la vie en Paris...the work version

A few weeks ago, I traveled to Paris for work. Yes, I'm a lucky girl! My company's corporate headquarters is there, and the global marketing communications team met together for a few days to exchange ideas and get to know one another. It was wonderful for me to get to meet so many colleagues so early on in my career with this company - it really helps to form professional relationships when you meet someone face to face. And it was amazing to see that although we all work for the same company how differently the regional marketing teams function all over the world, from the team in Asia, to the European teams to us in North America. And it makes sense of course, considering how diverse the regions are, but it was interesting to see it in action.

I had an amazing time getting to meet some great people from all over the world and spending more time with my fantastic team in North America. And of course I got to practice my French! Although we worked a lot, we got to step out into the beautiful city and do a little sight seeing. Here are some photos.

I have the pleasure of working closely with these girls every day! At Sacre Coeur 

Riding bikes around the city, here at the Louvre

They've discovered how silly I am

Great memories!

Rainbow!

Some sweet friends of ours stayed at our place in Austin for Austin City Limits while we were gone (Joey decided to go to Louisiana while I was in Paris to gear up for the hunting season). I really hated to miss my first ACL while living in Austin, but I guess I can't complain since I was in Paris. When we got home, these were waiting for us:

These were not necessary at all, but it was so very thoughtful of them and a great surprise! Who doesn't love coming home to flowers?

Love and light,

fleur

Without the Cake. . .Joey's Take

Paris, Normandy & Bruges

Paris: Ah Paree. Paris is lovely and full of history and decent food. The Louvre was amazing to see with my own eyes. Paris at night is beautiful. I see why they call it the city of lights. Paris is full of french people, but they were not rude. Maybe because Fleur can speak french and I pretend that I can so they were pretty nice to us. The Eiffel tower is a site to see, but I think I enjoyed the Louvre the most as far as sight seeing in Paris. Joey's take: Worth dealing with the french to visit Paris. (My french friends know I'm just teasing, but this is my disclaimer for those who don't know)


Normandy: I really enjoyed our trip to Normandy to see Omaha Beach and the D-Day memorial site. Absolutely breathtaking, the grounds are so well groomed it is hard to imagine what actually happened there. However, the small museum on the grounds will never let you forget the men and women who served our country. A great tribute to them and their families. Joey's take: You have to visit.


Bruges: What a place to see and who'ed a thunk it. However, Bruges is where daddy is from (Austin Powers Lovers). The chocolate is great, belgian beer is great, the waffles are OK, and it is full of its own history. I enjoyed Bruges, it was small, easily walked, and away from the hustle and buslte of the big cities in Europe (like Paris and London). It was quite relaxing, but the flemish food..... not so good. Joey's take: Very relaxing
 
Thanks for reading,
Joey

More from la vie en Paris

Our last days in Paris were rather dreary...it was rather rainy and quite cold. We went over to the Latin Quarter and walked around for a little while, but then it started to rain quite hard. There's not much you can do in the rain, so we scooted in for a nice lunch. It was still raining, but we found this lovely church and decided to go in. Rainy days are perfect for church viewing! The church was Saint-Severin, and it was very lovely and quite interesting, as it was filled with information on its unique history.

Outside the church, we heard chants (I thought it was monks or something), so we went outside to see what it was. There were about 50 kids at least all in a circle. It appeared that we were experiencing some sort of French girl scout/boy scout induction ceremony. It was neat to see.

French girl scouts!

Other than that, we kind of just hung out, ate lots of croissants and drank lots of cappucinos! We had to do some chores for part of our last day....it was time to do laudry, book our train tickets to Belgium, etc.

Paris at Night

As you may already know, we've been in Bruges, Belgium for the past two days....we'll have to tell you all about it another time!


Hoping everyone is doing wonderfullly!


Bisous,

Trip to Normandy

   We took a day trip to Normandy, France while staying in Paris. We took a train to the city of Bayeux in order to visit the famous Omaha Beach, the D-day invasion site in Normandy during WWII. We got to see the beach where the Allies retook France from Germany by invading this huge beach. This is also where the American cemetery is located. Over 9,000 soldiers died that day. There is also a very nice memorial monument and an exhibit, filled with artifacts and stories from the war. I wasn't really aware of this place at all, but this was on Joey's bucket list and something he very much wanted to do. We were very glad we went; it was amazing to see the actual beach and to remember what countless men and women did for the freedom we enjoy today. Here are some photos from our day at this special place.




The American soldiers who died that day are buried here



Omaha Beach, Normandy

Sand meets the land at Omaha Beach, D-Day

American Cemetery at Omaha Beach

The Spirit of American Youth Rising from the Waves memorial statue

Nous Arrivons a' Paris!

Bonjour! We had quite the interesting time getting to Paris from Greece. We didn't leave Santorini until about 10:30pm this past Wednesday night. We said goodbye to Yorgos & the Aretousa Villas, where they treated us like family. We'll miss them for sure! That flight into Athens is about 30 minutes, however, the way our plane schedule worked out, our fight from Athens to Paris didn't leave until 8:00am THE NEXT MORNING. Well, ya gotta do what ya gotta do I guess. "You are young," as Yorgos lameted...So that's what the youngins did. We tried to sleep in a 24- hour McDonald's which blasted cheesy nightclub music all night and into the morning....we're trying to sleep, people! I think I slept about one hour. We got onto to our plane on time, but it was delayed almost an hour due to a strike in France (does everyone in Europe go on strike?). Anyway, we made it there about 11:30am. We were just getting ready to buy our train passes into the city, when a girl stopped me and asked if I spoke English. Yes, I replied. She and her parents were from Toronto staying in the Loire Valley. They had planned to spend a day in Paris, but because they were flying home tomorrow, they were worried they wouldn't be able to get out of the city because of the strike. So they offered their tickets to us, plus their tour tickets for the day! They wouldn't let us give them any money for it. Yay, Toronto! We were very grateful for this bit of good fortune. It saved us $25 at least, plus a free tour, so many thanks to those who have prayed for us!



We easily found our hotel in the city, and although we desperately wanted to sleep because we hadn't in about two days, we had to go on the tour because it was only good for that day. Waste not, want not, eh? It was one of the Cars Rouges tours (red buses...probably didn't need a translation there) that drive you around the city showing you the main sites, plus you can hop on and hop off. I like to take these tours at the start of a trip to a new place whenever I can, but they're pretty pricey. Luckily for us, ours was free this time! Before going on the tour, we also walked through the Parc Monceau and ate some lunch. I had  lovely carrot soup and Joey had a chicken sandwich. On the tour, we saw the Louvre from the outside, Notre Dame, l'Arc de Triomphe, the Eiffel Tower, Musee d'Orsay, Champs Elysees and much more. I definitely passed out at some point while on the bus and missed a few things, but that's okay. Here are a few photos from the tour.



Looking like death from lack of sleep...and yes, we're tourists.

L'Arc de Triomphe

La Tour Eiffel

Notre Dame

I guess we got back to the hotel around 5pm or so and PASSED OUT. We slept for about 16 hours....we were beyond exhausted. This backpacking through Europe is not for the faint at heart! But totally worth it.


The next day we visited the Louvre. This place is huge....it would take weeks to see all the art and artifacts within her walls, but we gave it our best shot. Of course we saw Mona Lisa, which was really neat to see, even if there's nothing terribly remarkable about the smallish painting itself. The fact that you're actually seeing the real thing is pretty incredible.

Mona Lisa in the flesh

Inside the Louvre



Outside the Louvre, by the famous glass pyramide



Since it was a nice day (for the moment), we decided to head over to the Eiffel Tower in hopes of getting to the top and seeing an aerial view of Paris. This really is a sight to see, and I wanted Joey to experience it. Unfortunately, once we got there, it started to rain hard, and also the line to get in the tower was astronomical. So we just took some photos and waited for the Tower to sparkle, as it does at night. If we have time, we'll try to go back.

La belle Tour Eiffel

Eiffel Tower at night

I am enjoying speaking French again! Although I am out of practice, I can definitely get by. This is definitely a new experience for Joey, not being able to communicate properly and even more so, having to rely on someone else (that would be me) for information. He's trying very hard to learn the language and is doing a great job, but he's humbly said repeatedly, "I don't know what I would do if you weren't here..."


Well honey, I feel the same!

Beaucoup bisous a' vous,