Le Louvre et Le Muse de Picasso

Our day started with a European style breakfast at a boulangerie bakery that had wonderful bread and pastries. We then began consuming the art of the Louvre. The Louvre is not just a museum it’s The museum. I took lots of pictures of things I found interesting. Of course we saw the Mona Lisa or La Jacond. She looked the same as when I saw her last, but had an even bigger crowd. Notice that it is hard to tell the difference between my wife in the picture above and the famous sculpture of the Venus de Milo. We spent about 4 hours at the Louvre and then we went to a large church in Northern Paris called Sacre Coeur. The view was spectacular and we were able to ride a neat tram to the top of the hill instead of walking the thousands of steps. The view was great, although it did highlight the slight haze over Paris.

We used the Metro to get around today and I still think it’s the best city underground in the world. Next we went to the Musee de Picasso. I find Picasso interesting and I loved this museum when I was in Paris before, but I found the selection a bit disappointing this time. We bought some prints at both museums that we are anxious to frame for places in our new house!

Well it must be close to 3AM Paris time ad I need to go to bed. Tomorrow, I'll try and finish telling you about my session of Bridge and getting lost on the way home. New pictures are available. Bye all.

Candle Lit Dinner in Paris

We finished out day one with a boat ride tour of the Seine and great views of all the major buildings and riverside bridges. The guide was great and, I’ll admit, I was ready to sit down for a bit. I think I was up for 30 hours straight. That didn’t beat my record of 42, but it’s the closest I’ve come in 15 years! We had dinner at a pleasant little restaurant, which was “style francais” called Le Jardin. Our food was decent and seemed gourmet to us. The price was also gourmet, pampered chef gourmet. The picture above is Amber and I lit by candle light at the restaurant. Check out all the Flickr photos!

We Made It!

Nous sommes arrives! Paris is great! The city is more charming then I remember it, but I am getting ahead of myself. We left at 3 P’M. Omaha time and arrived here in Paris via Cincinnati at about 9:30 A.M. local time. Our total trip time about 12 hours or so. The flight went smoothly but we didn’t really sleep much. Amber is napping a bit now.

We took the train in to Paris and came up from the Metro, literally, right in front of Notre Dame. We found our hotel quickly and then set of for a quick walking tour of Notre Dame and the Quartier Latin. We stopped for a break at a quaint little café and had some sodas, and Berthillon ice cream. Berthillon is only sold on the islands where Notre Dame is located and it is fabulous! Then we saw the Luxembourg gardens (ok, I admit I went there to play a few games of chess and remember my prior glory days in Paris, but the gardens were nice too) and Amber thought the flowers, etc. were pretty.

We then headed back to the hotel to check in. Our room is very nice or a European hotel. The desk stuff was friendly and even tolerated my poor French. The room is decent sized, is on a corner, and has a nice walk out balcony. The room was also VERY cool, which was a pleasant treat after walking all day. It may be the best European air conditioning I have ever encountered, but I was poor when I was here as a student. The only bad thing about the hotel was that the wireless internet access must be bout in blocks of 75 minutes for 12 euros.

I hope you all are well. We are going to take a boat tour down the Seine tonight. Pictures of all the above can be found at http://www.flickr.com/photos/jonathanandamber/

Rainy Day

IMG_6025
Originally uploaded by Jonathan and Amber.

When we were in Portland the sun never shone through the clouds. I am hoping we have better luck this trip. The above picture was one of my favorite fromPortland. It was a dreary day but light enough to make the water glisten a bit.

Need to chat?

You can drop us a line by email, but if you need something faster you can try and catch us online on Skype. Skype lets people talk over the internet for no fee. My Skype address is jonathan_cohn or you can email to jonathan.cohn@gmail.com. The time is seven hours later in Europe: when its 3 P.M. in Omaha, it is 10P.M. in Paris. I'll leave Skype on and open when at the hotel. Download it at http://www.skype.com/helloagain.html.

Feel free to cruise on over to Flickr and check out our pics at http://www.flickr.com/photos/jonathanandamber. I uploaded a few days of our Portland trip so you would have something to look at while you wait for our photos of France!

Picture Posting Practice

Well. This is a little test on posting photos. I hope to have some great shots for you later in the weak. They will be of better looking things, like churches, and the Louvre, and stuff.

It Begins!

The final packing and preparations have begun. It will all kick off tomorrow night with a quick drive to Kansas City, a night sleep at the Motel 8, and Amber's test on Monday. While she is taking her board exams, i will be trying my hand at duplicate bridge in the Overland Park Bridge Studio. I am playing with someone referred by a Nebraska player and I am really looking forward to it. We'll be back in Omaha on Monday and leave for the other side of the Atlantic on Wednesday. We start in Paris and will then visit Venice, Florence, Pisa, and Rome.

Amber and I have been looking forward to going to Europe for a long time. She has worked very hard the last 14 years and I think this will be the beginnings of a nice pay-off. Please join us for our little adventure. I hope you enjoy the trip log. Wish us a Bon Voyage! See you all soon.