Paris, France

We made it to Paris successfully!  The night train wasn't too bad.  I slept pretty well (to be expected) but unfortunately Steve didn't sleep very well.  Apparently somebody opened our door at 6a and woke him up.  They must have been trying to find their own door.  Good thing they didn't try to crawl into bed with one of us. Lol. That is why it is important to lock the door. Lesson learned. Lol.




This is the over night train cabin. 
There were four bunks, two in each side.


When we went outside it was raining :(. We got on a bus and it was packed! I felt so bad because we both had our backpacks on and so we each took up the space of two people.  We were all so close to each other and my feet got stepped on a lot.  Our hostess, Ludivine, met us at the the bus stop by her flat.  We dropped into a bakery for some bread and continued towards her flat.  When we got there we found put she lived on the 6th floor.  Normally that wouldn't be a problem except the elevators are microscopic!  Steve, always the gentleman, walked up all 6 flights on a spiral staircase with his very heavy pack while Ludivine and I squeezed in the elevator.  Maria's stair stepper has nothing on that!  Once up stairs we got to meet her boyfriend Mustapha. Right away we both knew we would all get along very well.  We then had a very nice breakfast together before they went off to work.  At this point there was a thunder storm going on so Steven and I stayed in and enjoyed the show.  We both really enjoy thunder and lightning. In the afternoon when it had cleared up a little we ventured out into the great unknown.
Our first stop was at the Eiffel Tower. We all know you can not to to Paris and not see the Eiffel Tower. Steve and I didn't have a huge desire to go but we did because it is the thing to do.  WOW!!!  It was amazing!  Steve liked it much more than he expected.  He kept saying "We are at the Eiffel Tower!!!  That is the Eiffel Tower!!!"  lol  It was so cute.  He was totally starstruck by the tower.  The pictures and little figurines we see of it back home does not do it justice in the slightest. Of course we wanted to capture it on film so we asked some nice ladies from England (Emma and Lauren) to take our photo.  They were very nice and we got to chat a bit with them.  They gave us some brilliant ideas for pictures and then we offered to take pictures for them. Then we realized there was 3 others in their group.  So we got to meet more people and had a blast!    After taking our million photos and me crashing into an innocent bystander, we headed down some stairs to get closer to the tower when we saw a wonderful water fountain display.  It was phenomenal!  It started out simple and small and then got huge and powerful. After the show we walked down to the base of the tower.  I wanted to go to the top and Steve said he would for me but the line was ginormous and the sky began to open up and down pour again. 

Showing a little love in the place where all lovers go <3

Our cute British friends Emma and Lauren

Steve climbing the tower.

Jennifer crushing the tower with her gigantic foot.

Jennifer jumping over the tower.

Steven jumping into the tower.

To all of our new French friends, please do not take offence to the following two photos.  We were just being silly. 

Steven watering the tower and helping it grow. 

Heater and Jer this one is for you :)

Us in front of the water show.

Last but not least, the nice picture of the Eiffel Tower. 

We found cover and after the rain and calmed down we continued over to the Arc de Triomphe.

It was a strange day for weather.  As you can see it is completely over cast.  It was very humid and hot but the rain was chilly.  So after we finished at the arc, it started to rain but we decided to walk in the rain for a while to cool off.  We walked down Champs-Elzsees.  This area was nice with lots of shops and restaurants. We even found the Disney store :)  Can´t pass that up. 

Honestly, what girl wouldn´t want her picture taken with a large picture
of the handsome Leonardo?  Don´t judge me :-)

When I pressed the red button, Steamboat Willie
started to dance and whistle.  Super cute.

Ok, so it is just a stair case, but it was so "magical".  The floor was sparkling and everything
. . . Angle, help me out here.  I know you understand :) Krista, I know you get it too.

As we walked along we also got to see the Grand Palais, Place Vauban, and eventually we ended at the Musee du Louvre. :)

Petit Palais

Grand Palais

We have seen so many weddings on our trip, but this photo shoot
I thought was really cool how she was put into the statue.  :)
That would be a cool picture to have.  To bad it was raining. 

Hotel des Invalides

Entrance to the Louvre.  The whole thing was beautiful but it would not all fit into a picture. 

We covered a lot of ground in the half a day we had left after the thunder storm.  It was amazing and very exhausting!!!  We got back to the flat around 7p and our hosts, Ludivine and Mustapha, prepared dinner for us.  A mix of French cheeses, meats, and bread and of course wine. .  .lots of wine :)

The next morning we headed out to the Latin Quarter. Thank you Mustapha and Connie for recommending this.  It was beautiful.  And of course, we could not leave that area with out going to Notre-Dame.  This had to be my favorite church so far.  It was breath taking!  I don´t know if anything will top it.  This is where I got starstruck. lol    

A photo can not even convey how big and beautiful Notre Dame really is.

Just like in Madrid, Spain, this is the zero kilometer marker.
All distances in France are measured from this point.    

Around the back side was this beautiful garden.  It was sweet too because there
was some kind of children´s choirs singing.  It was a very peaceful place.   

I loved this one red rose in the middle of all the white roses. 

Another wedding :)  (I told you we saw a lot of them.)  As we were watching their new love being captured by the camera, we met a couple from Northern Scandinavia who told us, it is after the wedding day that all the trouble starts.  We laughed and began talking to them for a while.  They had been married for 30+ years.  Their view on weddings was different and they brought up a good point.  They said people should´t have a huge wedding because they haven´t truly accomplished anything.  The big party should come after you have been together for at least 10 years.  Then you can celebrate how you and your love have made it through the different obstacles you face in marriage with out parting ways.  I liked their thought process.  I think we do tend to focus too much on the wedding day and the actual marriage is a side thought.  On the other hand I think it is important to support and encourage a couple´s choice to commit their lives, unselfishly, to another.  Maybe Steve and I will celebrate our big anniversaries and throw a big party with plenty of food and dancing. You know us, any excuse to through a party :)  You all are invited!  Put it on your calenders now.  Your welcome ;-)  

 

Ok, so we don´t really remember where the original bridge of locks is but this one worked for us.  :)  It is very common for couples in Europe, and I would guess tourists too, who are in love to put a lock on a bridge.  This signifies their love will be locked and endure forever.  Many of the bridges have these all over them.  Mustapha said they clean all the locks off once a year but they are constantly being put back on.  I wonder how long it takes the authorities to take off all these locks. 

 After we left the Latin Quarter, we went to see the Moulin Rouge (again, you can´t go to Paris and not go here).  We quickly popped in, took the pick, and popped out.  Not really a place I wanted to stay at or wanted Steve to stay at.  lol  Then we headed to La Butte Montmartre.  Ludivine said this is her favorite area of Paris.  It was really a nice area to wander through.  We found a cute little church. It really was little compared to the big cathedrals we have seen.  Right next to this church we found a delightful tea shop.  They lured me in and suckered us into buying some tea by giving us a sample of some refreshing ice tea. lol  Then we headed up to Montmartre Basilique du Sacre-Coeur.  This was also a beautiful church but the view and the skyline was very impressive. 

Honestly, we expected this to be a little bit bigger and grander than it really is. 
It is so small, especially compared to the buildings next to it.
 Well, I guess we can check this off our bucket list, not that it
was really on it in the first place. But hey, why not? When in Paris. . .  

Montmartre Basilique du Sacre-Coeur



I like the quote above the columns: "Do not be afraid! Open wide the doors of Christ!" 
From all our fellow Christ followers, can we get an AMEN?!?!?
I think our world needs a little Jesus right now. 

Another view of the Sacre-Coeur

After our day out on the town, we went home to our lovely hosts and all went out to dinner together.  Ludivine is from an area where crepes originated.  In her neighborhood there are many Many MANY crepe places.  (Benjamin and Sylvie we found out why) Their are 4 train stations in Paris.  Each connects Paris to regions in the North, South, East, or West.  The area that comes into Ludivine´s neighborhood is from the the region where crepes are made, so they settled in the area and it is now a popular place to have crepes.  She took us to the "best" crepe place and we enjoyed both a savory and sweet crepe.  I also learned the savory crepe and sweet crepe batter is different.  The savory batter is made with a brown flour and the sweet with a white flour.  I will now have to adjust my recipes :)

Ludivine and Mustapha where such a cute couple.  They are very much in love and it shows in everything they do-the way they acted towards each other so sweetly, looked at each other, held hands, danced, and shared the same desire to travel and their conviction to enjoy their lives.  I pray they will last forever!

After dinner we all went salsa dancing at the river.  We were very excited!  The dance floor was packed so we went down to the bottom and danced where their was more space.  Then we took a romantic stroll along the river.  There were many college students eating and drinking in big groups along the river.  I am sure it is a pretty popular party scene for them, but for us it was romantic.  Steve and I really wanted to see the Eiffel Tower all lit up at night so we tried to hurry over there after dancing and just made it before the Metro shut down.  Unfortunately, we missed the light show but it was still beautiful.  When we were done, we all headed back in a cab to the flat.  These crazy kids had to work the next day but stayed out to make the night special for us.   

On the way to dancing Steve decided to fly

Dancing!!!!!!!!

The view of Notre-Dame on our romantic walk along the river. 

On our last night in Paris we wanted to treat Ludivine and Mustapha to dinner as a thank you for showing us a great time and for all their generosity.  Steve thought it would be a great idea for me to cook for them.  Once we got to the store we realized, we did´t know what cooking supplies, such as pots and pans ect., she had so we wondered around the store for a bit before we decided to just get some meats and cheeses and replicate the lovely dinner they provided for us the first night we were there and then I would make them dessert.  When we got to the meat and cheese section we were definitely at a loss.  We had no idea what anything was and could not read French.  lol  So we then decided to go back to the flat and wait for Ludivine to come home so we could all go together and she could help us purchase some tasty morsels. Plus, I wanted to buy real Champagne to have when we were in France and I needed Ludivine to help me pick out a good bottle. We tried to think of something easy to make for dessert so we decided to make sweet breakfast dish for dessert.  We purchased those ingredients and afterwards we realized we were making them French Toast!  LOL  It is Stuffed French Toast, but still!  What crazy Americans?!?!?  LOL  It turned out well though because they don´t actually eat French Toast so it was a treat for them :)  So silly!

It was one of Steven´s dream to dress up as a pineapple and go around France saying
"Je suis un ananas."  Well, there was no Pineapple suit so this picture will have to suffice. :)



Those of you who know Steve or have at lease lived next door to
Steven will know what this is. He loves being nosey. . . I mean he is a curious person,
and loves looking out the window at all the people passing by.  lol
Sean, Cari, Chris, Laura, Bob, Josh, Krista, Monica, and Celia I know you get it.  lol



Cheese! Glorious Cheese!!!! (Les fromages glorieux)

Ludivine and Mustapha, this one is for you :)  This was the hardest door ever to open up!  It took three of them about 5 minute to get it to budge.  We almost had to call the neighbors to let us in.  Then again it wouldn´t have been the first time we had to call the neighbors.  lol  At least this time it wouldn´t have been 1am.  lol



Our last night in Paris celebrating our time in France, all our good times, and our new friendships with good food and a bottle of Champagne.  Thank you Connie for our gift.  We used it to provide this nice dinner and a delicious bottle of Champagne.  We enjoyed every last drop!

This was the view from the flat we stayed in.  If you look closely you can see the Eiffel Tower off to the right.  In person it actually looks a lot bigger.  Since we didn´t get to see the Eiffel Tower sparkle the other night when we went, we watched the clock closely and looked out the window (way, way out the window) at midnight and got to see the whole tower sparkle like it was a sparkler on New Years Eve or the 4th of July.  It was an amazing last memory of our time in Paris.   

Jenn teaching the French how to make an "authentic" French dish of Stuffed French Toast. ;-)

Oh Yeah!  Look at them looking very happy to eat this yummy dessert. 
One plate was stuffed with berries and the other with Nutella and topped with a little powdered sugar. 

Bonne nuit et au revoir!!!!

Toulouse, France

We finally made it to Toulouse!!!  

After leaving Spain, we had to get off on a city in France and then buy our next ticket into Toulouse.  When we got there the ticket station was closing but thankfully the guard took pity on us and eventually let us in to get our ticket.  Otherwise we would have been stuck in another city we did not plan on.  The next outgoing train was full so we bought tickets for the last train of the day.  We met a nice French man earlier who helped translate for us and told us to just jump on the early train anyway. Once we are on they won't kick us off.  We told them the ticket office said they the train was full but he was confident his plan would work.  We were hesitant but followed his lead.  We got on the train and yes it was PACKED!  The French man and  Steven couldn't find a seat. Ad stood in the hallway between cars so I could have the one remaining seat.  Such sweet guys :)

Our first night in Toulouse we went out to dinner and enjoyed the company of a sweet old man who sat next to us at the restaurant.  He was a agriculturist who specialized on hybrid seeds and traveled to the States many times for work before he retired.  He was very fascinating.  You could tell he was lonely because he talked our ears off the whole time.  Lol. But he was so cute we enjoyed ever bit of our time together.  It was nice to have someone to talk to in English our first night in France.  

The next morning we got to meet our new host family; Benjamin, Sylvie, Alex (3 years), and Nelly (9 months I think).  We hadn't gotten to meet them all the night before because they were out with their friends and left us a key.  They were a wonderful family, very relaxed, and we we enjoyed our time with them very much. Sylvie went out in the morning before we woke up and surprised us with three different croissant to enjoy.  It was amazing! Later they had some errands to do so we went with them.  Along the way, Sylvie gave us a tour of the town with a lot of historic information.  We went into an old catholic church by their house.  I lit a candle in honor of my Grandma and Aunt Shirley and then just sat and prayed for a while while I let Jesus hold my heart and ease the pain I still feel regarding their passing.  Then we headed back to the flat for a duck lunch which was a common meal in Toulouse. It was really good :). We all relaxed for a while and then we parted ways for the evening.  Steve and I headed to a crepe place for dinner and then walked around town and explored the night life.  It was a very pretty town by day and by night.  

La Basilque (the church by the house)

Lighting a candle for my loved ones.

Cool Picture

Alex enjoying the walk back to the flat.

Steven enjoying the walk back to the flat.

Yummz Duck lunch

The saying goes: if you are out of bread, you need more because you still have cheese and wine.  If you are out of cheese you need more because you still have bread and wine.  If you are out of wine, you need more wine because you still have bread and cheese.  :-). It is a wonderful but vicious circle.  Steve enjoyed himself very much ;-)

Fruit dipped In sweetened cream--who knew?

The Capital building with its pink bricks.

Beautiful skyline of Toulouse from the top of a mall.

 The top level of the mall is for tourists.  Here they have all sorts of local or French toddies one would want to buy to bring home.  Good thing we weren't heading home or I might have been I cliened to buy something yummy.

Fun sugar cubes

Here is a great example of one of the things I didn't buy but wanted to :)

Savory crape with a bechamel sauce

Sweet crepe with banana, Carmel and rummmmmmmmmm :). Can we have another?

Along the river at sundown

Stunning

On our way back to the flat, we heard music Tango music coming from a side street so we decided to she what it was.  In a quaint little courtyard there was an Argentinian tango party taking place.  Steve and I of course were excited and stayed to watch.  Had we known how to dance this type of tango we would have joined in, instead we just sat in awe.  Before we left, we decided to complement some of our favorite dancers on their skills.  We sat and chatted with them for a while before heading home and turning in for the night. We were so happy to have found that outside dance spot.  It really made our evening magical as we sat under a canopy of lights watching amazing dancers.  

The next day we all went to a outdoor marked and walked around for a while, then headed for their big indoor grocery market where each stand specialized in a different food.  Sylvie helped me order a rotisserie chicken in the market by coaching me on what to say in French.  Lol. It was very interesting and thankfully the poor lady I was talking with was able to figure out what I had mumbled. 



Jenn TRYING to order a chicken.



Nelly being cute


 



On our way back to the flat to eat lunch, we stopped in to take a
peak inside the justice hall building where people get married. 
 It was a beautiful building full if art and so much detail everywhere you look. 



This is where the ceremony takes place.



Steve enjoying his dessert: ice cream dipped in white chocolate
 and sprinkled with freeze dried raspberries. He was in heaven!

After we had lunch Ben and Sylvie thought us a new card game. This deck has all the same cards as ours except it also has 22 extra cards (1-21 and 1 joker).  It was with these cards that we played the new game.  I hope maybe we can find something similar back home so we can play it in the States. There are five deals to every round.  On the first deal you give everyone 5 cards and bid on how many tricks you will win. The accumulative bids can not be the number of cards in your hands so the dealer must under bid or over bid to allow there to be an odd number of bids. As the hand plays out you have to make your bid or you are penalized one point for each unfulfilled bid. The next hand you are dealt 4 cards and the bidding begins again.  This continues until there are no cards left and then the next person deals out the next round. Once everyone deals their round the game is over.  The person with the least penalty points wins.  I don't remember the name of this game but it was really fun!

Later that evening we all went down to the river for a picnic dinner and a concert. This was a nice experience.  Every year in Toulouse there is a a big concert weekend that highlights music from a certain country or region.  This year they focused on music from the Caribbean.  I think my brother would have really enjoyed these concerts and the environment (or at least he would have when I knew him better.  I am not sure what he likes now)  Everything I saw and experienced reminded me of him.  It was bitter sweet in that sence.  All in all we had a great evening with our new friends before we had to catch the night train and head to Paris.  



Steve had to take a picture of this.  LOL. This is the men's bathroom at the concert.
Over every urinal there was a woman watching from the wall.
Some of them were looking through binoculars, one had a tape measure/ruler,
and some just looked shocked.  So weird. 



Someone got their face painted ;-)



This is the all of us enjoying the concert. Such a nice family!



Steve climbing on another art exhibit. He is so cute!



Sweet couple.

We really enjoyed our time with Benjemin, Sylvie and their two little girls.  Be were blessed by their kindness and pray God blesses them in return.  

A little of our observations: Toulouse was a nice place to visit. It seemed very laid back. It was not a huge city or a small city.  It felt similar to San Jose in that way.  The architecture was beautiful. Apparently Toulouse is known for it's pink brick buildings with blue window shades.  Even the newer buildings are built with the pink bricks.  We were told we wouldn't find that in Paris.  I liked it because the streets were bright and happy with the light colored buildings.  Toulouse also has a large community of Nigerians who settled there.  It was fun to see the different clothing and stores and booths that contained Nigerian products.  I also noticed a big bohemian influence.  I didn't expect this in France.  I don't know why.  Maybe Paris will be different seeing as it is a big fashion hub.  





Figueres, Spain

Yesterday we were supposed to be in Toulouse, France but we has a little detour. We left Madrid as schedule but found out on our way that France was having a transportation strike. Apparently all the trains, buses, and planes went on strike for today only.  I had heard about these one day strikes before we left.  They are scheduled strikes so I thought if we were making a reservation they would tell us that the next day there would be a strike, but they didn't.  Lol. So we went as far as we could wi h is right at the border of Spain in a little town called Figueres.  When we got off the train we went to customer service which was swamped with people and made reservations for the next day at the same time.  There was a young girl I front of us who looked completely distraught.  She was by herself so Steve and I asked her if she would like to spend the evening with us until she was able to catch the next possible train tomorrow.  She was very appreciative. Her name is Jackie  she is 20 years old and from Mexico. She was supposed to be meeting some friends in Paris.  She spoke good English and we all got along very well.  She helped us get a cab to take us to a hotel near the center of town.
After checking in at the hotel, we went and explored the city.  All the museums and things were closed but we had fun just walking around.  Outside our hotel was a gigantic spoon!!! I don't know why but there was.  Naturally we had to climb in and take photos.  Why pass something like that up?  We continued on to the local castle (I think every town has to have a castle of some sort.  It is probably a requirement.)  Just around the boarder of the castle was a little hiking trail with a beautiful view of this little town.  Along the train we ran into two ladies who were looking for wild asparagus among the brush. I was amazed at this lady's skill she would spot one in the middle of all these weeds, climb in to get it and then continue on.  She had eyes like a hawk!  They said they were going to fry them up into a tortilla (Spanish omelet). Sounded yummy.  Then Steve started craving asparagus. Lol. I was surprised because he always complains when I make him eat it or trick him into eating it by mixing it with other veggies. Lol. At that point we were all hungry so we went and had a picnic diner at the park in the center of the city. It was very peaceful.
After dinner we continued looking around the city.  Come to find out this is the home town of an artist named Dali.  He is scary looking and I think he must have been crazy. This work is completely out there and random.  He was commissioned to improve the look of an old military tower named Torre Galatea.  He thought it would be a good idea to put giant eggs on the top of the building.  Yes, you read that right-eggs.  I guess  they symbolized future life for the city and the n he surrounded the building with model loafs of bread to symbolize basic nutrition.   There were statues of women carrying loaves of bread in the front and we think the decorations on the walls were meant to be bread too, but they look like little piles of poop to all of us.
After seeing Dali's museum we decided to go back to the hotel, watch a movie and go to sleep.  The next morning we said goodbye to our new friend Jackie and prayed over her to have safe and fun travels with her friends. We hope to keep in touch over FB.

Us in the giant spoon afraid we are going to be eaten.

I LOVE the smell of this tree.  It smells a lot like jasmine.  :)

On our walk around the castle (Jenn, Jackie, and Steve)

Sunset view of the castle

Ladies picking wild asparagus.  The one on the right had the hawk eye.

This is Dali.  What a crazy looking fellow.  His face was posted up all over Madrid too.  This picture is enough to give person nightmares.

Gaudi's house

Steve's favorite piece of art.  lol  (He refuses to look at it) If you look closely you can see chucky dolls in his eyes

Jacky climbing the wall of poop :)

My monkey climbing the monkey bars :)