Day 3 in Paris

Day 3 was spent in Versailles. The.whole.day.


After the tour inside the palace, we went to the gardens. I think this was one of the most lovely places on earth that I have ever seen.


We had pizza before renting our bikes, and I was drinking an orange drink from a can, and to my surprise, a bee had gone inside the can. When I swallowed the last of the drink, the bee came out and bit me on the lip. It stung so bad. Can you see my swollen lip. I felt like Angelina Jolie for the rest of the day.


We rented bikes because it was faster to get around the gardens. They were so HUGE! Miles and miles of land. We are on our way to the "Petit Trianon".

Alex and Rod biking along the pathways. One section was about 1/2 mile long. We figured that we biked about 4 miles.

Rod and I at the Temple of Love (in the background).

Just outside of Marie Antoinette's place, there was a lovely field of sunflowers...with buzzing bees.

After finishing the whole tour at the Palace, we took the train back to the city. We got off at the Eiffel Tower and went to find a place to eat.

At the RIBE, we ate:

Escargot with a garlic herb butter. Can't leave Paris without eating snails first.

Both Rod and I ordered the Buffalo Mozzarella and Tomato salad. It was SO delicious!

Alex is eating the escargot. He loved it too.

This was Alex's favorite dessert, crepes with strawberry jam.

4 miles walked today

Tomorrow: New Delhi, India

Au Revoir France! C'est tres magnifique!

Day 2 in Paris

Day 2 in Paris:

Louvre
Champs Elysees
Arc de Triomphe
Seine


Marja Liisa and Mona Lisa


"I want Gum Gum"



Waiter at the Louvre with a heavily hairsprayed Mullet

Beignets de sucre and Diet Coke (no ice)at the Louvre Cafe

248 steps later, we made it to the top of the Arc de Triomphe.

Alex has triumphed!

We tried to go to D'Chez Eux for typical French dinner but it was closed until Monday. We kept walking and found "Le Tanney". We looked at the menu and it was all in French. A nice owner of the place came over who didn't speak English. Luckily we had Alex with us and he was able to translate some of the conversations. Although we weren't sure what we ordered, everything was so delicious. 2.5 hours later we left the restaurant totally satisfied.

Marja's "Bar Portion Grille". Wasn't sure what I was getting. But this is what was brought to me with Parmesan Risotto. This whole meal was delicious.

"Encourtes farcis a la Plancha" is what Rod ordered. Rod:"Looks like some kind of bird". I thought that it was possibly a duck leg. After tasting, Rod realized that it was stuffed squid.

Alex's favorite dessert: Creme Brulee.

Walked 4-5 miles today.

Tomorrow: Versailles

Paris: Day 1

Day 1 in Paris:

Notre Dame
The Louvre
The Eiffel Tower

and everything in between the sights.



Alex and Marja in front of the Notre Dame


Typical Frenchmen


The Louvre


Nostrils at the Eiffel Tower


Marja and Rod at the Eiffel Tower, 2nd level. Yep, it was super windy.


The crowning moment came at the end of the day when we saw the Eiffel Tower light up.

Meatballs are all packed in my suitcase

I'm definitely packing meatballs to take with me on our trip, like a good Finn that I am. Why, some may ask, but if you are a fellow Finn, born before 1970s, you might even understand why I would do such a silly thing. Let me explain the history of packing meatballs in your suitcase when you go on a trip.

When the Finns, from the 1970s on, started really traveling to the south, like Spain, Italy or Greece in the middle of the harshest and darkest winter time, they quickly realized when arriving to these countries that the cuisine was not like at home. The food was spicy when they were used to bland. There was a lot of weird food that they had never even seen, like squid or octopus or olives. Now who could ever put something like that into their mouths, let alone survive a week with it.

And this is where the meatballs entered many suitcases that traveled to the holiday destination for decades.

There they were, common housewives cooking in their "condominiums", cracking open a can of meatballs (yes, you can buy meatballs in a can in Finland) and happy husbands in their hangover stupor would devour the most common Finnish food stuff during their lovely "Roman Holiday". Heaven forbid if they were going to try something different and extraordinary. You might get sick or even like it.

Because I couldn't find meatballs in a can in our grocery store, I opted for granola bars and beef jerky. I think 3 people can survive India for 7 days with that...and Pepto Bismol.

My Baby, the Freshman

Alex started his freshman year in high school this morning. From now on every grade counts towards college. Scary thought. Good luck Alex this year. You will do great!

Weekend at Matt and Michelle's Vacation Home

On Friday afternoon we headed towards Huntsville, UT to Matt and Michelle's vacation home. They like to call it a cabin, but clearly, it is not a cabin. We had a fabulous weekend with old friends. Thanks Matt and Michelle for having us over.


Matt and Michelle's beautiful vacation home.


Cozy front porch.


Neighboring field had fake painted cows. And yes, I thought they were real.


When we got to the house, we immediately left for the lake. We had only about 3 hours before sunset. This is the Pineview Reservoir. Gorgeous!

Lexi and Michelle on the boat.

Alex is patiently waiting for his turn to surf.

Gared, Michelle's brother is a pro at surfing. Look! No rope.

Alex's turn finally came. He got up at first try.

Alex's first try at surfing. On Saturday he was able to let go off the rope and surf behind the boat.

Beautiful almost-12-year-old Lexi.

Alex and Lexi chatting on the boat.

Rod's turn to surf.

Alex was the flag boy.

When we woke up on Saturday morning, it was raining hard. We had plans to go to the hot air balloon festival but instead everyone slept in, except Rod and I. Of course, I didn't sleep at all so I just decided to get up and take a shower at 7am. Rod and I left for a sightseeing tour around Huntsville around 8am. The place is absolutely gorgeous.

When we got back, only Gared and his son, Beckham were awake. Later in the afternoon the boys took the boat out again, once it stopped raining. When we started seeing some blue sky, we headed to Wolf Creek to the art festival. It was almost ending when we got there but we were able to get some home made ice cream and buy some honey. The ski lift was running so we decided to take chair lift up to the top of the mountain.

On Saturday afternoon, Alex learned to surf without the rope.

Me on top of the mountain. Beautiful view of the valley.

Matt, Michelle, Lexi and Kate.

We headed to the other side of the valley to see the "Balloon Glow". The hot air balloons were not launched, they just kept the "fires burning" inside the balloons, so after the sunset, you can see them glow. It was so beautiful.

Rod and Alex at the Balloon Glow.

Alex spotted his favorite car, Lamborghini.

On Sunday morning, we decided to try for the balloon festival again, if the weather was better. And it was. Gorgeous, cloudless skies...but freezing. When we got into the car at 6am, the outside temperature was 38 F (3 C). Needless to say, we were all freezing. But it was so worth it. When we got to the balloon launch site, they were still setting up, so we went to get some breakfast.

Here is "grandma" Rod trying to keep warm.

The whole gang at breakfast.

Matt, Michelle, Kate and Lexi at balloon launch after breakfast.

The balloons overhead look like Chinese lanterns.

Rod and Alex trying to keep warm but still enjoy the beautiful balloons.

Alex, Rod and I. Yep, it was freezing. I'm wrapped inside a sleeping bag.

Michelle, Matt, Kate (not so happy) and Lexi

More balloons.

Energizer bunny hot air balloon. It was huge.