We survived TomorrowWorld 2014!

Shane found out about the TomorrowWorld electronic music festival in Chattahoochee Hills, Georgia, a few years ago and was immediately OBSESSED. The original Tomorrowland festival has been going strong in Belgium since 2005, and when they came to the US in 2013 he tried his hardest to convince me that we should go. With budget constraints and a host of other concerns, we decided it was best to stay home. 

He brought it up again at the beginning of this year when tickets were about to go on sale and asked could we please please please go this time? I was skeptical for several reasons: 

Neither of us had ever been to a music festival before. TW was billed to be a full three days (five days if you camp in DreamVille) of absolute madness. That's a lot to wrap your head around. 

I hate camping. Port-a-potties are a certain fate, as is the fact that showers would be few and far between (my hatred of camping stems from my hatred of being dirty).

Considering the show is at the end of September in Georgia, the weather could be freezing, absolutely scorching, or a mix of the two.

Tickets are expensive. To get the full experience, you really need to camp in DreamVille rather than stay at a hotel. DreamVille isn't terrible price-wise, but you have to bring all your own camping gear, and we don't own any. We looked into the DreamVille Easy Tent upgrade package which comes with a souvenir tent, air mattress, sleeping bags, and a lantern, all set up in a special Easy Tent area, but it was a good bit more expensive than the regular DreamVille.

Against my better judgment, I gave my thumbs-up and we pressed the "BUY NOW" button on that fateful February morning...

...THEN WE HAD THE BEST TIME OF OUR LIVES!!!

Saturday at the Main Stage
Shane is still washing pink powder out of his hair!

I'll admit, most all of my fears came true, but it didn't spoil the experience in the least.

1. We'd never been to a festival before: We met a lot of people who were shocked we chose such a large festival (in 2013 they reported nearly 130,000 in attendance and 30,000 camped in DreamVille) as our first, as it can be pretty overwhelming for most people, especially newbies. Thankfully neither of us are bothered by crowds, because boy were there crowds! People drove across continents (we heard one group drove from Brazil!) and flew around the world just to be there. The whole place had the best vibe of being one big, happy, global community...and we were all there to party!

Thursday / Night 1: DreamVille Gathering

We were also really lucky too because the whole time we were there, no one messed with our stuff. Our Easy Tent came with a lock but we made sure not to leave valuables in there anyways. Our festival bracelets had RFID chips in them which you could load with festival tokens, the currency of the realm, so we were able to leave our wallets, car keys, and cell phones in the $60 5-day festival locker we purchased. We only carried one phone between the two of us for pictures and left the other in the locker to charge. That's not to say there wasn't theft at the event (for example, one girl had a fanny pack but was wearing it turned around on her back...so it was a bright red target and got unzipped while in the middle of the crowd).

2. Port-a-potties, showers, and general cleanliness: Being dirty makes me unhappy, so you can see where this might have been my downfall. We knew the Easy Tent package we splurged on had a separate bathroom area, we didn't know that it would have portable, air conditioned bathroom trailers that were cleaned constantly. While we were at the festival grounds, I was so happy to find some port-a-potties that even flushed! Even the few rare times I had to use a standard portable, you could tell they were cleaned as often as possible. I NEVER went into any toilet that didn't have toilet paper, which is a miracle unto itself. I'm not saying you could eat off the port-a-potty floor or anything, but the bathroom attendants did a fantastic job and I was always pleasantly surprised by the facilities. BONUS: The longest I ever waited to get into a toilet was 1-2 minutes, another miracle!

Freshen Up stations + short hair = clean hair 

The Easy Tent area also had it's own FREE showers (regular DreamVille had to pay 2 tokens / $4.44 per shower). The line for the showers was understandably really long during peak hours, but later in the evening you could walk right in. I'll let you in on a little secret though...the whole time we were there, I didn't shower! And I lived! Even though I hate being dirty, I'm also not very patient when it comes to waiting in line, so I did just fine by washing my newly-short hair (thanks Hannah!) in the sink at the Freshen Up station and using the giant pack of baby wipes I brought to scrub the dirt off my appendages several times daily.

Bandanas are a must, breathing dust is no fun! 

3. This is Georgia in September. How do you pack for that?: The weather was pretty much perfect the whole time we were there. It was overcast most of the time, and I was fine in shorts and a tank top for daytime + being in the crowd at a stage (it gets HOT when you get close to the front) and a light jacket + sweatpants for early morning / night. I saw a lot of people wearing long pants and long sleeves during the day who were absolutely roasting.

Thursday / Night 1: DreamVille Gathering
Also, our whole pack of glowsticks broke on the way in.

4. Tickets are expensive, especially if you go for DreamVille + upgrades: Okay, so the tickets were expensive, but seriously those fancy bathrooms were more than worth it. I really do feel like we got the best experience possible by choosing the Easy Tents. We could've done day passes + hotel, but then you don't get to make friends with your tent neighbors, plus once you arrive at the show you're stuck there for the day, there was no same day re-entry for those who weren't camping. Regular DreamVille had to lug all their camping gear for a mile or more to grab a first-come, first-serve, tightly packed camping spot, then set up all your gear. Our Easy Tent was already set up with the others into labeled, easy to navigate rows. We were able to enter and exit the festival as many times as we wanted, which meant we could come back to our tent to sit down, nap, grab a snack or meal from the food we'd brought, etc., then go back for more of the madness at our leisure.

Me with two of our tent neighbors. 

The tents were small, but we managed. 

DreamVille Easy Tents...just part of them.

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Can you believe I've written this much and haven't even made it to the MUSIC yet?!

Between the seven, yes, SEVEN, different amazing stages, they had pretty much every type of electronic music you can imagine played by hundreds of DJs. Each stage had it's own awesome vibe. These stages are extremely elaborate too, each with a different theme.

Our favorite stage, the It's A Trap! stage

Mythical Frames stage

The MASSIVE Main Stage. See that white awning towards the middle?
That's the DJ booth.
Oh, and the stage is a volcano that shoots flames and smoke at every set change. 

We learned really quickly on the first day that it's easy to get caught up in in the environment and want to run around to every stage for hours and hours and hours and see every DJ whose name you might've heard before and dance and dance and dance and then go to the next stage, rinse, repeat. You get REALLY worn out this way though, and at the end of the first night, we were ready for bed, bodies aching at 10:00. We sat down on a hill and tried to hold out as long as we could, which was 10 minutes into that night's headliner, and then trudged back to our tent. After that, we made sure to sit down every chance we got, for as long as possible, and to go back to our tent several times a day to relax. And yeah, you're probably going to miss some good DJs this way, because they're all good, but then the ones you see, you'll actually have energy and will be able to enjoy it more.

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Yesterday is history. Today is a gift. Tomorrow is mystery.
Might as well enjoy it while you can!!

All in all, we had an absolutely fantastic time. I am so glad Shane convinced me to go. We met some really cool people, saw some crazy costumes and outfits, ate some tasty festival food, and heard some awesome electronic music. We didn't take a ton of pictures or videos because we were too busy having fun, but I did manage to put together a short video to share a little bit of our experience. Enjoy! And if you want to join us at TomorrowWorld 2015, we'd be happy to carpool! 



Practice at traveling in space and time

I know, I know...I've kinda fallen off the face of the earth lately. I mean it's only been a week and a half since my last post so that's not too awful, but it feels like it's been FOREVER. 

Before tonight at the Y, it felt like it had been sooo long since we worked out too. It had been eight days since our last run, and six days since the last time we lifted weights. It was only like a week, but it felt like months! We have been busy with family and friends and really fell off the wagon. 

I've got a lot to update y'all on, so why not start with our weekend at the Tennessee Renaissance Festival? Shane's parents came to town to visit on Saturday and then Sunday we all stepped back in time to 16th century England. None of us had been to a renaissance faire before so we didn't really know what to expect. They actually have a real (replica) castle there, the family who built it lives in one of the towers full time. That would be so cool! 

They have been continuously working on the castle since the 1980s and it still isn't finished. The festival was started as a way to let people tour the castle one month out of the year (and raise money) while giving themselves some peace to enjoy their home the other eleven months. Of course they do host a lot of weddings there, and Taylor Swift even shot her "Love Story" music video there. 

We had a great time looking around at all the booths, playing games, eating festival food (I think we were the only ones without a giant turkey leg), and watching shows. It was all going so well until 4:30...we were watching the Birds of Prey show while waiting for the jousting tournament to start...then all of a sudden, drip drip drip. In under a minute, those few raindrops had turned into a torrential downpour. With no hope of the rain letting up, we made a mad dash for the car. We were all absolutely soaked through by the time we made it to the car.

I got in the mood to make a video and also to use the iMovie fairytale theme, so to see any more, you'll need to watch the video below :) We're looking forward to next year's festival, and hopefully we'll actually be able to see the jousting!

Happy Thanksgiving, y'all!

I figured out why I was so stressed the other day...it's because Christmas is so close to Thanksgiving this year and I was subconsciously worried that I'd run out of prep time. Not like I hand make all my gifts anyways or anything, so I don't know why I'm making such a big deal. And amazingly, I've already gotten so much crossed off! One Thanksgiving dinner under my belt and Christmas decorations almost done and I am feeling super accomplished. 

Saturday was the Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Special, so what better way to celebrate than by hosting a viewing party and Friendsgiving dinner? It was my first time roasting a turkey and first time de-gibleting one. It was just as gross as I though it'd be. I had to have Julie Ann come over and help, since she'd watched her mom do it before, and we both definitely wore gloves. Shane got to video the whole thing because I knew it'd be pretty funny, and I was right!!

Cooked up pretty nice if I do say so myself. 

In fact, our only major mishap of the evening was when the macaroni and cheese packet ripped and exploded everywhere, then the paper packet landed on the hot hot burner. Julie Ann saved us from a kitchen fire on that one because I was so confused by the packet ripping out of my hand that I didn't even realize it was smoking on the stove. 

I quickly ran out of counter space and trivets and had to do some improvising, and I also made a gigantic mess. I am most thankful that Shane is so wonderful and did a fantastic job cleaning up after everyone left :) 

You like my "Makin' Bacon" S&P shakers? Thanks, Hannah

I still have plenty of family Thanksgiving dinners to go to but I'm already mentally moved on to Christmas now. Here's a preview of one of my favorite additions, a new tree star for a new (much larger) Christmas tree!

Our zombies and Psy made a new friend too!

Now I have GOT to go to bed, somehow I signed myself up for a turkey run at 6 AM in the freezing cold. I was supposed to be running to build up endurance, but that didn't happen. I may just show up, pick up the t-shirt and then go back to sleep. 

Paris and Nice: Part 4

After the craziness of Paris (see here, here, and here) it was time to pack our bags and head to Nice (pronounced like "niece") in southern France. We were exhausted from the first four days of the trip, and really looking forward to some relaxation by the Mediterranean! 

Day 5: Friday, June 1, 2012

Today was an early day. Our wake-up call was at 5:15 a.m. and we had to be in the hotel lobby dressed and ready with our bags packed at 7 a.m. to catch the train from Paris to Nice. 

Shane enjoying some "Bolognese" flavored
chips on the train.

Once on board the TGV, our trip took about 5 hours. (I later realized that this 5-hour train trip was more hours of relaxation than I'd had of sleep the previous night. Ridiculousness.) I slept a little bit then woke up to eat some of the ham sandwich I picked up at the train station. My mom had also packed a bunch of snacks, which was nice. I spent the rest of the trip putting together the first of my travel videos on the iPad. Shane played poker with the other boys on the trip (and I think ended up winning most of the money, although they weren't playing for keeps). Everyone enjoyed the scenery flying past the window. And if felt good to sit for that long :)

After the TGV we went to our hotel, the Best Western Hotel New-York. After a quick stop to drop off the bags, Angélique took us on a walk through Vieux (old) Nice to get some of the best ice cream I've ever had from Fenocchio. It actually won the silver medal for best ice cream in the region! They had some rather adventurous flavor options, but we opted for some of the safer looking options. I had a scoop of strawberry and a scoop of Nutella. Yum! Shane had passion fruit and cherry. 

Yes, that is cactus-flavored ice cream, and it's apparently pretty popular by the looks of it!

Next we went up to the top of the hill (by elevator, thank goodness) to see the ruins of a castle and a panoramic view of the city and the sea. It was absolutely gorgeous. There was also a manmade waterfall at the top, making it just that much more picturesque.

View from the top!

We walked down the hill and went on our way to the Confiserie Florian candy factory. They specialize in local favorites such as candies and jams made from flowers (violet, verbena, jasmine, you name it) and candied whole fruits (tangerines, pears, etc.). We learned about the candy making process, which is very intense -- the tangerines are soaked in sugar syrup for 45 days, for instance -- and then went upstairs to the shop to sample the bounty and buy souvenirs to bring home. Shane loved  the jasmine jelly and bought some for his mom. I was glad that we got to taste the candied tangerines, but I honestly did not care for the taste. They were oozing with thick, sticky, sugary syrup and did not taste like I thought they would. I preferred the candied orange and lemon peels, so we got a bag of each to bring home. 

Candied tangerines

Later we did some walking around town and down to the beach. We even saw the castle where an old film version of Beauty and the Beast was set. The beach was different than the beaches we're used to because it is made up of rocks instead of sand. We walked into the water a bit even though it was freezing (!) because you can't go to the Mediterranean and not dip your toes in. Some more adventurous vacationing teenagers had chosen a big rock and gone diving. Yikes!

Despite the beach made of rocks, there were still plenty of sunbathers.
 I can't imagine it's comfy to lay on those,
 but I guess if it gets hot enough, free hot stone massage!

We had a little bit of time before dinner so we looked at some of the little shops near the beach. We picked out a postcard to send to Shane's mom, her special souvenir request. Dinner was at a little restaurant overlooking the beach, and Shane and I got to sit at the adult table. Of course when you're in Nice, you're going to have salade niçoise. We also had a nice beef roast and little chocolate cakes for dessert. 

Happy birthday Stewart! What a fun way to spend it!

After dinner we went to the square near the beach to go shopping in the market they had set up. They had all sorts of interesting booths there, selling things like jewelry, purses, artwork, and souvenirs made out of the beach rocks. There was even one man at a clay wheel turning tiny clay pots and vases and giving them out to passerby. Shane bought a teensy clay owl for his collection at home.

It was finally time to come back to the hotel. It has been a long day, especially with all the travel, but I am really looking forward to the slower, relaxing pace in Nice.


As usual, there are way too many photos of the day to fit into one blog post, so check out my corresponding YouTube video below! 

Paris and Nice: Part 2

I know, I know...I'm really behind. But don't worry, I am making up for it with a new France trip post every day this week!

Make sure you check out Part 1 first if you haven't seen it already so you can know what a whirlwind the first two days of our trip were. Also, I've added links to this post, so if you're interested in learning more about something, click away! (and click pictures for a closer look!) I apologize for any weird formatting issues, Blogger and I are having a disagreement today. I promise it looks exactly right on my end, but not so great on yours. I tried!

Day 3:  Wednesday, May 30th

(written at 11:50 p.m. at the Holiday Inn Montparnasse)

Wow. Today was only our second day of sightseeing and I am exhausted. Hopefully I'll make it through the rest of the week! 

We were in the early breakfast group this morning, which came a lot earlier than it seemed. Madame actually had to come knock on our door to wake us up. I didn't feel like I'd even slept a wink.

Our first thing this morning was  a bus tour of the city. Our guide's name was Amal and she was wonderful. She told us a lot of fun and entertaining stories about Parisian culture and architecture. We also got to see sights like the Louvre, the Place de la Concorde, and the Eiffel Tower.

Mom and Hannah at L'Hôtel des Invalides.
Not pictured: me crying on the bus over
my stupid camera.

When we stopped at L'Hôtel des Invalides, disaster struck. I realized at that point that the memory card in my camera was damaged. All the pictures from the first two days...gone. And not just the memory card was damaged, it seemed that there was a problem with my camera. Not surprising as it had been on the fritz before the trip, but infuriating none the less. All the pictures were replaced with little blue squares with question marks in them. No more Arc de Triomphe, no more Notre Dame. Even my food photojournal (which I was so excited about, because France has some interesting food), gone. Even though Shane and Hannah and Mom took pictures of most all of the same things, it's just not the same :(

*Sidenote: I had something similar happen once on a trip to New York city in high school, through a weird memory card error two-thirds of my pictures got deleted and the remaining one-third was repeated three times. So that means all the awesome pictures I took at the Museum of Natural History went missing but I still had the picture of the guy dressed as Spiderman in Times Square. I apparently have horrible luck with digital cameras on trips.*

Galeries Lafayette. Can you believe this
is a department store?!?

The tour ended at L'Opera Garnier, which was Shane's must-see for the trip (he's obsessed with Phantom of the Opera). Before we actually went for the tour, we had a free period for lunch and shopping. I opted for eggplant lasagna at a French sandwich chain but Hannah couldn't find anything she liked there so we had to look around for other options. We tried Pizza Hut but were quickly reminded that pepperoni pizza does not exist in France (and really no American-style pizzas at all) and so off we went to McDo! (McDonalds, just don't tell Madame!) We made a quick stop in the Galeries Lafayette (GIANT department store) after lunch, where Shane bought a new Swatch and Mom couldn't decide on a Longchamps bag. Hannah added to the Swatch collection when we hit up the Swatch store outside the Opera house. 

At the Opéra. I have no words.

Finally it was time for a tour of the Opera and see where the Phantom lives! Even if he's not real, it is still a fabulous place to visit. The whole building is stunning inside and out. I can only imagine how it would be to dance there in the ballet (primary usage for the Opera house today), especially because the stage has an incline of 14% from front to back. Dancing downhill on pointe would be terrifying.

Stairs on the left, tram on the right. I know it doesn't
look like it from here, but trust me, that's too many
steps.

Our next stop was up the hill to Montmartre. Shane and I were two of the three people who decided to walk up the stairs rather than take the tram up the hill. Yes, there are that many stairs that the city of Paris had to build an incline tram to take people up instead. And of course Shane wanted to walk, as if we hadn't walked enough yesterday. I think he's trying to kill me. (Halfway up I was contemplating jumping the tracks and holding on to the outside of the tram car for dear life, but by some miracle I made it to the top without passing out).

While on Montmartre, we saw the Sacré-Coeur Basilica, which is the only church in Paris dedicated to Jesus instead of Mary. Then we had some free time to explore. Unfortunately, a majority of the shops on Montmartre are Gatlinburg-esque junk stores. There's always the option of getting your portrait or caricature done by some of Montmartre's famous portrait artists, but Shane and I weren't in the mood. We decided to try and walk to the Moulin Rouge but couldn't find it, so we gave up and went to a street cafe. While Mom was sipping her 7€ Coca-Light (Diet Coke, and approx. $8.50 US), we watched another American family get scammed by two portrait artists. Let me just say that the "real" artists hang out mostly on the square and have a set-up and let you come to them. Then there are those who walk around and swarm tourists like flies. They're relentless. Their work is questionable, their prices are high, and they try anything to trick you into paying more than you should. This family wanted one picture drawn of their two kids together, and negotiated the price down to 20€. They ended up paying 40€ for two separate, ugly pictures from two separate artists (because artist no.1 said he wanted to give his friend artist no.2 some work too). After that they were talking to yet another artist, who promised his work was better than no.1 and no.2. Hopefully they came out of that with a decent drawing and didn't blow their whole vacation budget.

Fun fact: I got to see the show at the Moulin Rouge in
2006 as a graduation gift from my mom! It was awesome.

Next came dinner. We walked down the hill to Pigalle and saw the Moulin Rouge (no wonder I couldn't find it, I was looking in all the wrong places), although briefly, because the Moulin Rouge is conveniently situated in the Red Light district and Madame was about to have a heart attack with so many students in an area with neon lights blinking some very inappropriate things. 


After dinner we rode the Métro down to the base of the Eiffel Tower to take a ride on the Seine river on a bateau mouche (fly boat). The sights were spectacular, seeing Paris all lit up at night like that. It had been raining so I tried sitting down inside the boat for a while but had to get up because I started falling asleep (like a lot of other people on the trip). I know it's hard to imagine falling asleep surrounded by so many sights, but I was so exhausted I just couldn't help it. 


Of course, it's not Paris at night without stopping to see the Eiffel Tower twinkle. For five minutes every hour, hundreds of strobe lights make the tower that much more magical. Of course, enjoying a crêpe with Nutella helps the effect :) 

Don't forget to check out my video with more pictures from day 3! 

Our trip to Paris and Nice: Part 1!

Shane and I are back from our wonderful (and exhausting!) trip to France, and we're ready to go back! 

For a bit of background, Shane and I went on this trip through a travel company called ACIS with my high school French teacher, Madame Saralee Peccolo-Taylor (or just Madame for short) and a group of 29 students and parents from Powell, Bearden, Farragut, and Catholic High Schools, as well as my mom and sister. This is mine and my mom's fourth time to go on one of these trips, and Shane and my sister's first time going. The trip lasted for nine days and was planned out with activities down to the minute! 

Over the next few blog posts, I'll be sharing excerpts from my travel journal as well as lots and lots of photos. I've also added links in case you are interested in learning more about a certain place. So let's get started... 

Day 1: March 28, 2012

Today we leave for Paris from Washington Dulles International Airport. And it's going to be a long, long day. Instead of spending 5.5 hours on public transit, or $90 on the "economy" airport parking lot, we asked  our friend John to drive us to the airport. He was having his carpets cleaned, so he dropped us off early. We got to the airport at 9 a.m. or so, and the flight doesn't leave until 4:40. The ticket counter doesn't even open until 1:00. After that, we only have a 7-ish hour flight until we're in Paris! We're not even there yet and I'm already exhausted.

Day 2: March 29, 2012

You can tell that I'm not pleased.
And probably asleep with my eyes open.

We finally made it! Shane was so excited the whole flight that I could barely keep him quiet, he was like a little kid going to Disney World for the first time. We flew Air France to Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris and arrived at 6 a.m. (12 a.m. at home). Just as we made it to the passport counter, someone abandoned a suitcase. You know how airport security is, one abandoned bag and the whole place shuts down. Considering that I barely slept the whole flight, I was not really in the mood to sit around for 45 minutes while they detonate someone's duffel bag full of tube socks and underwear. 

The rest of our group left from Knoxville and was set to arrive two hours after we did, so while we waited, we met up with our tour guide, Angélique, for breakfast. Shane talked with her about everything under the sun, including her recent trip to Jerusalem, and then we watched as she tried to rearrange our itinerary to fit in all of Madame's requests. Once the rest of our group showed up, it was on the bus and off to the hotel (not to sleep or anything, just to drop off our bags and change our clothes before a busy, busy day).

You can't help but hope you'll see Quasimodo.

Our first stop of the day was the Île de la Cité. We had lunch at a small café, which I must say took a lot longer than we had planned. We had two hours of free time for lunch and it took the whole two hours, but then again, that is the French café culture. After lunch we met up with the rest of the group to have a look around the Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris (yes, that Notre Dame). The workmanship that went into every carving and gargoyle is just amazing. I wish that our lunch hadn't taken so long, I would have loved to take Shane inside to see all of the beautiful stained glass. Oh well, there's always a next time. 

Of course, when you go to Notre Dame, you have to stop at Berthillon, home of the best glaces (ice creams) and sorbets ever made. I had the chocolat blanc (white chocolate), which was amazingly creamy. Shane had the sorbet au cerises (cherry), also very tasty.

There is a reason why the French can eat things like whole fat ice cream and stay slim...it's all the walking! After we finished the ice cream, we burned off calories by walking to see the second oldest house in Paris (built in 1644), and then the Centre Georges Pompidou. We were given a bit of free time there to wander around and check out the shops. We looked around some souvenir shops and then promptly fell asleep sitting up on some stone stairs. Yep, we were that tired. (See video below. Really, it's hilarious.)

L'Arc de Triomphe

Dinner was next at a little restaurant called Chez Papa. The main course was duck, so needless to say I ate a lot of bread that night. I also drank lots and lots of water because I was still dehydrated from the plane. This turned out to be a bad idea, because as we were walking to our next activity, I remembered that there are not really public restrooms in Paris. If you're lucky, you can find a pay toilet out on the street or in a shop, but those are few and far between. And it's not like here in America, where you can just sneak into McDonalds. If you can even find a McDo (as they call it), you likely need to buy something to get the key to the bathroom. 

So we arrived at the Arc de Triomphe to climb the 284 steps to the top, and I really didn't think I could make it. Madame assured me that there was a restroom at the arch, but of course it was at the top, and possibly fictitious, because she couldn't really remember, and I couldn't take that risk. If I was a French man, I would have just found a corner somewhere. But I'm not so I decided to  take Shane with me and try and find a café to sneak into. Of course you can guess how this goes...Lauren tries to sneak in, gets caught by maître' d, Lauren gets nervous when confronted, Shane steps in and saves the day by buying a French beer. 

The view from the top was breathtaking.

We did finally make it back with the rest of the group and we climbed all 284 steps. And guess what? There really was a bathroom up there. And the view was spectacular. I had never been to the top before, so this was a first for me and Shane both. And Shane got his first, real life view of the Eiffel Tower! Today was definitely a great way to start out our trip. My only suggestion for future visits to the arch is to wear grippy shoes, because that stone is slippery up there! 

You might think that would be the end, but you'd be wrong! We walked down the world famous Avenue des Champs-Élysées next and made a stop for some macarons at Ladurée. I've never had a macaron before this trip, and let me just say that OMG BEST THING EVER! Shane and I tried several flavors but the best by far was the fruits rouges (red fruits). Today was definitely a great day for tasty desserts. 

L'Hôtel des Invalides

Once we reached the other end of the street, we were given a choice. Use one of our métro tickets and ride back to the hotel, or walk. We were assured it would probably take about 30 minutes to get there. I was a bit tired, but Shane wanted to walk, so I decided I'd walk too, along with the half of our group who also decided to walk. This turned out to be my second bad idea of the day. I don't know how far or how long we were walking, but it sure wasn't 30 minutes (Google Maps now tells me that the route is approximately 2.9 miles, and an estimated 58 minutes to walk. Yeah, maybe if you're the world speed-walking champion and haven't been walking around Paris all day). By the end of the trip, Madame and her sister Teresa were calling it the "death march." We'll all sleep well tonight, and we'd better, because tomorrow will be another whirlwind of a day! 

And of course, be sure to check out my video! It has some more photos from days 1 and 2 of the trip. 

More pictures will be posted online (probably on my facebook) as I get time to go through them.

À bientôt!

(See you soon!)