We've been gone for about a week and it feels like a month...in a good way I think. Unfortunately, despite my incessant lists and organization, I managed to forget the cord to connect my camera to my computer. The result is that I am seeing and taking pictures of the most beautiful, well recognized, and respected things in the world, but you can't see them - ha ha. So perhaps, I will re-edit this blog after I return home to add in the pictures, but for now, you have to live with my descriptions.
We started out in Whistler, Canada for Nik's wedding. We picked Will Reynold's up in Vancouver on the way up and the three of drove the spectacular Sea to Sky highway from Vancouver to Whistler. I have to say, that even though I will always be a Colorado Rockies girl at heart, this was, by far, the most spectacular scenery I've ever seen. We made it into Whistler in time to catch the rehearsal dinner at the Greek restaurant, Kypriaki. They had arranged a set menu of items, and every one of them was beyond delicious. We all thoroughly stuffed ourselves with hummus, saganaki, greek salad, lamb, moussaka, and many more things that I can't remember or spell.
Before the wedding the next day, Matt, Will, and I hiked around at the base of Blackcomb mountain and watched some young ski jumpers practice by going off their jumps and landing in a swimming pool.
The wedding itself was beautiful. It was in Pemberton, and they got married outside at the base of a majestic mountain...no flowers necessary. Perhaps my favorite part was the selection of old-timey candy they had available before the ceremony - ah, it's the little things in life that make me happy!
The next day we drove back to Vancouver and met up with our friends Tristan and Kaili. We had dinner at one of Matt's family's favorite Vancouver spots, the Blue Water Cafe. We had delicious, raw, west-coast oysters, ceviche, salmon, halibut, scallops - everything fresh. An unforgettable meal.
The next morning Matt and I started our 50 hour journey to Paris. We drove from Vancouver to Seattle, then took an overnight plane from Seattle to Washington DC. We had an entire day in DC before flying to London, so we made the most of it. We went to the mall and saw the White House, the Washington Monument, the capital building, and we visited the National Air and Space Museum. Next we boarded another overnight flight to London, and connected to our final flight to Paris. We arrived, exhausted, but in one piece, and with all our luggage : ) We got the keys to our apartment for the week, took a much needed shower, and braved the streets of Paris to find food!
In the days since, we've done a lot of touristy stuff, but it's been great. I've never been to Paris before, and it's much different than I had pictured in my head - not really better or worse, just different. I've been surprised with how much French has come back to me, and while Matt does most of talking because he can actually converse with people, I've been holding my own ordering off menus, etc. With one exception, the waiter immediately realizes that we don't speak French and speaks back in English, which to me is a relief because I can't really understand well when they speak so fast, but we continue to speak French, and so far people couldn't be nicer. It happens more and more that we get through entire exchanges in French, and that part is getting more and more fun.
The apartment we rented is a little 1 bedroom place about 2 blocks from the Arc de Triomphe, and in a busy and bustling neighborhood. Right outside our door are cafes, patisseries, fromageries, boulangeries, etc. We took a day trip out to Versailles a few days ago, which was one of the most interesting tours I've been on. I suppose, I had never been to a truely famous historic site, such as the Hall of Mirrors where the Treaty of Versailles was signed. It was moving. It was cold and rainy, which ended up being a good thing because it dispersed some of the crowds. Yesterday we went to the Louvre and saw all the most famous pieces of art in the world. Again, we somehow managed to find a day and time combination that was not at all crowded, so we didn't wait in any lines, and barely had to push through people to get to the front of any exhibits. I took some stunning pictures, which would appear here if I could get them out of my camera...I was particularly impressed with the Winged Angel of Victory, placed at the top of a long staircase under a skylight, standing at least 15 feet high. It was truly breathtaking. Of course we saw the Mona Lisa. Our guidebook mentioned that many people are disappointed when they see her, because she is smaller and darker in person than you would expect from all the hype (the book also mentioned that the eyes of virtually all painted portraits follow you across the room, and that Mona is not special because of it). The crowd that gathers in front of her is impressive enough, you surely know when you walk into the room because the energy of the place changes. Being on the shorter side, and in a crowd of people all trying to see a (relatively) small painting, it was hard to see, but I'd say I was neither profoundly impressed or disappointed.
Today is the final stage of the Tour de France, where Contador (damn you, Contador!) will solidify his 3rd Tour win in 4 years. Matt and I both really wanted to see Lance in victory here, but c'est la vie. We tried to set up a bike tour of the city for yesterday so we could bike around part of the route that they would ride on today, but it fell through, so no biking...yet. We found a great place to watch the race, bought a picnic of bread, cheese, and chocolate, and 2 cheap folding lawn chairs to camp out all day before they arrive around 5pm tonight.
We only have 3 more nights here, 2 nights in London, and then Matt flies back to Durham, and I fly the opposite direction to Kilimanjaro. I'll try to post another update before we leave London. Also, after reading this, Matt tells me I'm leaving out "all sorts of important stuff", so he might post something all on his own : )
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