The Wild Newlywed Yonder: June 2014

I have been asked by many people to update my blog. Sadly, I am about five months behind. However, basically three of those five months Sam has been gone, so there hasn’t been too many trips I’ve missed sharing about. I also don’t like to go out of order. So it may almost be July, but instead of blogging about my trip to the states last month I am going to go back to where we left off. Which my last post was about Sam’s birthday so this brings up to our anniversary. I had taken notes about our trips on my phone so I would remember everything, but I accidentally erased all of my notes. Lesson learned that it is better to update immediately after a trip rather than waiting five months. So here it goes. In January we took a trip to Paris to celebrate two years of wedded bliss. We took a train from London to Paris, it went under the English Channel, and I slept like a baby on it. I also had the brilliant idea to make a train from London to New York; I would prefer that much more than flying. Turns out my idea isn’t original and it is possible but will cost trillions of dollars to create so I don’t think that will be happening anytime soon.

On the train to Paris

We booked a hotel near the train station that had breakfast. I didn’t want a long walk or commute on public transport like Erin and I had last summer with our luggage so I was happy with our selection. However, contrary to popular belief Paris is not exactly the most beautiful city in the world. We did find it to be romantic but it was dirty and there are lots of homeless people lying out on the streets and under bridges. We walked to our hotel and I clinched closely onto Sam as we walked down some sketch streets. The hotel itself wasn’t a four seasons by any means and probably the worst we have stayed in but it was clean, had a bad and a decent breakfast. Plus you had to hit a buzzer to be allowed in so at least I felt safe once inside the hotel. We started exploring right away and another thing about Paris is that it is a ton of walking, but we are used to that by now. Paris also isn’t the dirtiest city I have seen and as you walk around you can see that there are beautiful buildings. Plus we had great weather, not too cold. It was actually a very mild winter in Europe and the UK this past winter.

We visited Notre Dame Cathedral first and we climbed the 387 steps to the very top, yes I counted. I told you it is a lot of walking! The view was gorgeous. We could see the entire city including the Eiffel Tower and the Sacré-Cœur, which is a beautiful white church and I believe one of the most photographed places in Paris.

We also visited the Sainte-Chapelle. The Sainte-Chapelle was built during the 13^th century by King Louis the IX. The cathedral contains beautiful stained glass, fifteen stain glassed panels and wall paintings and carvings that all resemble gothic architecture and medieval beauty. Arguably one of the most beautiful churches in Paris, however, pictures just don’t capture the beauty quite as well.

Loved the bridges in Paris!

You can’t go to Paris without visiting the Louvre. I went to Paris last summer with my friend Erin but she had done all of these things before so we kind of just walked around a bit and visited the Eiffel Tower. The Louvre was beautiful but I am not really into looking at paintings. It is a huge museum full of lots of art work. I was pretty much done after seeing the Mona Lisa and realizing it is much smaller than I had pictured. Sam continued to explore while I waited outside. I did however; have to take some cliché pictures like the other tourists and Sam made fun of me.

Man my hair was long, I miss it...time to grow it out again!

Trying to be as cool as the other tourists

See how small she is?!

Again, being cool like the tourists

Yup I am a dork and my foot was injured during this process

I am pretty sure there is a Ferris wheel in every European city

Must have escargot in France

Notre Dame at night

This is important and has historical meaning but I don't remember what that was exactly...

A cool museum

We climbed to the top of the Arc De Triomphe at night and it was beautiful. We got to see the Eiffel Tower all lit up and then it sparkled and everyone ooohhhheeed and ahhhhheeeeddd.

We went to see the Eiffel Tower at night. Since I went in the summer and it stays daylight until practically midnight we didn’t see the Eiffel Tower after dark. So this was a must do on my list. I was handed a rose by one of those guys, there are always people at the tower handing out thing, don’t take them. Ever. You will have to pay. Which Sam did and it added to the romance of it all, but still they will get you. After walking around the Eiffel Tower we had a delicious three course dinner in which the waiter got a glass of water to put my rose in and added to the ambiance of the evening. Sam ate frog legs and they were actually yummy.

Sam's frog legs

Paris is magical at night

On our last day I wanted to visit the Pont de l'Archeveche which is the “locks of Love Bridge”. The legend is that you buy a lock and sign it then you lock it onto the bridge and throw the key into the bottom of the river and your love will last forever, because the only way to remove your lock is dive into the river and find the exact key. Well at least that is what some tourist made up. Anyway, I wanted to partake in this romantic part of Paris, so we got our lock and threw away the key. Unfortunately, perhaps you have heard about it in the news, part of the bridge railing collapsed under the weight of all the locks and Sam says I contributed to it, which I do feel bad about and perhaps our lock is gone now but it was a neat experience.

Our lock

The bridge which is starting to collapse

Next to our lock

And now our key is gone, never to be found again.

After locking up our love and before hitting the train station to head home we visited the crypt of the Eglise du Dome Church at the Hotel des Invalides which is where Napoleons tomb is located. Sam loved going through this museum and I enjoyed seeing Napoleon’s tomb. We had lunch here and then headed off to the train station.