Here's Looking At You Kid...

I've returned to London, a bit more cultured and a bit more French. Erica and I recently spent 4 days in Paris and are proud to declare that we proved to be entirely capable knowing absolutely no French (aside from bonjour and merci).

To prepare for this journey, Erica and I attended a viewing of Casablanca at the National Gallery in London a few weeks back. Casablanca was being shown as part of the "Americans in Paris" exhibition. And that's just what we were...Americans in Paris... A bit of a disclaimer for this post: I took 291 pictures while in Paris (not including the pictures that I deleted along the way). Thus this blog is not for the faint of heart or time crunched.

Let me tell you... getting to the airport for this trip was a piece of cake compared to what we've had to pull off in the past as we were flying out of Heathrow (main airport in London). Our first exposure to the French language was on the airplane and then again in the Paris airport. But being the resourceful young women that we are, we had called the hotel in Paris ahead of time and knew exactly how to get to our hotel. Unfortunately, they didn't tell us which line to stand in to purchase the correct train ticket. Minor bump though in the whole scheme of things. We purchased our tickets for RER B and were on our way... I made sure to document our spectrum of emotions surrounding our first accomplishment. (Note: this RER trip is where we officially started our accordian count...to be discussed later in the blog).



Erica is exaughsted and relieved to be on the train...



I, on the other hand, am a bundle of energy and don't think it's possible to have a bigger smile

So we're off the train, we've found the correct bus...we've even asked for directions and paid for our bus tickets talking with people who only spoke French... we're pretty much golden. Oh wait, no we're not. Now we're off the bus and walking towards our hotel. This is what we see...


Now we're thinking to ourselves, crap...what have we just signed up for? We rounded the corner and saw the hotel and then thought, we'll maybe this won't be so bad.



We get our keys and head up to our room only to be dissapointed once again. This was the first room that we were given.

Now I hate to be prissy, but this simply wasn't going to fly. I love that I took a picture though...

Needless to say, they gave us a second room. I can't say that it was much better. While it was clean, it smelled musty and I'm incredibly sad to report that the room did not boast a shower head that was located above your head. From previously posts we have all learned that this is one of the small things that I highly enjoy on trips.



The boat/sailing theme added a fun element to our stay. Erica didn't quite notice the sailboat above our heads but she wasn't feeling all that well so we'll give her the benefit of the doubt. On another side note, Erica and I had made a reservation for one room with two single beds. And technically, we received one room with two single beds. The two single beds, however, were pushed smack dab next to eachother. Each night as we lay in bed, side by side, we made a point of saying to eachother "I'm so glad I don't have to share a bed with you..." and many other snide and nasty comments (all in good humor of course). One night I even put my leg on her side just to drive her crazy...and she did respond with livid anger.

Ok so being "Americans in Paris" what do you think we did first? Well technically we took a nap but that's not the point. Ok, so here's your opportunity to shout out answers.... I'm sure you guessed it. We went to the Eiffel Tower. Now I'm not going to lie, we took just under 70 pictures of the Eiffel Tower that night and I'm going to require you to view several of them. Bear with me...


We got to the Eiffel Tower just before dark (approx. 7:45pm). Couldn't have gone at a more perfect time because we got to see it light up gradually and then....sparkle. It sparkled for about 10-15 minutes and I was absolutely mesmorized.






Let's play another game: find Katie. Hint: You can double click on this picture and it will enlarge on your screen. Hint #2: Look for someone who looks rediculous and is spreading their arms and legs.


These are two of my favorite pictures that I took because of the difference in perspective of the light posts in relation to the Eiffel Tower. Below, the same lamp post as shown above now looks to be the same height as the Eiffel Tower.


And I'm going to stop myself and move on to something besides the Eiffel Tower. Let's talk metro systems. As previously discussed, the metro system in Prague does not utilize wall space for advertising purposes while the London tube system does. I am pleased to report that Paris also utilizes the prime location and boasts several humorous advertisements. Well wait, who knows if they are meant to be funny as I can't read what they say. Maybe that's the beauty of advertising. It can be a universal language...the selling of a concept through picture eliciting responses from an audience that may be vastly diverse. DECA dork through and through I am...sometimes I get way too excited about marketing. BUT, you can count on me to capture these images for you so that you too can be excited about the metro advertisements in Paris.



Our favorite advertisment is shown below. Don't ask me what they are selling. (In case you can't tell, it's a picture of a pitbull and the dog has a second pair of eyes in the rear). I dropped the ball and forgot to take a picture of the other ad that always gave us a laugh. It's a picture of a woman's back and she is wearing a red bra. Funny thing is, the picture also shows a pair of men's feet and they have succeeded in undoing the woman's bra. Again, have no idea what they are selling.


Day 2: Louve.






Before we started in on the exhibitions, Erica needed to make a phone call. An all-too-familiar situation quickly arose and I was there to capture the kodak moment as it was occuring. If you remember, Erica and I had quite an ordeal using the payphones in Amsterdam. This was the case in Paris as Erica stared at the payphone in bewilderment. My question is, how would one know that to use the payphone you have to purchase a phone card specifically from the post office in Paris? Where are the signs detailing this? (Well actually, they might be posted for all I know...not sure if I've mentioned yet that I don't speak French). Props to Erica for not breaking the phone over her knee like I pretended to do in Amsterdam.



We spent about 4 hours in the Louve and barely scratched the surface. I'm not going to lie, by the end I would sit in the window seats and think to myself...I just want to be outside. The funny thing is, you walk so freakin slowly through museums yet they are so tiring. Don't get it. Below is some of what we saw...darn them for not letting me take pictures of the Mona Lisa. The coolest thing that I saw will be shown later in the blog (you are not allowed to skip ahead).




The display above just might have been my favorite...words don't do it justice...


I loved the building more than the art inside and I have become a huge fan of ceilings.


And we're finally out! This is what I kept looking at from inside... you can't blame a girl for wanting to go outside if this is what she saw.





Maybe even more fun that the Louve was stumbling upon the JPMorgan building...we at Morningstar track their funds and I at Morningstar work a lot with their data. I'm a dork, no one needs to remind me of this.



That night Erica and I met one of her girlfriends from college who is currently studying in Paris. The entire menu was in French. Now if you haven't caught on by now, I'll say it one more time...I don't speak French. Made ordering a bit difficult to say the least. Not to worry though, I didn't starve.

Moving on to day 3!

Started out at Notre Dame. This was a Sunday morning and we were lucky enough to stumble in to the church during a service. They allow visitors to walk around the outer edges of the church while the service is taking place. On a bit of a religious note: standing in churches like this one...you can't help but feel a bit overwhelmed and humbled. My grandmother (Dorothy from my Dad's side) passed away a few days prior to my trip. My Dad and Cozette would have come to London just prior to my trip, but had to cancel at the very last minute due to my grandmother's failing health. It was unfortunate on many levels. In her memory, I lit a candle in the church and also just enjoyed the opportunity to sit amongst it all in the quietness of prayer.







Then Erica and I were off to the happiest place on earth: EuroDisney.



And wouldn't you know it...as soon as we got through the park gates, it started to rain. Rain can't ruin the happiest place on earth can it? When you're younger, it wouldn't really matter. When you're 23...it does put a damper on things.

Prior to our trip, I got online to see what EuroDisney had to offer. As soon as I saw that they had a Lion King show, I had my heart set on going. Well, this meant that I stood outside in the pooring rain to get tickets. Can't blame a girl for knowing what she wants. The show wasn't exactly what I had expected but it was really good. It was like Lion King with a bit of African American gospel soul.



Sales of Disney Land ponchos were WAY up that day. This involves two of the four P's in marketing...placement and price....primarily placement which results in an increase in price. Erica and I are seasoned travelers who do not spend money on frivolous things such as ponchos. Please.



Erica and I battled it out on the Toy Story ride...I would like it to be noted that Erica and her Dad have ridden this ride in California like 14 times. I would also like it to be noted that Erica knew which targets to shoot at for the maximum amount of points. And I think it should be noted that Erica used the joy stick to turn our car around...I wasn't aware of this. Thus, Erica moved me away from my targets. But I was still ahead of her like 50,000 to 10,000. I think those from Eugene, OR should be highly impressed with my shooting skillz. Unfortunately, I have to relay the final score and report that Erica ended up schooling me. That's where the "she knew what targets got the most points" part comes in to play. Not that I'm competitive or anything...



On a side note, the picture below (with flags saying "It's a small World" is highly relevant). So I've already mentioned in a previous blog that I met someone who worked in the same corn maze in Eugene as I and individuals who attend school at my rival university. But more and more, this idea that the world is small...well, it's really true. We ran into two people at the Louve that are BUNACers...we shared haggis with them all those months ago when we celebrated the immortal memory of Robert Burns. Then when we were in line for one of the rides, I saw that one couple from our hotel was a few people back. And then when we were having breakfast at the hotel, I saw a couple who I recognized from the day before at the Louve. Crazy.



We closed the park down at 8:00pm (2000 hrs) and Mikey was there to bid us farewell.



Kudos to my mom: When I was in second grade, my mom took Sam and I to Disney Land for the first time. I appreciated it then...obviously as it was one of the funnest things ever. But as I get older, and I realize what things costs and how tiring everything is and how much planning is required...I appreciate it even more. We did the early bird breakfast with all the disney characters, we went to the night parade, we wore dorky fanny packs and had our own disposable cameras and took pictures of the dumbest things... It was at disney land that I fell in love with chocolate covered bananas... Kudos to mom on a trip that I still appreciate... all these years later.

Day 4

Be excited. We went on a DaVinci Code walking tour.

While waiting for our tour guide to arrive Erica and I witnessed a classic episode of Japanese tourists. The big bus arrived, they all piled out with their fancy little cameras and started taking pictures of the most random things (Erica would like it to be noted that they most likely didn't know what they were taking pictures of). Funny thing is, I don't think they knew that I was taking pictures of them taking pictures.




And as quickly as they came...they left.

And on to the tour. We had a fabulous guide...she was great. She basically took us through the book and all of the parts in the book that took place in Paris (which was a lot).



K I don't want to get you overly excited, but this is the exact spot where the Holy Grail is burried. No joke...right where I'm pointing.



Ok I lied. So after being a dork and taking this picture, I talked to our guide and she said that the smaller pyramid that is upright...well it's only there to ensure that visitors don't walk underneath the glass pyramid and hurt themselves. The cleaners actually push it out of the way at night so that they can mop. I'm going to pretend she didn't tell me that and continue to believe that I know where the Holy Grail is burried.

Because this blog is becoming entirely too long...I'm just going to throw in some of the pictures that I really like. Sorry that this has gotten so long...I realize that people have other things to do aside from reading my blog word for word.









During our stay, Erica and I kept several "counts"...one of which was an accordian count. We saw three during our stay in Paris. We also got to hear a little ditty from this gem on our last metro ride. A la la la la la bamba...




Kisses from Paris...