Romance in France*

*So the title of this post was a bit trickier than the other two, because very little rhymes with "Paris."  But since we traveled to France with three couples, I thought this title would still work!

Anyway, our last stop on the trip around Europe was in Paris, France.  This is a city I have been anxiously waiting to visit for a very long time!! I took French classes in high school and have collected Eiffel Tower and Paris themed decorations since college.  So, needless to say, I was really looking forward to this part of the trip.

La Famille à La Tour Eiffel

Highlights of Paris:
The Eiffel Tower - Obviously, this is a must-see in Paris.  Many people have actually told me that the tower is ugly in person.  However, I thought it was absolutely beautiful!  It is much more intricate than I expected when you see it up close.  We were able to take an elevator ride to the top of the tower, but only after waiting in line for over an hour.  But it was so worth it, just check out the pics...
 

Intricate designs on the Tower

The Family at the second level of the tower, with views of Paris

The large building in the top right corner is the Sacré Cœur

View of the Arc de Triompe from the top of the Eiffel Tower

Conversations in French - As I mentioned earlier, I took a bit of French lessons in high school and I spent the past year reviewing my skills using the Rosetta Stone program.  However, I am nowhere near being able to speak fluently, I just know enough to get by.  I actually managed to have a decent conversation with a man sitting near us at a cafe one day.  He saw us looking at the menu slightly confused (this place only had a French menu) and made a suggestion that we try the "Filet de Boeuf avec pommes de terre" which I understood to mean "Filet of Beef with potatoes"  So then he started just talking to me in French!  He was kind enough to speak slowly and only use simple words, so I was able to have a small conversation with him!

Flirty Frenchmen - So, everyone says "Oh, the French are so rude!" and while we ran across a few rude people...the majority of the people we came in contact with were soo nice!  They graciously spoke English with us and were very helpful.  Some were even very humorous, like the man who helped us at the tourist info booth, who was extremely flirtatious with me!

The Louvre - Of course, we had to go to the most famous museum in the world!  Although, it was full of people and, just like the Eiffel Tower, we had to wait in a long line to even get inside.  The wait was worth it, though because we got to see famous works of art such as the Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, and the Code of Hammurabi.  Just beware if you ever visit...it is a giant museum and impossible to do in only one day!

Outside the Louvre

The craziness that is the Mona Lisa room

Other adventures included: the Musee D'Orsay (which I actually preferred over the Louvre - just as many beautiful works of arts and way less people!) the Arc de Triomphe and Champs Élysées, where we ran into a New Years Parade!  We also saw the tomb of Napoleon and the armory museum.  And we walked through Notre Dame and climbed to the top of the dome in the Sacré Cœur.  Phew, it was a busy few days!

Musee D'Orsay which is converted train station

Arc de Triomphe

View from the Dome of the Sacré Cœur

The Sacré Cœur

Tomb of Napoleon

Notre Dame

Another unexpected highlight of our trip to Paris was running into an old high school friend, Kelli, who was in Paris with her new fiance!  I have not seen her since 2005 when we graduated.  Such a nice surprise to realize how small the world can be and run into people you know in a foreign country! 

Friend from high school - Kelli

Au revoir et à bientôt!

Amsterdam with the Fam

After Christmas in London, our adventures headed over the channel and to The Netherlands.  Our journey to get there was a lovely one.  We sat in a train station for a while, then got on a train, then sat in another train station for a longer while, then boarded a ferry.  This was not your typical ferry, however, it was like a mini cruise ship.  Emily and I decided it counted as our cruise for 2013 and we have now been on a cruise every year we have been married (and yes, we are planning one for 2014, and maybe 2015 already).  We slept on the ferry/mini cruise ship and arrived in The Netherlands the next morning.

The city slogan

However, when we arrived we were still about 50 miles from Amsterdam so that meant taking the train through the Dutch countryside and seeing everything fly by the windows. 

When we arrived in the city, our host was not ready, as he runs a bar and is up very late each night.  We went to lunch, trying to find a cafe.  With our luck, Emily and her mother stumbled into a 'coffee shop,' which we learned very quickly is a term for a special store in Amsterdam where you can buy and smoke marijuana.  Needless to say, we moved on and ate at a cafe down the road, lesson learned.

The Royal Palace in Dam Square

We then had a wonderful guided tour thanks to our friend from university.  She used to be a bike tour guide in Amsterdam so she knew the city well and she make sure we stayed clear of the cycle paths, which when said quickly, sounds like psychopaths, quite scary in Amsterdam :) If you ever visit Amsterdam, one word of warning... watch out when walking.  There are half a million bikes riding around, cars, and an above ground tram network that goes right across the road.  Look twice each direction before walking, and you will inevitably still be in someone's way. 

So many bikes!

We woke up early the next morning to stand in line.  Every place had lines (unlike most in London) because you had to buy tickets and that took time.  We stood in line on a back road, next to a canal, by a building which would not have been noticed if it were not for the 300+ people standing out in front of it every day.  It was the Anne Frank house.  It was a great museum telling the story of Nazi occupation in Amsterdam and one man's attempt to tell this daughter's story.  Otto Frank (Anne's father) was the only member of the family to survive the war and was the one who published her diary.  It was very interesting and touching to see the actual spaces where they hid, and how prolific of a writer she was at her young age. We even got to see her real diary, along with many of her other journals that she filled with her thoughts and dreams.

The best way to see the city is by canal cruise because there are so many canals!!  It's amazing how those big boats go down some tiny little canals, but there are so many you get to see the whole city.  We took a glass topped boat tour while there and saw the Christmas lights (although it was after Christmas day but still the official "Christmas" season according to the church).

The top of our boat and Amsterdam Central Station

One of our final stops was at the Heineken Experience.  Here you saw lots of adds and information about the company and drank lots of beer (or soda, in my case).  It was interesting if you are into beer and such but it did feel like a big tourist trap type of place. 

Dave and Kathy (Emily's parents)

Our final day in Amsterdam was rather short as we boarded on train to head to Paris!  But until our Paris update gets posted, check out some more pics of beautiful Amsterdam!

Our flat, which was above a bar

Amsterdam Canals

The famous flower market

~Brandon

London with the Sundins

Since the Christmas holidays have come and gone, and we are starting up lectures again tomorrow, we thought we would do a little blog update about the exciting things that happened over our break.

First, many of you know that my (Emily's) family came over to celebrate with us.  My mom, dad, brother (Andy) and his girlfriend (Macey) all made the long trip across the pond to see us, as well as travel a bit around Europe.

The Sundins in Trafalgar Square

The first week we spent in London, with Brandon and I as the official tour guides.  We took them to all the well-known sites, as well as a few of our favorite spots.

Some highlights of our week in London:
Edge Bar - On the first afternoon the Sundins were in town, we first took them Oxford Circus and Soho.  They were pretty much starving since they had been on a flight all night and spent over a hour on the tube getting to their flat.  So we walked into the first decent looking pub we found.  After being seated and ordering our food from a well-dressed, well-groomed waiter, we began to notice the signage and noticing the interesting videos playing on the big screens.  Then my dad mentioned, "Is this a gay bar!?!?" And yes, the first pub experience for my family was at a gay bar.  However, the food was good and decently priced and the waiters were friendly, so overall we had a nice experience.

"Andy is Out, Macey is In" - When we took the family to St. Catherine's for their Christmas Carols service, Macey got confused as being my sister, apparently we look more alike than Andy and I do! So we decided that she is now in the family and Andy is out. Also at the service, Brandon and I performed a jazzy version of The Holly and the Ivy for saxophone and piano.

Christmas Eve at Westminster -  Beautiful church, beautiful service, a great way to spend Christmas eve!  Even though pictures are not allowed, Dad was sneaky and took this great one of us with the candles!

Carols and Candlelight at Westminster

Boris Bikes on Christmas Day - Since all public transport in London shuts down on Christmas day, we had no way of getting around town.  So we decided to rent a few bikes from the nearby bike stand and rode bikes around the Hackney area on Christmas day.  We also had tacos for Christmas dinner, not the traditional, but still very tasty!

In addition, we toured the Tower of London in the rain, ate at lots and lots of pubs and sort-of saw the changing of the guards at Buckingham (which it is not really worth seeing and was rather disappointing...).  We also walked across the famous Abbey Road and enjoyed cheese, bread, chocolates and mulled cider at Borough Market.

The fam at the Tower of London, with Tower Bridge in the background

Abbey Road

Check back soon to hear about our adventures in Amsterdam!

Em and B