Paris!

For those of you who don't know, I absolutely adore Paris! When Daniel and I went there on our backpacking trip across Europe after graduating from the Naval Academy, I fell in love with the city, quite by surprise. So when Daniel told me he had to go there for work during the second week of August and then suggested I join him there, I was thrilled. Plus, it would be a great place to celebrate all the momentous occasions we have experienced recently, including Daniel's new job, the completion of my Master of Education, our 5th anniversary, and of course, our move to Europe! So once I arrived in Frankfurt, I was anxiously awaiting the trip to the "City of Light."

Daniel arrived in Paris on Monday, August 11th, and then I met him there on the evening of the 12th. While he would finish up his work by Friday, we decided to stay over Friday night so we could celebrate that evening. That night we ended up going on a dinner cruise on the Seine River, which was very romantic... but I will get to that in a little while. So while Daniel worked during the week, I wandered around the city by myself, armed with a map and a fabulous book called "24 Great Walks in Paris." Those two items allowed me to walk around the city at my own pace while also learning the history and other interesting facts about Paris, and I totally enjoyed myself. I took over a hundred pictures during my wanderings, but I will just post some of the more memorable ones...

On Wednesday, one of the first place I found myself visiting was called Les Invalides (left). It was built by Louis XIV as a hospital and barracks for soldiers... pretty nice digs for the military, eh! Now it houses a museum as well as Napoleon's tomb, which is located under the golden dome.

Next I found myself gravitating toward Paris' most recognizable landmark, the Eiffel Tower. So I found my way to the Trocadero, which offers a great view of the tower from the Northwest (top left). Since Daniel and I had already been to the top of the tower on our last trip, I decided to skip the outrageous lines at the base of the tower (top right) and just enjoy the view from the Champ de Mars, which is the park to the Southeast of the tower (bottom).

After enjoying the Eiffel Tower, I headed toward the Champ Elysees (top) so I could swing by the Arc de Triumph (center).  To end the day, I went by the Grand Palais, which was built for the 1900 World Fair, along with the nearby bridge, Pont Alexandre III (bottom).  Both are pretty impressive.

On Thursday, I decided to visit the Notre Dame cathedral (top), and then I just enjoyed the sites around that area for most of the day. They included where the Bastille once stood (column, second down), the Conciergerie (third down), which was the royal palace before the Louvre was built, and the Hotel de Ville (bottom), which was once the city hall.

On Friday morning, while Daniel finished up his work, I decided to go check out the Garnier Opera House. As you can see, it is an ornate, beautiful building. When it was built, there was water seeping into the foundation, so its designer, Charles Garnier, built an artificial water tank underneath the building to deal with this issue. This gave rise to the story that we now know of as the "Phantom of the Opera."

Daniel had Friday afternoon free, so we decided to stroll through the part of the city called Montmarte. This is where one of the most famous basilicas, the Sacre Couer, is found. It sits atop the highest point in Paris. Montmarte is also home to the Moulin Rouge. Soon we headed back to the hotel to get ready for the dinner cruise... speaking of our hotel, check out the view from our window. Pretty nice huh!

As for the dinner cruise, it was very nice. It went up and back along the Seine River, allowing us to enjoy the food and the sites of the city at the same time.

My favorite moment of the trip occurred just as the boat was about to dock, and it is captured in the picture below. I just love Paris!

After the dinner cruise, we had a chance to walk around the Eiffel Tower and to see it lit up at night. Once it is dark, the tower shines with thousands of sparkling lights for 10 minutes at the top of the hour, every hour. It is quite dazzling!

Before heading back to Frankfurt on Saturday afternoon, we had a chance to go to the Louvre (top), which was once the palace for the French kings and now is one of the most famous museums in the world. Just some of the masterpieces we saw there included the Venus de Milo (center left), the Winged Victory of Samothrace (center right), and of course, the Mona Lisa (bottom).

 

Overall, the trip to Paris was great. I thoroughly enjoyed wandering around the city, and we both thought the dinner cruise was wonderful. It was a great way to celebrate all of the recent significant occurrences in our life. Well, I hope you have enjoyed this post and all the photos! We have another trip quickly approaching... we are going to Bern, Switzerland, for Labor Day weekend, to go hiking, white water rafting, and camping. And then in September we are going to Ireland... so stay tuned!

The adventure begins!

Hello and welcome to my first post! It is finally starting to set in that we actually live in Frankfurt. Needless to say, whenever we step foot outside our apartment, we are quickly reminded of the fact that we are in Deutschland, surrounded by signs and speech all in German! I am trying to learn as much German as I can, but I highly doubt I will be fluent by the time we leave... I am definitely gonna try to learn as much as I can though during our time here. And now I know how all of the English Language Learners in my class felt... for one thing, I have no doubt this whole experience will help me become a better teacher!

While it can be quite intimidating to live in a different country, I am grateful that we live on a compound with all the American families who work at the consulate here in Frankfurt. The neighborhood we live in is called the siedlung, which means "settlement" in German. There is a restaurant, a small shop for buying everyday essentials, and playgrounds for all the little kids running around... so we basically have our own little piece of America here, which definitely helps it feel more like home. Everyone here is very nice and seems as excited as we are to enjoy the experience of living in Europe.

So Daniel has definitely been quite busy with his new job, but thankfully it should slow down a bit by next week... and we will finally get to spend some quality time together. Needless to say, I am looking forward to that! But he has become quite the jet-setter since he arrived here in April... so far he has visited Rome and Milan, Italy; Bern and Geneva, Switzerland; The Hague, Netherlands; Luxembourg; Garmish, Germany; Brussels, Belgium; & Oslo, Norway... and last week we were in Paris and this week he is in London! He has actually spent very little time in Frankfurt so far, but we look forward to exploring our new hometown together in the coming weeks... and I look forward to telling you all about it! Well, thanks so much for reading my first post, and I will be adding a new one about our trip to Paris very soon! Until then.... God bless!