Day 3: Prado, Flamenco, huge party in our plaza? What else could we ask for?

Today started out extremely slow, but here we are again at 1am with no intention of getting to bed soon. We love the nightlife! Plus the time change is kicking us in the butt so we have a really hard time sleeping and then are tired right around the time we're supposed to be getting up here. But the siestas are keeping us sane.

Needless to say, we didnt get out of our APARTMENT until 12pm today. We got to stand and wait in line again in the rain, we just love that. But finally made it to the major museum here in Spain, the Prado. This museum is known for having tons of Goya, Velazquez, and El Greco. It was HUGE, and so stinking confusing we spent a lot of time wandering around lost...but enjoying every minute of it. I got to see the Velazquez piece that I have studied a lot in my art classes and was on my list of things to see before I die, so I was happy. We really enjoyed the Goya and El Greco pieces too, I dont know as much about these artists and history as say...when you put me in a modern or impressionist museum, but we loved their work so much despite not knowing a ton about what we were even seeing. Especially since Goya is primarily portraits and El Greco is mostly religious scenes, both topics we find dull...they were so beautifully done that we just LOVED it!

After a few hours there, we came home so I could sleep...someone may have gone to bed at 1am...woke up at 4am...and stared at the ceiling ever since. So someone may have been exhausted. After our siesta we had BIG PLANS.

WE. WENT. TO. A. FLAMENCO. SHOW.

yeah, thats right. We are amazing. Rick Steves came in handy again and led us to a beautiful little hidden Flamenco bar that only charged us 25E for the show and some sangria. IT WAS AMAZING!!! There were 3 beautiful female dancers who each danced for about 20-30 minutes and then this young scrumptious male dancer who somehow managed to rock the flamenco despite his extremely tight pants:) We were just in heaven. AND , they got us bar stools so we didnt have to stand the entire time. And it was all locals, oh we just had such a grand time.

Of course, this being Madrid. While walking back to our APARTMENT around midnight, there was a HUGE commotion going on the plaza outside our place. Tons of people were out like always, but were running down the street toward the plaza. Everyone is wearing wigs, and hats, and weird glasses, and spraying champagne everywhere...we could hardly even walk to our apartment it was so jam packed! Someone said it had something to do with Italy and it seemed like they were celebrating the New Year...but uhh...its a day early. And I dont know why Im talking in the past tense since everyone is still out there! The square is still playing music on and off and its so fun!

Im not going to lie, we are really sad to leave our amazing APARTMENT on this amazing plaza in this amazing city. We hope the rest of the cities rock like Madrid does! Excited for New Years in Barcelona tomorrow!!! If tonight was any indication of how tomorrow is going to be...OH MAN. I AM READY.

Now its time to pack and try and get a few hours sleep before we catch our train in the morning.

Again, thank the Lord for siestas!

Sending love from Espana!

-Esther (and Alyssa from the kitchen doing dishes)

Well we made it! Hola Madrid! Estamos aqui!

First of all our adventure getting here was just that, quite the adventure. First off, we got to the airport extremely early because we were afraid the security line would be super long…don’t worry, we’d already printed our boarding passes and the security line took about 5 minutes. So yeah. Then while Alyssa was putting her luggage into the upper compartment, she somehow severely cut her finger open and it was bleeding everywhere. Good times. We made it to Philly, but our next gate was literally ACROSS the entire airport. Then they changed our gate without changing ANY of the signs in the entire airport so we were running all around trying to figure out where to go and trying to get something to eat (of course they starved us on the first flight, and despite snacks we almost died). And literally almost missed our flight. Everyone else was super confused too and US Airways can suck it. Then of course getting from the airport to our hostel was quite the adventure. Once again, the metro was on the other side of the airport and we had a few transfers with all our luggage, then got lost walking in the rain to our hostel. But we were SO HAPPY the entire time anyway! Like, Who cares that I’m wet, exhausted, and my body feels like its been bull dozed: Its beautiful and we’re in Madrid!

THEN THE BEST THING HAPPENED. EVER.

We finally found our hotel, and it was in such an amazing location we were SO excited. Right around the corner from the main shopping and restaurant Plaza Del Sol. And right around the corner from Top Shop and H&M, thanks.
BUT THEN WE CHECKED IN.
and they upgraded us.
To an APARTMENT.
Yeah that’s right. A two bedroom, full kitchen, private entry, private bath, washing machine, living room, the works, APARTMENT. Lets just say, we have a hard time leaving everyday because we just love it here SO MUCH. We are just here tonight and tomorrow night though before we are off to Barcelona to stay in our one hostel for the trip.

We freshened up and then went to get dinner out…we had a weird dinner of smoked salmon…it was strange. But the sangria made it all better! We were going to try and go do something to try and stay awake, but were literally falling asleep into our food so we just went home and slept. And when I say slept, I mean we fell into some kind of travel induced coma which entails being half dead between the hours of 5pm and 10am.

Now that’s brought you up to speed to today! Today we went to the palace! We are big fans of palaces, so we were pretty excited. We’re still a little groggy, but got it together just in time to stand out in the rain for an hour with the rest of the Spaniards on holiday waiting to get inside. Inside wasn’t too crowded (nothing will ever beat my summer at Versailles were I literally couldn’t move inside any of the rooms because of the crowds), the line was long because we had to go through security. Inside was beautiful, of course. Our favorite were the incredible chandeliers inside all of the rooms…just overwhelmingly beautiful and show such craftsmanship and talent. We loved the HUGE dining room that they still use (imagine a ballroom with a long table and chairs across the entire room), we also loved the throne room with more pretty chandeliers and these cool lions that represent the Spanish monarchy. We went through it pretty quickly, probably because we weren’t allowed to take pictures. FROWN FACE.

Afterwards we went next door to a pretty Cathedral they built within the last couple of years. It was fairly modern, so it wasn’t as cool as most European cathedrals are…but it was still big and charming. And nice to sit down and escape the rain in.

After our siesta we ate some dinner in our APARTMENT and then heard music coming from the plaza! Music! So we got dressed quickly to find gaggles of people roaming the plaza and streets (it was around 9p) shopping, visiting with friends, families just walking around…so we joined. The music was super fun and actually quite good. We did some shopping and then finished up with some of the best calamari rings Ive ever had and some garlic mushrooms to DIE FOR. Plus some cervesas of course.

Now its midnight and we really must be getting to bed, big museum day at the Prado tomorrow! One of those “must see in my lifetime” things to check off my art list. SO EXCITED. Tomorrow my arty nerd self will re-enter the world…she has been missed.

We miss you guys! Sending love!

-Esther (and Alyssa in spirit)


Alyssa and I partying it up in the Plaza Del Sol. We love the night life. We like to boogie.

href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtKokbmJHGi_9e3-KUzIKkq6vUq8YkDcMiRfiAXrXOT7UZr-dk0G4phtQP78P8zdFJQA9y_c_gfBdR6YQpnsK28K76AGhxtQaua1fm8Ce7eImSMnZ18GhzmvraQxrn5ZSZUL1ZamPjRymb/s1600-h/alyssa+and+cathedral.jpg">
They had these really beautiful doors in front of the cathedral. Pretty.


Thats me in front of the palace! yay!

Off to Espana!

Less then a week until our third adventure begins, this time we are off to Spain! Its been hard to try and get ready to go out of town with school ending and Christmas happening all at the same time, but we have everything booked and our itinerary is ready to go...You know how I love itineraries, teehee. We will be spending time in 4 different cities over the course of two weeks, we're going to be busy!
Madrid
Barcelona
Toledo
Granada

So many museums, parks, castles, and shopping to do while we're there! I have a feeling with the Spanish we know, the schedule (siestas everyday!), the weather, and culture...we will have a hard time coming home.

Stay tuned, we depart Sunday the 27th! More adventures to be had!

Pictures!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=67892&id=500523819&l=ec8e7df70b

hooray!

Heres the bare minimum of my pictures from the trip. This doesnt even include pictures from Alyssas camera! hopefully it will give you some idea of how lovely that dang city is!

all my love!

Last day:(

Who took this lovely picture of us, you ask? Welllllll it was our new
park ranger segway friend! Don't worry, he answered all the questions
we didn't have and made us take pictures with his segway (stay tuned
for those!).

Needless to say, we went to the statue of liberty today! When we got
there it was early afternoon and we needed some coffee, so we got some
but then weren't allowed to bring it thru security so we had to chug
as much as we could before the last ferry went that was going to the
statue AND ellis island. The last one left 2 hours before our ticket
said it would, so we were pretty upset and tried to hurry through
security. But we just missed it. We didn't even want to go to the
statue as much as we wanted to go to ellis island, so we were
reallllllllly angry. Especially at the security guards who took their
sweet time getting us through, and the ticket people who are bloody
liars! When we made it to the statue the museum and observatory deck
were closed (also not advertised) and by then multiple security guards
had jostled us and we were NOT happy campers. But the views were
pretty, and soon the characters we met were more then enough to lift
our spirits!

Statue of liberty Adventures:
1) battery park man dressed ALL in bright orange in a pimp costume no
less. Just strolling through the park, whatever.

2) a gaggle of old women all wearing some form of leopard print

3) 12 year old girl wearing a bright green t shirt and multi colored
ear muffs standing in front of the statue dancing and mouthing some
song that you couldn't hear...her dad was video taping her...it was
weird.

4) park ranger on a segway sped by and wanted to tell us all about the
statue and wanted us to take pictures with him. It was also weird.

5) I fed my leftover cracker crumbs to a sea gull I named Freckles. He
sat right by me and ate them. We discussed life on the ol island and I
sang him a song about our friendship. Then I yelled at the kids who
were playing and kept scaring him away. I may have even muttered "damn
kids". I turned into an old bird lady, It was awesome.

After the statue we walked through the financial district. We went to
see the stock exhange and wall street. Then we went to the WTC just
for a moment because we got really sad and emotionally overwhelmed.
Afterwards we went back to the train station and had the best onion
rings of our lives and a chicken shwarma while we waited for our train.

Now were on our way home for the last time and are sad but soooooo
tired so really it's worked out. Ready for our own beds and families
tomorrow!

Miss u guys! But only kinda because we love it here!!!

Another fabulous day!

That's us! At the MET! An AMAZING place! We wish we weren't so tired,
and could have enjoyed it more, but we still LOVED it there!

Today began slow with miss Alyssa not feeling very well (I'm pretty
sure it's allergies, but we'll see) and we were quite tired from last
nights fun. But we made it to the MET and were overwhelmed by beauty!
The place is HUGE! And filled with rooms and rooms and rooms of our
favorites! I think there were at least 3 big rooms for each of these
guys: Manet, Picasso, Degas, Renior, Picasso, Monet, Cezanne. Please
understand there were 3+ rooms for EACH painter (and more!)...AKA I
was in heaven! We also had a sneak look at the egypian tombs and stuff
too while they were kicking us out;) soooo cooool!

After the museum closed, we walked through central park eating another
giant amazing cupcake and then went back to broadway to try and rush
Mamma Mia! Sadly the student $30 tickets were sold out, but we had a
discount code and got $112 seats for $60 so we splurged and saw the
best show EVER!!! It was wayyyyy better than any of the other shows
we've seen and we just LOVED every minute of it! I haven't seen the
movie, but Alyssa said it was way better than the movie! We danced, I
almost cried, we laughed and laughed, it was SO great! It made me miss
my momma and my girls too, but it made me love it even more!

If you ever get the chance, see Mamma Mia! Its amazing! Seriously!

Tomorrows our last day and we are quite sad to be leaving, to say the
least. But we are exhausted, and miss our family, beds, and stuff.
(and doggies, although maggies old guy has served as a nice temporary
replacement;)

Oh I forgot! Maggie drove us through the REAL Sleepy Hollow today! The
real church, graveyard, and line of gnarly trees! They filmed the
movie there, Irving is buried there, and everything dates back to the
1600s! Crazy! Apparently Halloween is a big deal there too, so cute!

More tomorrow! Love from the amazing NYC!

A whirlwind of a day!

That's us! On top of the empire state building!!! Amazing!

Well yesterday was CRAZY!
We slepe in and then met up with a friend of alyssas for lunch in the
city. We both decided that it was nice to talk to someone new, haha,
and lunch was really yummy and kinda fancy so that was really nice.
Then we ventured to the empire state building to join the other
tourists for a day of waiting in lines and being yelled at for sitting
down by security guards on power trips. But once we made it to the
top, re view was priceless! We switched our self made intinerary
around since yesterday was sunny and nice, a perfect day for the
building and walking 5th avenue. After the tower we walked through the
BEAUTIFUL public library and at huge cupcakes in Bryant park! Then we
walked and window shopped down 5th, saks, LV, rockefeller center, FAO
Shwartz, Apple store, American Girl 3 story extravaganza (absolutely
amazing! We were freaking out!!!), and ended warming ourselves in the
lobby of The Plaza! Yes, the plaza from Gossip Girl and such! It was
so beautiful inside we could hardly take it all in! And a really cute
foreign guy invited us to a party too, we loved the plaza!

After that whirlwind day we ended at the comedy club which has
featured all the great comics and lots of locals go too. So we drank
cosmos, laughed lots, and when he show was over we hung out in the
tiny bar with all the locals and owner. We were the only girls, and
there were a bunch of pretty and nice boys to talk too...so we had a
swell time!

Today were off to the MET! Supposed to be amazing! And the weather is
cold and gloomy again so we should be warm and snuggly inside one of
the best museums in the world;) afterwards well walk in the park
eating our designer peanut M&Ms and try and rush Mama Mia for discount
tickets! Poor Alyssa is feeling sick ad were exhausted from such a
busy trip, but were trucking on! Just keep pumpin coffee and eating
sugar! Hehe

Yesterday: history museum, Macys, and Chicago too!

Just a quick update since were on our way into the city and I forgot
my phone yesterday so I couldn't give a good update last night!

Yesterday we had to head back to Soho to return alyssas vera wang
dress with the broken strap. We love Soho, but the streets are all
weird and it's really hard to get around so we walked through the
Village too and saw the university and washington square park and
such. Then we went to the American history museum for the rest of re
afternoon. It was so cool! They had all these relics from people
around the world, rooms and rooms full of them! And they had a bunch
of stuffed animals from around he world which were super cool to see
too! Of course the floor with all the dinosaurs was amazing, and we
went to watch the planitarium show too! Even though we aren't huge
science people, we were in teacher heaven:)

After a long day at the museum we walked through the park eating a
pretzel and our new peanut M&Ms tradition. Then we went to Macys for
dinner an just to see it. We got to walk through the garment district
and see Parsons from project runway too!

After dinner we went to times square to watch our broadway show
Chicago! We had front mezzanine seats (one of our splurges!) and the
dancing and singing was amazing! Fosse is the coolest! It made both of
us want to dance asap!

Afterwards we somehow dragged ourselves to the train and to bed, long
day!

Today were on our way to the city for a day on 5th avenue! Yay!

Sorry no picture today, still because i forgot my phone yesterday!

MOMA gives us a heart attack!

That's me at my favorite place in the world! When can I move in? I'll
take the 5th floor thanks;)

Well, today was a great day! The museum was amazing! We got home
really late last night from the show, but we got ourselves up and out
so we could be in the city by noon for a full day at the museum since
it's a big deal for me. I knew it was supposed to be amazing and it
closed at 530 so I wanted to get there at a reasonable time for full
satisfaction! Anyway, when we arrived I needed coffee like it was my
job, but the line was long and Alyssa wanted to get started so we
split up for the day! First time we've ever done that! Usually we keep
an eye on each other and stay kinda close or talk and take pictures
sometimes...but not today! So after my solo coffee and biscotti in the
museum cafe (it was wonderful actually!) I emerged into the best
museum ever!!! The museum is just beautiful with room after room of
amazing art, arcitecture, sculpture, galore! And with beautiful views
of the city from secret little windows throughout the place. All the
big names were there: Warhol, Picasso, Klimt, Matisse, Monet, Van
Gogh, kadinsky, pollock, and more and more and more! And we arent
talking just a few pieces here and there, I mean rooms full of these
guys! I was tempted to buy a year pass just because I loved it so dang
much there! Annnnd they had a bunch of kids programs (don't worry I
took like 20 pamplets;) that I swooned over all day long too!

After the beautiful museum we decided to see if I could find some new
dresses for the shows and going out and life. So the 3 story H&M did
the trick and then we made the mistake of going to Bloomingdales with
less than an hour to closing. (things have weird hours in NYC on
sundays, very cute and old school but not at all convinient;) With
what little time we had we pet the Chanel, LV, Burberry, and Marc
Jacobs bags. And then tried on a bunch of MJ dresses! It was so fun!
But just as we were getting to Elizabeth & James (the Mary Kate and
Ashley line) the store announced it's closing so we had to leave. But
we loved it so much I think we shall return in the very near future!

We were exhausted by then so we just ate at the train station (it's
actually really good), had thr most amazong oinon rings of our lives,
and are on our way home now! Tonight were soaking our sore ans tired
feet and shaving our legs for another fabulous day tomorrow!

For the record, I LOVE it here and I plan to move here ASAP! Alyssa
wants to visit all the time too! Hehe

Miss everyone!

Shopping in Soho & Mary Poppins!

Look at her beautiful new Vera Wang dress! This is on the train on the
way home, with all the commotion today (see below;) we didn't take
many pictures!

As mentioned in our previous blog, we were pretty exhausted and
delirious last night! We have no idea how we made it home, but we fell
asleep fast and couldn't get out of bed until 10a today! We usually
get up at 8 and out by 10, so it was a pretty big deal for us! We took
our time getting ready because it was shopping and broadway day! Hooray!

Unfortunatly we were so excited that we forgot the tickets to the show
foe later that night, and only remembered them as Maggie was dropping
us off at the station...so we didn't make it to the city until like
3p. Today we shopped with the rest of NY and made sure to hit Louis
Vouitton (and pet the pretty bags that the pretty boys pulled down for
us), Marc Jacobs, Prada, Armani, Zara, and Vera Wang. The day ended
with Alyssa buying a beautiful vera wang dress and us eating a quick
dinner at Fanellis! Yes, like her last name! We were also able to meet
some lovely boys who were sitting next to us and sparked a
conversation with us because we look so lovely today I'm sure;)

Unfortunaly miss Alyssa took SO LONG deciding on her vera wang dress
that we literally RAN in heels across Soho and Times Square to try and
get to our show, Mary Poppins, on time. We made it JUST in time! Last
people in! But we were all sweaty and had sore feet by then so we
jostled in and watched the show just in time!

We had mixed feelings about the show. A few numbers were amazing, but
some of it was slow or kinda weird. She flew though! And we had a good
time! Our $30 seats didn't help the matter though, we had a hard time
seeing. But It's a great way to get kids into theatre and culture, and
we both really appreciated that. Lots of cute little girls with their
dolls were there with their moms and stuff, it was precious!

Now we're back on the train on the way home to hit the hay for another
lovely day tomorrow!

For the record, we LOVE it here. When can we move in?!

We're here! We're here!

Enjoy the picture of us in central park! We love the park!

Well, we finally made it! After all the planning, saving, prep
homework, etc. We finally got here!

Our flight last night was delayed a few hours so we didnt get in until
midnight. But we DID get to ride the shuttle at the San diego airprt
from terminal 2 to 1...it went alllllll around the airport, and when
we finally arrived we realized it was like exactly 10 steps from where
we started. Needless to say the adventures began immidiately!

Maggie picked us up from the airport, and it was so nice to have
someone we know pick us up and guide us to out beds!

This morning we hit the grocery store and got a lunch together to eat
while on the train to the city and in the park. We went to the
Guggenheim museum today! The museum was built by Frank Lloyd wright
and is a work of art in itself. But then it has a great impressionist
exhibit and some lovely modern art pieces too! Today we got to see
some Picasso, Manet, Casset, Klee, vadinsky, degas, and lots more!
Except they had this really weird Maplethorpe sound exhibit and some
awful minimalist pieces that we weren't really into.

Afterwards we ate peanut M&Ms and walked through the beautiful park
for quite a long time. The weather today was sunny and in the mid 60s
for the first time all winter, so it seemed like all of NY was out
enjoying the sunshine and park too!

I made Alyssa walk by where Carries house from sex and the city is
supposed to be and then we took the amazing subway (public transit!
What a concept!) to times square to try and get discount tickets to a
show. The discount tickets were still $60 so we cancelled that idea
and got some comedy club tickets for $15 instead from a nice gentleman
named jeff.

By then we were starving, so we enjoyed a little Italian dinner off
Broadway and shared a carafe of merlot! Woooooo!

Currently were on the train back to the beautiful countryside where
Maggie lives and are so tired we can hardly keep our eyes open! For
real! I don't know how we made it back on this train! So tired!

Another fun day tomorrow!!!! We love it here but r ready for bed!

off to NYC!

Just a few more days until our adventure to NYC!
We're both SO excited and have our itinerary all ready to go (see side bar:) for lots of fun seeing the broadway shows, shopping on 5th and in Soho, beautiful museums, picnics in the park, and of course lots of people watching over delicious food!

School has been exhausting, so we're extra excited about getting out of town awhile and back into our adventure traveling shoes. no more projects, no more books, no more anything for 9 days in beautiful New York!

Stay tuned for our updates beginning THIS THURSDAY! woohoo!

love,
esther (and Alyssa)

Pictures!

I’ve posted the “bare minimum” of my 400+ pictures, these links should work so hopefully you can see everything! Sorry we didn’t get a post in about the AMAZING day in Versailles, but it was absolutely gorgeous and we had such a wonderful day enjoying the palace, virtually all to ourselves! Please check out the pictures from our grand day there pretending to be Queens and courtiers of the royal court, hehe.
Thanks for reading about our lovely trip, if you couldn’t tell: we had the BEST time!

All our love!

Traveling, Walking along the Seine, & the Louvre!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=52653&l=b28ec&id=500523819

Opera House, Monmarte, Eiffel Tower at night!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=52674&l=1c07d&id=500523819

Traveling Home:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=52677&l=f157b&id=500523819

Versailles:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=52676&l=d84f0&id=500523819

Day 6 The day Esther's heart fell open and spilled all over the musée de orsay!!!

This is us outside of the musée de orsay. It was a lovely venue
because it use to be an old train station! We are really happy in this
picture because we didn't have to wear our coats today!!! Hooray it
was much wamet today! and when it did decide to rain, we were inside
of the museum looking at beautiful art. :)

I(Alyssa) don't know as much as Esther does about all of the artists
but I absolutly loved this museum!! It was much better than the louvre
because it wasn't so big and overwhelming. I loved the Picasso, Degas
ballerinas, Van Gogh, and this really amazing mini replica of the
opera house on display as well!

I (Esther) often had a hard time breathing today as I saw some of my
favorite pieces and painters work of all time! They had one of my
favorite painters of all time, Eduoard Manet, pieces slewn throughout
the rooms, and my absolute favorite of his on a special display with a
Picasso group of paintings based off of the piece as well! It was
overwhelming! (I definitly found a love for Picasso on this trip as
well!). The impressionist exhibit was also extremely overwhelming for
me, pierces i've read about, studied, have on my wall or as my desktop
background: are right in front of me! It was inspiring to study their
brush strokes and techniques, it was such a good day! The big names we
saw today: Monet, Picasso, Renoir, Manet, Degas, Van Gogh, Rodin,
Morisot, Pissaro, Sisley, and Cezanne...that's all I can remember off
the top of my head, but I know we saw even more!

Anyway, tomorow we are off to Versaille with 2 new Aussie friends we
made: should be so fun!

Not missing home at all, having the best time! Send lots of love
though!

Another lovely day in Paris!

Sorry, no Alyssa in the picture today, we were so busy taking photos
with our regular cameras we forgot about the phone camera, so you just
have to look at me today at the cafe where they filmed Amelie in
Monmarte! We had coffee and deep conversation there in the early
evening, it was so wonderful!

After a fun night out, we slept in, as the earlier blog pointed out,
and then went off to visit the Moulin Rouge, walk around Monmarte, and
hit the Sacre de Cour for sunset! We shopped a bit in the area
afterwards and had a lonnnnng Parisian coffee at the famous cafe,
before heading back for a light dinner and drinks with our Aussie
friends from last night and some new Aussie friends too!

Off to bed now, tomorrow we have the musee de orsay (impressionist
collection!) and some more shopping at Chanel and H&M, before a picnic
in the Luxomburg Gardens.

Day 4 Chargers lose but we still saw great art...

Today we had a very relaxing morning. We got up for breakfast and
then decided to make it a restful day because it was Sunday and that's
what Parisians do on Sunday! In order to really take in Paris we
decided to follow this idea and went back to sleep, took our time to
get ready, looked out our window, and then finally decided to go to
the Musée de l'Orangerie. Someone may ask why it is called
organgerie?? Well Napolean loved a glass of orange juice with his
breakfast every morning and in the winter it was too cold for oranges
to grow but Napolean still wanted orange juice so they built the
organgerie so that he could always have a glass of orange juice with
his breakfast. Now it is a beautiful museum that hosts a great
collection of Renoir, Matisse, Modigliani, and 3 more impressionist
artists I had never heard of before and LOVED! Their big claim to fame
is the 8 HUGE Monet Waterlily panels displayed there! Monet donated
them himself! Neither of us were huge Monet fans until we saw all
these amazing panals, truely a master painter!
Behind us in the picture is one of the huge Monet paintings, so fun!

Then we strolled through the park and found a cute café that we
decided to eat at. They gave us a menu with food on it but when we
tried to order the food he said oh no we only serve drinks now (wierd)
but we just had some wine and were still able to see a glimpse of the
Effiel Tower in the background.

We headed back home and ate at our hostel because we knew they served
food there and what do you know the NFL playoffs were on! I couldn't
belive it (esther didn't care) but then I quickly asked the front desk
when the charger game was on. He told me within an hour so I was
excited. It was not long until we made friends with the people around
us and were all watching the game together. There were a couple
Americans and a ton of Austrailians. We were all screaming and
shouting and even Esther started to get into the game towards the end
haha. But the majority of the austrailians were cheering for the
steelers just because I was cheering for the chargers. It was great
fun watching American football in another country and we made lots of
friends along the way!

Today we rested and are now off to stroll Monmarte with a baguette and
hike up to Sacre de Cour for some breathtaking views of the city!

Tomorrow will be another restful morning and then we will be on our
way to the musee de orsay to see their beautiful, ginormous,
impressionist collection! So excited!

Day 4 chargers lose but we still saw great art!!

Day 3, A French Life

What's that big light behind us? Oh, just the phantom of the opera
chandelier!

Well today began like any other day, making vague plans over a long
breakfast of fresh baguettes and hot tea while overlooking the river.

Todays agenda was to tour the Paris Opera House which was built in
1669 for the King, so the arcitecture is absolutely beautiful (think
Versaille)! It's also what Phantom of the Opera is from: so the
chandelier, curtain, and even the underwater passages are all there
too! Plus, being performers ourselves, we were excited to see it!
Unfortunatly, when we arrived they said it was closed for tours
because the National Ballet of China was performing "Sylvia" in an
hour or so. Instead of being sad, we checked to see how much tickets
were! So for 10euro each we got to sit on the top of the packed opera
house and watch a beautiful ballet for 3 hours! The opera house was
sooooo beautiful! It took our breath away and we were all flooty
because it was just like Phantom! We kept singing "masquerade" from
Phantom while we walked around on our way to our seats:) Unfortunatly
the seats really were only worth 10euro and we couldn't see any of
stage right and only parts of the rest if we strained an kept moving
around. Also unfortunatly all of the key parts of the story happened
on stage right so we had no idea what was going on and started to get
really fussy by act three. But then act 3 was all finale dances and
solos and duets that were amazing and not on stage right! We still
didn't understand the story, but the dancing was so beautiful I even
teared up at one point and Alyssa was grabbing my arm and gasping
right along with me! Act 3 was totally worth the frustrating first 2
acts, we felt so so lucky!

After the beautiful ballet we strolled along the fancy shopping
district along with the rest of the city out for the national sales
everywhere! Chanel, Dior, Louis Vouttion, Cartier, and tons and tons
of other beautiful shops prime for window shopping! We made it to the
champs de élysées which was having an orchestra play beneath it so we
snapped some pictures and enjoyed the music before continuing toward
the Eiffel Tower to try and catch the light show which goes off every
hour.

The walk from the opera house to the Eiffel Tower is a beautiful but
long one, especially when it's 30 degrees and your heels are all
ripped up from your angry boots. Needless to say we stopped in for a
lovely dinner at a picturesque cafe along the way. Good food, good
wine, warm toes, and we were off to the tower to try and finish our day.

The tower light show is really cute and we had fun taking pictures and
finding creative ways to keep warm. We even shared a fresh chocolate
crepe from a stall while waiting for the show to start!

What tops eating fresh warm crepes by the Eiffel Tower?!

We love it here! Tomorrow will be another wonderful one! And it's
supposed to continue to get warmer as the week continues,(so the high
30s and maybe even 40!). But the cold really isn't that bad, just
night time...and by the river. Or a mix of both is just the worst!

Until tomorrow, au revior!

Day 2, another busy one!

A really awful picture of me, but a lovely one of Alyssa at the Notre
Dame today!

Our morning off was lovely, we were really tired and even slept more
after a quick breakfast before getting ready to head out for the
afternoon and evening of fun!

We spent the afternoon at the Notre Dame and it was so amazing! The
place is just beautiful with all the arches, columns, and statues,
then to throw in the stained glass everywhere, it was just
overwhelming! Plus, the
Place is freakin old! I totally forgot what a history the church has,
and of course the gargoyles Quazimoto swings around on are super cool
too;)

It just kept getting better with the beautiul river and park behind
the church covered in snow! It was so nice! Sadly the snow is melting
so it will probably be gone in a day or two, but were so glad we got
to see Paris with snow!

After Notre Dame we walked to my favorite place in the whole world,
Shakespeare Book & Co. It was just how the book I just finished about
it described it! but we didn't see our homeless backpacking friend
there...I recommended he stay there and we became friends kinda, but
he wasn't there so owell. I bought a neat old book about childrens art
(perfect right!) and we sat and warmed up while listening to a lovely
inhabitant play the old piano for us.

We had a quick bite to eat, then walked over to the Louvre for the
evening, along with all the other young people in the city for free
night! We got to see all the great pieces like the Mona Lisa and other
beautiful Da Vinci pieces, some Botocelli, Delacroix, and even a
special Picasso exhibit. We also stumbled upon some beautiful marble
statues, bronze work, and Louis XIV precious dining pieces, crowns,
sword, and all these really cool little boxes. We were the last to
leave at 10p, it was so wonderful!

Tomorrow were off for more fun around this beautiful (but cold) city!

Day 1

>
> We love it here! Were having the best time so far, and had such a
> great day today!
>
> We went on the free walking tour today which took us all around the
> main area of the city and gave us a great history of the entire
> place. We got to see Notre Dame, the Louvre, the tuleries gardens,
> walk along the Siene, Champs elysses, and the other major sites. Our
> guide was lovely and we made friends with a nice girl from Chicago,
> a homeless backpacker from Michigan, and a bunch of Austrailians.
>
> The tour lasted most of the day, but afterwards we ventured to the
> Eiffel tower and made it just in time for sunset!
>
> I have to say this has got to be the BEST time to travel here! We
> found out that not only hasn't it snowed in 6+ years here, but it
> usually melts just as quickly as it falls. If Paris is beautiful
> normally, (which it is!), then it's absolutey gorgeous with all this
> snow everywhere!!! The park around the Eiffel tower was so pretty
> some of our pictures should be postcards or something! And it is
> cold, but with boots and coat and everything it's really not that
> bad! It's actually quite refreshing to get out of our overheated
> hostel! Besides, with the sun shining and not a cloud in the sky,
> who can complain?! And there's absolutely no one here! The summer is
> so so crowded it's miserable and you don't evn get a real feel for
> the city, but this is just wonderful!
>
> Tomorrow we will take the morning off to get some practical things
> done...like buying water...and showering (hehe). And we'll spend the
> afternoon at Notre Dame, Shakespeare Book & Co., and then walk along
> the Champs Elysees to get a closer look, before seeing the Eiffel
> Tower lit up, and then the Louvre in the evening when it's free for
> students and open late!
>
> Were trying to take at least one picture a day with my phone so we
> can post it on the blog, but the one of us by the tower is so awful
> I'm posting this one instead! It's the view from our window today at
> sunset. Were staying along the water with boats tied up....the
> little park is covered in snow and I love watching the Parisians
> walk their little dogs along there in the morning.
>
> PS sunset at the Eiffel tower should be seen by everyone at least
> once in their life! It was the most amazing part of our day!

We're off on our adventure!

Bonjour!
Well we're packed and ready to go on our big adventure tomorrow! And by "packed", I mean Alyssa has been packing for days and is all ready to go 1000%...meanwhile my stuff is kinda piled in different places around my room and laundry room...it'll get done eventually...teehee.

In other news, its absolutely freezing in Paris! and as much as we're trying to prepare ourselves, when i just saw the highs of 26F for the duration of our trip...I'm really beginning to worry. BUT theres no better place to be cold then traipsing around the Eiffel tower and the Louvre for 10 days- thank you!

Between the free wifi at the hostel and the computers in the lobby, we should be pretty good about updating this with all our travel fun! So stay tuned for some ridiculous adventures from the two of us, its sure to be interesting! hehe

much love!
Esther (and Alyssa in spirit;)

Versailles is waiting for us!