Birthday trip - part 5

 Our last few days were spent in the beautiful city of Paris.

Our hotel was right next to the Seine, across from the Louvre (this is the view from our window)

 And this was just outside our hotel. That's the Louvre right there, for those who haven't seen it before. As you can see, it was a bit rainy that day!

 We arrived in Paris in the evening and once we checked into our hotel we headed straight for the Eiffel Tower. It started raining harder as the evening progressed, but we already had our tickets, so we persevered.

I have no pictures from the top because by the time we got up there it was pouring rain, and was incredibly windy to boot. Our umbrella kept flipping inside out and we were getting soaked so we just kinda laughed it off and got in line to take the elevator back down.

The next day was lovely though, so we were able to visit the Arc de Triomphe and go to the top for a nice view of the city.

 Then we walked down the Champs Elysees and visited the Louvre. We stayed for nearly 5 hours and still didn't get to see everything we wanted to! Chase and I both love art museums--did you know that one of our very first conversations was all about art history?--so we really enjoyed all the art that Paris has to offer.

We stopped at a patisserie and picked out a sampling of desserts. The Mont Blanc on the right was too sweet for my taste, but the chocolate and pistachio ones were heavenly!

In the late afternoon we made it to the Sacre Coeur. The last time I was here was at night, so it was nice to see it in the daytime.

There was a pretty amazing street performer out in front.

 I love all the buildings and architecture in Paris!

 The next day was le 14 juillet, France's national holiday, and we spent the morning at the Musee d'Orsay, which is another phenomenal art museum.

We then visited Sainte Chapelle and took some time to tour the Conciergerie next door. That was one place I had not gone on my previous trip to Paris, and I found it fascinating. The Conciergerie is where many prisoners were kept during the French Revolution, including Marie Antoinette.

 We had planned on going to Notre Dame too, but the line just to get in the cathedral was over an hour long. We decided to come back later. Instead we wondered around a bit and ended up coming across another art gallery, where after much deliberation we did in fact purchase a painting!

We got ice cream and walked past the Sorbonne to visit the Pantheon. We got there at 4:45 in the afternoon, about 15 minutes before it closed, and they wouldn't let us in! So sad! So we walked around the Luxembourg gardens instead, and then headed further south for dinner. The restaurant where we had reservations was a bit off the tourist path. It seemed to be filled with only Parisians, and there was no English translation on the menu (as we'd kind of gotten accustomed to), so I really had to rely on my language skills. Luckily google translate exists, because I was able to look up a few unfamiliar words from the menu and decide that no, I did not want the octopus ravioli.

 Knowing that terrorism was a threat while we there, we opted to stay away from the main celebration and watch the firework display from afar. We just stood on a random street corner with a dozen other people, and had a pretty good view! It was the longest, most creative fireworks display I've ever seen!

 In the middle of the night I started getting all sorts of texts from family members and friends asking if I was okay and wondering if we were anywhere near Nice. So we turned on the news and were so sad to hear about the terrorist attack. I wasn't wholly surprised that it had happened...I had been thinking the whole trip that we needed to be careful because something might happen on that holiday...but it was still so, so sad.

The next morning we woke up really early to get in a last few stops before our flight that afternoon. Little known fact, Notre Dame is basically empty if you go at 8:00 am. The tower wasn't open yet, but I'd been up there before and Chase said he didn't really care, so we then walked over to the Orangerie museum.

This was one of the other places I had not been to before, and it was really wonderful. I was so glad we'd managed to squeeze it in.

Au revoir, Paris!

We made it back to our hotel just as the airport shuttle arrived, and then we were on our way home.

A lot of people asked me if everyone in Paris was talking about the Nice attacks that day, and frankly, no. No one even mentioned it. Perhaps we just left too quickly after it happened, but I didn't hear anyone talking about it at all, except on the news.

All in all, it was a delightful trip. We packed a lot in, which meant it was not a restful trip, but it was a lot of fun! Thanks, Chase, for an amazing 30th birthday present!

Birthday trip - part 4

We saw a lot of beautiful little towns on our trip, but Moustiers-Sainte-Marie was our favorite. 

Even our hotel room was lovely!

The town is built into the side of the mountain, and you get this lovely view of the surrounding farms and countryside.

The only problem with being built on a mountainside is that it meant a lot of uphill walking. So much uphill walking!

I don't know if you can tell very well in this picture, but there's even a waterfall right in the middle of the town.

You can just see on the right hand side of this picture the church at the top situated underneath a suspended golden star that is the symbol of the city.

The flower-lined balcony in this picture is the restaurant where we ate dinner: Les Santons. We ate at a lot of good restaurants over the course of two weeks, but this one was our favorite of the entire trip.

 The ambiance and service were delightful

And though I normally don't photograph my food, I made an exception this time.

Best desserts of the trip, too, which is saying something!

 The final between France and Portugal was that night. Apparently Moustiers-Sainte-Marie has a Portuguese population! There was much rejoicing in the street at one end, and great sorrow at the other.

 Moustiers was still pretty in the morning! We got up early again (surprise!) so that we could walk to the church at the top and also make a quick stop in a shop to buy a nativity scene composed of mini Santons (handmade figurines from Provence). I love it, and I can't wait for Christmas so I can set it up!

Moustiers-Sainte-Marie is only about 10 minutes away from the Lac de Sainte-Croix, which is the edge of the Gorges du Verdon.

We rented a kayak and paddled our way into the gorge.

It seemed like over and over again on this trip I was pinching myself, amazed at the beauty that exists in this world!

 The gorge is named for the color of its water (vert = green in French), and while most of the water was a brilliant turquoise, at one point it turned almost olive.

Can we laugh together a bit at how gigantic Chase's legs look in this picture compared to his head? Ha!

 I hadn't kayaked in awhile, and I really enjoyed it!

 Shot of the Verdon Gorge from above.

Maybe it's because I grew up by the rather gray Pacific Ocean, but I am just in awe of all the cool colors that water can be.

After kayaking we drove the narrow, incredibly winding, more than a little terrifying road (ask me sometime about the bus we came across during a particularly tight turn) past Castellane where we met up a with a guide we'd hired to go canyoning. I'm not sure if they do canyoning in the US, but it's basically following a river in its natural course through a canyon. That means they fit you out with a padded wet suit and helmet and you swim, hike, rappel, jump, slide, crawl, and rock climb your way through it. We have no pictures of this since we were immersed in water much of the time, but it was really fun! Chase did a much more intense canyoning experience in Switzerland a few years ago (which I was too chicken to do), so we opted for a more beginner level canyon to ease me into it. This was a good choice. A lot of the jumps and slides still made me nervous, but I was at least able to make myself do all of them! And our guide was fantastic at helping my timid self while also showing Chase how he could make it more challenging and adrenaline-filled.

I also learned that I am super grateful for traditional toilets when I came across this technology in Castellane.

We then commenced our final long-distance drive of the trip and drove through (once again) absolutely stunning scenery on our way to Bourg d'Oisans, at the base of the Alpe d'Huez.

Chase was thrilled to fulfill a life-long goal of biking the Alpe d'Huez.

 Huez:

 Breathtaking view

You've already learned from my experience riding e-bikes in the Luberon that I am no cyclist, so I spent the morning at our hotel and then drove to visit the Chateau Vizille.

Our hotel:

 View from our hotel parking lot

Unfortunately, the chateau I went to visit was closed at the time because the exhibit inside (it's currently being used as a French Revolution museum) was on loan...or something to that effect. It would have been helpful if the website had indicated this fact, but at least I had a pleasant drive!

So I drove back, picked up Chase from the bike shop, and then we made our way to the train station in Lyons, where we said goodbye to our trusty car and boarded the train to Paris.