Paris for a Day

On Friday afternoon, I took the plane from Bordeaux to Paris and arrived at the same time as my little brother. I was so happy that he decided spontaneously to come and spend the next 40 hours with me in Paris. 

After checking in to the hotel, we took the train to downtown Paris to meet one of my best friends for dinner.  Franzi lives and works in Paris and it was so good to see her and catch up with her. Plus, the Indian food was pretty good too. 

Because of the winter weather in Paris that week, the roads were very slippery and the Seine river still continued to rise. 

After a good night's sleep, my brother and I put our walking shoes on and bundled up -the snow had stopped and it was sunny but very cold (36F/2C) -and took off toward city center. First up some breakfast:

We had no real plan of what we wanted to see or do so we just went along and stopped here and there, paused to eat some delicious foods, walked some more and enjoyed spending the day together. The first attraction we went to was Montmartre, a neighborhood in the North part of city known for it's artist district and the white-domed Basilica de Sacre-Coeur on its summit.

Sacre-Coeur:

           

View over the city: 

We stopped at Galeries Lafayette for some desserts and an assembly of lunch items, which we devoured near Place de la Concorde. 

 

From there we walked thru the Tuileries Garden towards the Louvre. We didn't want to stand in line for hours at this museum so instead, as per my brother's request, we went to Musee de la Magie. It is a small museum featuring cool artifacts from the beginning of magic and illusion: antique props and gadgets, optical illusions, and even a little magic show.  

 

 

After that, we walked by Notre Dame de Paris. I have been to Paris multiple times but never seen it covered in snow. It was very pretty, albeit quite slippery on those old cobblestone streets. 

We definitely needed to sit down for a while and took a break at a typical small French cafe, eating crepes and drinking cidre.

Then, we walked over to the Eiffel Tower...only to find it closed due to the wintry conditions. But we still took a few good picture of this famous wrought-iron tower from 1889. Prior to that, we went to Tour Montparnasse, a modern tower, where one can enjoy a panoramic view over the City of Love 210 m above the ground. But again, the lines were too long so we abandoned that mission.  

 

 

We didn't came to Paris to shop but that didn't prevent us from walking down Champs-Elysees at dawn towards the Arc de Triomphe. 

Our last stop was a tiny, authentic Vietnamese restaurant, where we ate delicious Pho soup (I had a different soup and it was perfect) and then headed back to the hotel. 

I truly had a great time exploring for more than 12+ hours this magnificent city with my little brother. We walked 13.4 miles that day and were exhausted when we got back to the hotel. But it was so worth it!!! The next morning, we had to hug each other goodbye as one headed off towards the US and one towards Germany...until we will see each other again. Au revoir!

Business Trip To France

In the beginning of February, my boss, my co-worker and I spent a week in France. My company acquired a distributor near Bordeaux and we were there for team meetings and to figure out how to transition certain things between these two companies. 

We traveled almost 19 hours to get from point A to point B and one does not get much sleep on a transcontinental flight. But this is what you see when you arrive in Bordeaux: an extra large bottle of wine! They even grow grapes between the terminals. 

The entire week while we were in the South of France, it was super cold. We even had snow a couple of mornings. 

The town we stayed at is very popular during the summer as it is located on the Atlantic ocean. We did not had time to sight see as we worked from 8:30am till past 6pm but one evening I was lucky to snap a picture of the low tide in the small harbor before dusk:

That was the same night, my co-workers picked up fresh Oysters for dinner (I ate salad and pizza instead).

First time, I saw a Baguette vending machine, located right next to a local bakery:

On Thursday, we took off early to drive down to Spain to visit another office location. This office is located just a few miles behind the Spanish border, near the Pyrenees mountains. It was very cold that day (36F/ 2C) and there was no heat in the office, except for one small radiator. But we made up for this inconvenience by enjoying the best steak and Jambon ever for lunch. 

Business trips always sound so glorious but they are not really. This was my working spot, right next to the heater among some wine bottles. The only positive was that we took a bottle to the hotel at night to enjoy it with our dinner.

Plus being away for over a week from my family and traveling for 19+ hours during flu season and weather delays can be exhausting. I did took one day to spent in Paris before I flew back to the States. But by Sunday, I was ready to head back home to my loved ones:

Next up, my 40 hours in Paris with the best sidekick ever!

Love is in the Air

I arrived back home late Sunday night from my business trip to Europe. The trip went well but I also missed my hubby and kids. Luckily, we were able to Facetime and sent pictures here and there, such as this gem:

While I didn't really struggle with jet-lag this time around, the first few nights I still went very early to bed. 19 hours of traveling from Paris to Nashville can wear one out. But being home with these three is the best of all:

On Wednesday, we celebrated "I Love You Day". A few years ago we decided that Valentine's day is too commercialized and that we'd rather focus on homemade cards and being together than elaborate gifts. 

The kids were all excited about giving us their cards. Even Derrick had to read his card and eat his chocolate heart while still halfway asleep.

Me and my loves before heading to school:

This year's sibling pictures did not turn out as well as last's years:

2017 vs 2018: It's tough being loved!

Amelia wrote her teacher a loving card and gave her a box of chocolates. Elliot brought his teacher, Ms. Williams, flowers. He is such a gentle and caring boy!

Elliot's class also had a small Valentine's party and each kid received a balloon from the teacher. 

In the spur of the moment, Derrick and I decided to go out for lunch to eat some Thai food (my favorite). Nothing fancy but spending alone time with my hubby is so rare and the perfect treat on this special day. 

In the afternoon, Amelia and I put together this new 100 piece color-in jigsaw puzzle while the boys played upstairs. I really enjoyed this time with my girl and while the coloring part still will take us a few more days, it is a fun activity everyone can participate in whenever we feel like it.

For dinner, we pulled out the white table cloths and pretty china and fancy wine glasses for everyone. We ended the day with a delicious home-cooked steak dinner (the lobster tails stayed in the freezer as we were too full from lunch), a nice bottle of red wine I brought from Bordeaux/ kid's champagne and some extra cuddle time on the couch. My gift from my hubby was a dance to a Diana Ross song. We didn't wear shoes or fancy clothing, we slow slow-danced as my husband is still recovering from his surgery but it was still the most thoughtful and perfect gift.

On Thursday night, Amelia's school hosted their annual Science Fair Night. Each student was asked to make a poster (STEM topics were given) and Amelia was excited to finish her first ever science fair project. The first graders had to chose from the Math category and my girl decided to do a poster about 2D and 3D shapes. I helped her by tracing the shapes but she did everything else. 

 So proud of her finished project:

 All the projects from her class:

Now, we are looking forward to a relaxing weekend and some quality time with each other.