Saturday, July 11, 2009

June 17 - July 1 ... EUROPE!!!!!



Ok, since Europe is AMAZING. And I took, literally, 1000 photos, here's me summing it up in 10 photos and just a few paragraphs. If you want to see all the photos, they're all on
my facebook profile, if you don't have facebook, ask a neighbor
to assist you in your viewing needs, they have it.

It all begins in: The Beginning
We spent a day in England after landing. The next day we drove down to Versailles, near Paris, in France. We stayed in a super hoidy-toidy hotel there for a few nights. We spent a day viewing the Versailles palace where Louis the XIV-VXI lived up through the Fr
ench Revolution. We spent 8 hours there. Did two separate tours. And still didn't even begin to see everything. These French royalty types, man do they know how to live!

The Not So Beginning, But Not Even Near The Middle Of The Trip Bit
We drove from Versailles down to Southern France to visit some old family friends, Peter and Karen. Peter renovates super old and super cool houses and barns. So we stayed in their renovated, amazing, barn. They had 2 horses, Cody and Billy, and a swimming pool. The photos I took were amazing. It's such beautiful country. I literally cried when we had to leave. This is where I want to live, for forever. Ooooh, French country side, how I love you! The first photo is of Peter and Karen's house/renovated barn, and the second is a photo I took while driving out to the forest one day for some horseback riding/dinkidy-dooing.

The Middle, Oui!
Paris! We spent just under 3 days in Paris. The first day we saw most of the sights: Eiffel Tower, Musee D'Orsay, Notre Dame, Bastille ... we were so tired that night! We climbed up part way on the Eiffel Tower... 655 steps up, and 655 steps back down! But the view was spectacu
lar! My calfs were sore for days.

The second day in Paris was spent at the Louvre. We saw so many beautiful pieces of art. This is my favorite. The Winged Victory of Samothrace. Plus we saw the Mona Lisa. Pretty cool stuff!

More Of The Middle... The middle drug on for almost a week, ok?

Next up was Salisbury... Michelle's favorite Cathedral! Salisbury was beautiful. We drove up to Old Serum and played around on the ruins up there for a few hours. It was fun seeing some sights while being outside and allowed to be loud and run around, we're good at that. We took a lot of photos, a few naps in the grass, we're also good at that, and even cut a finger on one of the super old 12th century rocks. After that, we moved on.
We also saw The Stonehenge and then another not as famous Stonehenge. The not so famous one was cool because we got to frolic in and around the rocks, which was also fun. We took a lot of photos there, but again, we're doing this in just 10 photos, so bear with me there.

The Last Leg Of The Journey!
Sunday came, and since we spent the last one swimming and going to an open air market in France, we decided we'd make up for our sinning by going to church and then church history sights. We went to Dave and Grace's old ward and saw a lot of their friends. After a brief catching up lunch with friends we headed out to see Gadfield Elm, Benbow Farm, and Herefordshire Beacon. All three are important stops for us LDS folks. Here's a photo of Gadfield Elm... I even got to color a picture while I was there, awesome! I came here when I was 8, the last time I was in Europe, at that point it hadn't been restored and was missing a few walls, and well the roof, and such... so it was really amazing to see it restored!

It's The End, All Too Quickly Did It Come!
Our last two days were spent in London. We saw the Tower of London, and sweat to death. It was mid 90s the both days we were there. We'd be on the train, elbow to elbow, sweat to sweat, with a lot of strangers... and let me just say that for the record: American men smell a lot better than both English and French men.

Our last day was spend 1/2 at the British Museum looking at all the suite mummies and what not, and 1/2 shopping for the pair of shoes I HAD to have before coming back to the states. Yay mummies!!! Creepy... I saw one outside of the wrapping.. too graphic to my eyes that's for sure... sick! But kinda cool... hehe.

It's Over
After 2 1/2 weeks in Europe it was time to fly home. Although I was excited to sleep in my own room, use my own shower, not have to share a bed, not have to tell everyone that I'm changing so they can avert their eyes, and not walk a million miles every day, I did not want to come back. Europe is amazing. Better than I had hoped. And France, ooooh France, how I love me some France! I would live there for at least many a year of my life... it's so beautiful, and peaceful, at least the southern country side bit. Honestly, I have so many pictures worth looking at, and I wish I could put them all on here, but I can't, and it pains me so! Go to facebook and look at them all. It's such a beautiful place. But, it's good to be home. We got back and left for Montana just a few days later where we'll be, my family and I, until mid-August. This summer is an amazing one!

2 comments:

Matt said...

Good job keeping it short! Did their barn have a lot of rooms? And this is Michelle, by the way.

Jen Taylor said...

yeah, it's a house now... not a barn any longer. It has 4 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms. It's big.