Paris Favorites: Everything Else

As the week comes to a close and "real life" has finally set in, I will share some final photos of some of my favorites from our trip.  I hope you have enjoyed walking through it all with me but if you are sick of hearing about it, don't worry, next week it is back to Mommyhood and Retail Therapy!

Revoir a Paris!  Until next time!

Paris Favorites: Wine Tasting

As if we did not have enough wine at this point in the trip, we spent an entire day wine tasting while in Beaune.  And when I say an entire day, I mean an ENTIRE day.  The first appointment was at 10am and we ended at 11:30pm with the close of dinner.  We did all of our tasting in town and what we did not expect was the history behind wine making in France.  Sorry Napa, you have nothing on this.  Two of our favorite vineyards were Bouchard Pere & Fils and Maison Champy.  Here are some of the pictures taken from their caves and of course, our tasting....

Paris Favorites: Hotel Le Cep

For the majority of our trip, we stayed in Paris at The Westin Paris, which was fabulous.  We did however, jump on the train to spend three days in Beaune, France, situated in Burgundy.  Our thoughts were that it would be nice to get out of the big city for a while, enjoy the French countryside and of course, go wine tasting!  A co-worker of my husband suggested we stay at Hotel Le Cep.  He said we would love it but we had no idea what to except.  This boutique hotel absolutely blew us away.  It was incredibly French and romantic.  We were lucky enough to be upgraded to a junior suite and for two nights, I felt like I was living in a Royal French Chateau.  Here are just a few pictures of our room and around the hotel.....

The entire experience in Beaune was incredible and it was my favorite three days of the trip.  I really cannot wait to go back.

Paris Favorites: Le Chateau de Versailles Bike Tour

One of my absolute favorite things we did while in Paris was the Versailles Bike Tour through Fat Tire Bike Tours.  It was suggested by my best friend and I am SO happy she had told us about it.  It was absolutely incredible.  First, you pick up your bike and then start riding to the train station.  During this time you are expected to remember how to ride a bike, which I will admit, took me a few minutes (it has been a looooong time).  You hop on the train and take a 20 minute ride to Versailles.  Once you are there, the tour is filled with shopping at a local market, biking through Versailles, having a picnic on the lake and finishing up with a tour of the Chateau.  Fabulous, fabulous, fabulous.  Here are some pictures of our day (it was hard to narrow down!).  They do not do it justice but at least you will get a glimpse of what we saw....

I'm Back!

Oh it feels good to be home!  France was FABULOUS and you are going to get to hear all about it this week thanks to my new obsession with many things French.  I will share some of my favorite things this week but right now, I need to get this house organized.  So, I am going to quickly share some of the things I learned this week as an American in France.

1. Don't throw up in the Paris airport bathroom
Seems simple enough right?  Apparently not for me.  I am not sure what happened to me.  It could have been the wine, the 11 hours of flying, the not sleeping the entire flight, or the fact that I just got an upset stomach on the landing.  Who knows.  But whatever it was, I was in the bathroom throwing up 10 minutes after landing in France.  Beautiful way to start off the trip.

2. Water is not free
My hubby and I quickly learned that in every cafe or restaurant,  when they ask "still or sparking", "still" does not mean tap water.  It actually means bottled water for 5 Euro.  We spent 50 euro on water before we finally emailed one of my hubby's co-workers from France and found out that we must say "une carafe d'eau".  To us, this means water in a carafe.  To the French, this means that we are cheap.

3. Always finish your dish, no matter how full you are
Every time I did not clean my plate (even during the 4th of 6 courses), the server would immediately ask me "did you not like it?".  I would then feel stupid and explain that I really did but that I was getting full.  This was followed by a look of "Crazy American".  After a couple times of this, I ate everything on all my plates, no matter how full I was.

4. Wine is like water
They drink wine all day.  It is fantastic.  My kind of place.

5. I do not understand the Euro well
I had a really hard time understanding the exchange rate.  On the final day there, I finally grasped how much things cost in US dollars and was shocked at how much I underestimated.  I now know our American Express is going to be much higher than I realized and so therefore, I will not look at the bill.          

Vous voir bientôt à Paris

Today is the day!  The hubby and I head to Paris this afternoon and I am beyond excited!  We have a ton of things planned and I will be sure to share it all with you when I return.  I know at this point you are thinking, "but what am I going to do without a week of Juggling in Heels?!"  Do not worry, I have got you covered.  You will still hear a little from me but I have some FABULOUS guest bloggers stopping by next week and believe me, you will not be disappointed!  So heres to a fabulous 8 days sans kids and I will "talk" to you all when I get back!

28 Days!

See this picture?  Well, it is not my husband and I YET, but it will be in 28 days!  In just a few weeks, we will be heading to France WITHOUT children to celebrate our 10 year anniversary.  We will be spending most of our time in Paris but will head to Burgundy to enjoy some of France's wine country.  I am SO excited.  It will be the longest we have ever left the babes (9 days!) but they will be fine and I plan on eating everything, drinking a ton, shopping, sight seeing, and SLEEPING IN!