Eiffel Tower Video

Update from the Eiffel Tower from Anna B on Vimeo.

Sorry its sideways! But you can see the Tower better that way. Next time I'll try and flip it though. 

Arrived in Nyankundee

We finally made it to Nyankundee about 6pm last night. And after a quick dinner I went straight to bed and slept for 12 hours and I just woke up 1/2 hour ago. Consequently, I can't tell you much about the place yet. :) And I don't like to do my posts out of order so I have one more day to update in Paris and by that time I will have more pictures and stories to share. 

But just to give you an idea of where we are staying, the first picture is the view from our front door. And the second is of our lovely house. 

Arrived in Africa

We arrived here in Entebbe, Uganda last night at 2am headed to our hotel, the Boma, for a good night's sleep. We had a delicious breakfast of fresh fruit this morning while enjoying the lovely cool breeze. Its quite nice not to have to bundle up in coats and hats after Paris. We head out in 1/2 hour to our next destination. I'll update hopefully tonight or tomorrow morning with pictures. 

Day 3 note

Today was our final day in Paris and we visited the Louvre, strolled along the Champs de Elysee, ate chocolate crepes, climbed the Eiffel tower, saw the Eiffel tower lit up at night, and ate chocolate eclairs. It was a wonderful day and I took lots of pictures but we are leaving at 4:30am tomorrow morning and I'm tired... in other words, no pictures today.
Nor will there be any tomorrow since we will be traveling all day. But hopefully after we arrive I'll update. We fly to Brussels and then down to Africa where we will spend the night, and then take another small plane, and then a car ride. 

Your   P R A Y E R S   are appreciated!! 

Foodie Post

I know that there are some foodies who read my blog (you know who you are) therefore I wrote down everything we had for dinner last night for you. :) 

Dad's appetizer: seared scallops on a split pea puree. Delicious.

I had pumpkin foie gras (pronounced fwa gwa) which is goose liver. It actually wasn't as bad as I expected, it's very smooth and sweet. I probably would have liked it if I could forget that I was eating liver... but I did eat it all. 

Raw oysters with a poppy seed and ginger sauce. Quite good.

My dinner was fish with mashed potatoes and tonka beans. Excellent.

Emily had hanger steak with wasabi sauce and smoked mashed potatoes.

Dad had chicken with a yellow and white wine sauce and morrel mushrooms.

For dessert Emily had cheesecake with a beet sauce. The sauce tasted like raspberries and was quite tasty. 

I ate hazelnut mousse with chickory ice cream. Chickory is a root that is used to replace coffee and consequently tastes like coffee, since I don't like coffee I was not a huge fan of it. But the mousse was amazing.

Dad had a chocolate truffle with ice cream.

Day 2 Paris

Day 2 in Paris, Tuesday

This morning I woke up and got the other two out of bed "at the crack of dawn" as Emily says.  Turns out that the crack of dawn is about 7:30 since the sun rises so late.  When we stepped out of the hotel the air smelled of fresh croissants, consequently, we had to eat some. We found a little bakeshop with croissants so fresh the chocolate was still soft and warm in the middle. A couple of blocks away we caught a train to Versailles, which is now one of my favorite places I’ve ever visited. The train took about 45 minutes and then we followed the tourists a couple of blocks to Versailles. The first view of Versailles took my breath away. It’s the biggest palace I’ve ever seen and the front seems nearly covered in gold.

Thankfully, since it was winter there were no lines so we just waltzed right it and using our audio guide started exploring the palace. Every single room is incredible. There are no rooms that are a disappointment. Gold, patterns, paintings, and statues cover every room. Personally, the best part of the Hall of Mirrors is how bright it is and the view that over looks the gardens. Louis’ bedroom is incredible. The rising sun fills the room with light and reflects off all the gold in the room. There isn’t one square inch that doesn’t have any decorations. Because the sun is so low in the sky it fills many of the rooms with sunlight. We stopped along the way for a quick snack of our first macaroon. I expected it to me like a meringue, but instead it’s a delicious soft and chewy cookie filled with frosting.

After finding our way outside we admired the view of the gardens and the rear view of the building. It is so large I couldn’t even get a picture of the entire back. We wandered down through the gardens and admired to view of the palace. We visited the Trion palace, which was the getaway house. Though I could never get enough of the view we eventually left. After arriving back in Paris we headed up to Sacre Couer. The building is beautiful but the area around it isn’t so charming-- thus, we took pictures and then headed back to our hotel to rest.

For dinner we walked a couple of blocks to the restaurant. We ate in French style, finishing at 10:15pm.  I have an entire post devoted to it that I will post soon. 

Paris Day 2

Our dessert last night, chocolate fondant, absolutely amazing.

Our first view of the beautiful Versailles

Looking away from the palace

The Chapel, we saw these guys a couple different times going places no one else could. And they messed up my picture...

One of many many elaborately decorated rooms.

Almost every single room had painted ceilings

I think these doors would look great on our front door. Don't you?

No plane stone busts for Versailles, it needs to have different stones!

Figurine on the fire place

The view from the Hall of Mirrors

The famous Hall of Mirrors. Personally, it's a little over rated. Yes, it's beautiful but not all that it's made out the be.

Emily with her handy dandy audio guide

Just in case you doubt I actually saw it, here I am

Louis' incredible bedroom. Ever single square inch of wall was covered in gold or color. He even had ceremonies of him getting up and going to bed...

The Queen's chamber isn't too shabby either. The little door to the left is the one Marie Antoinette used to escape from the mobs on October 6 in some year I can't remember, but it was a while ago. 

This is the king's dining room. He sold tickets to people wanting to watch him eat. Maybe I should try this, any takers?

Crowning of Empress Josephine

The back of Versailles, one of the most beautiful palaces ever, especially against a brilliant blue sky

The palace was so large even my wide angle (17mm) couldn't capture it all before I backed up so far that part of it was hidden by trees.

The Apollo fountain

They cut all the trees in rectangles, straight lines on both sides and the top for some reason

This is the Queen's private palace, a getaway for Louis, and where Napoleon lived

No timer or extra person needed

Bright colors anyone?

A miniature Hall of Mirrors

C'est moi

Proof that it is really cold here: the pond is still partly frozen in the middle of the afternoon

Did I mention that this place is massive?

My favorite view of the palace

The man himself, Louis XIV

After we arrived back in Paris we took the metro to Sacre Couer, which is a church on top of the highest hill in Paris. Though this is a good view of the city, Paris is not a particularly beautiful city to look at in my opinion

Sunset in Paris to close off our day, au revoir!