Sunday, August 1, 2010

August 1st, 2010

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY MOM AND DAD!!!!

My parents asked me today what I was getting them for their 29 year wedding anniversary. I told them my present was me not asking them to send me money... hehe. Since that's apparently not the kind of present they were thinking of, and I'm a little far away to make them something, this post is sort of my present to my mom, who keeps asking me for pictures and posts that aren't food related...

I'm pretty burnt out from the weekend, as it proved to be quite a busy one. We spent Friday with two friends who are about to embark on a world road trip, starting in the US with our beloved and dearly missed van, the Dirty Turtle.


That evening we met up with some more friends and had a picnic at Les Jardins du Trocadero, which is located on the north side of the Siene River, overlooking La Tour Eiffel. I think picnics are one of the greatest things about living in Paris; there are so many different parks, hidden gardens, and secret courtyards... you can really find one that fits your personality. But I have to be honest, Les Jardins du Trocadero wouldn't be my ideal picnic area. I was curious about this particular park because it is located on the opposite side of La Tour Eiffel, or well, opposite of the side I usually visit(Parc du Champs de Mars). I also found an image of Les Jardins du Trocadero in a travel book my dad gave me. It looked simple and quiet, with lush green grass and weeping willows overlooking a still pond... the perfect setting for a picnic, right? Wrong. Tourists and their cameras, merchants selling mini Eiffel Tower key chains, and performers trying to earn an extra buck fill the Palais de Chaillot and the surrounding gardens. We couldn't even find a grassy spot where there weren't cigarette butts embedded in the dirt. Hey, I'm not bashing the place, trust me, it could be much, much worse. We all still had a great time, and I got some pretty cool night shots of the Eiffel Tower.


Saturday we met up with Rey and Laetitia, some of our really good friends from Atlanta who were passing through Paris. They spent the past few weeks in the south of France, where Laetitia's family lives. We walked around the city to show Rey the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, Jardin des Tuileries... and got some(more) delicious hot chocolate from Angelina! It was so good to see friends from back home... Rey never fails to make us laugh, and I can always count on Laetitia to be my chocolate buddy!!


Today, I got pretty lucky. I've wanted to go to the Centre Pompidou for a while now... but was hesitating due to the 10-12 Euro entry fee. But today was my lucky(or luckily timed) day, as it was Sunday, August 1st, the first Sunday of the month, when the museum has no entry fee! Luckily the month of August is also when most Parisians go on vacation, so the museum wasn't as crowded as it might be during the other months. I won't ramble on too much; just wanted to mention that the view from the top of the Centre Pompidou is absolutely amazing. You can see all of Paris, from the Sacre Coeur, to the Eiffel Tower, to Notre Dame. If you ever come to Paris, you can't miss this sight. I'll leave you with some of my favorite pieces from the museum... Bonne Nuit!


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