PARIS
March 8-11
Andrew and I were enamored by the city of Paris. The parisians totally defied their snooty stereotype and were extremely kind, helping us with directions, on the metro, and in restaurants. They were a quiet but very kind people. The food was incredible, very finely cooked and presented. The Gothic style churches and their stained glass were quite a site to see. And of course we hit all of the big sites like the Arc di Triumph, the Eiffel Tower, the Louve, the Champs de Elysees, St. Eustache, St. Chapelle, Notre Dame, Sacre Coure, Montmartre, the Rodin Museum, and the Bastille. We had such a fun time exploring the city.
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| The Arc di Triumph at Night! |
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| The French are spectacular at culinary art. Unlike the Italians, the French specialize in incredible smaller dishes, each plate with a perfect flavor and presentation. We had the best salmon & monk fish of our lives! |
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| Though its size was quite overwhelming, we loved the Louve. We saw many famous paintings and pieces of art we loved, like this huge and finely detailed Wedding at Cana by Paolo Veronese, 1563. |
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| The Eiffel Tower lit up with twinkling lights at midnight! |
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| San Eustace, a stunning Gothic Church with super sweet flying butresses. |
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| Sacre Coure, my favorite church in Paris! It lies atop a little hill by the trendy neighborhood Montmartre. Sacre Coure had adoration of the blessed sacrament when we walked in and you could just tell what a holy place it was. |
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| The Thinker @ The Rodin Museum. The Rodin Museum was a small, cute little museum and sculpture garden that was perfect for a Sunday Morning in Paris. |
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| The square of the execution of Marie Antoinette! If you look closely the slogan of the French Revolution "liberty, equality, fraternity" is displayed above the doors. |
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| And of course, the one and only Notre Dame. We went to a beautiful liturgy here with an incredible choir, much incense, the archbishop of Paris, and a full house. |
BARCELONA
March 11-13
While Paris won the prize for best place to visit, Barcelona took the cake for best place to live. We visited a bunch of indoor markets with fresh fish, meats, cheeses, fruits, and juices as well as some tapas bars. Barcelona was a little more relaxing than Paris; we took a day on the beach, a day in the park and a hilltop castle, and a day with the architectural masterpieces of Gaudi. Luckily almost everyone spoke Spanish (and often english) because the Catalan dialect sounded like a whole other language.
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| Fish Market in Barcelona. We watched as the chopped the heads off and descaled all sorts of fish! |
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| FISH HEADS! |
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| Our Signature Photo of Barcelona. The awkward family photo atop an old Barcelonan cannon in a castle on a hill with a beautiful overlook of Barcelona. Whodda thunk? |
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| You must see it for yourself, the most unique and theologically complex piece of church architecture I have ever seen. |
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| Antoni Gaudi's La Sagrada Familia. Only 1/2 finished. Plans to be twice as high. Forging new territory in architecture. |
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| Perfect Beach Day in Barcelona... wait why is there a belly in this picture? |
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| Our tapas and Sangria at an authentic Barcelonan Tapas Bar! We watched the soccer game amongst the local college crowd, an authentic Barcelonan experience. |
March 13-15
Amsterdam was a crazy experience. The canals and the bikes were very cute, and their pancakes were to die for. The dutch language is one of the most interesting languages I have ever heard. They have words like Zandzeepsodemineraalwatersteenstralen which means "get lost" and I think the only words i caught during a mass was "corn bread," though something tells me that was a mistake. We also got an exclusive Cheese Museum tour and greeting by the last Claver cheese maker (debatable) which was one of the highlights of our trip. All in all, I have to be honest, Amsterdam was not my favorite. The red light district and the smell of weed hampered the experience. But it was great to meet up with our good friend Jonathan McGee.
BELGIUM
March 15-17
Ladies Weekend featuring chocolate, waffles, and more chocolate. Belgium prides itself on being the oddball city. It's not cool to be cool; you have to be yourself and everyone will accept you that way. We had consistently awesome food here too. We had a really fun time with just us girls and sampled a lot of free Belgian chocolate along the way. We also stayed in a very nice apartment and listened to Barry White, a favorite of the property owner and our Italian bus driver.
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| Waffles in Belgium ARE as good as everyone says they are. Liege Waffles are filled with little sugar filled crevices that perfectly sweeten the warm bread of the waffle. Best breakfast ever. |
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| I found Belgian Girl Scouts and bought brownies from them to support their troop trip to paris. The brownie was incredible. |
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| Lanes and I had this awesome seafood meal where we pointed at fish and then they cooked them for us. |
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| The sunset view of the city form the top of Parking Lot 98. Supposedly one of the best views in the entire city! |
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| The Eiffel Tower of Belgium, the Atomium. An enlarged Iron Atom and a symbol of the city. |
