Back In The Saddle

Whew, what a whirlwind the last couple months have been! This past autumn was the busiest in recent memory...between Steven's surgery, 2 graduate level classes, home ownership must-do's, holiday preparations, a mini-trip to Paris...oh, and a full time job where the motto is "Burnin' and Turnin'"...I'm BEAT.

Thank God it's all winding down now. Exams and term papers are done (for better or worse), Steven's back to his trademark "Death March" pace when walking to the train, and we're 1 week away from a 12 day holiday! Really, really, REALLY looking forward to that.

Anyways, now that the schedule is clearing up, and the free Dell Netbook has arrived, there will be plenty of time for blog updates! And without further adieu...

PARIS!

Our Girls' Weekend in Paris was fantastic! It's kind of hard to sum up the whole experience without writing a virtual dissertation, so here are some lasting impressions:

The Scale. While I've seen similar architecture in other European cities, none of it was on the same scale as in Paris. Everything just felt so...expansive. From the facade of the Louvre, to the Place de la Concorde (a wide open 86,400 square meters), to the questionably-named Petit Palais...the physical breadth of the buildings & city was stunning and beautiful. And following right behind that impression was the realization that taking pics with my basic point & shoot digital camera was pointless, as it would never do the city justice.

The People. I'd be lying if I said that we didn't go to Paris fully expecting the French to be rude and snooty. We'd all heard the rumors, from many different sources (some even reliable!)...so you can imagine how pleasantly surprised we were when we found the French to be downright charming! From the couple who took us under their wing when we were booted off our train & completely clueless (yes, we experienced the fabled Parisian labor strike...within our first hour in Paris!) to the chatty vendors at the food market giving us free goodies, our experience with the locals was nothing but positive.

The Desserts. Oh, the desserts! (::drooling::) I can confidently say that the French OWN the dessert category. The sweets we sampled over the course of 4 days...and believe me, there was a lot of sampling...are collectively the best I have ever had. The chocolate was delicious of course...but it was the fruit tarts and the macarons that knocked my socks off. There was also a mysterious chocolate cake at Le Bistrot Paul Bert that had us all scratching our heads--how could it be so rich, yet so light? Did it even have flour in it? Eggs? Was it some kind of baked mousse concoction? I still have no idea. But it was phenomenal.

Stay tuned for foodie pics!

~LT