Fabulous Friday | Paris, Je T'aime

To say that I miss Paris may be one of the largest understatements.  Ever.  Since going the first time when I was 16, I've been in love with the city... and everything about it.  The people, the food, the pain au chocolat, the crêpes, the métro, the RER, the macaroons, the museums, the bridges, the Eiffel Tower, the Champs Élysées, the Galeries Lafayette... everything.  So, it's more like I'm in a constant state of missing Paris when I'm not actually there.  It's just wonderful.  And the fact that Ben and I were able to spend almost two weeks there for our honeymoon... oh my heavens.  It was wonderful.

With mom just getting back from France with her students this week and some other friends returning from a trip to Europe as well, Paris (and France as a whole) has been on my mind.  Ben even asks me on a pretty regular basis when we're going back... and he started asking about 2 days after we returned home in November!  I love that he has fallen in love with the city too :-)

Our first day in the city we went out to the business district just because it's the last stop on Line 1 of the métro and La Grande Arche is just fun.

Even with my 18-200mm lens, this was the best I could get of the Grande Arche as we exited the métro.

And once we walked up all the stairs into the center of the building, 

we found these random glass... things.  So we played :-)

My gorgeous husband... 

Then we ventured into my favorite part of Paris... Montmartre.

So many times have I walked these steps.

The cafés and the people just make the city come alive!

The square of artists is somewhat of a tourist trap, but I always have to go.

The streets are incredible... as was the light.  And my model was more than willing to pose :-)

Paris... c'est vrai... je t'aime.

(Paris... it's true... I love you)

There are carousels everywhere.  And they just make me happy!

We venutred back up to Montmartre on our last full day in Paris.  And we may have stopped at the tourist trap again.
But would you look at these oils??  They're just gorgeous.

So, we purchased a small one and I asked if I could photograph the artist with her work.

Another reason I love Paris... they have Cheery Coke everywhere!!!

The artist on the left is just... so French! :-)

My heart may have stopped when we walked up on this wall and the Vespa.  

I mean, really?  I could have stayed there all day.

*sigh* Our last crêpes. Ben had ham and cheese and I had nutella (of course).

I think what I love about Montmartre is how even though all of Paris is "old", even the métro signs up there reflect times gone by.  I just love it.

And before I sign off and wish you a happy weekend... I get to announce the winner of the contest for the $10 to Starbucks!  I used random.org and it gave me the number 11... which when I count through the comments, number 11 is Shellie!  Congrats!!

Happy Friday everyone!

Paris via Self Portraits

I realized on Sunday that it had been three months since we got married (woohoo!) but that I'd only put a couple honeymoon pictures out for anyone to see. You would think I would have wanted to fly through those and get them out for friends and family and the interwebs to see... but it's been a little more overwhelming than I thought!  1,000 pictures from a vacation are a lot to sort through, especially when you're trying to decide which ones people will actually want to see :-)

So, I thought we could start with a post of self-portraits.  You may get tired of seeing our faces by the end of this post, but for some reason, I have this uncanny ability to hold the camera out and get a pretty good picture most of the time.  Don't get me wrong, sometimes it's a complete fail, but those are the ones that don't get posted.  ha!

Anyway, enjoy this tour of Paris via our self-portraits and I promise it won't be another three months before we post more!

We ventured out to the business district one of the first days we were there.  La Defense is behind us.

You can't really tell, but we're on the steps of Sacre Coeur.

We were on our honeymoon! You had to guess there'd be a kissing picture or two.

This is in front of the gate to Versailles.

The Hall of Mirrors is my favorite place at Versailles!

It had taken us a few tries to get this one :-)

Out in the gardens...

This is our "Yay! We're at Versailles!" picture.

This was further down in the gardens.  We were probably half a mile or so from the castle.

Did you know you could rent row boats and go out on the water?? We named it Louie's Lagoon.

This was back in Paris the next day, in the Tuileries gardens.

This was our date night to Chez Georges.  Is he not SO handsome??

We were only a few blocks from the Louvre, but decided to wait until later in the first week to go.

At this point (yay for pictures in mirrors!) we'd been at the Louvre for at least 3 hours.

Late lunch at a cafe where we watched a group of 20 try and rent bikes on the street.  Awesome entertainment.

Strolling by the Seine... because that's what you do in Paris :-)

That's Musé d'Orsay behind us and to the left.

We went to the Eiffel Tower one day but the lines were crazy long.
But we still had to snag a picture while we were there.

When you visit St Chappelle, you exit by Le Palais de Justice, which has an amazing stair case.

Notre Dame in the front...

Notre Dame in the back.

Since the lines at the Eiffel Tower were crazy long the first day we went, we decided to reserve tickets (best thing ever since we basically walked straight up and got on the elevator!) for Monday.

This is Ben's goofy face as the sun started to set :-)  Cracks me up!

This may not look much different, but I promise we were on top of another structure!
This time is was Notre Dame.

It took a little while to get this shot in front of the Arc de Triomphe, but it was well worth it!

This one is in Montmartre with the artist's square behind us.

I believe this was our last meal at a café.  Goodness, I should have put some lipgloss on!

One of my FAVORITES from the trip.

Our last breakfast at our apartment.  Oh how we miss those baguettes...

At Charles de Gaule airport before boarding our plane.

Headed home as Mr & Mrs Fields!