Breakfast in the Marais

Last Sunday I made the (somewhat) long trek from the 15th over to the 3rd Arrondissement, just to have a taste of Breakfast in America. As you can probably guess, it’s an American-themed diner-type restaurant complete with breakfast items of all sorts, shakes, and a lunch menu of burgers, fries, and the like. The only disappointment? NO HASH BROWNS. Major let down. But the bottomless mug of strong American-style coffee instantly redeemed my mood.

They even had a variety of shakes, including one called “Obama” that had peanut butter, along with other ingredients. Needless to say, it was tasty.

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Live it.

Normally, when I see or read things that have the message: Life life to the fullest, I simply roll my eyes and move on to something more interesting and less cliché.

However, lately I’ve been in such a carpe diem type of mood. Being in Paris probably has something to do with it. All major life changes are at first, extremely difficult, and later on, flip to the other extreme and become wonderfully fun, inspiring, fresh, and exciting.

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Gardens of Versailles

The day we visited Versailles, the gardens were absolutely beautiful. It was sunny, but the sky was covered in beautiful, full, textured clouds, and there was a fresh chill in the air. The gardens seem to extend out to infinity, and I loved imagining Marie Antoinette-type ladies wandering about in these gardens, or floating in a canoe on the canals.

I made the mistake of wearing uncomfortable shoes, yet again. I don’t know how many times I have to self-induce suffering upon myself before I actually take my own advice, and that advice is: WEAR COMFORTABLE SHOES THAT FIT PROPERLY!! Evidently I never knew what walking really was in Long Beach, because I’ve never had so many shoe/foot-related problems in my life!

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Palace de Versailles

One of the activities I accomplished with my mother was the enormous Palace/Chateau of Versailles. Think Marie Antoinette and her husband Louis the sometheenth. (Sorry guys, not so good with historical details!)

The interiors are ridiculously detailed and gaudy, it actually got rather sickening towards the end of the visit. But I’d say it’s still worth a visit.

Aside from the main chateau, you can also explore the gardens, two smaller palaces, and the Queen’s hamlet. We saw everything there was to see, and I have to say the smaller palaces and hamlet were much more enjoyable, simply because they were far less busy.

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Cathedral Light

Since I simply can’t keep my blog posts caught up with my crazy schedule, I’ve decided to organize my posts by place or theme!

Today I want to share with you the beauty of light in Gothic cathedrals. The majority of these pictures are from Sainte Chapelle, but a few are from Notre Dame. If you happen to visit a Gothic cathedral at the correct time of day, when the sun is low enough in the sky to create golden light with long shadows, you’re in for a treat. I tried my best to capture the glow of it, but nothing substitutes actually being there.

The past two weeks I was lucky enough to have two visitors: My mom and my grandma! I showed them around the city, and pretty much checked everything off their Paris To-See lists. I felt like a pretty adept mock-tour-guide!

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Inside Notre Dame

Daniela and I finally had a free day this Saturday, so one of the things we decided to do was explore the two islands of the Seine. We started by seeing the interior of Notre Dame.

I love seeing inside Gothic Cathedrals – they’re so full of mystery and beautiful light. I love the pointed shapes and heavy stone. Being inside a place like this makes me feel safe and calm. Although, it’s really hard to keep hoards of tourists silent inside such a large space that is prone to extreme echoing. The church has a track they play every hour or so that says “sshhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh – silence please.”

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