Oui Oui Magnifique

I'm WAAAAAY behind in posting from Paris, sorry, having too much fun.  I arrived here on Wednesday and now it is late Sunday night/Early Monday morning.  Everyone is going to the Louvre tomorrow but I have been there and want to keep my memory of Winged Victory as is and the experience with Jen, Lauren, and Sara from 1999, so, I get to sleep in and can stay up to update all of you.


Thursday, July 15, 2010
Lesley and I met Brenda at the apartment.  Cary and Charlie arrived, sans luggage and Becky finally got here.

We headed out, walked around, bought cheese, wine and bread, and after enjoying, headed to dinner.  The night ended with some fun shots at Notre Dame.

Friday, July 16, 2010
When Cary and Charlie waited for their luggage, the ladies and I set out to L'Orangerie, a Monet museum.  It was small but quite wonderful.  They have a couple of huge paintings in oval rooms and the design of the room only adds to the spectacular willows and lilies of Monet.

The boys finally meet up with us as we enjoy the fountains at the Louvre complex/gardens.

From there we headed to Angelina's for lunch where I had one of the best croque madams of my life and desserts to die for.  Next on the agenda, I think, I'm forgetting stuff, but I think we went to the Musee D' Orsay, my favorite museum in all the world!  It is an old train station that in 1986 opened as a converted museum.

Musee D'Orsay houses one of my favorite scenes, this clock.

Charlie, Cary, and Becky at Musee D' Orsay

From there, gosh, I think we headed back home for some cheese, bread, and rose.  I mean, why wouldn't we?  After walking ALL day, we headed to dinner for Brenda's birthday.  The service was great and servers even better.  Brenda even got a picture with them!  Charlie, bless his heart, then tried to get us to a bar where the bar tenders get in a shower over the bar.  Becky found the place in her research, not even me.  We walked and walked and walked and walked....did I say bless his heart yet?  Charlie FINALLY got us to our destination but I think we must have walked 3 miles out of our way.  Bless his hear.  Becky, sure as she can be heads to the door.  The bouncer, "You can't go in?"  Becky, "Why not?"  

"It's a gay bar.  For men only."

"I want to go in."  God I love her!

"You can't."

"What?  I can't go in?"

"No, not until 12:30 when show is over."  Totally defeated, Becky returns to us.  I promised her I would check it out, so will be heading there tomorrow or Tuesday.  She was SO upset.

Saturday, July 17, 2010

Got up early and with a pane au chocolate in hand headed to Notre Dame.  We walked right in and viewed the church.  Yup, still there and still a church.  Then headed to St. Chapelle.  It was a very pretty church and the stained glass tells the story of the Bible, apparently, but that was lost on me.  We walked more and more and to the Louvre.

 The Louvre













We then walked more and had lunch on the grass by the Louvre before walking more and more and more down the Champs-Elysees to the Arc De Triomphe. 

In a state of emergency, my 5 dear friends blocked me as I peed in a bottle.  I nearly filled it.  Not a toilette in sight, it had to be done.  Along our walk we also sampled the best macron cookies.  Yum!  Once we arrived we headed up the stairs to the top of the arc.

Becky was a bit tired, but once at the top, this is what she saw....

View from top

View from under

Honestly, we were so tired after all of this but what an incredible day we had.  Once we made it home we enjoyed cheese, bread, and rose-why not?  Then headed on a Seine River cruise before heading to the Moulin Rouge.  

 

Moulin Rouge was well, cheesy and cheesy and fun, I guess.  I really wish I would have seen Nicole Kidman and Ewan Mcgregor, but I knew that wasn't going to happen.  The costumes were fun but seemed a bit dated.  I expected more from the French but the experience was well worth it, especially since Cary had to wear Charlies socks under his sandals due to the "covered toe" rule.  It was cute.

With all this activity we totally skipped dinner.  In Paris?  We skipped dinner in Paris?  Shame on us! 

Sunday, July 18, 2010

We slept in a bit today, it was needed, and headed to Versailles outside of Paris.  With pane au chocolate(croissant filled with chocolate)we headed to the train.  I've seen the sights before, but they have added a little eye candy since last time....

We walked and walked some more.  The phrase "Oui Oui Magnifique" (pronounced 'we' and meaning 'Yes Yes Magnificent')came in handy today.  You see, the other day we had our first macaron at Laduree.  These are delicious cookies like nothing you have had before.  They have a crisp outside but then you bite into the cookie part and it becomes soft and then you hit the flavored cream inside-YUM!  Anyway, we decided that NYC and Chicago need macaron shops.  The name just came to us, "Oui Oui Magnifique."  Then on our journeys we decided that since Charlie took us on a wild goose chase the other night that we would also give tours through our company, the "Paris You've Never Seen Tour" because we were in some places that we would never want to see.  That brings us to "Oui Oui Magnifique" and Versailles.  

Lesley, our tour guide today just said, "When you here "Oui Oui Magnifique" you'll know where I am."  This is in lieu of the traditional stick with scarf on it that most tour guides have.  As we got going we heard, "Oui Oui Magnifique over here" and Lesley would give us information.  However, very quickly the term began being used to simply find each other.  Once we were through the palace we had to use the bathroom.  Upon finishing Becky made her way to the very crowded square, we boy simply  raised our voices, "Oui Oui Magnifique" and Becky looked straight at us.  Then Lesley came out of the gift shop across the way.  After a simple, "Oui Oui Magnifique" she found us.  It is glorious!

Look at "Double Trouble".  They came out today in the same dress ready for our trip to Versailles.  What a pair.

Then the walking began again.  I think we must have walked for an additional 3 miles on top of about 4 or 5 today alone, to find the palace and farm of Marie Antoinette. 

We found them.  The farm was adorable, like out of a storybook.  Apparently she came to these grounds to escape the people and trying times of being a queen.

Our day was about to end with dinner when we arrived at our restaurant to find fire trucks.  Apparently they had a grease fire.  Hmm, won't eat here I guess.  After a nice dinner, we headed home to find our hot neighbor across the way.  Let's just say that the French don't shut their curtains and walk around with very little on.  Imagine the 6 of us voyeuring in the shadows of mine and Lesley's room.  When the police came down our street Charlie, "Great, we're going to get arrested in Paris for peeping."  Haha, quite a sight as all 6 of our heads ducked in unison as he opened the curtain to see what the police were doing.  Je t'aime Paris! 

Wow-that is the last four days in a very small nutshell.  Let me just tell you that I have fabulous friends and we are having the most amazing trip ever.  Love you guys!