So this one time I blogged from a train on my way to Amsterdam while Gentry slept across the way from me and drooled a pinch. I won't share the picture and embarrass him even more. Yet.

I think I last left you all with our ski adventures and our arrival to Paris which means you need to hear about Parisian adventures and Luxembourg which we left this morning. I can do this. Let me do a few stretches and prepare for this writing adventure. You should probably do the same. There might be some mid-post yoga during this one. You never know. Always be prepared.  

Here we go. trois, du, un..

So we got into Paris pretty late Friday evening and were exhausted from the day's travels as we had driven from Zermatt to Geneva that morning and then caught a ride from Geneva to Paris in the late afternoon. A long and emotionally taxing day to say the least, so we grabbed food and crashed very quickly. Not after walking up the gorgeous but deceptively aggressive stairs to our rooftop apartment though:

 

So that happened. Every day. Multiple times a day for the duration of our stay in Paris. That's alright though, we're in peak stair climbing shape thanks to many of the other places we have visited, so fighting through the burn is no issue at this point. However, sitting on the steps and refusing to move any farther without a snack is a real struggle that may or may not have occurred. I'll never tell. 

Saturday we went to the market and the butcher shop and a bakery to pick up some groceries for the apartment, so that is always a good time. Nothing makes you feel like more of a local than walking down the street with a baguette in one hand and a bottle of champagne in the other. We try to keep it classy as often as possible. 

After we secured food and had the best croque monsieur that has ever graced my taste buds, we set out for city adventures. We foud out very quickly how large Paris actually is- not that we ever doubted it. Turns out the arrondissements fan out like a snail, so 1 is at the center and then they swirl out from there. All 20 of them. I feel safe saying that we set foot in almost every single one at some point. That's porbably not true and I cannot lie to you all, but it felt like it after all the walking we did Saturday. 

We hit the basilica on the hill top that overlooks the city. It is the center of a small neighborhood that was home to many famous writers back in the day. That's at least what I was told. I'm not going to pretend like I did research on this one, because I did not. It was gorgeous though, the view and the basilica. 

We also stumbled upon the Marche Saint Quentin Market which was pretty cool. It's an indoor market with the different vendors just like in Rome and Philly but this one was extra special because WE FOUND THE CRAFT BEER SHOP. Oh yes, that happened. You guys should know by now that I can find my way to those goodies in any city like it's my job. BAM. This store happened to be called "Avec Passion" which is so fitting (avec means 'with' in French). So that was fun. 

Then we stumbled around for a bit longer and happened upon The Palace Royal which had these super cool stumps sticking out of the ground and they were zebra striped, so hey-I found a zebra in Paris!

They were all different heights and of course we had to make our way around to all of them and see the view from different levels. Spoiler alert: it was the same view no matter the height. Hope I didn't ruin that too much for you. 

Then we literally walked right into the Louvre. We're staring up at this building waiting to cross the street and I'm all like- "I think it's on the other side of that building. It has giant glass triangles out front, we can't possibly miss it" and then Gentry goes- "Or it IS that building we're staring at because there's a giant plaque over the archway that says Museum de Louvre". So. Yes. That wasn't my most shining moment. 

Then I grew concerned because there are no giant glass triangles to be found and my first thought is WHY DID THEY MOVE THE TRIANGLES?! HOW CAN YOU JUST MOVE GIANT TRIANGLES? I WILL CHASE THOSE TRIANGLES ACROSS THIS CITY IF I HAVE TO. Then we walked through the archway and see the triangles. So my emotional upheaval was for nothing. We just approached from an alternative entrance and that apparently was too anxiety laden for me to handle at that time. 

That triangle though. So adorable. Just chillin' there, not bothering a soul. Love it. 

After I recovered from that emotional rollercoaster and enjoyed some quality time with the triangles, we strolled around some more and found the love lock bridge. Imagine my surprise when it had already been taken down. I honestly thought that it was still up and that they weren't removing anything until the end of summer, so that was a bummer; but what can you do? Now it has some cheesy cartoon railing on it that is far less attractive than what I imagine millions of locks had to have been.

This is all that is left of it now:

Still a fair amount, but not the same as an entire bridge full. You can be expecting my strongly-worded letter in the mail soon, France. I can tell you that much. 

By the end of the day we had walked a total of 13.2 miles. We walked an entire half marathon folks. So I can finally say that I have completed 4 half marathons. No one has to know the 4th was walked. No one except the few of you that chose to read this far into my post. So that's your reward for making it this far- our dirty little secret. 

After all of that walking, I found a statue that completely embodied my level of exhaustion-

I feel your pain girl. Give me a taco and a nap before anything else can happen. I imagine that's what she was thinking while this was sculpted also. #spiritanimals

Speaking of tacos, that night since Taco Hunt '15 is still underway, we decided to make our own and celebrate the day and the tacos with champagne. So that happened.

The next day we went out to the Palace of Versailles which was quite the adventure. Let me break down Versailles for you-

Massive

Gold

Grass

Fountains

Hedge mazes

More fountains

Flawless landscape art

Even more fountains

In short, their gardeners should be honored with the highest award in the landscape art sector of awards because those hedges where immaculate. I applaud you and your clippers, gardener(s). 

Also, a fun fact for those of you who did not know- the cornucopia from the Hunger Games is housed in the gardens at Versialles

Mind Blown? Mine was. I mean, I had thought all this time how much of a waste it would have been to build such a righteous prop and then just get rid of it after filming wrapped up. I am so glad to see that it has found a great home where people ogle at it and take pictures of it constantly. Except Mondays. The Palace is closed on Mondays. 

The amount of fountains in this place is ridiculous. It's like a labyrinth of really tall hedges and fountains. That's it. If you have a fear of objects projecting water or grassy mazes, I would not recommend this as a destination in your travels. However, you will be missing out because it was really and truly gorgeous. All of it. Here are some of the precisely 1 million fountains:

Also, there is a grand canal that runs the length of the gardens and you can sit around and people watch, which we did. We also made grass rings for one another

Gentry requested that I let you all know that we were photobombed by a fish mid-jump. That little guy above Gentry's pinkie. He's famous now and he will never know. Moments after this picture, he swam over to where we were sitting- I'm convinced he came over to approve the photo. Guess we will never know. 

When did this post get so long and why do you all continue to let me ramble? I do not understand how these things happen. Not one bit. I have only a pinch more to say about Paris and that is about our Eiffel Tower visit. All I will say is that never think you can take a quick trip to the Eiffel Tower. Never. 

But here it is in all it's glory playing hide and seek through the trees-

Our last day in Paris we took on the Metro. The big, scary, elaborate Metro which turned out to be not so big and scary and I was a master at reading the map after our first stop. We rode that thing all day. All. Day. Long. Partly because we had already done so much walking, but mostly because it became a game to me to see where I could get us to by reading the map. Don't ask why I am so strange, just accept it. Love me through it. 

We rode it to see Moulin Rouge

We rode it to see the Arc de Triomphe

We rode it to one place and I met my soul mate on board

Come on, that's a phenomenal shirt! I don't care who you are. I wonder if he has a matching sock that I could pair with the solo banana sock that I have. It's making the rest of the journey, for those that were concerned about it's fate. I leave no banana behind. Ever. 

Finally, we rode it to the Eiffel Tower, but not before I ate so much concrete coming up the station stairs back to the street. It was one of those falls where time slows down and you are able to actually have the thoughts about what is happening and process it while it is happening. I swear I lifted my foot and the next thing I know- BAM- down goes Emilie. I've got some killer battle scars from that one and a knee that is rocking some killer bruising. But hey, Eiffel Tower at night.

So that about sums up Paris. We greatly underestimated how long the Eiffel Tower would take, so we didn't eat before which was a huge mistake. We finally left the tower after midnight and by that time everything was closed because it was a Monday night. We ended up eating dinner bought from the convenience store down the road. So that happened. And more champagne. Because when you're eating food from a convenience store in Paris at 1:30a, you can't not wash it down with a bottle of champagne. There's no version of this story where the champagne doesn't happen. 

That brings us to the end of Paris and the beginning of Luxembourg. There isn't really much to say about Luxembourg. We made it in yesterday afternoon and it was actually a national holiday for them so there was a parade and live music and all that jazz going on, so that was fun. We were turned onto what was supposed to be a killer taco joint and tequila bar by a local, but after we trekked out there turns out it was closed because of the holiday. Therefore, Taco Hunt '15 continues. I never thought that I would be chasing tacos across Europe, but hey- chase the things you love, right?

Luxembourg was really a nice, quaint little place. A nice change of scenery after so much time in big cities. We left this morning and took the train from Luxembourg to Brussels, where I began writing this post and just recently got on a train from Brussels to Amsterdam. We should be arriving in Amsterdam in a few hours and I have to tell you that the hunger struggle is so real right now. If I had bought a gift for someone that was any kind of food or candy, I cannot promise that it would be safe on this train. Luckily, I have not done that. Everyone rest easy knowing your gifts are safe from my hangry rage right now. 

Okay, rambling over. You all are free to move about with your lives now. I'm going to sit here on this train and think about tacos and buffalo mozzarella and gnocchi. Man. Why does food have to be so wonderful?

Okay, I'm done. I promise. This time I am going to leave all with this picture of me and Wallace from the morning I left for this grand adventure in May. 

That picture feels like so much more than a month ago. I have done so much, seen so many things, met so many people and learned more than I ever thought I would since that picture was taken. I have found renewed confidence in the person that I am, the life that I want for myself and the goals that mean the most to me. 

It's a great feeling- all this clarity. The world is much more beautiful through this lens. 

Until the next, all.