Kittens, Kittens, Babies, Chanel

The last morning of Paris approached us quickly as we awoke once again to pack up our suitcases and head down for our breakfast buffet. We grabbed our plates and by this time we knew what we had desired to be on them. The hard boiled egg was on each of ours and that’s when we decided that there was going to be an egg peeling show down. (This was to prove that I wasn’t as slow as I had been the first day of egg eating.) So, we cracked the time and it began… and guess who ended up trumping the other? Me. I won! But, if it means anything… I’d rather Luey peel my eggs for me any day! So, we ate our meal and went back to room 32 to bring down our suitcases in preparation for checking out before noon. Yet, just because our room was no longer available to us, that didn’t mean that the rest of Paris wasn’t…

That’s when we called a taxi and had it take us to one of the largest shopping galleries in all of Paris; The Lafayette. This shopping complex was a four 5 leveled arena that was located in an older built building. One probably couldn’t have told the difference between that old landmark compared with others, except that this one held many, many, many high fashion designer products and other goodies. Walking into this place it didn’t take long for me to be drawn into something, yet this time it was apart of the structure itself rather than clothing or of that sort. In this 5 story building, there was a enormous dome-shaped stained glass overlaying all of the levels. If standing on the first floor, you would see all the other levels built around the center in a circle like fashion. This was not your average Dillard’s.

We were on a mission for today: to find the perfect shoes. These shoes were going to be a pair unlike any other I owned. There were a few stipulations, 1. They were heels, 2. They were almost pieces of art that you could put onto your shelf, and 3. They were timeless. I know… I raised the bar pretty high for these little puppies. I also wanted to know instantly that they were ‘the ones,’ you know that feeling when you just know you have to have it? So, we wandering aimlessly around the racks and up and down different levels. We pretty much saw it all, the beauty products, the high end fashion lines from well known designers, the accessories unit, and eventually we ran into a little vending machine that sold non-other than coffee. Um, why doesn’t America have this? So, we took a little espresso break and then continued on our way. Being too afraid to buy anything in the price range that they had marked on their clothes, we headed on down to the lowest of the lowest levels; the shoes.

While weaving ourselves through the thousands of shoes that were down there, I was sure we were going to be find it. Even Luey was in on it. He was pointing out multiple pairs that may have been what I had wanted… and my eyes kept scanning all around to see if they were to become glued on anything special. But, there wasn’t much of anything that grabbed my attention as strong as I had desired. These shoes were going to (maaaaybe) be my wedding shoes! Yet, this time in Paris… there was no such luck for the perfect fit or style. Au revoir shoes!

Walking ourselves silly through the elaborate shopping facility, we worked up an appetite. This time we ventured outside until we smelt something and saw with our eyes the place we wanted to eat. This time it was a true hearted brasserie. They had all sorts of French food, and what better way to say good-bye to France than to eat multiple foods that reminisce France. Luey ordered mozerella & tomatoes, a ham crepe, and French fries, and my order was a tuna salad with all sorts of vegetable goodies sprinkled on top. Yes, please. It was so, so good! To top it off, there was a crème brulee served in front of me to truly seal the goodbye!

Leaving the little bistro, we then whipped in and out of selected stores that lined the streets we were walking at and ended up finding the perfect (winter) knitted sweater and also finding a Gap (!!!) in Paris. Beautiful thing shopping is. Some how we landed ourselves on the street that truly was made only for BMWs and/or any other high priced car, because this street held own little boutiques with the designers name dawned on it. There was Dior, Chanel, Valentino, Miu Miu, Versace, and any other name you’d expect to see on a runway. Of course we only dared to walk into a handful of them, and by the 2^nd or 3^rd one we almost felt silly and out of place. That is when we decided to call it a day on the shopping boulevard, and got a taxi back to our safe spot, Mr. Eiffel.

When we arrived we said our sweet (& maybe tearful) goodbyes to our new friend, and we walked down the souvenir filled streets to grab a couple of last things. J’Adore Paris shirt was bought, miniature Eiffel towers, and of course magnets and then off we went to our hotel to make it in time for our airport cab. Except for the fact that as soon as we stepped outside, there began a rain pour. This started as a meaningless drizzle yet only about 10 steps into the walk back, it began to pour kittens and puppies. Worst timing ever. We were holding our bags full of recently purchased remembrances and trying not to let our more valuable things get water damage. Practically running in straight ran, we some how made it back to the hotel in time to change out of our sopping wet clothes into luckily some of our newly purchased items since our other belongings were already packed away.

Once dry and ready to head to the airport, the cab came along to take us to the place where I had to kiss the glorious Paris au revoir. It was sad. We had a good run. The food, the streets, the history… I soaked it all in. We eventually figured out the weird security and bag checking system that the French had an after waiting awhile to check our bags we finally made it to our plane gate. We sat and read and checked the screen to make sure everything was running smoothly, and after checking it once again we noticed that our flight was delayed… for a mere 2 hours… I wish that it could’ve been a joke, but it wasn’t and that meant that we had another 2 hours to wait before our plane was to even take off. That also meant more people watching time, and that the AirFrance was to compensate us for a meal and it did just that. We anxiously awaited the plane and when it was time to board, we were ready.

It didn’t take long until we were back in Portugal and when we landed we were thankful to see a familiar face waiting for us after the long day of dealing with airport nonsense. Portugal, your land feels good beneath my feet… 

Merci, petit bébé!

Paris, here we come! Slowly but surely we made our way down to the breakfast buffet once more to eat up to energize for a not-so-long day, but still super adventurous. Luey made up my plate with exactly what I wanted and it ended up with a hard boiled egg on it, and apparently I do not know the correct method to cracking and peeling it’s shell off… but Luey does, he could be called an ‘egg peeler pro.’ (This will relate sooner or later.) So, we scarved down all the sorts of goodies and we walked our needed path to get to the tall, red bus and it happened be directly in front of Mr. Eiffel, and while walking… there came this beautiful, symphonic sound… And of course at 10 a.m. there was a full band playing in one of the pavilions for listeners ears. So, we stopped and enjoyed this free concert being played for us… but we maybe didn’t enjoy it as much as this little boy dancing almost violently directly in front of them, but we were close I would say…

Making it to our bus, we loaded on and sat on the top where the breeze was quite chilly but we were able to see Paris in the morning. We made it to our first stop of the day, Musee D’Orsay, an old train station that was now refurbished to be filled with some of the most eccentric paintings from the Impressionist era. There was a line that exceeded the roped off path they normally create, and we stood in it to wait. We were slowly making our way close and closer to the front and eventually we made it up to the front where they would create the line for us with the stretched out blockers. You know the kind… the kind they have at movie theatres… Well, Luey makes a joke along the lines of “well, get on out here!” so, I turned around towards the elastic fabric and pretended to walk through it and it snapped and immediately and quickly zoomed back to its beginning pole where it came from. In the process I scared this Asian girl in front of me, and there were some adults sneering at how juvenile I was… and at the same time the line coordinator who worked for the museum was walking over and shouted in a joking way “what do you think you’re doing?” (In English of course, because I am obviously American) and I started laughing and then he started moving us to another line, almost thought I was being kicked out. So, we finally made it inside and nobody was buying tickets… why was nobody buying tickets you ask? Because, of course, on the first Sunday of every month there is free entrance. Yahoo!

We immediately went over to the area that is pointed ‘Van Gogh’ and immediately Luiz started to have childhood memories of his profound love of the artists’ pieces. We were able to see some of his most classic pieces including the self-portrait capturing the crazy man he was. I want to paint like him. I also want to know how to paint in general. So we walked down the whole aisle that was attributed to solely Van Gogh and then we skimmed through the rest of the impressive Impressionist that even included Monet, Manet, Gauguin, Renoir, Courbet, Cezanne…. Honestly, this place was full of extremely impressive pieces. After getting drained once again from focusing on these finely painted pieces of canvas, we hoped back onto the bus to continue on with our eventful day.

We stopped right in front of the Arc de Triomphe but saved that for last and turned the other way down the huge, main strip of town. This street holds many stores to shop in, including multiple “Spy” stores…. come on France… what do you have up your sleeve? So, we walked up a hunger and found an Italian restaurant that Luey would always eat at when he lived in Paris for 4 years. Bingo! Luey knew exactly what he wanted as soon as we sat down, carborna pasta, and it didn’t take long for me to choose either. When our food arrived, I had a pizza covered in vegetable that was the size of a large plate, and Luey’s had a egg cracked right on the top of it… cooked. We easily finished it all and the routine of dessert was fulfilled at the huge Haagen Dazs ice cream shop right next door. Let me tell you that it was extremely difficult to choose from all the selections, but I ended up with a combination that was extremely delicious. Being full and expecting to walk around outside through multiple stores was going to be a hard task to overcome.

We stopped in front of windows to gaze at all the treasures and we popped in and out of stores at random. Continuing our walk back towards the huge center piece (The Arc) we happened to spot a (no-big-deal) 4 story Louis Vuitton store that even had a rope to form a line for entrance. Say what?! We definitely stepped into the store that was set up in a museum like way with it’s strategic placing of items and it’s purposeful lights shining directly on them. After being semi-freaked out by price tags and the weird fascination with the brand, we walked out for some fresh oxygen to fill our lungs. Nothing came of interest except for noticing that there were two McDonalds and that pigeons were still in love with crumbs from people’s trays.

We eventually made it back to the underground tunnel that would take us right underneath the Arc de Triomphe and once again blown away. This was yet another piece attributed to the great Napoleon to show of his war victories and blows. It was so big. There were so many parts of sculptures with war names, figurines, and plenty of other shapes and curves put into it to make it epic. After absorbing as much of this arched cement as we could, we got back onto our trusty red bus that would take us back to the hotel where it once again time to rest our heads before heading back out for dindin.

This time when we headed back out, we knew that it had to be something too good for it was our last dinner in Paris. What’s too good in Paris you ask? Mr. Eiffel, that’s what. So, we headed to the Seine river to find a floating brasserie. Arriving in front of Le Bistro Parisiene, we had the perfect view from our table on the deck we were seated at of Mr. Eiffel. Soooo woahmantic! We each ordered and each meal ended up being the perfect choice for our slightly empty bellies. Good timing we must have, because towards the end of the meal, the ole' tower did it again... it twinkled! We filled the stomach up to full capacity and we were planning on getting ice cream, but there ended up being no room for it. So… we continued our walk under and around Mr. Eiffel before we called it a night…

M. Eiffel viennent au Texas?

Le France is Le Fancy

We woke up decently early to soak in as much of Paris as we could and we headed down to the complimentary breakfast that the hotel provides. It was a feast. They had all sorts of perfect foods to eat and the first thing my eyes saw was my beloved croissants that I so dearly missed already from Nice. There was also hard boiled eggs and little packaged jams to spread. We piled a large array of food on our plates because today was going to be a long day, and for long day a belly with food that provides energy is necessary. After goofing around for breakfast, we headed to a big red, double decker bus that was going to be our means of transportation for two days around the city.

One stop conveniently stopped right in front of our destination we were headed to; Musee du Louvre. That’s right, we were heading to an art history lovers dream place… a place that held them majesties that formed what is now known as art. It held some of the world’s most famous and well-known pieces that almost any eye could recognize, including the infamous Mona Lisa. When we stepped off the bus, Luey and I were seriously baffled by how large this was. It took up a good half a mile of the street and we could only see one side of it… meaning that there was two sides. Who knows how many floors it had filled with paintings and other mediums… So, we step inside the premises of the palace and walk and find the entrance which happened to be the large glass shaped triangle that it in itself is a prominent sculpture. After taking in every angle, we make our way down through the triangle to stand in line to what was about to become an art history overload.

After grabbing several maps of the vicinity, we headed to the 2^nd floor which contained the most exciting parts for both of us… Italian Renaissance. Holla. Going up the stairs and finding our way into the entrance, we may have gotten side tracked by large marble statues along the way, but we made it finally to where we had so badly wanted to go. Freaking out whenever we both saw a piece that we had once known every little detail for, for our class exams, we both became even more giddy. There were so many pieces that we made up our own little scenarios for each of them and we ended up being that couple that many older people scoffed at. We then realized that both of us were hungry so we (after getting lost an uncountless amount of times) headed to the Louvres’ own little café built in the museum to eat lunch. It happened to be a perfect lunch again with pita bread sandwiches filled with tuna and vegetables, and chips and a salad. This prepared us for the rest of the day, since it was only mid-afternoon by now… and when leaving, our visit to one of the most famous museums summed up to be 4.5 hours.

We headed straight towards the carrousel that was insight, which meant (of course) that there happened to be a small carnival strip that was always set up in that area! We quickly bought tickets to take a right on the carrousel that would give us a great top side view of all of Paris. It was really neat to see how crammed and packed the whole city was built, but knowing that there was a lot more space when you were on ground.. and it was funny to also see Luey have sporadic freak outs when he would realize the height that we were at. After having our feet back on the ground, we walked down the long row that was set up with fun houses, slides, and any and every both that contained carnival food. One of these we stopped at and purchased a Nutella crepe so I could experience all of the goodness that it withheld. After watching a kid try to win a prize from kicking a soccer ball against a fake “world-cup” wooden goalie and laughing at the kids getting splashed from the water ride, we walked back through the gardens where our red colored bus would arrive to take us to our next location.

With it being only one stop away, we hopped off in front of the Notre Dame cathedral. Holy smokes. This thing wasn’t like any other worship place back in the states. It had two of the countries largest rosaries and I deep down know that Quasimoto was still hiding up there with his gargoyle friends. We waited in line just so we could go into the historical monument and goggle at all of its’ pieces. The lights were set low, but the sunlight peering through made it look even more majestic. A man came over the intercom and stated that “we need to be silent because we were in a place of worship.”   So true. What a great reminder that these places aren’t just places to come due to their popularity level, but they were once (and some still are) used to serve a high and mighty God. So we did just that, we found a pew and we prayed.

After being freaked out by the gargoyles, we walked merely down the street to find another Paris treat. There were little vendors set up alongside the riverbank that held all sorts of hold books, posters, magnets, and many other old assortments. We quickly glanced through many of the sections and we loaded ourselves back onto the bus, because we had somewhere to be for the evening. That’s right… plans in Paris.

These plans were happening due to the fact that it just so happened to be Luiz and I’s 6^th month anniversary. Paris for our half a year anniversary… try and one up that one. So, we changed quickly into our finest outfit and we walked back down the Seine river where our dinner cruise that was going to explore the city with a perfect view of the most famous monuments was awaiting our arrival. We stood in line to check in our name and the woman smiled at us and said, “you two look happy.” She is right. So, we are seated underneath our glass covered ceiling and walls and we are greeted with a smile from our waitress. She hands us our menus (which we got to keep as souvenirs!) and we picked out our three-course meal items. There happened to be a live performance that set that mood due to the classic French tunes being sung... the night was only beginning.

There was a red-berry champagne served to us to toast off the evening, and from them on it was all such a beautiful rêve. As the meal was served to us, Luey and I were remembering all the past moments we had, and were forming all the future hopes and desires that also had for our relationship. It was such a blessing just to see how the Lord remained at the center of all this and is what holds us together. With spicy avocado salmon as my entrée, fresh gilthead fish for my main course (including fresh vegetables and taters), and my raspberry dessert being served, we once again were well fed. With our whimsical feeling, we walked on over to the dance floor where the live artists were performing something extremely suitable to truly dance to. The night was filled with a feeling that is rare, and we left never wanting the evening to end. Only in Paris, I assume…

Walking back to our hotel, we were conveniently placed in front of Mr. Eiffel once again and it brought so much joy that happened to combine with the already wonderful night. We kept peering back at the perfectly light piece, and as we were walking my flip flop broke… but, no worries… ole’ Prince Charming had the perfect solution to hold it up until we made it back to our hotel.

La nuit semblait un conte de fées ...

Mr. Eiffel

Well, we did it again. We grabbed our bags and we headed to the airport at 5:00 a.m. (on the correct day) for our flight to Paris. Parking and walking in, an overwhelming excitement came over me in realization that Paris was in sight for the next 4 days. Being so anxious neither one of us slept on the plane and when we landed in France, I became a little girl again. The most romantic city in the world and for four days with the ‘manfran’, not real life…. Not real life… We got a cab from the airport to our previously booked hotel and as we are zooming down the streets, Luey looks to his right and simply states “Oh… Lo… do you know what that is?”…… OF COURSE I DO! IT’S THE EIFFEL TOWER!!! After my slight freak out we land in front of our hotel, Hotel Derby, and we check into the small room with separate beds (note that the Lord holds standards in my heart and in Luiz’s heart and that we both hold steadfast to our commitment we have to Him, which kept us pure) and we tidied up and we out on a Parisian escapade!

Seeing the Eiffel tower straight from our hotel doorstep, we made our ways over to it and had to stop every other second just so I could capture the architectural  phenomenon from the 1880s. I was then impressed because the man I was accompanying was capable of switching from French, to English, to Spanish to help out other tourist… jeal much? After making our way across the large land space in front of the tower, I kept snapping pictures to try and capture how significant this huge monument is.. but it couldn’t be done. It was so breathtaking. Every time I would look at it, I would squeal with excitement. We found a little stand on the edge of Mr. Eiffel and we order panini’s for the two of us and we make our way up further to the Palais de Chaillot where we had the perfect view of the iron tower and a perfect spot to place our bottoms. Wanting to explore more we took our time just walking down little streets and absorbing the cool weather, and the clean and restored buildings which all held a little history within them. Paris is by far one of the prettiest cities. The structures that it contains, the history it holds, and the way it is maintained with vegetation and constant services to improve the streets of the city… it all baffles me. There were even memorials built on the side of the wall for the veterans and the government is what kept up with providing the flowers. As we kept walking (& after buying a can of Orangina, duh) we found ourselves in front of Hotel des Invalides which was another ginormous structure built to store all the historical treasures that revolved around the wars that France fought in, and if you mention fighting and France your brain probably wanders to the great Napoleon Bonaparte. Which his also overly large piece of golden-work building was placed directly behind the museum. We walked over there with our heads constantly looking up because of how massive this sanctuary was accompanied by an golden laid dome sitting on top.

If you had any doubts that this guy thought highly of himself, this tomb/cathedral was sure to remind one of his significance. There was even a private garden that had an wide assortment of neatly put together flowers and clean shrubs and large trees that had perfectly placed benches underneath to provide a little shade on a sunny afternoon. We walked over there and just sat and took in the fact that we were in Paris. Paris, France… not Paris, Texas. Once again, it felt like a dream. And feeling like it was a dream we headed back to Hotel Derby where we decided to have a little shut eye before we ventured out again… a nap on the plane would’ve come in handy here.

Waking up and feeling rejuvenated we walked outside and peered at all the open seating in the front of the restaurant that and after looking at a couple of menus posted outside, we chose the perfect place to dine. It had big, red velvety chairs and once opening up the menu, it wasn’t hard to decide what we each wanted to munch on. Being spoiled this entire trip, this night added to it. First off, I tried the most Frenchiest food of all French food… caviar. Not bad my friends, not bad… with a little lemon and garlic flavoring, I too could eat this snail without wanting to spit it out. I even ate 3 of them. Then I was served artichoke heart, sea bass, and a plate containing miniature sizes of crème brulee, chocolate fudge cake, strawberries, and an espresso. Parfait! The conversation was good and the food was even better and all in all, my first day in Paris couldn’t have gone better. Walking out the doors we came in, we had to go see Mr. Eiffel once more before saying goodnight, and as soon as we were making our way over there, he began to twinkle in the most magnificent way! I loved it even more if that was possible.

Not every monument twinkles and shines on the hour, that’s for sure…

"Desculpe-me, tenho cocô nas calças."

If you thought I'd be in Paris, France today... so did I.
So this morning, the alarm clock went off at 5:15 a.m. and our luggage was packed. (Including Jeff's. He was America bound.) So, we get ready to head to the airport in time to make it on our 8:10 a.m. flight straight to Paris. In the car it is quiet because of the early wake up call, but we eventually make it into the airport where we part ways with Jeff due to our separate destinations & we eventually find our boarding area where we follow the long line with our eyes are become a little agitated. This line was so crazy long. So we mosey on back which is incredibly far from the check-in counter that I literally thought that we may not make it. Then a pack of about, oh, 45 something French teenagers all gather behind us, and as I have learned previously... the French don't know a whole lot about personal space. Making our way to the very front after trying to claim our boarding passes electronically and duh, the thing isn't working, we were a bit irritated at 7:00 a.m. Yet, we handed the lady our passports and let out a sigh of relief... until... the assistant politely smiled at us and pulled out her pen to circle on our confirmation papers the date: July 30, 2010!

Yep! That's right folks! We were one day ahead of ourselves and were obviously overly anxious... I couldn't help but to start cracking up at the situation and think about how foolish we were for that even happening. Luckily, it is now a hilarious story. (& we were extremely up and ready for the day) So we went over to the airports little bistro and had ourselves some delightful breakfast. By this time Jeff had already checked through security which means that he actually was flying out on the 29th... Still laughing from the rare event that happened earlier we drove back to the apartment where we laid down on the couch, stuck in the movie Enchanted and caught some of the missing hours of sleep from the night before.

Waking up we all took our time to do little things here and there without any cares and eventually Luana and I decided that today was THE day for IKEA. (Not that IKEA needs a day... any day is good for that wonderful oasis.) Arriving to IKEA the day was still a little thrown off from the weird sleep cycle and the not really knowing what exactly what was going on... Walking into the IKEA Cafeteria I immediately  noticed the difference in food from the one in America. There were options of little cakes, fresh fish, loads of bread, a fruit and salad bar, and basically anything that is decent for your body. Including little 40 cent espresso drinks. That is something that we would never have. (Including the free refills if one so desired.) We went through the line with our plastic trays and gathered scrumptious food items on and eventually left the serving area with our meal desires, satisfied.

We walked through the perfectly placed setting that is called IKEA and I filled my brain with so many decorating styles and wants and desires for my new room that will be empty for me to fill when I return back to Texas. I love that store. I love the furniture. I love the mirrors. I love the kitchenware. I just want a house full of IKEA... and maybe some other unique finds. But we spent a good junk of time just hanging out and choosing wisely what was really necessary and not just tempting due to the low price tags. We eventually narrowed things down after passing by too expensive bedspreads, and deciding which cooking dishes were necessary and we headed to the check out with multiple shelves and cute little other things. After finally making it out of IKEA after what seemed so short, but actually was so long, we headed to grab groceries at the mall.  Since the mall not only contains the grocery store but some other fashionable venues, we of course had to walk around and to find some of the essential Portuguese finds I had been wanting; yellow Havaianas and Aladdin pants. WINNERS! We then eventually pulled out the essential food pieces and headed back home finally to get ready for a surprise dinner for their aunt for her birthday (which accidentally happened the day before.)

We arrived back home and threw her present together and went to surprise her to tell her we were all going out to have dinner at a local favorite. She was so surprised when we had showed up and she was already prepared for bed. We all got into the car and headed over with hungry bellies. Apparently this place had any plate that you would be satisfied with, even if you didn't know any other language but English. Munching on little appetizers, we eventually picked out an array of genuine Italian cuisines. Laughing and not truly understanding the full conversation, our meals eventually were delivered to us and they were scarfed down instantly. After filling our bellies with a delicious meal (plus later on a chilly lime Calippo) and wishing their tia happy birthday once more, we all went back to our place of rest and we did just that because we had another early morning routine ahead of us.