Brandon O'Brien

Friday, September 2, 2022 @ 7:24 PM in 2022 Germany and France

Day 9

There was a lot of activity on the streets outside our Airbnb last night. It seemed like drunk people were walking by screaming and shouting until almost 5 in the morning. Tonight we're going to try shutting the windows to help keep the noise down. We were both up by about 7am, had some coffee and ate breakfast over the next hour and a half. I was looking at the train schedule to Freiburg and saw that the train we wanted (departing Strasbourg at 9:58am) had some issues so we tried to get to the station for the 9:20 train. Unfortunately we missed the tram and wouldn't get to the station in time so we meandered through town to the station and hung out for a little while until the 10:20 train.

Because of the different train we took, we had about an hour to kill at our connection in Offenburg, Germany. We walked into town and got some food to hold us over so we wouldn't be starving when we got into Freiburg. I got essentially a sauceless pizza and Sam got the same toppings on a pretzel. Both were good and did their job of filling us up. While we were eating, Dakotah had a poop explosion and got his onesie covered. We ended up having to change him and wipe him down in a park behind a big church. We also realized we were almost completely out of wipes so we'd need to pick up some more in Freiburg.

We got back to the train station and hopped on our 11:26am high speed train to Freiburg. The trip only took a half hour and was pretty uneventful. Our regional train pass was working well since we could hop on an off whichever trains we wanted to in the area without having to buy new tickets. When we arrived in Freiburg we ran into a DM store and picked up a new packet of diaper wipes.

Walking into town we saw an archeological museum that had a bunch of grape vines in front of them. Some of the grapes were ripe and we tried a few which were really good. We're assuming the grapes they had out there were the ones that grow really well in the area. From there, we made our way over to the Schlossburg area where we were going to hike up to the Schlossburgturn (the big tower). The walk through town brought us through a bunch of markets and really cool cobbled streets that still have some old sewage and water canals in them (no sewage now, haha). We also passed by the Martinstor which was a 13th century gate in the wall around town. Now there's a McDonalds underneath it, lol.

The hike up to the tower was pretty steep but it was mostly paved and pretty well marked. There were a bunch of various trails that all weaved through each other but most ultimately made it to the tower. The tower is 153 steps up to a big lookout with some amazing views of the area. I went up there while Sam stayed on the ground. It was probably a good choice on her part since the tower was slightly swaying in the wind at the top.

After hiking back into town, we went to the Feierling biergarten and had some of their Inselhopf (an unfiltered wheat beer that was very easy to drink) and some sausages with kraut, mustard and some slices of bread. It was nice hanging out in the beer garden, even if there were a decent amount of flies and our waitress wasn't very attentive. It took quite a while to flag her down and get the bill.

From the beer garden we walked over to the Freiburger Munster (the main cathedral in town) where we snapped some pics and then started walking back to the train station. Along the way we saw a bunch of people with boba tea so we hunted the shop down and got some too. We got one with taro and coconut and it was a good thirst quencher. We both realized how little water we'd had to drink today so having something to drink other than beer was extremely welcomed.

The train rides back to Strasbourg were uneventful. We just retraced our route here by getting the high speed train to Offenburg and then a regional train to Strasbourg. We got back into Strasbourg around 5pm and were pretty hungry already. We walked around a little while hoping to see somewhere that jumped out to us but ultimately decided on more Asian by going to a place called East Canteen. I got a Japanese pancake and Sam got some Pad Thai. The pancake was really filling and Sam's pad thai was really flavorful.

On the walk back to the hotel we saw one restaurant that I bookmarked as a potential location to eat tomorrow. It was also next to a cheese and meat shop so we'll probably get some meat, cheese and a baguette and snack on that with our wine that we still need to try. Tomorrow is calling for thunderstorms all day so we're going to take it easy and play it by ear. We're hoping to find some souvenirs in town so tomorrow might be a great day to do that.

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Tags: france, germany, freiburg, strasbourg, europe

Posted from: France

Thursday, September 1, 2022 @ 9:30 PM in 2022 Germany and France

Day 8

We took this morning easy since we weren't in a rush to get to Colmar. Yesterday I had bought some yogurt, granola and bananas to have for breakfast so we wouldn't need to eat out. It made a pretty good alternative (at least for a day or two), to pastries and sweets. Around 9:30 we started to get ready to catch the 10:21 train. Sam wanted another coffee so we went around the corner and got a coffee from Dreher, a small bakery and coffee shop.

I tried buying our tickets to Colmar but every time I used the kiosk, it kept rejecting my card. I tried another card and got the same problem. We didn't want to just hop on the train without a ticket and risk getting in trouble, so I pulled up the SNCF website (the train system here in France) and bought our tickets there. Fortunately I was able to do it with about one minute to spare before the train left.

The train only took about 30 minutes to get between Strasbourg and Colmar and passed by some really cool mountains with castles on the tops of them. There were also a ton of corn fields and farms stretching between the towns. The Colmar train station wasn't too far from the town center and was an easy walk. We stopped at the Parc du Champ de Mars where they had a couple big water fountains before making our way into the old town.

Colmar is full of half-timbered buildings similar to Strasbourg but I'd say Colmar is a lot more compact of a city. The St. Martin's Church was our main destination and we found a big area of it fenced off. They were doing a huge archeological dig on an old cemetery dating back to the 1300s (more info here). The crazy thing is they were excavating the skeletons a few feet away from the crowds. Lots of people were watching and it was interesting to see how they were working.

We walked from there over to the Little Venice area via an artist market and the Schwendi Fountain . The fountain was surrounded by a lot of the half timbered buildings and was a neat little spot. Little Venice was beautiful with the half timbered houses lining the canals that ran through town. It wasn't a huge area but was still neat.

Not really sure what to do for lunch, we ended up getting Poke bowls which we convinced ourselves were probably healthier than Alsace cuisine. We'll have plenty of time left to eat more of it before we head off to Nice. After lunch we walked through the Little Venice area again and then got a raspberry and creme eclair for a post-lunch dessert. The eclair was really light and tasted great.

We passed by St. Martin's Church again and watched some more of the excavating. The guy driving the little earth mover seemed to be recklessly driving over stuff we thought might be important and then digging holes without any sort of caution that there might be bodies underneath. I guess they know what they're doing but it still seemed odd.

Our last stop in town was to a wine shop to pick up a local bottle of Riesling produced in the area. We've got it chilling down now and will drink it later in the week. We got back to the train station and bought another ticket for a train departing a few minutes later and headed back to Strasbourg. Back at the station we figured we'd walk back to the Airbnb instead of taking the tram. It was a pretty nice walk through a part of the city we hadn't been to before.

Back at the Airbnb we relaxed for a little while before breaking out the baguette, cheese and beer. I opened the bottle of Cantillon first. It's a really well known beer as being one of the best examples of the lambic style. The bottle I found for 10 euros would easily go for $40-60 in the states. The beer was very nice with a huge amount of cherry flavor and not much tartness. While a very delicious beer, I would have been disappointed had I paid $60 for it. After that, we finished off the last of our wine from last night and then heated up some leftovers for dinner (the veggie/couscous mix from last night and some salad and tart flambee from yesterday's lunch).

With a couple hours to kill before bed, we set out and did another aimless wander around Strasbourg. This time we found some really packed areas full of packed restaurants. We then crossed over the river and walked around some of the newer part of town. This seemed a lot more geared towards locals with a lot more packed restaurants and bars.

Back at the Airbnb we're kinda planning what to do tomorrow. I think the plan will be to buy the Deutsche Bahn regional pass for Baden-Wuertemberg for 31 euros. This will give Sam and I unlimited travel for the day in the state (which covers everything near Strasbourg) and we'll head to Freiburg. There's a little bit of hiking, some beer gardens and some sights to see there which should be neat. It's going to take a little longer to get there so we might need to start earlier in the day.

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Tags: france, colmar, europe

Posted from: France

Wednesday, August 31, 2022 @ 8:39 PM in 2022 Germany and France

Day 7

The rain last night really helped cool the Airbnb down at night. We woke up a few times to feed Dakotah but otherwise had a pretty decent night sleep. Once we had some coffee at our room, we set off to find some breakfast. I found a patisserie around the corner so we headed over there. I had an eclair with a coffee cream filling and Sam had a quiche. Both were good but I think the quiche was the better choice (more fill and not just straight sugar). We ate under a tree on some benches and then set off to see some of the sights around town.

First on the list was La Petite France. This is the area with the most old half-timbered buildings, small canals and winding narrow roads. The buildings were really interesting and the way all of them are crooked and the streets are really winding make the area fun to get lost in. We aimlessly walked around and then made it to one of the bridges at the end of the island where they had some ramparts and a big covered bridge. We walked along the river around the city until we made it to the north side of the old town and then cut down to Place Kléber where there was a clothing market going on.

From there, we cut over to the east side of the old town, up toward the opera and through a big farmers market at Place Broglie. By now it was around 11:30 and we were getting tired of walking around so we went down to Au Brasseur, a local brewery and restaurant, to eat. They opened at 11 and we were almost the first ones there (people don't eat early here). Sam and I shared a brown ale, salad and tarte flambee (the Alsace version of pizza).

We came back to the Airbnb so Sam could take a nap and we could get off our feet for a little while. I took the opportunity to go run and get groceries for dinner. I got a bunch of veggies and a premade couscous salad to mix together, then went to a boulangerie to pick up a baguette, then a wine shop to get a bottle of local wine, a beer store we saw earlier to get some Cantillon (extremely rare to find in the states but was super cheap, relatively, here) and a Trappist beer.

The last stop on the journey was to a cheese shop to get some cheese to go with the bread. I didn't know what any of the cheeses were and the woman working there didn't speak English so I just picked a random cheese. Turns out it was a pretty mild goat cheese (not bad, but still has the goat milk flavor). The cheese shop was tucked away in a really cool alley with a bunch of other wine shops and bakeries. There were a couple restaurants that might be fun to go back to and sit and eat outside.

Back at the Airbnb I did a little work while Sam napped and then got a little nap myself. Unfortunately the windows in our Airbnb face south and it was getting really hot in here so napping wasn't the easiest. After a while the sun shifted and we could open the blackout curtains which helped get it to cool down more. I opened the wine and we had our cheese and bread with a little olive oil mix I made with salt, pepper and herbs d' provance.

I chopped the veggies I bought (mushrooms, carrot, zucchini, and red bell pepper) and sauteed those with the same spices as the dipping oil. When they were done I added the premade couscous salad and mixed it all together. It was a pretty good dinner and one filled with veggies (which we've been sorely lacking the last few days).

After our food settled and it cooled down some more we went out and got some gelato from the shop just outside our Airbnb. Sam got a scoop with caramel gelato and I got a scoop of chocolate chip. We ate them and walked back near the Cathedral then looped back over to La Petite France via the paths along the river surrounding the city. It was a great temperature outside and we enjoyed the walk.

Back at the Airbnb we've just been trying to wind Dakotah down for bed and I started some laundry. We're planning on going to Colmar tomorrow to see a different city with similar old half-timbered buildings. Trains run down there every 30 minutes and it only takes about 30 minutes, so we're not really in a rush to get moving. I bought some yogurt, granola and bananas so we can have breakfast here without needing to eat something out.

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Tags: france, strasbourg, half timber

Posted from: France

Tuesday, August 30, 2022 @ 8:25 PM in 2022 Germany and France

Day 6

Today started out reasonably well. We both got some sleep and Sam ran downstairs to the coffee shop and picked us up some Chai. We made some croissant sandwiches for breakfast, finished packing and then went down to the train station to catch our first train of the day. We thought it might take a while to find our gate but it was actually pretty easy. With some time to kill, Sam set off to find another coffee and a snack.

We boarded our train and got settled in for the 3 hour ride to Mannheim. It was pretty uneventful, although we were losing time at each stop and we weren't sure if we'd make our 11 minute layover from Mannheim to Strasbourg. Lunch was leftover pizza from last night, which was actually pretty decent on the train. Some of the towns and countryside we passed through were really neat. Many of the towns had cathedrals or towers in the middle of them. Near Stuttgart, there were some vineyards on what looked like sheer cliffs too. When we left Stuttgart, the train said it was running 8 minutes late but we made up a little bit of time. Before arriving in Mannheim, they showed a list of updated connections and showed that our train to Strasbourg was also running a little late. With a sigh of relief, we didn't need to rush to get to the other gate.

Once we got to Mannheim, we got off and went to gate 5 where it said our train would be. We were supposed to be on the TGV9580 which went direct to Strasbourg. This is where the day went from chill to stress-fest. Our train was supposed to depart at 2:48 (after delays) and at 2:47 a train pulled up to gate 5. Not thinking anything about it, we got right on the train, found car 11 and sat down. One of the seats we were supposed to be in was taken, but that didn't seem too weird since some people kinda sit wherever they want and then move if the person with the reservation comes. Right as the doors shut and the screens updated to show the next stop, I realized we were on the wrong train. This one was going right back to Stuttgart (about 40 minutes away), and not Strasbourg.

With no other options, we were stuck on the train and had to figure out another way to get to Strasbourg from Stuttgart. The train we were supposed to be on was the only direct from Mannheim, so backtracking to Mannheim again wasn't going to help us out. We found some regional trains that would require two different transfers but would ultimately get us to Strasbourg (albeit, 2.5 hours after we were supposed to get in).

Back in Stuttgart, we jumped on our first train which was an extremely overcrowded commuter to Karlsruhe with a 50 minute ride time. Once in Karlsruhe, we got on another packed train to Appenweier. This one was doubly annoying because our huge roller bag took up like 3/4 of the aisle so every time someone wanted to walk by, they had to shimmy around the bag. There weren't any restrooms on this train either and Dakotah was in serious need of changing. With several delays and stops, we finally made it to Appenweier after about 45 minutes.

Due to the train being late, we missed our connection in Appenweier but fortunately there were trains running every 30 minutes to Strasbourg. This at least gave us time to change Dakotah at the train station (on the top of our suitcase in the parking lot, lol). At 6:11 we jumped on our last train of the day and made the 11 mile journey across the Rhine river into France.

After finally arriving in Strasbourg, we had to jump on the tram to take us into town. The tram station we got off at was just a couple hundred feet from the Airbnb which was convenient. What wasn't so convenient was having to carry a 50 pound roller bag up 3 flights of several hundred year old stairs to get to our apartment. After a lot of sweating (I was carrying Dakotah, my backpack and the roller bag), we made it and were able to get to our room.

By now it was well after 7pm and we were tired, hungry and thirsty. We gave Dakotah a quick clothes swap and then went back downstairs to eat at a microbrewery and restaurant called La Lanterne, directly across from our Airbnb. Sam and I each got a beer (I had an amber and she had a weissebier). For food, I got a chicken cordon bleu with spatzel and mushroom sauce while Sam got a burger and fries. All the food and beer was good but we were super stuffed and tired.

Since it was already dark out, we decided to take a walk to Strasbourg's Notre Dame Cathedral which wasn't too far away. The cathedral took a couple hundred years to build (starting in the 1100's) and looks really neat, especially at night. We walked around the entire cathedral then made our way back to the Airbnb. Unfortunately due to historical regulations, they couldn't put A/C in the unit so have a couple of fans blowing to try and cool it down. It was still really hot in the room but not too long after getting home it started raining which helped cool things down considerably (it also helped get people off the streets, which was pretty loud from our open windows).

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Tags: germany, munich, trains, france

Posted from: France

Sunday, October 27, 2013 @ 10:51 PM in 2013 Europe

Day 123

Apparently there was a time change today that we didn't know about. We woke up and then realized the time changed so we gained an extra hour. After waking up it started pouring down rain for about an hour and a half so we just hung out at the apartment.

Once the rain let up we headed out and got some coffee and breakfast/lunch. The breakfast portion was a big cookie looking thing with nutella as a filling and for lunch we each got ham, cheese, lettuce and tomato sandwiches. We had all of this on the steps of the Sacre-Coeur basillica overlooking the city. Since the rain let up it was a really nice morning with some great views.

After eating we did a little souvenir shopping then came back to the apartment to do another load of laundry. Once the laundry was finished we walked down to the Gare du Nord station and got our train tickets to the airport for tomorrow. We wanted to get that taken care of now so we wouldn't have to worry about it tomorrow.

On the way back from the train station we took a little walk around the Montmartre area and got a couple bottles of wine to finish off the week. We also stopped at a shop and picked up a raspberry tart that we've been eyeing all week. Before dinner we finished some wine and the tart.

We wanted to make sure we got some mussels and frites before leaving Paris and after doing some research we found out that a highly rated place was only a block away so we went there for dinner. We ordered some mussels provencial and a skirt steak and split them. The meal was great and both of us left completely stuffed (check out the instagram photo for a pic of what we had for dinner).

After eating dinner we came back to the apartment where we watched Catch Me If You Can and relaxed. It was nice to have our last day in Paris be relaxing and not feel rushed. We saw and did pretty much everything we wanted to do so today was really just a take it easy day. This week has been great. The weather has been pretty much perfect and aside from a few lines here and there, we've been able to see and do everything we wanted to without delay.

We'll check out of the apartment around 8:30am tomorrow morning then head to the airport. Holly heads home at 11:15am and my flight to Barcelona is around 2:30pm.

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Tags: daily journal, paris, france

Posted from: France

Saturday, October 26, 2013 @ 10:49 PM in 2013 Europe

Day 122

We got up pretty early today in order to get to Versailles before the crowds. What we didn't plan for was the main train line from Paris to Versailles being closed. We got to the station and an attendant let us know about the closure and told us a different way to take to get there.

I think we got to Versailles around 11 and got in line for our tickets. We got the full ticket which also included access to the gardens and Marie Antoinette's palace. We packed a lunch and a couple small bottles of wine to enjoy in the gardens. When we went into the palace they scanned our bags and told us we needed to check them. It was a bit chaotic there so we just played the dumb tourist card and kept all of our wine and food anyway.

The first thing we did was the tour of the main palace at Versailles. It wasn't as busy as I thought it might be for a Saturday which was nice. An audio guide was included in the tour so we could hear about what the various rooms were used for.

We were getting hungry so we went out into the gardens and had our sandwiches with some fruit and wine. Our sandwiches consisted of baguettes with cheese, spinach, tomatoes and spiced olive oil. Some bees bugged us for a bit but otherwise it was a great relaxing spot to enjoy lunch in the gardens.

After we ate we went and saw Marie Antoinette's palace which is huge in its own right and also has its own giant gardens. Once we walked through there we drank our second mini bottle of wine at the end of the big pond with a great view of Versailles and the gardens in the distance.

On our way back to the main entrance it started to rain on us a bit but fortunately it didn't last too long. We walked through more of the gardens and saw a little music/fountain show. The gardens were great to walk around in the fall because you get all of the fall leaves and the smell associated with them.

Back at the palace we took a few more photos of the exterior with the dark storm clouds in the background and the palace lit up from the sun. It was a really nice contrast seeing it that way.

It was a little walk back to the train station but we got our tickets and missed the train by about 20 seconds so we had to wait about 15 minutes for the next one. Fortunately it was a direct train into Paris which made it a lot faster than getting to Versailles. When we got to Paris we hopped on the metro to the Eiffel tower to see it at night. We got there at the perfect time. We got some shots of the tower at sunset and then were also able to catch the light show they did at 7pm.

It had been a long day so we headed back to the apartment and grabbed a baguette, cheese and wine for dinner. The area near our place was packed with people out and about and both of us just wanted to get back and kick our shoes off.

Finally we made it back and have just been relaxing and enjoying not being on our feet. Tomorrow I'll upload all the photos we took today. There are some great shots from Versailles and the Eiffel tower.

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Tags: daily journal, paris, france

Posted from: France

Friday, October 25, 2013 @ 9:58 PM in 2013 Europe

Day 121

We took our time getting out of the apartment this morning and grabbed some coffee and croissants on the way down to the Catacombs. It took us a little over an hour to walk down there and when we got to the Catacombs there was a huge line wrapping around the block.

We weren't sure how long the line would take but once we stood there long enough we figured we were committed and stayed there over 2 hours to get inside. They only let 200 people in at any time so if it's busy, it can take a while to get the crowds through. I think today being Friday meant a lot more people were out and seeing the sights. We walked by the Louvre this morning too and it was also a lot more crowded than it was for us yesterday.

The Catacombs were really cool to walk through though. You can't get a full appreciation for the number of bones in there by looking at photos. There are hallways and tunnels that go on for miles and all of them are packed full of bones. The parts opened to the public stretch for about 2 kilometers and took about 45 minutes to get through.

Even though we had to wait longer, it was nice only having a certain number of people inside since it gave us some breathing room and we didn't feel rushed to get through. We were able to walk at a leisurely pace and take photos and check out all the designs made with bones.

We were pretty hungry when we got out since we weren't planning on waiting over 2 hours in line so we went up to a big street food area near Notre Dame and got some giant stuffed pitas for a late lunch. The pitas were filled with fries, chicken, lettuce, tomatoes, onions and some kind of sauce.

After feeling a food coma coming on, we started walking back up to the apartment. It started raining and we ducked into a grocery to get some breakfast and lunch for tomorrow since we're planning on going to Versailles for the day and want to eat in the gardens. When we got out of the grocery the rain was picking up a lot more. It wasn't really raining hard, but we had about 2 miles to walk in the rain so we got pretty wet.

We relaxed at the apartment for a bit since we had been on our feet all day and walked about 9 miles again. After chilling for a bit with some wine and watching random French shows on TV we started some laundry and went out for gelato since the rain had stopped.

We're going to head to bed early tonight since we want to get an early start tomorrow and beat the crowds at Versailles if possible.

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Tags: daily journal, paris, france

Posted from: France

Thursday, October 24, 2013 @ 11:34 PM in 2013 Europe

Day 120

We got up this morning and walked down to the Louvre to spend the day in the museum. We made a slight detour first to get some coffee and breakfast. We each had some kind of apple filled breakfast pastry that was really good!

The Louvre is a giant museum and it would take days to cover all of it thoroughly. We started off seeing some of the Egyptian exhibits, then went through some of the sculptures, saw the Mona Lisa, browsed several areas of artwork and then ended in the Renaissance area. Fortunately the museum wasn't too crowded and we were able to see the works without having to wait in any real lines.

After the museum we went in search of a late lunch. We walked around a little bit and ended up in some pretty ritzy areas but finally found a creperie and we got a nutella/banana crepe as well as a ham/cheese crepe. Both of them were really good and definitely hit the spot.

After eating we went back up to the area our apartment is in and spent about an hour in the Montmarte Cemetery. It's full of giant crypts as well as tombstones. It was actually peaceful walking around in there. You could tell that some of them hadn't been taken care of in a long time but others had regular maintenance done on them.

On the way back to the apartment we walked through some side streets that were tree lined and full of shops. We stopped at a market and picked up some cheese and a baguette to munch on for dinner.

After taking a little bit of a break we went out after it got dark and were searching for a dessert. We had seen some raspberry tarts earlier in the week and were really craving one. We couldn't find exactly what we were looking for tonight but we did find a similar strawberry one which we bought as well as a mocha/chocolate cake. Both of them were delicious and were exactly what we were craving. We then walked around a bit and took some night photos of the streets near where we're staying.

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Tags: daily journal, france, paris

Posted from: France

Wednesday, October 23, 2013 @ 10:07 PM in 2013 Europe

Day 119

We got up and had some more pastries for breakfast then started the walk down to the Notre Dame cathedral. We passed through several nice streets as well as the Paris city hall building before getting to the cathedral. You don't realize how large the actual building is until you're standing in front of it.

We took some photos from the outside then went into the church. It's actually free entry and the interior is beautiful with all the stained glass lighting it up. The ceilings and support beams are extremely intricate in the way they were built and it's hard to think that all of this was done 850 years ago.

After touring the inside we walked around the whole cathedral then got some lunch and ate in a little garden with a view of the cathedral. It was nice in the park since it was pretty quiet and didn't have all the masses of people that had started to gather outside Notre Dame.

Once we finished eating we went down to the Luxembourg gardens and walked around. The leaves were crisp and it definitely felt and smelled like a fall day there. We sat on some benches in the sun for a while before heading back by the Notre Dame cathedral and up to the Marais area. Along the way to Marais we walked along the Seine river and then walked across the bridge where everyone puts locks on the fence. Marais is an area of town with tiny streets and a lot of shops. There were falafel shops everywhere and the food smelled amazing.

We finished walking around there then started back toward the apartment. Along the way we went into a market and got some spinach, wine, bread and a red pepper for dinner. We relaxed back at the apartment for a bit letting our feet get a break from all the walking. Today was another 9 mile day of walking around too.

Before dinner we went out and got some shrimp to cook as well. For dinner we made shrimp with the leftover green beans from last night, spinach, red pepper and the olive oil/spice mixture. We also had some bread and cheeses with it.

We just wanted to relax the rest of the night so we watched Zombieland and will probably head off to bed soon. Two full days of long walks have made both of us pretty tired.

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Tags: daily journal, france, paris

Posted from: France

Tuesday, October 22, 2013 @ 10:11 PM in 2013 Europe

Day 118

We got up and got some coffee and pastries from a bakery on our way up to the Sacre-Coeur basilica. We were thinking about climbing to the top of the basilica yesterday but there were a lot of people up there and the sun was pretty harsh. This morning was the complete opposite. We pretty much had the entire dome to ourselves and the views of the city were great.

We spent some time up there then did some navigating through Paris to get to the Eiffel tower. For some reason they weren't selling tickets to the top level at the base. We purchased tickets to the 2nd level which was high enough to see pretty much all of Paris. Instead of waiting an hour to get to the top, we went back down, got some wine, bread and cheese and ate and drank in the park with the tower in the background.

After polishing off a bottle of wine and a baguette we took a bunch of photos of the Eiffel tower from different viewpoints then headed over to the Arc de Triomphe. It was starting to sprinkle rain by now but it was warm enough that it didn't really matter. We stayed under the Arc de Triomphe for a bit and then walked down the Champs Elysees to the Egyptian obelisk.

It was still sprinkling on us so we headed back to the apartment and got some wine, pasta and veggies on the way. For dinner I made some pasta with green beans, red pepper and Italian spice mixes. Since then we've just been enjoying some wine and people watching out our windows.

Tomorrow we're going to head down to the Notre Dame cathedral and check out that area.

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Tags: daily journal, paris, france

Posted from: France