobic it can really be an icky experience. I could almost see the germs climbing the pole that everybody was holding on to. And whats with all the Graffitti everywhere, we have seen so much of it, L.A. is almost paradise in some areas where there is lots of it.
We have only been here a few hours but have our hopes that the weather forecasters are completly off for tomorrow (they are predicting rain and cold weather) because we had planned on going to the Eiffel tower early in the morning to see the city from above. Good Luck.
Until tomorrow....

P.S. We are unable to load pictures today. Will make up for it tomorrow...

Venice in Holland

Today we had a very long day trip (days here in general are very long, sun rises at about 5:30 and doesn't set until about 10:15 p.m. and it doesn't get dark til about 11:00 giving us a false sense time. No wonder we're so tired!).
Today we experienced exponentially all there is to experience in a day. Lots of fun, lots of memories, lots of new experiences, it was one of the best days we have had since we got here (I know we keep saying that every day!).
Our first stop on our tour was a windmill outside of Amsterdam, we also got to tour a clog and cheese factory and "play" with some cows we named them "menudo & tacos" ;-)
When we arrived in Amsterdam we took the most amazing boat ride, it was so beautiful! All along the canal we got to see boat houses, old houses and all the most interesting sites that Amsterdam has to offer.
We spent the afternoon touring the Ann Frank museum, wow, what a courageous young girl she was. I think that all our history lessons finally became more real and tangible for Alec.
Amsterdam is a very dense, populated city, saturated by bikes with no respect for the red lights or crosswalks or pedestrians, you must really watch where you are walking, or you can easily get run over!
We walked past a few coffee shops that had peculiar aromas coming out of them but it was not coffee... interesting.
Tomorrow we leave Brussels for Paris, we will most definitely keep in touch from there.