Paris and Nice

Hello! Bri and I are just about to leave beautiful Nice...trying to blog some pictures from here, but it is extremely hot in this particular intrnet cafe and we are very excited to spend the next six nights in Rome. We had an amazing time in Paris, but we were happy to get to nice to have some time to relax on the beach. It is interesting to learn the difference between traveling and vacationing, especially when you go back and forth between them. It was so fabulous to spend time with Watts and Hollie in the French Riviera. Special thanks to them for letting us stay in their room; a few nights not paying to sleep can go a long way, and all I can say is "Ftang"! That is all for now, looking forward to seven or eight hours in the train station before we leave for Rome (that's what we get for not planning ahead). We love you and miss you all, the next blog should come near the end of Rome.

Paris

This is Monet's famous "Water Lilies" at the Museum de Orangerie. This is a twenty foot segment which maybe equals one eighth of th total painting. Tres bien!
This is one of Brian's favorite pictures in the Musum de Orsay in Paris.
This is Kelly feeling some French guy up in the Louvre
This is the Mona Lisa. Big whoop
Venus di Milo, more impressive than the Mona Lisa, but still a big whoop

This is the room of mirrors at the Palace of Versailles. This was the most impressive room in the Palace
The Palace itself; this is about one sixth of the length
Brian having a beer with Jim Morrison
Kelly having a moment in the sun, and a beer with Jim
Jim

The stained glass window inside the Sainte-Chappelle where the Crown of Thorns was supposedly housed.
This is Foucault's pendulum inside the Pantheon in Paris. This is important because it is the site where Foucault convinced the world that the Earth was revolving. Very cool
The Arc de Triomphe, Napoleon's largest symbol of victorious slaughter
Bianca, the sleepy housecat of the Hotel Montpellier where we stayed in Paris

The Hotel Montpellier! Just kidding this is Notre Dame Cathedral.
Hi Stacia, this is us on the Rick Steve's tour through historic Paris.
Two of the hundreds of gargoyles permanently employed to protect the religious treasures in Notre Dame. These two were our favorite.
Brian on top of Notre Dame pointing at the Eiffel Tower. We had already been to the tower so we knew it was actually bigger than this.
This is the stained glass window at the Notre Dame; if you see the man at the bottom he is actually giving a mass

A little closer view
A much better view!
Pretty good view, but not as good as the last one
We climbed as high as they would legally allow us to (it was the cheapest way to the top). This was only the second floor.
Much more dramatic at night, huh?

Ireland posting on July 19th from Paris

This is from the President of Ireland to JFK in a museum in Galway
This is a burial site in Ireland that is dated around five thousand years ago, the bones of thirty bodies were found inside.
This is the O'brien castle in Ireland, we passed in on our bus tour to the Cliffs of Moher. The family still lives on the property, but in a house next door. We both wondered why he would live next door when he owns a perfectly good castle?

The Kilkenny Castle, we didn't go inside but we hung out in the vast park and read books.
The Spanish Arch in Galway where Columbus came on his way to the West Indies, woops! Oh well, it still worked out o.k.
The profiles of two of Brian's favorite Americans
Our meal while staying in the Galway Hostel. This is where we started cooking many of our meals in the community kitchen to save money. Pay attention, because one of these items will show up in a picture again.
The Kilkenny Castle again, sorry, we are still learning this blog thing.

The beautiful Cliffs of Moher in Ireland, perhaps the most spectacular view in the whole country. 650 feet high and 5 miles long.
Some guy made of stone in the Galway museum
The top of the plaque that resides in the park dedicated to JFK. The park is the center of Galway City where many people come to drink and litter.
This describes the tomb from the picture above.
Another spectacular view from the Cliffs of Moher. Notice the tower at the top; it was one of seventy like it all around Ireland's coast to watch for the Germans during World War II. They never attacked Ireland, but the beautiful towers still exist today.

This is a castle. We can't remember which one because Brian was fighting off motion sickness from a bumpy bus ride. <>
Brian enjoying the authentic Irish cuisine, sweet and sour chicken of course.
Sunny and Tilda; the two dogs that belong to the owner of the Kilkenny Hostel, Ray. They were sweethearts!
Kelly after a long night in the Dublin Airport. We arrived at 8:30 pm and our flight left at 6:30 the next morning for Paris. We killed the time by playing Rummy, and Kelly won; I am pretty sure that she cheated.
This is our room at the Galway hostel. You can't tell from the picture but my hands are two inches from reaching both walls.

A picture of a castle in Wales from the train.
Our other room in Galway; this time we shared with two strangers who were asleep the whole time. Woo-hoo!
The Gravity Bar at the top of the Guinness Brewery.
Kelly enjoying a pint in Fox's Pub in Ireland. The glass is as big as her head.
A self taken shot at the Cliffs

One more
A picture in a bar in Dublin, taken in the mirror.
The castle that we can't remember the name of again
The Cliffs and Kelly's mohawk... it was really windy
Our friend Paddy playing drinking Jenga in Galway. I think we introduced the game to all of Europe. You're welcome Europe.

The tomb again
Brian with JFK. Notice that the beard is coming along nicely.
St. Nicholas Cathedral. We think it is named for Nicholas Haddad, but we're not positive about that.
Another view from the Cliffs
Inside St. Nicholas' Cathedral, despite Brian's hopes Santa did not actually live there in the off season. Get it? St. Nick

"he's such a dork!"

St Nicholas again
Cliffs again
Long view of the Kilkenny Castle
Peanut butter sandwich #2, the peanut butter was literally confiscated at the Dublin airport, and they don't have peanut butter in France. I still miss it.
Told you you would see one of those items again. Did you guess the right one?

Jenga party. Eurobeer. Cave. Castle. How's that for concise?

The biggest swan we've ever seen! It was in Kilkenny Park and believe me, the picture does him no justice.

On the left is a picture of JFK's visit to Galway, a very historic event in the nation's history, the first President to ever visit Ireland during his term. The picture I took is so good that it looks like we were there though, huh?


On the left, Kelly is showing off her mighty stance in front of the famous Galway Bay, like from the song for the old people reading this.

Even lefter; Kelly is walking in the rain to the Dublin train station, doesn't she look cute?

Hello all from gay Paris!!!!!

We arrived in Paris at nine oclock yesterday via RyanAir from Dublin. We had an amazing time in Ireland and were very sad to leave, but also very excited to move on. It proved difficult to make it to an internet cafe to update our blog, I guess Ireland was just too much fun! We met a lot of amazing people and spent too much time in the pubs; the weather was partly to blame for that. We are probably spoiled because the Irish were unbelievably nice. People were constantly apologizing for the weather like it was their fault, and literally blocked traffic to help two lost strangers who simply had a map out and a puzzled look on their faces. However, the French have shown themselves to be extremely nice as well <> Tonight we are off to the Eifel Tower to watch the sun set and follow it with four days of some of the world's best museums. We would type more into this blog, but we have lots of pictures to share and this damn keyboard is all backwards and starting to get frustrating. We love you all and thank you so much for the comments, we really enjoy reading them so keep 'em coming! Next we are off to Nice in the South of France to meet Watts and then to Cinque Terre in Italy. From one of those places we will update again. Ou voire for now!