Paris - Stop one on our honeymoon!

We are officially on vacation! I know it's crazy but the paperwork for J's leave FINALLY came back (which is a good thing since I already booked all the trips) and the next two weeks we are traveling around Europe for our honeymoon. Better late than never, right?! First stop on our trip was Paris.

We left early Saturday morning on what had to be the most uncomfortable bus ever invented and 6 very long hours later we arrived in a rainy Paris. Since we only had ten hours to see everything we opted for the over priced open top bus tour. It was a hop on/hop off tour which was perfect for us because we were able to customize our trip. Our first stop was the Arch de Triumph. It is in the middle of a huge traffic circle and you actually walk underground in order to get there. Under the Arch is the tomb of the unknown soldier where a flame is constantly burning. We wanted to go up to the top but the line was ridiculously long so instead we hopped back on our bus and headed to the Eiffel Tower!

Tomb of the unknown soldier

The Eiffel Tower was incredible but my favorite part had to be the delicious pistachio ice cream we bought at a stand underneath it! For some reason the military was on high terror alert and cops/soldiers with big guns were everywhere, we think it had something to do with it being fashion week but who knows. We took a ride the carousel across the street from the Tower because apparently Justin and I are little kids... and while taking all of our cheesy touristy pictures we were approached by a couple of university students in costumes and I busted out with my limited french. After they laughed at my terrible language skills they told us in perfect english that they needed us to smash a plate of whip cream into their face for something to do with school, so of course we complied. Crazy french college kids!

whip cream to the face!

Afterwards we jumped back on the bus with a couple of sandwiches and soaked in the sights. It wasn't long before we drove by a giant gold dome, it immediately peaked our interest and we hopped off the bus. It turns out that the building was the Dome des Invalides and houses the tomb of Napoleon. The Dome is surrounded by an army museum, which J found very interesting.

Next we wandered around the city on foot eventually heading to the other side of the city to see the Louve. By this time the weather had finally cleared up and it turned into a beautiful sunny day. The outside of the Louve was incredible and if it wasn't for the hour+ line to get in we definitely would have spent the rest of the day wandering through, enjoying the all of the famous artwork.

The good news about the long line meant that we could jump back on the bus and head towards the Notre Dame where apparently everyone that was not standing in line at the Louve was standing in line there! It was absolutely incredible. On the way to the Notre Dame we passed by the famous love lock bridge, I had completely forgot about this tourist attraction and was super bummed out that we forgot our lock. Luckily many of the shops sell cheap locks and I was able to etch our initials on it with a pen. Not the fanciest lock but it was so fun attaching the lock onto the bridge and throwing the keys into the Seine River.

We finished up our tour with drinks at the Hard Rock Cafe, so touristy I know BUT I really wanted one of their souvenir glasses. Also Jimmy Buffett was playing a concert in Paris the same day we were there and the Hard Rock Cafe was hosting a pre concert party with only his music playing! How many chances do you get to go to a Jimmy Buffett party in Paris?! We slowly made our way back to the bus making sure to stop and buy a bottle of french wine and champagne to take home with us, along with a couple of small eiffel tower replicas.

Paris is an amazing city and we are definitely going to have to go back because there is still so much we want to do! Surprisingly everyone we met was super friendly and helpful, they didn't mind my terrible french at all... Until next time Paris, we can't wait to come back.

Cleopatra's needle and Eiffel Tower lit up 

Next stop, horseback riding through Italy!

Brugge, "Bruges" Belgium - Beer, Chocolate and Waffles

A sign on a wall in Brugge

This past weekend we took a day trip up to Brugge, Belgium. It's a short little 6 hour drive and we arrived shortly after 9am. Our tour leader gave us the rundown of the town and then sent us off on our own to explore. Brugge is a charming little town with canals running throughout. Horse drawn carriages and small boat tours are a popular way to see the town.

Boat tour

Belgium is most famous for three things; chocolate, waffles and BEER! We grabbed a beer at the town square and enjoyed the view. Our tour guide probably should have mentioned that belgian beer is TWICE as strong as american beer and they serve the beer in giant glasses. After finishing up our delicious drinks we strolled along the canals, stopping for a tasty waffle topped with whip cream and covered in chocolate sauce from a VW van turned waffle stand, along the way. We discovered a tiny little microbrewery hidden amongst other shops and tasted some very interesting beers, their christmas beer was my favorite!

Town Hall 

Justin's New Best Friend

Christmas Beer

Our delicious waffle and waffle maker

Part of the famous wall of beer 

Kwak and Cherry Beer 

The Bar at the end of the Beer Wall 

Canal tour by boat

Next we boarded onto a small boat and took a tour of the canals. The tour lasted about 30 minutes and our guide was hilarious! We window shopped for goodies and popped into many of the chocolate shops for free tasters, belgian chocolate really is tasty. We took a quick peek into a couple of cathedrals, one of which is home to the Madonna and Child by Michelangelo and is one of the few pieces of his work to reside outside of Rome. Unfortunately the statue was closed off when we got there but at least we were close to seeing it! The Basilica of Holy Blood is also in Brugge and is said to contain a relic with the blood of Christ, of course they only show it during certain days and we did not visit on one of those days. Just our luck but overall Brugge is a wonderful little town and if you ever get the chance to visit you should! Oh and heads up they speak French. I definitely wasn't prepared for that, luckily my one semester of basic French in 6th grade came in handy...

Bad Durkheim "Wurstmarkt"

A year ago today I married my best friend and wow what a crazy year it has been! Justin is out somewhere doing field training all week so we celebrated our anniversary just a couple of days early. Naturally being the two mature adults that we are, we decided to celebrate our milestone by getting drunk at a wine festival, riding sketchy carnival rides and playing silly carnival games.

Saturday we drove about an hour away to the village of Bad Durkheim for "Wurstmarkt" aka the world's largest wine festival! The drive was gorgeous, once we were about 20 miles away from the festival we turned onto "weinstrasse"or wine street and both sides of the road were lined with vineyards as far as you could see. They combined the festival with a carnival and people from all over come out. There was over 150 different local wines to choose from and each vineyard had their own tent with long tables to sit and mingle with fellow wine connoisseurs. There was also two large tents with live music, they got really rowdy and people of all ages were dancing on the tables (seriously I am talking about 80+ year old germans on top of tables dancing), Germans know how to party! The food was amazing and the wines were even better.

One of the many vineyards we passed on the way to the festival 

One of the large wine tents 

One of the smaller wine tents 

Double fisting wine like a champ

Once the sun went down the party really started. It was packed! We finished out our night with a trip on the water log ride and playing carnival games and then headed home so I could fall into a deep wine induced sleep. It was definitely not a bad way to celebrate our first year of marriage. I'm looking forward to what this next year has in store and if this past year is any indicator I am sure it will be another fabulous adventure.

Sorry its blurry but the place was packed!

The water log ride

Justin winning yet another stuffed animal 

Finally a wine bottle that is my size