Florence

I don't have all the Florence pictures yet, but here are some to tide you over.

The ice cream in the picture is from a place that is heralded as the 'best ice cream/gelato in the world!'

Rome Day 3

Vatican City

Rome Day 2

The Forum and Trevi Fountain

Rome 1

I'm so far behind! But, I know you all love pictures, so I'm going to post pictures from Italy this week, not much captioning, but I'll be sure to tell you all stories about Italy when I get back!

Rome, Day 1: Colosseum, Pantheon, and Gelato

barbe à papa

This is going to be a short one, but I just had to talk about barbe à papa. At the park that we visit nearly every weekend, we often see kids walking around with cotton candy, barbe à papa, in French . So one day, my friend Brad and I decided to get some. The prices were as follows:
Mini: 1E
Medium: 2E
Super: 3E
We figured that since we were sharing, we might as well get the super, especially because the kids we'd seen didn't have very large sizes. So, we ordered a super, and this is what we got:
It was HUGE! She couldn't even spin to get the last bit on the stick, and had to result to draping the cotton candy. We were in shock! And yes, it was just as delicious as it looks!

The Beaujolais

2 weekends ago, all the Americans went wine tasting in the Beaujolais. We started at Georges Du Bœuf for a guided museum tour where we learned how wine is made, learned a bit of history, and got to see barrels, the vineyards, and all of the machines that go into making wine. Next, we had a wine tasting where my friend Brad took some beautiful pictures. (Brad actually took all of the pictures in this post, which is why they are so amazing!):

We then had lunch and visited 2 more wineries. Where we were able to sample the same wine from different years and different wines from the same years and compare them and learn about the colors and flavors. I really enjoyed learning about the wines, and sampling the different wines produced in the region.At the 2nd winery, Brad and I decided to do a little exploring. We ended up with amazing views of the countryside and were even able to sample some grapes! The day was really a lot of fun and I feel like I really learned a lot about wine.

Paris Day 2

Ok, so today I am going to write a bunch of blogs that I can post throughout the week.

Let's back track a little, and now that I've been able to get the pictures, I can write about Day 2 in Paris:

When I woke up on Sunday, I decided to change my train and leave that night since I wasn't feeling well. After going to the train station to exchange my tickets and storing our bags, we met up with some friends at the Eiffel Tower. We went up to the top and saw amazing views!
If you look out 9,105 km, you can see Los Angeles :)

Then, James and I ventured out. We had a long lunch, went to the Arc de Triomph:

Walked up and down the Champs Elysees, went to the Opera house:
Wandered the Latin Quarter, and ended at Note Dame:

At this point, we were ready to sleep the whole train ride back to Lyon! And we did! It was a great day, we really got acquainted with the city and I'm so excited to go back in a couple of weeks with Mom, Dad, and Jules!

Beantown Pride

I'm having a great time in Italy and can't wait to post pictures when I get back to Lyon!

But, for now, I just had to post this one...we were at the Colleseum on Friday, after the Red Sox 2nd win and I was wearing my Red Sox t-shirt. I was talking to a gentleman from the East Coast about how well the Red Sox were doing when this woman walked by wearing a Rockies t-shirt. We just HAD to take a picture. So here I am, sporting my Red Sox pride at the Colleseum.

Talk to you all soon!

I am so sorry for being so far behind. I'm leaving for Italy today, but next weekend I'll have plenty of time to update and get caught up.

Have a great week and go Red Sox!!

Paris Day 1

Our first full day in Paris, we spent at Disneyland Paris (formerly, EuroDisney). This was James's one real request for travel and I was more than happy to oblige! And, since he works at Disney World, we got in for free!! Even better!Disneyland Paris was very similar to Disneyland. Although, since it is much newer, the rides were very technologically advanced. Some notable differences: Space Mountain was so much fun! It was a lot faster, a lot more like a typical roller coaster, and even went upside down!
The Haunted Mansion was scary. Our Haunted Mansion is a lot more light hearted and fun than this one. There was a story that took you through the whole ride, and I was actually frightened for parts of it!The park was decorated for Halloween, and the decor was much more elaborate than I've ever seen at Disneyland which is funny considering it's not a very big deal in France.

A couple more pictures:Enjoy! More updates coming soon!