Paris Vacation - Part 2

Day two arrived and we were up early. We went to the market around the corner and bought some baguettes, ham, cheese, and what we thought was butter (but turned out to be cream cheese) so we could take food with us and save a little money.

When I saw "Smoret", I automatically jumped to the conclusion it was the Norwegian word for butter "Smør" (but while checking out, we realized that, well, we're not in Norway anymore, and if I had truly read the fine print, I would have seen the French word "fromage" (cheese) and maybe changed my selection). But we made due. 

We packed a backpack and hopped on a train to Versailles. Of course, that was after a croissant for breakfast.

When we got to our stop, we heard there were guided tours available across the street, so made an effort to walk faster than everyone else, cut a few corners, and end up first in line. Well, that paid off and we got a tour just 20 minutes after we got there...which was definitely a plus because that meant we didn't have to wait in the horrendous 2 hour line. 

Gorgeous entrance (but let's admit it's gaudy), and inside was amazing, too. 

Our tour guide was sweet, but some phrases she repeatedly said made me giggle a little to myself. For example, she was referring to all the marble on the floors and walls and said "Louis XIV loved marbles. There are marbles all over." Okay, that means something completely different. But I got the point and that's all the matters - the guy really liked marble in his palace. Noted. 

Here's a few things we saw in Versailles: 

Paintings. 

Statues.

More paintings on the ceilings and pretty chandeliers. 

And of course, the Hall of Mirrors. (That was very impressive, mostly because it's unlike anything I've ever seen). 

I'm glad we went, and if this were the first-ever castle/palace/home of royalty I had ever seen, I think I would have loved it more - however, I kind of feel like once you've seen a place like this, you've seen 'em all. (Nevermind the rich history and interesting little things we learned about the French Revolution along the way on our tour). 

The place was really crowded, too crowded, so it was nice to go into the gardens: 

It could've been great. It could've been lovely. It could've been the greatest gardens I've ever seen. But it wasn't. It wasn't because we were there for a grand total of ten minutes. Brilliant me was deceived by the morning sunshine at our hotel and I chose, deliberately, not to bring a jacket (really, I'm tired of jackets; I want the sun to be my jacket for once!). I'll be the first to admit that was a dumb decision.

And so I was cold. And my feet hurt. And the crowds were getting on my nerves. And I was starting to get hungry. So we left and ate our sandwiches on the train and all was well again.

After a nap at the hotel, we made our way to a lovely restaurant called the Le Procope for the best food we ate in Paris.

I tried the escargot:

I'm glad I tried it, but don't think I'll get it again. 

So nervous!

I also tried the duck: 

And the duck came with the best fries! They tasted so fresh: 

And for dessert I had an ice cream sampler - 5 different flavors that could be mixed and matched to perfection. :)

After dinner we changed clothes, and wandered around trying to find a place to go out on the town.

While Stian was trying to figure out where to go with an app on my phone, I wandered over to look at some jewelry in a boutique window. While there, I suddenly felt myself surrounded and somebody was speaking to me but I didn't understand. When I turned around there were 3 French guys in front of me. I started to talk to them, admitting immediately that I had no idea what they were saying because I don't speak French, and Stian came over and started to chat, too. We had a good time standing on the street corner, but they said they were on their way to a pub and wanted to know if we wanted to go with them.

So of course, we went....and had a great night!

It was underground and a great local spot!

We had a great day and splendid night. We got back to our hotel really late and as a result, got up really late, changing the course of events for the following day...


...stay tuned!

Paris Vacation - Part 1

I was desperate to get out of Norway. The winter blues had gotten to me, and I needed a change of scenery.

We bought tickets to Paris before Christmas...sort of as our gift to each other, and sort of as a delayed honeymoon (since our 'honeymoon' was camping in Yosemite with both of our families and then moving to Norway - in my mind, that's not a honeymoon - but it was fun!)

We left early on Wednesday morning (the first flight to Amsterdam -where we had to change planes - left at 6:30 in the morning).

Upon arrival in Paris, we surprisingly bought the right tickets for a train that would get us into the heart of the city without any help. 

On the train:

(What a change from Bergen's immaculate and quiet Bybanen! This was old, loud, and kinda smelled like pee - as did many of the metro rides we took during our stay).


After dropping off our luggage at the hotel, we took a stroll around the neighborhood we stayed in (Saint Germain). It was lovely: beautiful boutiques, great restaurants, and loads of cafés for people watching. 

(The only pictures of the neighborhood and the hotel.)


After our first meal and glass of wine, we went to the Galeries Lafayette - probably the most grand department store I've ever seen. There was an entire floor dedicated to women's shoes, which extended for what seemed like an entire city block. Sorry, no pictures of that (although it was amazing)...but here are some other pictures from that incredible place: 

Grandma told me the cosmetics department was amazing...she wasn't lying!  

Isn't it gorgeous? I love the dome!

One more from the first floor: 

After checking out almost every floor, we headed up to the roof. I read that the view was something you shouldn't miss, so we went up, happy to have some fresh air and open space away from the crowds. 

The view was incredible. 

By this time, we were exhausted. We had been on two flights, a train, in a cab, wandering around a neighborhood, on the metro, and exploring the expansive Galeries LaFayette. We sat down for some ice cream (or is it gelato? Not sure)...which was amazing (but we had to guess what the flavors were since we obviously can't speak or read French and no one really seems to want to clue us in with English...which was to be expected, I suppose).

My selection: strawberry and vanilla, complete with a chocolate cookie!

Stian's choice: chocolate, caramel, and vanilla. Beautiful! 

We bought a phrase book so we could practice a few phrases during our stay (which were not received so well because we're both pretty terrible with French and probably should have worked on it before we left). 

Stian practicing some random phrases. :) 

It was a great first day. Dinner that night was mediocre, but we had some great wine and wonderful desserts. The best part? It only got better from there.

Still to come: a trip to Versailles, dinner with new foods, and a night on the town with the locals. Stay tuned! 

How To Have A Long Distance Relationship

Sometimes before I fall asleep at night I wonder how it is that I ended up sleeping next to the guy I call my husband.

How did we get here?? How did we make it through 2.5 years of a long distance relationship and have a good outcome??

This isn't a 'how-to' guide, this was just our experience.

We pretty much started out long distance and unsure of what to expect.

We downloaded Skype, we video-chatted, we made expensive phone calls, and wrote expensive text messages.

There's a 9 hour time difference from California to Norway, so we made a plan to Skype everyday while I was on my lunch break at work, around the time when Stian was going to bed in Norway.

Each day I hauled my computer to work. I would leave the house with my arms too full and dropping things. I had my purse, a sweater, my lunch, my yellow travel mug holding my tea to drink while I commuted, my phone balancing on top of my mug, my breakfast often sliding around on a plate, and always my computer. I don't think I ever forgot it. It was an art just to get into my car.

I ate lunch in my car and made sure to park it as close to the internet router as possible (which was just outside the office) and hope there was a good connection that day. I would crawl into the backseat so I could sit with my feet hanging over the driver's seat, balance the computer on my shins, and eat my lunch while I found out about Stian's day.

Most days we were able to chat for the whole hour, many days we weren't. Sometimes we sat in silence - he read the news online, I checked my email and Facebook, read some jokes, and ate my lunch. On weekends, occasionally we would fall asleep while talking. We were "hanging out."

We counted down the days until we saw each other again. We were annoyed that we were doing this, and yet somehow compelled to continue.

We spent a lot of time in airports. We anticipated the greatest kisses in the world there, and experienced the most heart-wrenching goodbyes. I've cried too many tears in the airports of Bergen and Los Angeles, both happy and sad.

It was hard work, but the time we spent together (in the same country) made up for it. It kept us holding on until the next time we could see each other.

After a long stretch of not seeing each other for nearly 5 months, we vowed to NEVER let it go that long again. We realized that we could meet halfway between Norway and California for a quick weekend getaway, so we met in Washington, D.C., keeping just a month and a half between visits.

Long distance relationships are expensive, frustrating, and inconvenient.

On the other hand, you learn how to communicate better than you ever thought you knew how, you realize you can maintain independence and have a relationship at the same time, and you have a lot of time think things over and decide whether or not to follow your heart....no matter how far it might take you.