Yesterday's Events

Colin, my Mom and Dad are now safely back in Portland and have begun the process of getting over jet lag.  Thank you again for taking the time to visit us and travel with me.  I love you.

Molly and Scott at the Wine Caves Opening that was held yesterday in various villages around our area. We enjoyed some chilled rose and found a patch of grass to sit on and people watch.  They had a band that was playing American country songs and the oldies.

Molly couldn't resist dancing a bit.

Shauna, Groom, Molly and I

Oh yes and then there was the Stag Party (bachelor party, this appears to be the groom) that was cruising around the event.  His outfit (not sure if it qualifies as an outfit) was bright green and similar to what Borat wore in his movie. 

Sold!

Heather's fire sale season has begun!  First item sold is my bicycle.  Next up is the guest bed, lamps and all other items that require an European outlet.  Packing for my flight back, our air shipment and the crate begins this next week.

Any packing tips?  I am making a list of items we will need right away (750 lb air shipment) versus in 60 plus days (20 foot container) or whenever our container will make it back to the States and through customs.

Who likes European style pizza?

They sure do!

Pizza from Italian eatery in Geneva

Paris Day Six: Giverny

Our last day in Paris consisted of taking a train to Giverny, France to visit Monet's gardens and home.  Monday was a holiday in Europe, which made the crowds quite thick, but we were early enough to still enjoy our tour around the gardens.  There are currently 10 gardeners on staff, over 4,000 varieties of plants and 480,000 people visited the location last year during the seven months it is opened.  Wow.  If you are in Paris, I recommend taking the quick 45 minute train ride out of the city to enjoy this beautiful place and see Monet's inspirations.

Monet's Home

The famous bridge

The bamboo island and mote

The pond with water lilies

Paris Day Five: Museum, Champs & un beer

We decided to bypass visiting the Louvre since this past weekend was a holiday weekend in Europe and the crowds around Paris were growing by leaps and bounds.  My Mom wanted to see more Monet paintings, which led us to the Museum Marmottan Monet, where many of the paintings were donated by Claude Monet's son upon his passing.  The museum is outside of the heart of the city, it was nice to be in a new neighborhood and it was not at all busy.

After visiting the museum we decided to make our way over to Champs-Elysees to tour the agriculture exhibit that was set up for two days only.  As soon as we stepped foot off the metro to make our way up to the street, I knew we were in for a very large crowd.  Turns out over 2 million people were on the street and it felt chaotic.  We quickly decided to get off the street and just walk to the Latin Quarter for dinner.  We walked and walked and walked and walked and finally, we stopped for a refreshment.  Then we walked and walked and walked until making it.  I introduced my family to the kebabs they serve in Europe, Greek or Turkish style, and then we made our way back to the apartment to call it a day.

Once again, no photos were allowed inside

The crowd on Champs!

The water looked inviting, it was another day with temperatures in the 80s

Refreshments

Dinner

More image of our D-Day tour

Gold beach, one of the D-Day landing sites

A German gun that took five men to operate, there were several along the coast in the area we toured

Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial

Each grave has the soldier's dog tag number on the bottom

Volunteers rub sand from Omaha Beach into the soldier's name to honor their sacrifice

The graves face west towards the United States

Omaha Beach

Battle site from D-Day, the holes are from bombs that were dropped from airplanes or shot from battleships

Back in Geneva

Yesterday (Monday), we decided to come back to Geneva early from Paris.  After literally running to catch the 6:10pm train, we hopped on and learned there was one seat left.  My Mom took the comfortable seat and my Dad, brother and I sat in the jumper seats between train cars for the three and a half hour ride.  It was worth it though because Scott was waiting for us at the train station and even made us a very late dinner.  Today is a day of rest and relaxation!

We are kind of sweaty....

My Dad and his constant companion, the iPhone

Paris Day Four: Cathedral of Notre Dame and the Arc

The day started with touring the Cathedral of Notre Dame

I love the candles throughout the church

We made our way to the Arc de Triomphe.  Colin and my Dad climbed the steps to the top while my Mom and I pepole watched below.

We saw an Ashton Martin getting a parking ticket.

A gorgeous wedding party outside of the Church.

We grabbed beers in a bar before dinner and watched the France rugby championship game.

We ended the day with the best French meal any of us have ever had. 

It was a good day.

Paris Day Three: D-Day Tour in Normandy

I wish I could repeat all of the information we learned yesterday about WWII and D-Day in an eloquent manner. It was an impressive day. I walked away feeling very proud and amazed by our countrymen and women who fought in WWII. Our tour was very well done. We visited Gold Beach, Omaha Beach, a few other stops, but the most awe inspiring was the American Cemetary. It is beautifully landscaped and a peaceful and emotional. I will have to post some of the many, many photos I took of the day once I am home, in the meantime here is one of the four of us at the end of our day. As you can see, it was another sunny day with blue skies.

Paris Day Two: Museum D'Orsay & Train Tickets

On day two in Paris we visited the Museum D'Orsay, a former train station that was restored to be a musuem and opened in 1986.  Unfortunately, photos are not allowed inside the museum, so I was unable to capture the amazing pieces on display inside.  Photos would not have done some the paintings justice anyways.  After spending around five hours in the museum, we took the metro to the Gare Saint Lazare to purchase train tickets to Normandy for our D-Day tour and to Vernon for our Monet Gardens tour.  Another day making wonderful memories in the City of Lights.

Photo of the interior of the museum found online

 We arrived fifteen minutes before the museum opened for the day and were greeted by a long line!

Paris: Day One

We have arrived in Paris! The weather is amazing, sunny with clear skies. The day was spent getting to know our apartment's neighborhood and seeing the Eiffel Tower. I forget how alive this city feels.

Today's Images

Today I was tour guide for my family.  I decided to take them to Lutry, where Scott and I walked around the terraces last month.  After strolling along the lake and through the village, we hopped back in the car and went to Vevey.  (Fun fact:  Nestles worldwide headquarters are located here.)  We sat lakeside while enjoying our picnic lunch and once again strolled along the lake and through the village.  As I told my family, strolling is the national past time in Switzerland.

Tonight we are preparing to leave for Paris first thing tomorrow morning.  The itinerary includes a tour of the Monet gardens, a day tour to Normandy and of course many museums and cathedrals.

My Mom and I in Soral

Colin and my Dad on Lake Geneva in Lutry

Luckily we escaped getting rained on today

Family shot after our picnic

Building Sand Castles

The last stop with our family over Mother's Day weekend was the beach at Gearhart, Oregon.  Scott really enjoyed the sand castle building with Logan.  Rarely is the Oregon coast this sunny!  We ended the trip with a visit to McMenamins to enjoy Captain Neon Burgers.