Getting Medieval

As I mentioned earlier, Danièle told us she would be more than happy to take us on a day trip out of Paris since she has a car.  Mike and I have both been to Versailles, so she suggested that we go to the medievil town Provins.

Provins is a beautiful town that is about an hour to the east of Paris.  In 2001, it became a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and it is easy to see why.  Provins is beautiful and they have done an excellent job of preserving it while also updating the buildings for modern life.  Many people still live there today. 

Since it was such a beautiful day, we spent it walking around the city.  A lot of the landmarks had entry fees, so we just gawked at them from the outside rather than going in.  But we did climb the city wall, which was windy but gave us a great view.  

Marianne and Mike

Danièle, Marianne and me.  As you can see, it was very windy. 

Mike and I really enjoyed our day trip.  Not only was it beautiful, but walking through a town that is older than my country was very cool.  And strolling along with Danièle was nice not only because she is great company, but also because she is full of so much knowledge about France and its history.  Trips like these become more fun when you have someone there to explain little tidbits to you. 

Our last day in Paris is coming up next, so be on the lookout for that post!

Paris, je t'aime

You could probably say that Paris was my first love.  It is the first big city that I visited outside the United States, and I fell in love with it right away.  The streets, the food, the sights, and so much more have drawn me back to this city over the years.  A lot of people like to make fun of me for loving Paris, but all I have to say to them is "Haters gonna hate."

This past Sunday, Mike and I caught the Thalys train from Amsterdam to Paris. The ride was about three and a half hours long, which wasn't horrible and before we left, we hit up a small market to get some food for our trip.  Cheap and delicious. 

When we got off the train in Paris at Gare du Nord, I was expecting to see our family friend, Danièle, waiting for us.  But to my utter surprise, it wasn't Danièle who first greeted me and Mike, but rather her daughter and my friend, Marianne.  Marianne is currently living in London and flew in for a few days.  She and her mother kept it a secret from us, which made for a great surprise. And I was so happy that we were going to be able to spend some time with her. 

After arriving at our apartment and catching up at a cafe over a coffee, we decided to walk around Paris.  We had a great time wandering around aimlessly.  It was important to Mike to see the less touristy areas of Paris, and I think we accomplished that. 

After our dinner that evening at a creperie across from the Centre Pompidou, Danièle and Marianne headed back home but Mike and I decided to keep on wandering the city.  After looking for a place to grab a drink (which is surprisingly hard to do on Sundays because so much is closed) we settled on a cafe that faced Notre Dame.  While the drinks were not cheap, being able to look across the bank at one of Paris' most famous landmarks was worth it.

Not Notre Dame, but pretty nevertheless.

During our many talks, Danièle said that if we wanted to see something outside of Paris that we could because she has a car.  The next day, we decided to go to Provins, which will be my next entry.  Stay tuned!

Exploring Amsterdam

After having fun on Friday at the wedding, Mike and I had one day left to explore the city of Amsterdam.  So we decided to make the most of it.

Our day started at the Houseboat Museum, which was pretty neat.  You see them all the time on the canals, so getting to go inside one was pretty cool.  I was thinking about renting one for our time in Amsterdam and I'm glad I didn't because I didn't realize how much they rock when other boats pass by.

After we finished our little tour, we decided to head over to the Anne Frank House to see how long the line was.  We severely underestimated the wait time and when we got there, it looked like it was going to be a couple of hours, so we decided to skip it.

I am glad that I was at least able to see the house.  We also did see the Westerkerk, which Anne wrote about in her diary.  I have read her journal twice and seeing all these places was incredibly surreal to me.

We decided that our next stop should be the Amsterdam Museum.  We both really enjoyed that museum, especially the exhibit on the first map of the city.  The exhibit on the more recent eras was also very interesting.  I liked learning about the Olympics that were held in Amsterdam in the 1920s.

Since our feet started to hurt, we decided to leave and hit up the beer bar we passed by earlier, BeerTemple.  I had read about it (it is owned by the same people who own the bar I mentioned earlier) and I wanted to skip it because it said it was American themed.  Why go somewhere overseas that spealizes in stuff you can get at home, right?

Well so much for that train of thought because we ended up spending quite a bit of time there before we went to dinner.  While they bill themselves as an American beer bar, there was also a lot of stuff there from Europe, so we drank off of that menu.   And then we came back for one more drink before leaving the city center for the night.

Although we didn't hit up the major attractions in Amsterdam, we had fun seeing the less crowded areas.  Fighting crowds isn't my thing, so by avoiding that our trip was much more enjoyable.

Coming up next, Paris!  And the very pleasant surprise that was awaiting us at the Gare du Nord.

Eat, Drink, and Be Married

The main reason Mike and I came to Amsterdam wasn't for the fresh Amstel, or for the tulips, or for the Van Gogh's.  While those are just some of many good reasons to visit here, our main reason for coming was for the wedding of Mike's friend, Matt, to his Dutch wife, Ellen.

Mike actually knew Matt from his early high school days in Massachusetts, and Ellen from his senior year when she studied abroad at their high school.  All three of them were on the math team together, where Ellen apparently kicked some butt (you go girl!).  In college, Mike and Matt lived together for three years. Needless to say, they all have ties that go way back.

When we were invited to Matt and Ellen's wedding celebration in Amsterdam, we knew it would be a good time.  And it was.  Their ceremony and reception was held at a beach front property called Blijburg and was wonderful in every way.  We are beyond happy that we were able to celebrate their beautiful day with them.

And the most exciting news is that they have a baby on the way who is due in August!  Next week they find out the gender and Mike and I couldn't be happier for them.  After spending so long flying over the Atlantic to be with each other, it is so nice to see that they finally get to be together and have a family.  Cheers to all three of you! :)

Tired in Amsterdam

Amsterdam.  A city known for its canals, tulips, and, well...other things.  While I can say that I haven't been partaking in those "other things," I have been exploring different aspects of the city and having a good time doing it.

We landed Thursday morning and decided to do as much as possible before we crashed.  Our adventure began with buying train tickets to the city from the airport (which was waaay harder for us than it should have been) and then getting the keys to our apartment.  The woman who we are renting our apartment from suggested that we get an I Amsterdam card, which I highly suggest you do if you plan on taking public transit in this city.  You also get free and discounted admission into a lot of the museums and other attractions.

After purchasing our card, we took the tram to our apartment.  We decided to go on a canal cruise that afternoon, which seemed like a great idea in theory but in reality, I ended up falling asleep half way through it. Whoops.

Since I could barely keep my eyes open, Mike and I went back to take a short nap.   After we got up, we grabbed a bite to eat and then headed on to our evening's destination - Arendsnest.

Ardensnest is a beer bar that only serves Dutch beer, of which there are 30 on tap and many more in bottles.  Needless to say, we were in heaven.  The rest of the evening was spent discovering new flavors and sipping on many different Dutch beers.

The next day, we had grand plans of waking up early so that we could do all these great things.  And guess what?  It didn't happen. Sleep won out in the end.  But that's okay. We ate lunch outside near the museums and then headed over to a house museum on one of the canals.  It was beautiful and I'm glad we got away from the crowds.  We also took a stroll through the flower market, which was considerably more packed, but I'm glad we went.  Then, we came back and got ready for the wedding, which will be the subject of my next post!

Must Love Dogs

Meet our new dog, Brady.

So regal.

Brady is the new love of my life.  Mike and I adopted Brady from the Chicagoland Lab Rescue on Superbowl Sunday.  He is half lab, half vizsla, which is pretty much my childhood in a dog because one set of my grandparents had labs and the other set had vizslas.

While having a dog is a lot of work, we both love it.  I love going on walks and exploring new parts of Chicago with the dog.  Brady could play fetch in our long apartment for hours on end, which never gets boring to watch.  And he also loves meeting new people and new dogs.

Relaxing next to Lake Michigan.

Now we have this little furball in our lives, which is great, except for when it comes to traveling.  If I could take him with me, I would, but neither one of us would be happy after an 8 hour flight.  So we came across the problem of what to do with Brady while we are gone in Europe.  Neither Mike nor I wanted to put him in a kennel for 10 days, so we turned to the internet for a solution.

Enter DogVacay, a site where people who would like to dogsit your pup post profiles and rates for their services.  We needed someone who had a car that could come pick up Brady and who had someone around the house during the day since Brady is used to Mike being around.  Not the easiest thing to find, but we came across a couple in a different part of the city who fit those qualifications and were available to watch him.  About a month ago, we took Brady on a walk up to meet them and it all went well.  So on Tuesday night, Brady will go on his own little vacation while we are on ours.  And part of DogVacay's policy is to have the sitters send you a daily picture of your pup, which is great because I know we'll miss him.

Graduating from obedience class.

Have any of you used a site like DogVacay before?  What do you do with your pets when you are gone for a long period of time?  I'd love to hear from you in the comments!

Worldwide Friends

Mike and I feel so incredibly lucky to have the friends that we do.  After all, they are a pretty great group of people.  Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it), our friends are pretty spread out across the world. We have friends in Asia, South America, North America, and Europe.  Because some of our friends live far away, we take any chance we can to see them.  Some examples: Mike's friend Matt, our family friend Daniele, and my friend Lisa.

Mike and Matt are originally from the same town in Massachusetts. They went to high school together and eventually ended up becoming roommates while studying at WPI.  Although Matt lives in Boston, he and Mike still manage to keep in touch.  And when Matt proposed to his Dutch girlfriend, Ellen, he made sure Mike knew.

Mike & Matt during their WPI days.

When I think of Paris, I immediately think of our family friend who lives there, Daniele. Daniele is one of the sweetest people you will ever meet.  She has opened her home to me many times, and has gone out of her way to make sure I experience important parts of France.  Her daughter and my sister were in the same 5th grade class when her family was living in the US, and they became fast friends, which led to our families becoming friends.  Even though Daniele and her family moved back to France well over a decade ago, our families have still keep in touch.

Daniele at our wedding in September.

And then there's Lisa.  I met Lisa through my aunt, who arranged for us to do an informal exchange between the US and France.  I spent three weeks with Lisa and her family in Corsica, and then Lisa spent three weeks in the US with me and my family.  When we met, we decided that she is my jumelle française, or my French twin.  I haven't seen Lisa since 2005.  We still write to each other in our version of franglais, but nevertheless, nine years is too long to go without seeing someone.

Lisa and I when we got bumped to business class on our way to DC in 2005.

Last month when we got an invitation in the mail for Matt and Ellen's wedding in Amsterdam, it took Mike and I all of five minutes to decide to go.  Although Matt and his wife live in Massachusetts, they are getting married in Holland where her family is.  After consulting a map, I came up with the great idea of extending our trip into France.

Unlike myself, Mike has been to Amsterdam before.  I wanted to explore Amsterdam, so we decided we would spend some time there.  I then gleefully told Mike that Paris isn't all that far away, so maybe we should go there too.  And then we could go to the south of France to see Lisa.  I feel as though if he didn't stop me, I'd probably still be planning on visiting more places.

I am beyond excited for this trip.  Even though I love Europe and France (just ask anyone who has known me since 7th grade), I think am more pumped about the people that I am going to see and, this is going to sound super cheesy so brace yourselves, the new memories that we are going to make.  Sappy, but true.

In case you all are wondering where exactly we are going, here's a map to help you:


Now all we have to do is last the next few days!

PS - I've given my blog a makeover.  Leave me some comments to let me know what you think!