Normandy, France

The third day of our adventure in France began with breakfast in our hotel breakfast bar.

I enjoyed crepes with syrup, potatoes, a chocolate croissant, and cantelope, A delicious breakfast all around. Everyone else also gave the selection rave reviews throughout our entire stay at the Paris Hyatt. It was nice to have so much to choose from for breakfast.

At 8am it was time to board the bus and head towards the northern coast of France.

On the way to Normandy, we watched as quite a bit of rural scenery pass us by. We saw a ton of livestock, particularly cows. It was really interesting to see what the different houses looked like. There were sections that had very similar houses- all the same color and shape while once in awhile we saw really medieval-looking houses.

During our rest stop, we enjoyed poking around the store and I found some interesting games..

I thought it was very interesting that they had the same games that we do in America. I have to say I really enjoy the name Pictureka!

I wonder what a psycho test is..? =)

Our first stop in Normandy was the Caen Peace Memorial Museum.

The museum was an interesting, history-indulgent stop which really educated me on WWII, a subject I have never been too familiar with. I had no idea what D Day really was until walking through this museum and now I know more then I ever thought I would.

It was a very sensitive subject reading and hearing about the Holocaust and Hitler, Stalin and Mussolini's reign over their respective countries. It was horrifying to hear accounts from survivors in the videos we watched while inside. I felt sick several times while working our way through the displays.

We ate lunch in the museum cafeteria and although I don't have a picture of it, I practically inhaled my sandwich. It was basically cheese on a roll, however it was a local cheese and was absolutely delicious. It was number #7 on the menu, if you ever go, I highly recommend it!

After the Peace Museum, we made a stop at Juno Beach which is the beach that the Canadians overtook during D Day. We have a few ladies from Canada on our tour, and Jeff, our tour guide, thought that they would appreciate seeing the beach their country overtook. We all enjoyed a nice walk on the beach and seeing the monuments that now stand there.

It was absolutely gorgeous there! I picked up a bottle of sand for my sand vase, and also plucked a few shells from the beach.

We also stopped nearby Juno Beach to look out over the cliffs.

Our last stop for the day was at the German Cemetery. This cemetery is a very solemn place where the Germans buried their soldiers who lost their lives during D Day.

Finally, it was time to go to the hotel!

We stayed in Mercure in Omaha Beach which is a beautiful resort that once upon a time was all farm land. The family decided they wanted to do something different then farming, so they decided to turn their farm into a resort. It is quite spectacular. There is a view of the ocean, a beautiful restaurant, a spa, and a full golf course all on the premise. Apparently the pope has been here! We also saw a picture of Arnold Palmer near the restaurant since he apparently stayed here as well!

Oh and the hair dryer?

Is crazy and looks like a vacuum!

Now for some scenic pictures of the hotel...

Beautiful right?! 

Well I'm off to bed, but I will be back soon to blog about yesterday's Normandy adventures! (Tomorrow we are heading to Blois and have a very exciting plan that I am pumped about!)

Hope you are all having a great start to your week!

Paris, Day 2

Hey everybody!

Our second day in Paris started off with breakfast at the hotel restaurant. I didn't take any pictures of breakfast but I did eat a chocolate croissant, a bacon sandwich and some potatoes and enjoyed every bite!

After breakfast we had to scurry downstairs to meet up with our tour group and get on the bus for our tour around Paris.

We had a local guide named Sylvie join us for our tour and she was an amazing source of insider information. We went past all the major sites, the Arc de Triumph, the Eiffel Tower, the Champs Elysses, Notre Dame and so many others...

Here are just a few of the hundred pictures I took during the bus tour.

One of the things I was so thankful that Sylvie pointed out is the picture above. The Golden Flame (a golden replica of the one the Statue of Liberty holds) sits above the tunnel where Princess Diana had her life-ending, tragic accident. That was something we didn't expect to see, but managed to catch a glimpse of as we passed by.

After the tour, we made a quick stop for lunch and picked up sandwiches at the mall next door to our hotel. I ended up having a hot dog =)

Then we had a free afternoon and decided to head off on our to Notre Dame and Sainte Chappelle to go inside and explore them a bit further.

Notre Dame is celebrating 850 years this year which is incredible. The church itself is so much bigger then I imagined it being and you can see it towering over the buildings around it from streets a mile or so away.

There was quite a long line to enter the church, however it moved fairly quickly and we got in faster then I thought we would.

Once you go inside, it only gets more incredible. There are beautiful stain-glass windows surrounding the church on all sides. There is so much to look at it that it's almost overwhelming. We were lucky enough to be touring during a time when there was a church choir inside rehearsing. It made the entire experience because they sounded as though they were a recording.

You are allowed to go into the left belltower where Quasimoto supposedly lived, but we didn't venture up there. I regret not going up there a little bit, but what's done is done!

After Notre Dame we decided to visit Sainte Chapelle, a place that my mom had heard you don't want to miss, and everyone who told her that was right...

The stained-glass windows were even more beautiful in Sainte Chappelle then they were in Notre Dame. I loved the blue coloring on them and we stood in awe on the second floor just looking at the different windows around the church.

On the way home we saw a ton of beautiful flowers. Paris streets have the most beautiful flowers and trees.

Dinner consisted of sitting on my hotel bed and eating a highly nutritious meal of ceased salad wrap, cashews, and pretzel m&ms.

I also managed to get a little Starbucks in with a refrigerated mocha coffee.

and we watched a rainbow outside our window while we ate!

After eating, mom, Papa and I went up for a drink on the top floor of our hotel. (Level 33 I believe?)

If you ever stay in the Hyatt I highly recommend going up to the 33rd floor for a drink. It is incredibly expensive, but completely worth it.

I had a malibu and pineapple juice and we watched the Eiffel Tower twinkle in the distance. It was an awesome time.

I also want to mention that the music was all American music- but all very old. We heard Celebrate by Koolio and the Gang, and a few other songs that were from the 70s, 80s and 90s. I guess Paris is a little behind the times in the music department!

Overall it was a magical last day in Paris! Today we spent the day driving and then the afternoon in Normandy (I'm currently writing from a hotel in Omaha Beach) so I will be back when I get a chance with todays recap!

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Bonjour France!

Bonjour mon amis!

Hello from France, currently I'm on my third day of vacation, but since we took an overnight flight this is technically our second day here in Paris.

We arrived early Friday morning (around 7am Paris time, 1am Rhode Island time). We were exhausted when we landed- my mom and I both didn't sleep at all on the plane. Both my Papa and Vivian managed to get a little bit of sleep, but all four of us were definitely ready for a nap.

Our tour director, Jeff, picked up our little group and six other people as well. We all rode to our hotel, The Hyatt on our tour bus. Man, when we saw our hotel it was amazing!

The Hyatt is one of the few skyscrapers ever to be built in Paris. Our tour guide told us that once a few skyscrapers were built within the city limits, the Parisians complained so much about it that they stopped building them entirely. They definitely do not fit in to the theme of the city and are very much unlike the rest of the buildings around. However, our hotel has an amazing view and I am definitely excited we had the opportunity to stay here. In fact, we can see both the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triumph from our window (we are only two of about six or so people who can actually see this from our room- we definitely got the best side of the hotel!)

The food here has been incredible so far, especially the chocolate crossiants! I have had three so far, and plan on stuffing my face with them tomorrow before we leave Paris. The one above is one we purchased at Paul's, a restaurant in the mall attached to our hotel. It was delicious =)


On our first night, we had a dinner cruise down the River Seine which was incredible. We boarded our boat right near the Eiffel Tower and cruised all the way down to the River and then back while we ate a delicious dinner.

We were given a three-course meal, beginning with an egg, tomato, and olive appetizer. I am not a huge fan of eggs, but I ate everything around it other then the olives. It was pretty good- not something I would usually order, but I definitely enjoyed it.

For our meal we were given potatoes and steak. The steak was cooked very rare, but it was good and the potatoes were incredible. The seasoning on the steak definitely made everything taste great.

Finally, for dessert, a slice of almond cake, strawberries and ice cream- delicious!

Then we were given some coffee, and enjoyed sipping it as we pulled back into port.

After dinner, we took a side trip nearby the Eiffel Tower so we could get some pictures. We stopped at Trocadero and spent some time taking photos in front of this amazing landmark.

Since the Eiffel Tower is one of the most well-known places in Paris I knew I needed to see it on this trip and was so excited!

When we got back to the hotel, we were able to watch the Eiffel Tower twinkle. It twinkles every hour on the hour for about five minutes between 9pm and 1am. We managed to just catch it- amazing timing!

Then it was time to get a great nights sleep because there was another busy day ahead of us...


I will be back as soon as possible with another update- we are leaving for Normandy early tomorrow morning and I'm unsure if I will have internet there, but will post when I can!

Recent Projects

Hello everyone! I'm writing this a little before you're reading it, since currently I'm in France. I figured it would be unlikely that I would be able to post on my first day abroad so I didn't want to leave you hanging =)

I thought I would just pop on here quickly and share some of the projects I've been working on lately, home and organizing related.

My parents own a rental property and are currently attempting to sell it. They have a few offers and wanted to spruce the place up a bit so I spent four hours last week painting.

I actually enjoyed myself quite a bit, despite covering myself in paint. I was exhausted after a day of climbing up and down the ladder though!

I also helped my friend Rachel organize her apartment a little bit. Rachel doesn't like organizing quite like I do and is planning on moving from her apartment soon and need some help getting her piles organized.

Even though, the final pictures are not spotless, we still managed to get quite a bit of her stuff organized. Her table now has organized piles, that all have a purpose. Everything that was trash got thrown away and she has a much cleaner place to live in. I also *forced* her to go through her clothing, and she put together a pretty big pile to donate which was great!

Finally....

I made my to do list for before I left for France. I thought this might of interest to anyone who is leaving for a trip. I shared more about my packing process in yesterdays post- but I did have quite a few other things to do besides packing and this list gives you an idea of things you might need to do before you leave for a trip!

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend and I will be posting as much as I possibly can in the next few weeks!