Had Enough

Have you ever just reached your breaking point and thought to hell with everyone and everything. After all, there is  only so much a person can take.
I love this song. 
The group is Breaking Benjamin and they can completely describe my feelings at this moment about a lot of issues and people right now. 



¶ Milk it for all it's worth 
Make sure you get there first
The apple of your eye
The rotten core inside
We are all prisoners
Things couldn't get much worse
I've had it up to here
You know your end is near ♪ 

♫ You had to have it all
Well have you had enough?
You greedy little bastard
You will get what you deserve
When all is said and done
I will be the one
To leave you in your misery
And hate what you've become ♫

♪ Intoxicated eyes
No longer live that life
You should have learned by now
I'll burn this whole world down
I need some peace of mind
No fear of what's behind
You think you've won this fight
You've only lost your mind ♪ 

♫ You had to have it all
Well have you had enough?
You greedy little bastard
You will get what you deserve
When all is said and done
I will be the one
To leave you in your misery
And hate what you've become ♫

♪ Hold me down
I will live again
Pull me out
I will break it in
Hold me down
Better in the end
Hold me down ♪ 

♫ You had to have it all
Well have you had enough?
You greedy little bastard
You will get what you deserve
When all is said and done
I will be the one
To leave you in your misery
And hate what you've become ♫

♪ Heaven help you
Heaven help you ¶ 

The Big Apple

Beautiful! Overwhelming! Everything I hoped it would be! I would move there tomorrow.
I joke with Erick and tell him that even if I could convince him to move, we could never afford it because I want to live on the upper east side and he's never gonna make that much. ;)
I've wanted to come here all my life and now my dream was finally coming true.

My best friend, Koren.

We had been planning this trip for over a year. Koren and I were in desperate need of a girls' trip and her sister Keri needed a place to celebrate her turning 21. So NYC it was!
I have to give many thanks to Koren and her mom, Patsy. They were generous enough to pay for our hotel and Koren paid for my dinners. She is the best! Super sweet and thoughtful, this trip couldn't have been possible without them. So THANK YOU, again!! :)

I packed my heavy coat as I looked at the forecast and saw that a lot of my weekend would be in the upper 30's. Even in the cold, I had the most amazing time - and would gladly go back. We took cabs and rode the subway, even getting on the wrong one that took us to Brooklyn, but we quickly returned to our correct stop. We walked a lot, more than I did in Vegas, and saw a lot of interesting people. Our favorite moment was while we were walking back to the hotel and some guy on the sidewalk told Koren that she looked, "Like a sexy bottle of Pepto-Bismal." LOL!!

But of course no trip comes without some kind of dilemma..I did the most boneheaded thing I have ever done in my life! We had been staying in Waco with family just days before my trip, to make the drive to Houston easier. We awoke at 2am to get in the car and drive the 3 hours to Houston from Waco so I could make my flight on Thursday. I had everything ready and together so as I could grab it all in the morning without having to worry about missing anything.
We drove the 3 hours to the airport and as I was grabbing my carry-on, I realized I had forgotten my purse!! No cards, no cash, no license!! I, of course immediately began to panic and almost burst into tears. I just could not believe I had done that. Erick of course, being the calm person he is, helped me to relax and told me just to try and get through worse case, I would board a later flight. He called my brother-in-law and had him take photos of my license and passport and send them to my phone.
So as nervous as I could possibly be, I checked-in and headed to security. When my turn came, I walked up to the TSA and said, "You're gonna hate me for this but I just drove 3 hours from Waco to make my 7am flight and I completely forgot my purse. I have no identification with me."
The agent was super helpful....and nice!!!
He told me not to worry, that they couldn't use the pictures but he just had to call a number to verify who I was and my information. He made a quick call and after just a few minutes of questions he signed a sheet to let me go forward, but I would need a pat-down.
I told him I didn't care. As long as he let me get on the flight, it was okay.
The woman that handled the extra security check was also extremely nice.
I was so thankful that I was able to get such understanding TSA agents, most of them won't even smile or talk to you. They even held conversations with me the entire time and assured me not to worry, that I would make my flight.

I flew into Newark Airport on Wednesday morning. Leaving at 7am to arrive just before 3pm in NYC.When I arrived in New Jersey, I took the Newark Airport Express to the city. I got to see the Lincoln Tunnel and was immediately surprised at its' size. It is tremendously tiny! I thought the cars were going to run each other off the road. I guess camera's and television really do make things look bigger than what they truly are.

Paramount Hotel

After I was dropped off at the Port Authority, I walked the seven blocks to the Paramount Hotel on
46th. The hotel is literally right off of Times Square and is such a beautiful hotel. The lobby was incredibly romantic, (not that any of us were interested as we were 4 ladies.) But there were comfortable couches, dimmed lighting, and a quaint fireplace towards the back.
Our room was on the 15th floor, right out of the elevators. The hotel had these really cool mirrors that were located next to the wall of our room. They displayed the weather for the day. Needless to say, they did not change our
entire weekend. ;) The room was quite quant and actually reminded me a lot of the European hotel rooms. We had two beds and a bathroom which in all honestly is all we needed. We spent majority of our time walking around New York, we were only in the room to shower and sleep.



After we checked in and dropped off our baggage we headed out and visited Times Square. We basically just walked around and took a couple of photos. Of all the places we visited and walked
around New York, Times Square was definitely the most crowded - ALL THE TIME! There was always hundreds of people. This is definitely a tourist location.





We were all pretty much starving so we hit up a small diner for a little snack. One thing I really loved about any of the places we went to eat were that the portion sizes were huge! Everything was of course pricier, but the serving size really did make the difference. I ordered some fried macaroni & cheese potatoes, Koren and Keri both ordered the fried chicken tenders and Kristi ordered the popcorn chicken. All of our "snacks" turned out to be full course meals - and we had all ordered off of the appetizer menu! It was all delicious but definitely more than we had expected.






We walked around a little more after that just taking in the city and then decided to do some shopping too. We had dinner that night at an Italian restaurant named, Sophia's. Then went out for drinks with a friend, Amy, to celebrate Keri's birthday. (Amy went to school with Keri and is currently an intern at The David Letterman Show.) We hit up a quiet bar had some wine and just chatted away.





Thursday was mostly spent walking around Manhattan. We saw the Rockefeller Center and I got see St. Patrick's Cathedral from across the street. They were in the middle of renovating and had scaffolds all around the church. We also visited many shops, where the girls and I got a few souvenirs and clothing. We grabbed coffee and then headed for lunch at a restaurant named, Lindy's that was definitely not worth the wait. The service was absolutely horrible! And the food was terribly overpriced. This was definitely our least favorite place in all of NYC.

That afternoon we had the SATC Tour, which Koren had totally scheduled and planned herself. We had to make a quick walk to the other side of town to the Plaza Hotel where the tour bus would be waiting. Only a true SATC fan can understand my excitement. The tour included information from all 6 seasons and the 2 motion pictures.

Koren had been on it once a couple of years back and raved so much about it, I knew I had to do it too. :) It was definitely a ton of fun! Our guide was witty and got everyone involved in the tour. We had little show quizzes where she handed out little paddles for anyone who guessed the questions correctly. We also saw clips from different episodes and they took us all around NYC pointing out places seen on the show. We stopped at a sex toy shop where unless you've watched the show, they sell something specific that was shown. Then we stopped in Greenwich Village at Magnolia's bakery where our tour guide got us all a delicious cupcake.
We also made a stop at Buddakan where Big and Carrie's rehearsal dinner was held.

Our last stop was at Steve & Aidan's Bar "Scout" that is really named, Onieal's, where we enjoyed, you guessed it, a Cosmopolitan. The bar is absolutely
gorgeous - the design and decor is absolutely exquisite. I have never seen a place like that before.
Our tour ended at the HBO studios.



After that we walked around lower Manhattan and walked towards ChinaTown and Little Italy. Very interesting to see. It really reminded me of downtown Brownsville the way the shops are set up down the street. We took a cab back to Union Square and picked the first pizza place we found to sit down and have dinner. We were not disappointed. It was a tiny restaurant that sat about 20 people so it was a little crowded but the pizza was great.
When we got back to the hotel, we were kind of tired and decided on staying close instead of heading out walking again and just went downstairs to the bar in our hotel for more drinks. We ordered a bottle of sparkling wine and shared between the four of us. It was something mellow that we all needed from that day.


On Friday we visited more places we took the 6 and headed towards the South Ferry and walked to the
9/11 Memorial. It was actually kind of surreal standing there. I just kind of stood there and took it all in. Where the towers once stood is completely fenced in and covered with black tarp - no one is allowed to look inside. You pay or can order tickets online, to enter the museum - we did neither. Just being there was enough. I also didn't realize how much of a tourist attraction it is. I thought there was way too many people but what can you do.
After that we had lunch at a lovely diner called, George's.  Food was delicious! I would gladly return to this restaurant. Even with the crowding, it was certainly worth it.
We then took a short train ride to the South Ferry where we walked a short distance to the Statue of Liberty. I admired her from afar as there was too long of a wait to get to and from the island. Ferry's take a while to load and cruise over and then it takes about another 2 hours or so to get back. So we just took a couple of photos and admired the scenery.
Next we walked towards the subway again to head uptown to see

The Empire State Building. Another tourist attraction that was full! It literally
reminded me of airport security and I overheard an employee say that it would take about 2 hours to get trough security alone. So I sighed and headed back out. Our time was scheduled and we really did not have 2 hours to wait in line. At least I can say that I've seen them. :)
Once again we headed for coffee and then went out shopping. Koren was insistent on finding a Kate Spade store which we were all for. We did a lot more walking and subway riding that afternoon - there is just so much to see and we had nowhere near all the time we wished we had.

That night we met up with a cousin of Keri's, Natalie, at a macaroni and cheese diner in the east Village known as S'MAC - Sarita's Macaroni & Cheese. It was the best mac & cheese I have ever had! I ordered the Garden Lite that had a variety of vegetables mixed in. They are all made to order in iron skillets and this small place gets packed so come early or be prepared to wait. After dinner, Natalie took Otto's Shrunken Head where they make specialty drinks in fun, weird, and cute mugs that you get to keep. They had great drinks and while the girls were catching up I was able to watch an episode of Ghost Adventures I had missed, on the tv. hahaha We all had a really good time.




Our last few hours: Saturday morning we got up and finished packing. We headed downstairs and
walked a block to have brunch at the Blue Fin. I had the french toast - it was divine! This restaurant was definitely upscale. The decorum was fabulous! The walls had paintings that almost gave a sense of "pop-up" art. It was really beautiful.




Once we got our baggage and checked out, we all headed to the port authority and said our goodbyes. Our buses were heading in different directions at different times.
It was very difficult. I tried not to cry but that didn't happen. Not only would I miss the city but I would miss my friend more than anything. It had been at least a year and a half since the last time. She is someone who means so much to me, she is someone I can always rely on and confide in. I hope and pray that I get to see her soon, again.
And one day, go back to the city.

Cruise 2013

Erick wanted to do something nice for his parents, after all even through all our disagreements; they’ve done so much for us. He wanted to do something nice for them…something different. We were torn between Vegas and a Cruise. We decided to do things as a family. We looked around and found fairly good deals at Carnival.com and we booked a 5-day cruise in September to the Yucatan and Cozumel. We scheduled the trip for January 19 just a week from returning to the states from Italy.

Photo taken before boarding

Our port of call was Galveston, TX – about half an hour from where we had been staying that week.  We arrived at noon that Saturday to begin registration and boarding. We were to set sail at 4pm and it took us about 3 hours to get through boarding…CRAZY!

It was basically the same procedures as going through the airport. We had baggage drop-off, then got in line for security checks, then in another line for cruise registration and then finally on the ship.

At registration they take your passports, finished any extra changes you needed to make and then every person is handed a key card. This card is used to enter and exit the ship at docking, it is used to open the room doors, to open the safe in the room, and finally as a credit card to charge all expenses to. Your photo is also taken before boarding to monogram into the card.

We headed straight to our rooms to drop off the little extra bags we had with us and then to explore the boat a little.

When booking, we asked that our staterooms be close by; we were able to get some right next door to each other.

We had balcony suites and we asked that the partition that divided the two be removed to make it one large balcony as we were family and didn’t mind.

Our rooms were located on Deck 6, one floor above the meeting floor for emergencies. It was a little bit of a maze at first, we took the elevator to the 6^th deck then as you exit you can either go left for odd numbers and right for even numbers (of course depending on which elevator you exit from).  Well you had to walk down one hallway and turn into another small corridor, but I would always forget which one and would end up walking all the way around! I think I finally got the hang of it on my last day.

The room basically reminded me of the hotel we stayed at in Rome. :) There was enough room to walk through and that’s about it.

As you open the door, to the left, there is a cabinet where the safe is found, followed by two small closets. The bathroom is to the right, with a standing shower.

You take a couple of steps and there is a large mirror on the left with some drawers. To the right of that is a small sofa that would be turned into a bed for C.J. every night. And of course our bed was right next to it.  

A couple more steps after that to the left was another cabinet where the television was placed and that also provided more storage underneath.

Shortly after that was the door to exit onto the balcony which contained a small table and 2 lounge chairs.

We actually really enjoyed our rooms. We were able to store everything away so nothing was lying around and the bed was extremely comfortable as well.

Our bags had still not arrived at our rooms so we headed out to explore. Lunch was being served on the Lido deck (9^th) so we headed over to grab a small bite. There were a couple of stands throughout the 9^th deck. They had a Chinese restaurant, and Italian, a Grill, a Sandwich shop and a buffet. You could eat all day at any of these or if you wanted to sit in the main restaurants, (there are 2, London and Paris Dining hall), only breakfast and dinner are served here.

After lunch, we stood on the top deck for a while taking a few photos and headed back inside before realizing we had already begun moving.

An announcement was made shortly there after about having ALL passengers meet on Deck 5 in our designated areas. (On your ship card there is a letter imprinted, that is the designated area you are to go to incase of an emergency.)

Once everyone was down there, they made an announcement over the intercom about what rules to follow. Just a quick “know-how” about what to do; it lasted about 15 minutes.

We returned to our rooms to find our bags waiting outside for us. We all decided to unpack and get completely settled.

We were able to catch just a little of our first show before dinner. (We signed up for “late” dinner, which was at 8pm).

We would have our dinners in the Paris Dining Room every night – I loved it! The food was fabulous. Every night there was something different on the menu and it was definitely 5 star qualities. From the 5 nights, we had different selections such as filet mignon, lobster, frog legs, crocodile, steaks, fish – you name it, they had it. And the desserts – AMAZING!! They had a lovely wine selection as well.

The staff was wonderful! They always knew to place a booster seat on C.J.’s chair, and knew he would ask for fruit. :) They were super attentive and even learned our names. In the middle of dinner, they would even put on little shows of singing and dancing. They were very entertaining!

After dinner, we explored a little more, took more photos, and decided to drop C.J. off at the Camp Carnival.

-       The ship had a daycare available from 10am to 10pm, free of charge, called Camp Carnival. They separated children by age; C.J. was included in the 4 to 6 years. They would give us an itinerary everyday of what they would be doing throughout the day and when pick up times were. We were assigned a cellphone directly from the staff to call us incase the children needed us. After 10pm began the Night Owls program which was a babysitting service. They staff charged $6.50 an hour and were open until 3am. -

C.J. LOVED Camp Carnival and the Night Owl program, he would ask to go back every day!

After dropping him off that first night, we headed to a couple of the clubs and the casino just for a couple of hours. One club we returned to every night was a Latin club. There was a live band that played a lot of music we’ve grown up with and all still enjoy dancing to. When we returned to our room, C.J.’s bed had been made and we had a little towel seal waiting for us with chocolates. :) (Every night a different towel animal was placed on our bed with more chocolate.)

The next day was a day sent at sea. I woke up early to head up to the 11^th deck to run. There was a small track up at the top – 11 laps equaled 1 mile. My run was amazing! The sun was warm and the sea surrounded us for miles. There was a soft cool breeze. I wish I could have runs like that daily.

Rome Theater Hall

Later that day we headed to the London Dining Hall for a wine tasting. We had 8 different kinds of wines, some cheeses, fruit, and crackers. It was a delicious hour! :)

We caught another show that night before dinner. The entertainment staff – singers and dancers, would put on little Broadway type shows. We all really enjoyed them. They had a different one every night.

The next morning we landed in Progreso, Yucatan. We ordered room service early enough to be off the boat by 8:30am. Our tour guide was waiting for us just out of the shops at the port. Our guides’ name was Russell and he did a fantastic job! He drove us about an hour until we reached the pyramids in Uxmal. They were amazing to see. A local himself, of Mayan heritage, Russell explained a lot about the Mayan culture and life and also what each pyramid represented or who lived there.

Uxmal was settled in 500 B.C. There is believed to have been about 25,000 inhabitants. There are underground cisterns and a complex drinking water system that utilized rainwater. The structures are arranged around the courtyards to form quadrangles. All their decorations included: gods, animals, dignitaries, and even geometric forms.

Russell explaining the calendar

We saw a large pyramid as soon as we walked in and then headed to a section of 4 structures arranged in a large square; we saw an actual Mayan calendar.

We got to see a run down section of where “The Ballgame” was held. (The game was played by rulers and at times included captives to humiliate. The ball could only be touched with hips, elbows, and knees.)

One thing I thought was a trip were all the lizards found everywhere. They are so used to visitors that they don’t even run away as you near them. There were so many of them! I think I counted about 30 from all sizes.

The largest pyramid was the Governor’s palace of course; it was massive! We counted over 100 steps. Erick and his Dad along with  Russell decided they would climb to the top – we had a nice view from the ground. :)

We saw an actual home used by regular town people. There were small holes in the corners of the ceiling used for ventilation and heat. The Mayans were a very intelligent people.

On the way back we stopped in the market and C.J. and I were able to take photos with a baby jaguar and a small long-tailed monkey. They were absolutely adorable! And of course I wanted to bring them back with me. I held the baby jaguar and fed it milk from a bottle; the little monkey sat on C.J.’s head. :) The jaguar was heavier than I expected but beautiful. His claws were long as well but he didn’t scratch me. What gorgeous animals!

The next morning we arrived in Cozumel. It was a little cloudy but the sun was very warm. We exited the ship just before 9am and stopped at the local market at the dock to take some photos and look for a few souvenirs to purchase later.

We took a taxi to a private beach just 10 minutes down the road.

It was $2 per person to get in, except C.J. And if you paid $10 more you had access to everything available: life vests, canoes, jet skis, parasailing…everything.

Erick paid for himself since he would be doing most of the activities with C.J. The rest of us got comfortable on the beach chairs, under an umbrella.

The water was absolutely gorgeous; beautifully clear, turquoise water! I have never seen anything like that. The sand was white and soft and wouldn’t stick to you either.

My in-laws and I sat and soaked up the sun while the boys played in the water and on the slides and other inflatable contraptions that were laid out in the water.

After a good while, we decided to head to the pool section, found just before heading on to the beach. We ordered drinks and played in the heated pool while waiting for the food we had ordered.

I have to say that we were all very impressed with the drinks and the food at this little local restaurant. Portions were astounding and the prices were even more than reasonable. We would gladly return to this private beach just for the food alone.

Our final day at sea was just relaxing. We walked around the ship a little more. Enjoyed some more cocktails and later that night got dressed for an elegant family photo. 

Our return was just slightly bittersweet. We were ready to head home and see our families but really enjoyed our 5 days aboard the Carnival Triumph.

NOTE**

In light of recent news coverage, I feel so incredibly bad for the passengers that were stuck on the cruise ship, just after we had disembarked, but I am super thankful that my family and I were lucky enough to have gotten a sooner cruise and not have to go through this horrible experience.

That being said, I had an amazing time on the cruise; we all did. And it was a first time for all of us – even C.J. loved it!

The food was wonderful – I am super picky. And the entire staff was super attentive, (my father-in-law is a diabetic and we thought he had a mini fridge in his room but turned out he didn’t), they made sure to constantly have fresh ice rotated in his room for his insulin.

Even with everything that has happened I can say that I would still want to take another cruise in the future.

Just like all other companies, especially those that travel, something can always happen. This to me is an “isolated” incident (of sorts) just like airlines, or having a car accident, or a train derailing – no one has a perfect track record.

I am still WAY more afraid of flying than I am of getting on another boat and I do that all the time!

Heading back....for a little bit.

Today is my last day in Italy. Tomorrow begins our 24 hour long journey back to the States. :)
Our flight out of San Vito is at 2:30pm; we arrive in Milan to connect to Paris, at 6:00pm. We will spend the night in Paris as our flight is not until 10am, Saturday. Our flight to Houston will be 10 hours....ugh...
But I am excited! It's hard to believe, I've been out of the country for 9 months now...Wow!
I can't wait to see all my family and as many friends as I can. I am thrilled to meet the new baby boys in the family. I will be so happy to see all my brothers and sisters - it's been a while.
Our first week will be spent in Houston as C.J. has his 4 year check up and I also have doctors' appointments.
I am excited and a little nervous about our cruise too. (On the 19th we head out of Galveston with Erick's parents for a 5 day cruise to Cozumel.) It will be the first time for EVERYBODY. I am hoping we all handle it well, especially C.J.
After we get back we will be in Brownsville for a couple of weeks and then head up to Austin the second week in February to visit my older brother and his family.
We want to make trips out to Florida and South Carolina too but we will see.
This will be a nonstop visit..
So much to do, so many people to see.
We have plans to return to Italy in April but it may be sooner, it all depends on the work. Right now we are just playing it by ear.

I have packing to finish :)

I appreciate good thoughts for our trip.

See you all soon!!
xoxo

Paris

View from our hotel

Gorgeous views, fantastic places and oh so exceptionally delicious sweets!
Paris was marvelous!
We arrived around 6pm, Thursday, December 13th in Paris but it took over an hour to get to our hotel with all the traffic. I haven't seen traffic like this since Houston!
It was COLD and rainy when we arrived so we decided to just settle into our room and order room service.
We stayed at the Mercure Paris Centre Tour Hotel on the rue Jean Rey. Now there are a lot of these type of hotels all over Paris but this is the only one this close to the tower - hence the name.
Our room for the week was located on the 5th floor and although we didn't have a great view from our location, the room was still more than we hoped for. We unpacked and we ordered a few basic things off the menu - a burger and a club sandwich and I ordered a chocolate cake with English cream that was divine!
My first taste of Paris dessert - I was instantly hooked.

Tree in the lobby

Our room

 Our hotel was located literally just a few blocks away from the Eiffel Tower.  I really liked our hotel. It was really pretty with purples and pinks everywhere!
Our room was a decent size and the beds were extremely comfortable. Everything about this hotel was wonderfully modern. Our bathroom was the coolest space - Erick and I both got really excited about the design. The light in the bathroom was a touch button on the mirror, so neat. And the shower was a large square in the ceiling of the shower space that literally poured down on you as if it was raining. The shower was big enough for all 3 of us to stand in!

In the entrance

The entire staff was friendly and courteous and everyone spoke English, which was really helpful to us. (I only know about 10 words in French and they are your basic mannerisms.) I still spoke the little I could but everyone was super nice about speaking to us in English to help out.
They had a breakfast buffet every morning - with everything you can imagine. And the absolute best croissants I have ever had in my life!
{Now the coffee I was a little disappointed with, it just wasn't as good as I thought it would be. And that is everywhere we went. Luckily, we were able to actually find a Starbucks on our last night in Paris and I had a decent cup for once. :)}
They would set up for lunch, then dinner and of course you could order room service at any time.
They were all set for the Christmas holiday. Really made me smile. They had lovely Christmas trees all over, with "sweet" decorations.

It was raining still on Friday, but we decided to head out anyway. Our first visit was to the Arc de Triomphe. We were able to catch a train with the exit being right across the street. This Arc was built to honor all those that fought for France and it has the names of all its' soldiers engraved into the stone. Right underneath it you find the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier with an eternal flame that burns. It is lit and placed there to represent all those who perished that were never identified. It is a beautiful monument to visit. You can buy a ticket to walk through the walls and up to the top. Something that should be done on a sunny day. :)

We later met with our tour group at La Madeleine Catholic Church. It was a wonderful day for a walking tour. (Note the sarcasm.)
Lauren, our guide gave us a quick history about the church and we then headed off.
Our first "stop" - Literally the BEST place in Paris to get Macaroons - Pierre Hermé Paris. Absolutely delicious! Now Lauren states that there are a few ways to make these yummy treats but the best way is the Italian way, which they do here. I chose the Crème Brûlée; C.J. chose the Infiniment Chocolat; and Erick chose one with a special liqueur.
We walked through quite a lot of Paris, each way she told us a little more. We walked through the Place de la Concorde to see the Egyptian Obelisk that is topped with a gold-leafed pyramid cap.
We also walked past the Grand Palias and Le Petit Palais, two palace museums right next to each other.  Continuing on, we passed the Pont Alexandre III, which leads directly to Napoleon's Tomb. There are huge bronze statues all along this bridge - truly amazing to see.



We passed through this section for a quick rest as the rain and wind starting getting a little heavier. This monument stands in memorandum of Princess Diana. It is known as the Flame of Liberty and sits above the exit of the tunnel the Princess died in.

Our final stop ended at the Eiffel Tower itself. C.J. had just woken up from a nap so he looks a little funny. :) There are 3 floors to the tower and you can take the lift all the way to the top, on most days. Since this day was rainy and windy, we were only able to go to the second.
There are 2 restaurants in here and about 300 stairs but these are mostly used for maintenance purposes. It is a wonder to view! And this was the most crowded area we had been too all day.
We were up there for about 10 minutes admiring when it was time to go. After all, you do get a really great view of the entire city. But we were already all wet and the wind does not help being that high up. We enjoyed our tour but we had, had enough that day.
Luckily for us, our hotel was only a couple of blocks away.
We were able to catch a few glimpses of the guards walking around with their overly unnecessary equipment, (in my opinion.)




Since we were all still pretty exhausted from that day we decided to stay close. Dinner was held at this lovely restaurant - Chez Ribe. Found just a block down from our hotel, this was my favorite place by far. The food was superb. I had the scallops, Erick had the duck and C.J. had a pasta. (He loves pasta and doesn't care where he's at, that's the first thing he'll order.) Everything was absolutely delicious! The food was cooked perfectly, with so much flavor. I was very impressed!
For dessert I had an apple tart with vanilla ice cream - so good!
I would gladly go back to Paris just for this restaurant.

 Saturday was spent of course at The Louvre Museum. I had no idea the extensive size of this museum! And SO confusing! You are given a map when you purchase your tickets but there are so many sections closed for renovations that when you walk to an exit, it's closed off.

La Venus de Milo

Any who, so you enter through the pyramid at the center of the square and take an escalator down to the main floor. You purchase tickets, you can check your coats, and then you're off. There are 3 wings to the museum and one ticket allows entrance to all three. They are : the Richelieu, the Sully, and the Denon.

Winged Victory of Samothrace

We chose to enter the Sully Wing first. I was on a mission to see the Mona Lisa. :)
Now this museum is just as gorgeous as the Vatican but it was at least somewhat less overwhelming. There was still so much to see but not as excessive. We took tons of photos of everything we possibly could and all the paintings and statues we really admired. We got there at opening time so it wasn't extremely full but still had a good amount of tourists. Our first "big" attraction was La Venus de Milo. She stands in the center of the room surrounded by other Greek sculptures. The Goddess of all Goddesses, she is truly beautiful. As we walked through another hall we took some steps up to the Winged Victory of Samothrace said to be sculpted of another Goddess, Nike and also to honor sea battle as she stands on a "ship." This statue is also something else to see. It stands alone at the very top of the stairs.

The Mona Lisa

After getting a little lost, we made our way to the grand finale. As I stated on my Instagram, "The Saucy Minx, herself," The Mona Lisa. She is hung on a wall in the center of the large room. A few other paintings hang around the walls but not as many as the other corridors. She is behind plated glass, a wooden bar, and velvet rope. She was absolutely the most guarded of all in the Louvre. And one of the most popular as well. There were many people standing around the bar as I worked my way to the front. She is a sight!! I never in my wildest dreams would have imagined that I would be standing about 10 feet away from da Vinci's masterpiece. She is beautiful!
I had already been told to prepare for her size; (I had to look up her dimensions: 30in by 21in.) I guess with stuff we see in movies or on TV, we always imagined her to be huge - she's not.
After spending a few minutes in there and over an hour and a half in the first Wing, we decided it was time for lunch. We walked to the cafeteria found in the Louvre called the Cafés de la Pyramide. It wasn't the best of food but we were hungry and needed a sugar rush. My favorite part of the meal was the chocolate tart I grabbed for dessert. :/

Egyptian Antiquités

After an hour of rest, food, and chugging a Coca Cola we headed off to the Denon Wing. 
We walked through most of Napoleon's section and worked our way to the Egyptian Antiquités. They really do have an extensive collection of Egyptian history here. From small tiny artifacts to a large Sphinx. They had scrolls, tools, jewelry, even weapons. I really loved the pottery! So simple, and old but so beautifully decorated. This also took up a large section of the museum as I believe it stated, 9 rooms were dedicated to these artifacts. 

St. Mary Magdalene

We turned back around to finally head to the Sculptures section where all or at least most of them are from a Romanesque era. There were so many sculptures representing Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. So many others about His crucifixion. There were also soldiers. This section made me a little sad.
I did get a great photo of the one sculpture in this section that I was very interested in viewing. The sculpture of St. Mary Magdalene. According to scripture, Jesus saved her of her sins and they became close friends. She was at His crucifixion, his burial, and also the very first person to see Jesus after His resurrection.





After our long, first half of the day, we exited the museum and then caught a cab to head over to the Cathedral de Notre Dame. Such a beautiful church!
It's design is immaculate. The entrance is absolutely breathtaking. There are columns, and statutes of saints and the Virgin Mary, and the gargoyles - everything is gorgeous. The stained-glass found through the entire church is not like any I have ever seen before. This church was truly built for kings.
Once again, as we had in Rome, we walked in to give a donation and lit a candle. Saying a prayer to give thanks for being able to walk into such a wonderful place of worship.

In the center of the mall

Later that day after some much needed rest, we decided to do some shopping. Only to step out into pouring rain...again. We caught a cab to the, Forum des Halles, an underground shopping mall located in the central market. I was not impressed. There are about 5 underground levels to this mall but since it does intersect directly with the train station everything was dirty and dingy and yes, many sections - stinky. The only good thing I found in here was the Starbucks!
We walked around for an hour when it was just time to leave. Definitely one place I would not recommend or would ever return to.

My little reminder <3

When that turned out to be a bust we headed to the Galeries Lafayette. Now this was certainly my kind of shopping mall! Hermès, Prada, Jimmy Choo, they even had a Baby Dior section - OH MY Goodness!! Everything about this establishment was impeccable. Except for the overuse of perfume spray, which my allergies were not to happy with, I enjoyed our walk around this mall. As much as I was tempted to just charge it, I decided against it. :) I love these stores but just the fact that everything is the same number just in euros, basically doubles the price. I'm not that frugal, but I refuse to pay double for something I can easily get on sale online or back in the States.
I did get a really cute tee at one of the local stands before we returned to Italy.




Our final day we woke up early and headed towards the Napolean museum or Les Invalides and we were able to see his tomb. We didn't actually walk into the museum, more like through it. :) Towards the back where the tomb lay. We did get some nice pictures of the outside and great views. We could see the tower, the obelisk, and the bridge just by standing in the front. They have a really nice garden around the outside as well. The trees are shaped and trimmed nicely. They also have cannons all along the edge of the wall entrance.
The tomb itself is actually a little overzealous. I think it's a bit of an over compensation. It is directly under the large golden dome. I looked up a little information about this and the tomb is made of red quartzite (my first initial thought was wood) and it sits on green granite.

The paintings inside the dome are gorgeous! They are all along the walls - beautifully painted. I especially liked the giant angel statues placed all around his sarcophagus.
Some of Napoleon's family is also buried there. Along with some of the higher ranked military that served with him. There are also vaults with Generals and Marshals. And there are hearts buried there (the bodies are buried elsewhere) of some Major Generals and Lieutenants. These though are all found in the back not at the center where Napoleon lays. You have to walk through a couple of tiny hallways to see them.
It wasn't something we were very excited about visiting but at least we can say we've seen it. :)

We had a great time in Paris! A wonderful reminder for our 5th Wedding Anniversary. I would gladly encourage anyone to take a trip here at least once in their life if it's possible.