Easter in Venice

Well this posting is long overdue, so we'll make this short and sweet. We spent Easter in Venice-it was Conrad's first time there and my second (I had been before with my best girlfriends in college one Spring Break). We traveled there with our friends Libby and Scott. Below is a picture of the four of us sharing a boat ride from the airport to our apartment, a view of The Rialto Bridge from our boat ride, as well as a lit up gondola we passed by on our way to dinner that night:

The next day we woke up to explore the rest of the city. The apartment we were staying in wasn't too far from The Rialto Bridge so we crossed that every day, going in and out of nearly every store in it, catching the view of the Grand Canal from it quite often, as well as hitting up the Rialto food market now and again.

We made it to St Mark's Square later that day and then Murano Island the next day to check out the blown glass for which it's famous:

Then on Easter Sunday we managed to take a gondola ride through some smaller canals and into the Grand Canal, and ended the evening (and the trip pretty much) with bellinis at Harry's Bar followed by a lovely dinner at Cipriani's Fortuny restaurant.

Another great trip!

Oui oui!

After a very quick trip by train (from London, it's only a little over a 2 hour journey), we were ready to enjoy our weekend in Paris. Our hotel was conveniently located close to the Eiffel Tower and really within walking distance of most other main attractions as well. We took it easy on Friday night after we got in and took a nice little stroll to see the tower lit up at night, and then called it an early one so we could get a head start on Saturday.

We woke up, had some wonderful quiches for breakfast at a cafe nearby our hotel, and headed straight to the Louvre from there. We probably could've spent all day (or weekend) there, but limited our time to seeing the most famous pieces and then moved on after about 2 1/2 hours or so.

Below: Conrad and I in front of the Louvre Pyramid, and The Wedding Feast at Cana

Below: Venus de Milo, and The Mona Lisa (sorry for the glare; it's encased)



Two warriors (no, Conrad isn't one of them ;)): Athena and Marcus Aurelius



My favorite sculpture there, Winged Victory.

We then headed for a walk down The Seine and to see Sainte Chapelle and Notre Dame. (We also managed to stop off at a cafe along our walk, and had some awesome steak tartare with pomme frites!)

We then spent the rest of the afternoon doing a little bit of window shopping, as we made our way back to our hotel to get ready for dinner at a restaurant that a former co-worker of mine had recommended, L'Ambassade d'Auvergne. I wish we had some pictures of the food we had there because it was all so amazing from the cheese and mash side dish to the spectacular chocolate mousse dessert, but I can leave you with one image instead...

Conrad, the chef, who was so inspired by the mousse we had in Paris that he ran home after work one day this past week to make a batch himself:

We planned to go out to a popular bar, Buddha Bar, after dinner but since we could barely move we just headed straight back to the hotel so we could again get another early start on the day (on Sunday).

Unfortunately we didn't have as clear and sunny of a day on Sunday as we did on Saturday, and this was the day we chose to go to the top of The Eiffel Tower, but I guess in reality it didn't matter too much--everything looks ant size no matter what. I'm really glad we went to Paris this time of year as well because the lines for attractions were not bad at all, ie. we were in line for maybe a total of 15 mins to get all the way to the top of the tower.

We then made our way over to the Arc de Triomphe and Champs Elysees, where we stopped for a nice midday meal (of oysters, champagne, and creme brulee!), as well as some browsing in the HQ Louis Vitton store. :)

With only a few hours left in the day, we headed to N. Paris by taxi up to Montmartre and Sacre Coeur (which are on the highest hilltop in all of Paris) before we had to head back to our hotel to collect our bags.

Below: Centre of Montmartre where artists famouly collect to sketch, and Sacre-Coeur, the Catholic basilica at the top of the hill

Below: View of central Paris from the hilltop, and the famous Moulin Rouge (at the bottom of the hill)

Again, another great trip! I can't wait to go back and go on a riverboat lunch or dinner cruise along The Seine next time, and perhaps spend a few more days there than we did this time (just so my feet don't feel like they're about to fall off the next day!). We're off to Venice for Easter, so come back and visit shortly after that for more pictures and details...au revoir!

A Wicked Weekend...

Ok, so I sound a bit like my family that lives in New England, but I guess this has double meaning here:

We went to see Wicked at the Apollo Victoria Theatre and had a fabulous time! I can't get the song "Popular" out of my head now, though. That was now the 3rd great show we've seen (we saw both Spamalot and Avenue Q previously) since we've been over here--would recommend them all, though probably not Ave Q with young kids?!



The weather was great this weekend (and has been for the past few weekends actually), and even feels a bit like Spring already today. We've been trying to get back in shape by playing tennis with our friends, Libby and Scott, every Sunday but somehow I think the activity is offset by the awesome Sunday Roasts (which usually consists of either roast beef or pork, potatoes, veggies, and yorkshire pudding) we have immediately after playing! Oh well, I love them--they remind me going to my grandparents for family dinners nearly every Sunday when we were very young. Might have to reinstate that tradition when we move back to the US...the only problem would be getting everyone in the same spot all at once! ;)

Carnival in Cologne!

We barely made our flight there due to rush hour traffic in London, but thank goodness we made it to Cologne in the end last weekend! We went to visit Conrad's friend Christina, her boyfriend Rob, and Christina's family (who Conrad was an exchange student with in high school, as was Christina with Conrad's family in Gig Harbor, WA). It just so happened to also be Carnival there this past week, so we got to partake in all the festivities with everyone.

This was our first view out of the train station--the Koln Dome--pretty impressive to say the least! We went straight out to a few bars as soon as we got into town. Below the Koln Dome picture, is Conrad with (from R to L) Christina, her mom Heike, and sister Sarah:



Heike with Snow White (yes, that is a man!), and C with Rob in full outfitted pirates garb (beer-drinking parrot included). It's a shame we didn't get a picture of the kebabs we had late-night--SO good!



(Top) The gang in costume before Saturday night's parade. (Bottom) Fire throwers at the same parade.



Conrad and I in costume. They weren't too elaborate, but at least I got to use my mask from Carnival in Venice that I bought years ago!



More interesting characters in costume (some of them anyway?) at the parade:



Outside and inside (at least one of the beautiful stained-glass windows) of The Koln Dome during the day when we made our way there again Sunday:



(Top) Conrad in front of the most amazing donut store downtown--the best Berliners (jelly donuts) ever! (Bottom) Us in our Carnival hats (hey, don't knock them; it was freezing and they kept us VERY warm!):



We had a really fun weekend and it was really nice getting to know Conrad's friends and exchange family in Germany better! We're off to Paris at the end of the month, so come back in early March to view pictures and details from that trip...

Go GIANTS!!!

I STILL cannot believe it! We're (and yes, I will say 'we' :) ) XLII SB Champs! Conrad and I got back from spending the weekend in Cologne, Germany with some friends at 10pm on Sunday and then made it back to our flat just in time for the start of the game. We were troopers and lasted all the way through (ok, we fell asleep for a few mins in the 3rd qtr) to see a couple of AMAZING plays in the 4th qtr. I always knew Eli had it in him! ;)





Think it will be a while till Brady shows his face in NY again; maybe Giselle will have to make some trips up to Boston now instead.