Our France Trip

I apologize it's taken me so very long to get a post on my blog about our vacation to France. Our trip was amazing. Filled with an enormous amout of sights and lifestyle/culture/cuisine to absorb. The highlight of our trip was attending the French wedding of our friends Fredo and Denis. Fredo has been my friend for 15 years, we met in highschool. She came to stay with my family as an exchange student and attend school with me for 2 weeks. We've kept in touch over the years and she's been able to visit us a few times. I promised her I would get to Paris when she got married. The wedding ceremony was set in a beautiful old church in the country (about 1.5 hrs outside of Paris). It was a lovely ceremony, it was in French so we didn't understand much of it but it seemed very similar to weddings like we have. The reception was the fanciest, most luxerious wedding I've ever attend. There were so many wonderful appetizers and dishes to eat and you could drink all that you want. A favorite of the french is wine (of course) along with champagne. I drank more champagne while in france than I have in my entire life leading up to this trip. We were at a table with Fredo and Denis friends. They all spoke very good english and were very nice to us and helped us understand all that was going on. Chris was picked to participate in a scavenger hunt game during the reception. The dancing was fun. The party lasted until 2:30am!!!!

OTHER THINGS WE DID:
Before the wedding we took a 2 day road trip to see the Normandy Beaches. Chris is a historian buff and he has studied alot about WWII. We visited Omaha Beach, Point Du Hoc and Utah Beach. These are some major spots where the american troops landed when we helped France get their country back from the reign of Hitler in the 1944.

We enjoyed a 2 hour dinner boat cruise on the Seine (the large river that runs through the middle of Paris). It was magical to see the Paris attractions light up at night. The Eiffel Tower is gorgeous in the evening and at the top of the hour it sparkles with thousands of white lights for 10 minutes. They did this for the millenium celebration and everyone loved it so much it became a permanent thing every night.

We spent a day to see Versailles, the palace of King Louis XVI and Marie Antionette. The palace was amazing and preserved with all the original furniture and room layout from the 1700s. The outside grounds were even more spectacular. We saw miles of gardens, ponds, fountains, and sculptures. All kept in prestine condition. If you have seen the recent moive "Marie Antoinette "with Kirsten Dundst, then you have seen on screen was what we saw in person.

There we so many other things to see and do, such as: The Louvre (we saw the Mona Lisa), a cabaret type show at the Moulin Rouge, visited St. Malo - a beautiful city of the northern coast of France (one of my favorite spots) , Notre Dome, Sacre Couer in Paris, and Le Mont St. Michél.

We couldn't have made this trip possibly without the help of our friends Fredo and Denis. They treated us with so much kindness and got us a huge deal on our airfare. We enjoyed spending many days and nights with them getting a tour of their beloved city, Paris. We were honored to be at their wedding to celebrate their union together.

I cannot end this blog without say Thanks to my mom. She is wonderful. She came to our house for 11 days to watch Jake and Casey. They love their Grandma so much and we appreciate her taking the time off work to care for them. You are the best MOM!

Go to the following website to see a collection of photos from the trip. I tried to explain what a few of the things are.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/designstudio360/