Summary + Photos of Each Day + Videos!!

Here are the photo links for each day:

Day 1:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/justonwestern/sets/72157624000636067/

Day 2:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/justonwestern/sets/72157624007631141/

Day 3:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/justonwestern/sets/72157624134848838/

Day 4:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/justonwestern/sets/72157624145573772/

Day 5:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/justonwestern/sets/72157624165812982/

Day 6:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/justonwestern/sets/72157624166013532/

iPhone Uploads:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/justonwestern/sets/72157624043602221/

iChocolates Pics!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/justonwestern/sets/72157624168707222/
(we had to order these local in Paris- they won't ship to US)

And for those of you who can't hang through viewing 1,300 pictures, here are the "Best of" that I picked to put on Facebook- NOTE- You do not have to be on Facebook to view the album. Here is the link:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2164934&id=2804004&l=cc658121c4

VIDEOS:

Eiffel Tower Sparkling at Night:
http://www.youtube.com/user/JustonWestern#p/u/6/4HrzvQJxRYs

Notre Dame:
http://www.youtube.com/user/JustonWestern#p/u/5/Y8-sci-4Pxk

Notre Dame 2:
http://www.youtube.com/user/JustonWestern#p/u/4/ULmMHmX8MaY

Notre Dame- Clip from Daily Mass:
http://www.youtube.com/user/JustonWestern#p/u/3/IZ30CYuM-mQ

Saint Chapelle Cathedral:
http://www.youtube.com/user/JustonWestern#p/u/2/vvD5wP4zk1M

Napoleon's Tomb:
http://www.youtube.com/user/JustonWestern#p/u/1/b0a4yqFqo0g

Mom Elaine's Birthday Celebration at the Eiffel 58:
http://www.youtube.com/user/JustonWestern#p/u/0/nDLtvcZVwQ0

Video Footage from Atop the Eiffel:
http://www.youtube.com/user/JustonWestern#p/u/2/9hJ7kV6g_Jk

Eiffel Tower at Night from 2nd Floor:
http://www.youtube.com/user/JustonWestern#p/u/1/POaffbHCrt0

Lift Coming up Eiffel:
http://www.youtube.com/user/JustonWestern#p/u/0/kHhni8nAG_c

Mona Lisa:
http://www.youtube.com/user/JustonWestern#p/u/0/KpKC7TAutz0

Napoleon's Apartment in The Louvre:
http://www.youtube.com/user/JustonWestern#p/u/0/ONTzpoY64Ko

Napoleon's Apartment- Clip 2:
http://www.youtube.com/user/JustonWestern#p/u/2/bDW4Jpwejd4

Napoleon's Apartment- Clip 3:
http://www.youtube.com/user/JustonWestern#p/u/1/QQMpZuLRnZc

Club Rex (Lower your Speaker Volume!):
http://www.youtube.com/user/JustonWestern#p/u/0/eBEUU5GNXQ8

Arc de Triomphe:
http://www.youtube.com/user/JustonWestern#p/u/1/pQsXSPXUVvA

Showcase Club (Lower the Volume on your Speakers!):
http://www.youtube.com/user/JustonWestern#p/u/0/IwLW1GaHNHQ

Apartment Tour:
http://www.youtube.com/user/JustonWestern#p/u/0/yRK2R8rqYNs

Thanks to everyone who had nice comments for my blog and our trip. Our trip was a big success. I feel closer to Juston than ever, and we are really coming back to reality much relaxed & with lower stress levels, which is something we've really needed. Last year was kind of crazy, so it was really nice to forget about everything for a while.

My parents, my incredible parents, totally spoiled us right through our jet lag recovery, and they cooked a fabulous dinner last night for one of my special aunts, and our best friends Freddie & Kadee. We had French chocolate as appetizers, french bread, along with dad's jambalaya and mom's potato salad. It was so awesome to get to share the fun stories from our trip with them. And, we've made an agreement with Freddie and Kadee, that we should take one International Vacation with them every 10 years, starting in March 2013. That happens to be the year we will all be 30! So, that seems so far away, but time really does fly. In 2013, we've decided to go to London, Paris, and Ireland.

My parents took such wonderful care of Puggles, he barely missed us. This morning he finally started following me around again, and as we speak he is laying next to me in the living room, so comfortably sound asleep, getting his rest in after all his travels & his bath I gave him when we got home. Mom took great care of him, and although he is still favoring his leg, it does seem to be improving. So, we will wait it out until the end of June, and then will go back to the vet to check on his progress.

Of course, Juston's parents are to be thanked for facilitating our travel. The accommodations were so plush, we felt truly special to be included in their trip. Even though we did not spend too much time with them, it was nice to be able to visit with them. Plus, to be able to spend Elaine's birthday in such fashion was very special for us all.

Tomorrow, we will go back to work, and start our regular lives again. And honestly, we're glad and proud to do so. Europe was absolutely amazing, but it gave me a really solid perspective on what I'm here to do. I want to keep my family happy, and I want to continue to be a good wife to Juston. I want to be successful, and so I will go back to work tomorrow not dreadfully so, but with an attitude of focusing more on the very many positive things that are happening in my career. I will continue to love my family, America, and the reasons, the many reasons why I am such a blessed person. Working hard is not always fun, but getting to take a trip like the one we just returned from makes it all worthwhile.

I've enjoyed blogging so much that I think I will continue to use it any time we travel. So, I will periodically email you all a link to this blog, which will chronicle my travels from now on. Here are a few fun upcoming trips you can look forward to hearing about:

June 19 - 10 Year High School Reunion in Louisiana
July 10- Lentz Wedding in New Orleans (Our first big fat Greek wedding!)
August 21- Colorado Trip - Reunion with Air Force Buddies in the Springs
+ Kelly Wedding in Estes Park
Fall 2010:
Auburn vs LSU Game in Auburn, AL
October 30- New Orleans
Thanksgiving- North Louisiana for a very Hall Thanksgiving

Hope you've enjoyed the Paris Edition of the blog of the Traveling Ashley!!

Love,

Ashley

Wednesday Night Pics/ Last Post from Paris

Good evening (?) everyone! It is 4:30 AM in Paris, on Saturday morning. Juston and I just got back from the Club. It was insane.

We scoped out the area around 9PM, and found a little restaurant that basically amounted to a sports bar to have dinner in, just across the Seine from the club. But, this was no American Sports Bar- the theme was rugby!! We had steaks, and I had a 3 scoop neapolitan ice cream dessert. We also had several red bulls, which explains how I am still typing as fast as my little fingers can type at 4AM on my second night in a row of clubbing!!

We stayed at the restaurant until about 12 Midnight, as I did not want to tire my feet at the club waiting on the main DJ to arrive. Now, a little commentary on the club scene in Europe. In America, most "Electronic" music clubs open around 1oPM, and there is a few opening DJ's followed by a main gig, usually starting between 12-1AM. Clubs in America, at least in New Orleans, usually are done around 3 or 4 AM. Even in New York, the main DJ's usually go on between 12-1, even if the clubs stay open until the morning hours. No, not in Europe. We got to the club at 12:15 AM. There was a line of about 100 people outside. We had our tickets in advance, so we got to be in a much shorter line of about 20 people. We got inside at 12:30 AM, to find about 500 people in this club. The name of the club was Showcase, and this was not any ordinary club. The club's exterior structure is made under the bridge of one of the bridges that goes over the Seine. The club itself was basically built into the framework of one side of the bridge. So, once inside the club, we had huge, overarching views of the banks of the Seine, along with a view of le Grand Palais on one side of the river, and Napoleon's Tomb, Le Invalides, on the other side. Phew, that was incredible.

Now, you'd think, "500 people is a lot for a club". No, not for this club. It looked quasi empty, but people continued to stream in the doors. We listened to the far inferior "warmup dj" until THREE AM!!!!!! That was what time I wanted to be in a taxi going home! That was the disappointment of the evening I'd say. Juston really wanted to see the main act, and even with our 3:30 AM or so departure, he only got to see a small part of it. I guess the DJ must play until 6AM at least. The bright side of this is we did find seating in the club, and it was absolutely fascinating to see the girls in this club. Talk about the fashion- I've never seen such fashion diversity in a crowd. However, one thing is for sure. Every. Single. Woman. looked like she was cut from a magazine. But somehow they look like they are not trying to be gorgeous. Blew my mind. Even the girls who were basically wearing ankle boots, short shorts, and a grey t shirt with a scarf around their necks looked so put together it was sick!! I will definitely try to take some queues from the Parisians in the fashion department.

Anyway, all in all, the club was beautiful, but by 3AM there must have been 3,000 people in there, and you could not move. Although it was not comfortable, we think it was a pretty fitting in to our insane week of Paris. It has definitely left an impression on us.

So, here I am, blogging one final time, before we leave for the airport in 3 hours. We have decided just to delay sleep and we are about to shower & pack our last items. We are bringing back a ridiculous sum of wine & chocolate. Hooray.

By the way, our Wednesday evening pictures have finished uploading:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/justonwestern/sets/72157624145573772/

If you've already seen the Wednesday set I posted earlier, just click to page 4 of the set & you will see the pics beginning with the new ones, from the dinner at the Eiffel Tower. The last 5 pages of those photos are pretty incredible.

Well, off to shower, pack, and perhaps stroll one last time down the Champs Elysees for a bite & a cafe'. Goodbye blogging world, see you on the other side of the pond!!!!!!!!

Come back on Sunday to view my Thursday & Friday photo sets!

Ciao,

Ashley

Friday/ Last Day on the Ground

Unfortunately today is the last day we have on the ground in Paris. We leave the apartment for the airport at 8AM. So, after Juston did a little business with his family, and I packed our bags, we got a head start out the door around 12PM today.

The first thing we did was walk to an area off the Arc de Triomphe that we had not previously frequented. From there, we dined at a sidewalk cafe, that turned out to be the best lunch we have had, hands down. We got a 5 cheese plate, tomatoes & mozzarella, and a pizza with ham & mushrooms. I also had a mojito. It was phenomenally good.

After lunch, we had plans to get over to Champs Elysees, to find a store for Absinthe. So, we started that way, but taking little backstreets to get there. I was so excited to find a patisserie, which allowed us to pick up 4 pan au chocolat's for breakfast on Sunday with my parents. Also, we strolled into Maison du Chcolat, a premiere chocolatier here, and although I could not afford a lot (it was 10 EU per bar!), we did get a few things as a special treat. Then, we walked the entire length of Champs Elysees to find a store that sold Absinthe. Juston ended up getting a special bottle, only 1 of 300 made in France, so he was excited.

After a brief drop off of several bottles of vio, the absinthe, and our chocolates, we went to Arc de Triomphe. We climbed all stairs, 108 metres in the air, but once we got up there, the view was fantastic. And, we were able to get some really cool arial photos of our apartment building, since Avenue Foch is right off the Arc, and we are only the 2nd building down.

Tonight, the Westerns took their own champagne cruise, leaving Juston & I to do our own thing for our last night. So we are at the apartment now (7pm), to regroup & go out to dinner for the evening, before going to Club Showcase on the Seine to dance the night away. Our plan is to stay there until 3AM, then on our way back to the apartment, grab breakfast as one last homage to the place we have so enjoyed for the past week. We depart at 8AM from the apartment, so we should be able to get back & shower just before it is time to leave. Talk about exhaustion that should enable all 9.15 hours of flying time from Paris to Charolotte to be deep sleep!

What a week. I need to go through the pictures just to relive it all. It has been amazing.

I will post one last group of photos tonight before we go out, from Wednesday Night. Wednesday night brought about spectacular photography, as we spent the evening atop the Eiffel.

Once we get home to the states on Saturday night, we will post the last groupings of photos, from Thursday & Friday here.

I hope you have enjoyed my blog while I've traveled Paris this week. I did not get to see all that I wanted, but I was able to conclude that life is too short to have a narrow view of the world. So, no matter if you gain perspective from down the street or across the world, keep your perspectives wide, and your hearts & minds open. You just never know what special thing you will find.

xoxoxox

Ash

Day 5- Thursday

Thursday was crazy. That's all I can say to sum it up. We had every intention of leaving the apartment for 8AM to get to the Louvre prior to or just as it opened. The 6 of us were to go together. Well, finally around 10:30, everyone was "kindof" ready to go. We took the metro & finally arrived at 11AM. Then, we split up & agreed to meet back at 2.

The Louvre must've had 50,000 people in it on the morning we arrived. It is huge, but overwhelming. So, Juston and I headed out to see a few of the high points- Monna Lisa was the first on the list. Now, let me say this. I think she is ordinary, and she was without a doubt the smallest piece in the gallery. But there were multiple guards, and she was behind what was surely triple pained plate glass. And there must've been 250 people snapping photos of her like she was Britney Spears and they were the paparazzo. It was kindof humorous. I am glad I saw her, but I think for the most part, everyone treats her like a rockstar because popular culture tells us she is. I can easily think of a great deal of paintings which left a larger impression on me.

Speaking of larger impressions, we visited Napoleon's Apartments, within the Louvre, next. They were so opulent. It was truly a sight to see. Everything was covered in gold. Just off the grand salon, there was a formal dining room...for 55. It was amazing, and I took lots of pictures & videos to get a good memory. I was glad we got to do this, as we will not have time to get out to Versailles on this trip, and I hear they are similar.

After these highlights, we ran down to the Musee Louvre post office, where we thought our package of Ichocolates would be. Let me say this, Juston might be geekier than ever before after this. There is a chocolatier in Paris that makes boxes of chocolates made to look like an iphone with apps as each piece. They do not ship to the US, so Juston arranged them to deliver us a box. But, we found out they cannot deliver to a residence, so us staying in an apartment rather than a hotel was a challenge.

So, after quite a bit of broken English back & forth with the Musee poste, we concluded 1) We stressed out the french worker quite a bit and 2) we were at the totally wrong poste! So, we headed out, in the pouring rain with no umbrellas, for the correct poste. After getting there, we talked to French person #2 who did not speak English at all, and she said the package was not there, despite it being about an hour after it was guaranteed to arrive. We found out later that the people in that poste are generally known for not really looking for packages, as they really don't seem to care if you get your fancy chocolates or not.

So, after walking about 1/2 mile in the pouring rain, we went back to the Louvre to meet with the family as planned, for 2pm. Well, as soon as we met them, they all went in separate directions again. So, Juston and I began to shop all the stores that lined the Louvre.

We got several souvenirs. I got dad a Paris Apron, for his cooking adventures. I also bought 10 scarves, because the scarves in Paris are beautiful and not very expensive. I am looking forward to sharing a couple of those with our loved ones. Juston, continuing his iphone / geek theme, got a t Shirt that says paris, but the front is shaped like an iphone, and each "app" is a different landmark. We also got this beautiful fluer de lis plaque, for 13 EU, which was the deal of the day.

After our drenching rain experiences, and the shopping, we stopped in a cafe. Well, after deciding that we needed a cheese plate, 2 bottles of wine, and a croque monsieur (hot ham & cheese), we felt a bit better. So, we headed back out in the rain, to conquer the Poste once again. By this point it was about 5pm, so we were actually dealing with a woman who spoke no more English than the first, but she actually looked and found, the package this time! It was a triumph after a lot of bs from the morning!!

So, heading back with our gifts & i chocolates, we ended up in a bakery, where we finally found baguettes and chocolate croissants to take home. Unfortunately, it rained so much on us on the way to the Metro, that I seriously doubt if our baked goods would've lasted. So, of course, we were forced to eat them. :)

Thursday night brought a meeting of Jackie, who is a girl that Juston went to Tulane with in 2001. She studied Fashion Design in Singapore, and now lives in Paris with her boyfriend, who is Parisian. This was a fun interaction, because she is basically a local, and knew some French. So, she met us at our apartment, and then took us to a lovely, relatively expensive, French restaurant. I had lobster macaroni, Juston had Sea Bass. The food was very good, and I think the experience was such that no real tourist would receive such a welcome at a truly French restaurant.

After dinner, Jackie helped us navigate the 4-5 metro changes & stops, and got us to Club Rex. Club Rex is famous in the electronic music scene, and has been the location for many of Juston's favorite DJ's over the years. So, after one more drink & a goodbye to Jackie, Juston and I went to the club for some dancing. Juston enjoyed that so much, and I am glad I went with him. It was tiring, but I know he just loved it.

All in all, our Thursday reminded me of why we travel independent of the group most of the time, as it is hard to navigate touring with a group, especially a group that prefers to operate independent of the rest. It also taught me that rain and cold weather in Paris may sound romantic, but it makes things very hard to navigate. A third thing Thursday taught me is that 2 bottles of wine fixes anything. And the poste worker has restored my faith in the system in France, because I was not leaving France without those damned chocolates. :)

Finally, good friends (or acquaintances) and good wine are good to have, no matter what part of the world you are in!

Here are about 300 pictures from Wednesday in Paris. We took about 200 more at the top of the Eiffel Tower, and will post those separately.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/justonwestern/sets/72157624145573772/

Hoping to get the Wednesday evening & Thursday pics posted tonight, but now its time to get out & enjoy our last day in Paris.

Au Revoir!

Ashley

Day 3 Pictures!!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/justonwestern/sets/72157624134848838/

Enjoy!!!!! Day 4 are being uploaded now...will post soon!

Ashley

Evening at le Tower EIFFEL

Oh my gosh, what an evening! We all took the metro to the Eiffel for a 6pm lift appointment, and 6:30 Dinner at Tower 58. Oh my gosh, what an experience. To sit 58 metres above Paris for dinner, complete with 3 courses, wine, and champagne, to celebrate Elaine's Birthday...wow. Dinner was great and to watch the sun set in the Eiffel Tower was amazing. After dinner, we went to the next level at the tower, and took a million pictures. The view of the Tower from above was indescribable. We must've taken 100 pictures. I will post them soon.

I also argued with a Frenchman and got a little tower figurine for 2.5 Euros. He asked 5 to start. Everyone was impressed with my negotiation skills.

We were also happy to hear we've got a deal on the Goldenvine house! What a blessing.

Elaine's birthday was picture perfect- couldn't have asked for anything more!

Going to enjoy champagne & the evening. We will post pics soon from our days!!

Ashley

Day 4 AM Sights

This morning Juston & I got up and decided to brave the Metro. We were horrible at it. We were hoping to get off at the Pompidou Center but ended up at the Louvre instead. Anyway we eventually got where we wanted to be, and went to the Rodin Museum. IT was better than any of the museums we've seen in my opinion. The sculpture gardens were amazing. There were also lovely rose gardens. I took tons of pics & will post tonight.

We also went to Napoleon's Tomb. Man, he had quite the complex...it was gaudy but impressive.

We just got caught in a rainstorm and caught a taxi to the apartment, where we are getting ready for Elaine's Birthday dinner at Tower 58 tonight, in the Eiffel Tower.

More later!