Apologies for being away for a couple days, our internet won't cooperate again to load photos. We haven't had all that much to report anyways since our days have been spent strolling around the boulevards and stopping at anyplace which looked interesting. The one benefit of visiting Paris previously is that we've already seen the major sites (Eiffel Tower, Louvre, Montmartre, etc...) so we aren't burdened by anything on the agenda.
Sometimes the little things add up to something greater than doing something grand. Today we ate brunch at our favorite restaurant, returned for a short nap, went out to visit friends for a cafeside bottle of wine and conversation before finishing the day with excellent Lebanese food. It's these types of days which make life worth living and what a honeymoon is all about.
In the A.M. we're off to London for the final two nights of the trip.....
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Friday, October 10, 2008
D-Day Beaches
Ryan wanted to visit the D-Day beaches on a day trip which is about 3 1/2 hours drive from Paris but thought that Shauna should remain in Paris to shop and spend time with an Australian woman we met on the Champagne tour the day before to explore the city. The two of us being apart for 12 hours is the longest we've been away from eachother for over 2 1/2 months! Shauna had a wonderful time exploring food establishments and shops so it was for the better as she probably wouldn't have enjoyed the D-Day tour.
Operation Overlord was the largest amphibious assault in history and is also memorialized at the D-Day Museum in New Orleans which Ryan previously visited and highly enjoyed. This clip from Saving Private Ryan allows us to visualize the tremendous sacrifices American troops made for a free Europe: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PEh7p5ypQ9Y
The first stop on the his tour was Point Du Hoc which was an important landing point between Utah and Omaha Beaches. The 2nd Ranger Battalion took heavy causalities to capture the position but accomplished their mission of destroying heavy guns atop the cliff.
The landscape around Point Du Hoc still bears the deep scars of bombardment. 
The heavily fortified German positions withstood a lot of the aerial bombings and still appear rather solid over 60 years after D-Day.
Inside the artillery position, not a lot left but enough to get a sense of it's defensive position.
Omaha Beach is pictured below where the heaviest casualties were suffered on D-Day. I read elsewhere that the choices were simple since the troops couldn't go back into the sea and couldn't stay on the open space of the beach so the only option was to head forward towards the cliffs.
On Omaha Beach is a memorial to the US 1st Infrantry Division and the inscription is: "No Mission Too Difficult, No Sacrifice Too Great, Duty First, Forced Omaha Beach at Dawn 6 June"
Below is the reflecting pool of the American Cemetery in Normandy and contains about 10,000 American graves. The French have turned over the land to the American government for care and upkeep in perpetuity.
Each marble gravestone is immaculately clean thanks to the efforts of workers like the gentleman below who scrubs each gravestone.
The gravestone below belongs to an unidentified solider and there were many of such graves at the cemetery.
Teddy Roosevelt Jr. died shortly after D-Day and you have to respect a Brigadier General who insisted on going onto Utah Beach with the first wave of troops. In fact, he was the only General to land with the first wave and was the first person off his landing craft. Unfortunately, he died of heart trouble just over a month after D-Day. Medal of Honor recipients like him have their gravestones with gold lettering.
The below view is of Omaha Beach from the American Cemetery and as you can see, it's a long way to the German positions with little cover to be had.
Gold Beach is pictured below which was taken by the British on D-Day. The structures that remain in the water were Mulberry harbors which the Allies built to facilitate the loading of equipment onto the beaches after they were secured. The natural port of Cherbourg was taken a while later so the Allies had to use the prefabricated harbors to get equipment in fast.
To finish the tour, a brief visit was made to Juno Beach which was taken by Canadian troops also with heavy losses. A new memorial center was recently built in the shape of a maple leaf.
Operation Overlord was the largest amphibious assault in history and is also memorialized at the D-Day Museum in New Orleans which Ryan previously visited and highly enjoyed. This clip from Saving Private Ryan allows us to visualize the tremendous sacrifices American troops made for a free Europe: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PEh7p5ypQ9Y
The first stop on the his tour was Point Du Hoc which was an important landing point between Utah and Omaha Beaches. The 2nd Ranger Battalion took heavy causalities to capture the position but accomplished their mission of destroying heavy guns atop the cliff.
The landscape around Point Du Hoc still bears the deep scars of bombardment. 
The heavily fortified German positions withstood a lot of the aerial bombings and still appear rather solid over 60 years after D-Day.
Inside the artillery position, not a lot left but enough to get a sense of it's defensive position.
Omaha Beach is pictured below where the heaviest casualties were suffered on D-Day. I read elsewhere that the choices were simple since the troops couldn't go back into the sea and couldn't stay on the open space of the beach so the only option was to head forward towards the cliffs.
On Omaha Beach is a memorial to the US 1st Infrantry Division and the inscription is: "No Mission Too Difficult, No Sacrifice Too Great, Duty First, Forced Omaha Beach at Dawn 6 June"
Below is the reflecting pool of the American Cemetery in Normandy and contains about 10,000 American graves. The French have turned over the land to the American government for care and upkeep in perpetuity.
Each marble gravestone is immaculately clean thanks to the efforts of workers like the gentleman below who scrubs each gravestone.
The gravestone below belongs to an unidentified solider and there were many of such graves at the cemetery.
Teddy Roosevelt Jr. died shortly after D-Day and you have to respect a Brigadier General who insisted on going onto Utah Beach with the first wave of troops. In fact, he was the only General to land with the first wave and was the first person off his landing craft. Unfortunately, he died of heart trouble just over a month after D-Day. Medal of Honor recipients like him have their gravestones with gold lettering.
The below view is of Omaha Beach from the American Cemetery and as you can see, it's a long way to the German positions with little cover to be had.
Gold Beach is pictured below which was taken by the British on D-Day. The structures that remain in the water were Mulberry harbors which the Allies built to facilitate the loading of equipment onto the beaches after they were secured. The natural port of Cherbourg was taken a while later so the Allies had to use the prefabricated harbors to get equipment in fast.
To finish the tour, a brief visit was made to Juno Beach which was taken by Canadian troops also with heavy losses. A new memorial center was recently built in the shape of a maple leaf.
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Champagne
We took a day trip to the Champagne region which is only 1 1/2 -2 hours away from Paris by car. To start the day, we learned of how the grapes are grown before visiting a small winery. Traditionally, the land in Champagne goes back hundreds of years through family generations and it was the same situation with the small producer we visited.
Champagne is generally made with two different grape types, pinot noir (below) and chardonnay (second below).
It's a beautiful part of the world to visit for anyone, even those who don't drink alcohol.
The grapes don't taste the same as normal grapes but still are nice to sample. The skins were acidic but the juice tasted wonderful. Harvest finished the week before so it would've been too busy in the area if we showed up earlier.
The windmill on the hill is owned by Mumm Champagne.
The soil of Champagne is filled with chalk which is the bedrock that aging caves are dug out of. The cellar we first visited was quite small by local standards but the same methods apply to larger productions as in the smaller ones.
Once yeast is added to the juice for fermentation and bottled, the sediment takes a lengthy process to settle near the cap as pictured below. The bottles are stored in racks for many months and turned a quarter turn once a day to move the sediment towards the cap. Once the sediment is above the cap, the neck is frozen and the cap pops off launching a frozen cube of sediment out of the bottle so the final product is completely clear. To replace the lost juice, a combination of wine and sugar is added which determines how sweet a Champagne tastes.
Enough talk, let's drink!
A different region for growing grapes and note that the grapes are always grown on a slope in Champagne.
At lunch we were given a special dessert treat to celebrate our honeymoon which topped off a wonderful meal in central Reims.
After lunch we visited the cathedral of Notre Dame in the center of Reims which is very important for a lot of reasons...which you can lookup on the internet because we don't remember a whole lot about it. The thing about Europe is that there is such an abundance of religious buildings that they all sorta blend together unless someone is highly interested in their history.
Before heading back to Paris, we visited the extensive aging caves of Taittinger to contrast with the smaller winery we visited earlier. Shauna poses below near a rack of large format bottles. The names of different bottle sizes are after Biblical figures such as Jeroboam, Balthazar, and Nabuchodonosor for the largest size of 15 liters or the equivalent of 20 bottles.
Bottles of Champagne as far as the eye can see! The labyrinth in the caves holds millions of bottles of Champagne and is 4 total kilometers in length.
Shauna is standing in one of the oldest cellaring caves in Taittinger, it dates from approximately the fourth century and was a chalk quarry made by the Romans who used the chalk as a building material. Each of these original Roman caves is a pyramid shape because the design was to dig straight down then in a pyramid formation for the roof to be supported.
Champagne is generally made with two different grape types, pinot noir (below) and chardonnay (second below).
It's a beautiful part of the world to visit for anyone, even those who don't drink alcohol.
The grapes don't taste the same as normal grapes but still are nice to sample. The skins were acidic but the juice tasted wonderful. Harvest finished the week before so it would've been too busy in the area if we showed up earlier.
The windmill on the hill is owned by Mumm Champagne.
The soil of Champagne is filled with chalk which is the bedrock that aging caves are dug out of. The cellar we first visited was quite small by local standards but the same methods apply to larger productions as in the smaller ones.
Once yeast is added to the juice for fermentation and bottled, the sediment takes a lengthy process to settle near the cap as pictured below. The bottles are stored in racks for many months and turned a quarter turn once a day to move the sediment towards the cap. Once the sediment is above the cap, the neck is frozen and the cap pops off launching a frozen cube of sediment out of the bottle so the final product is completely clear. To replace the lost juice, a combination of wine and sugar is added which determines how sweet a Champagne tastes.
Enough talk, let's drink!
A different region for growing grapes and note that the grapes are always grown on a slope in Champagne.
At lunch we were given a special dessert treat to celebrate our honeymoon which topped off a wonderful meal in central Reims.
After lunch we visited the cathedral of Notre Dame in the center of Reims which is very important for a lot of reasons...which you can lookup on the internet because we don't remember a whole lot about it. The thing about Europe is that there is such an abundance of religious buildings that they all sorta blend together unless someone is highly interested in their history.
Before heading back to Paris, we visited the extensive aging caves of Taittinger to contrast with the smaller winery we visited earlier. Shauna poses below near a rack of large format bottles. The names of different bottle sizes are after Biblical figures such as Jeroboam, Balthazar, and Nabuchodonosor for the largest size of 15 liters or the equivalent of 20 bottles.
Bottles of Champagne as far as the eye can see! The labyrinth in the caves holds millions of bottles of Champagne and is 4 total kilometers in length.
Shauna is standing in one of the oldest cellaring caves in Taittinger, it dates from approximately the fourth century and was a chalk quarry made by the Romans who used the chalk as a building material. Each of these original Roman caves is a pyramid shape because the design was to dig straight down then in a pyramid formation for the roof to be supported.
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Paris
To kick off our day, we went to Champs-Elysees location of LaDuree in search of macaroons (they were invented there) but sat down for an entire breakfast. Shauna found her ultimate dessert pictured below consisting of rose flavored macaroons with fresh raspberries and lychee flavored cream inside. If this dessert didn't already exist, Shauna would've invented it.
Random street scene below.
The view from right outside our hotel in La Defense shows the Arc de Triomphe in the background. Although we're a bit out of the way, a metro station is outside our door so distance isn't much of an issue.
Below, Shauna poses in front of the Grande Arche which is the symbol of the La Defense neighborhood.
To round out the evening, we went for a wine tasting which was hosted by a very relaxed, fun and informative sommelier in his loft apartment. Prior to this evening, our knowledge and respect for French wine was almost zero but we came away with some useful insights and a greater appreciation of how great French wine is. Certainly, we couldn't think of a better and more fun way to learn of regional wines than from this tasting and would recommend it to everyone.
He looks serious in the below photo but was actually very funny and entertaining throughout helping us learn.
Below are some photos from Aix en Provence that we didn't get a chance to put up. The main area to stroll is the Cours Mirabeau and it's lined with numerous cafes and bistros to sit around at.
Much of the rest of central Aix is narrow streets filled with great shops, restaurants and cafes. We could've spent much more time there but our rush up to Paris only left us two nights in Aix which was not enough. There isn't much to see there but it's a great place to simply chill out.
Random street scene below.
The view from right outside our hotel in La Defense shows the Arc de Triomphe in the background. Although we're a bit out of the way, a metro station is outside our door so distance isn't much of an issue.
Below, Shauna poses in front of the Grande Arche which is the symbol of the La Defense neighborhood.
To round out the evening, we went for a wine tasting which was hosted by a very relaxed, fun and informative sommelier in his loft apartment. Prior to this evening, our knowledge and respect for French wine was almost zero but we came away with some useful insights and a greater appreciation of how great French wine is. Certainly, we couldn't think of a better and more fun way to learn of regional wines than from this tasting and would recommend it to everyone.
He looks serious in the below photo but was actually very funny and entertaining throughout helping us learn.
Below are some photos from Aix en Provence that we didn't get a chance to put up. The main area to stroll is the Cours Mirabeau and it's lined with numerous cafes and bistros to sit around at.
Much of the rest of central Aix is narrow streets filled with great shops, restaurants and cafes. We could've spent much more time there but our rush up to Paris only left us two nights in Aix which was not enough. There isn't much to see there but it's a great place to simply chill out.
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Aix en Provence up to Paris
We're having difficulties loading up photos but for the past couple days, we haven't had a whole lot to show. It seems that one of the favorite pastimes of Americans is to rip the French for their tendency to sit in cafes and not do anything gainful but that attitude has rubbed off on us because we've spent the past few days doing as the locals do.
This morning we took the TGV ("train a grande vitesse" in French which translates into 'train at high speed') from Aix en Provence up to Paris where we'll spend about a week. The train hauls ass so we made it to Paris in about three hours after which we checked into a serviced apartment similar to the ones we stayed in at Beijing and Manila. It does shatter a bit of the Parisian dream to be staying it the business district of La Defense on the northwestern side but it's worth it for the 4x gain in lodging space. Anyone who's been to Europe knows how small a standard hotel room is so with our four bags, it's nice to have full size one bedroom apartment.
For dinner we opted for French colonial and the easiest type of that cuisine to find is North African. On our last trip to Paris a couple years back, we enjoyed Algerian cuisine but this attempt wasn't as delicious. The staple of North African food is couscous so its just a matter of what is paired on top of the couscous.
Over the next few days, we're lining up some wonderful activities but today was simply a slow travel day.
This morning we took the TGV ("train a grande vitesse" in French which translates into 'train at high speed') from Aix en Provence up to Paris where we'll spend about a week. The train hauls ass so we made it to Paris in about three hours after which we checked into a serviced apartment similar to the ones we stayed in at Beijing and Manila. It does shatter a bit of the Parisian dream to be staying it the business district of La Defense on the northwestern side but it's worth it for the 4x gain in lodging space. Anyone who's been to Europe knows how small a standard hotel room is so with our four bags, it's nice to have full size one bedroom apartment.
For dinner we opted for French colonial and the easiest type of that cuisine to find is North African. On our last trip to Paris a couple years back, we enjoyed Algerian cuisine but this attempt wasn't as delicious. The staple of North African food is couscous so its just a matter of what is paired on top of the couscous.
Over the next few days, we're lining up some wonderful activities but today was simply a slow travel day.
Monday, October 6, 2008
Nice and Aix en Provence
Sorry we meant to post this last night but fell asleep after a bottle of local wine.
Since we spent the evening in Monte Carlo, we only had the morning to explore Nice before catching a train to Aix en Provence. Nice was worthy of more days but we're in a bit of a rush to get to Paris so we primarily walked around the old part of Nice as it's the best part.
Across from our hotel was a cathedral called Notre Dame which looked almost identical to the one in Paris.
Nice is set on the Mediterranean and while the water looked very inviting, the beach seemed a bit rocky but was supplemented by sand which the city brings in to line the shore.
The rest of Nice was ok but nothing special compared to the rest of France.
Aix en Provence is a great idyllic city about 30 kilometers north of Marseilles. We originally planned to spend time in Marseilles but after changing trains there, it seemed like an ugly industrial city so we decided against that. In Aix, we settled in the amazing Hotel Cezanne which is one of the greatest hotels we've ever stayed at. Besides great location, creative facilities, and pleasant service, it offers features such as free wifi internet and an honor bar in the lobby where we can help ourselves to drinks then tell inform the front desk of our consumption later. The hotel is named after Paul Cezanne since the artist lived in Aix previously.
Once settled, our priority was to wash clothes for the first time in over a week. We have enough clothes to last approx 10 days each but it's better to be preemptive so we don't run out of fresh clothing. Shauna insisted on taking the below photo en route to they laundromat.
We'll take many more photos of Aix but generally it's a pleasant, tree lined city that has enough action to make it interesting but not too much to make it seem busy.
We've spent our time in Aix doing as the locals do which is pretty much drinking, eating and relaxing. Shauna has a lot of reasons to smile such as the great weather, wonderful meal of mussels and goat cheese salad, and of course her new blush pink leather bag that she bought in Milan.
Since we spent the evening in Monte Carlo, we only had the morning to explore Nice before catching a train to Aix en Provence. Nice was worthy of more days but we're in a bit of a rush to get to Paris so we primarily walked around the old part of Nice as it's the best part.
Across from our hotel was a cathedral called Notre Dame which looked almost identical to the one in Paris.
Nice is set on the Mediterranean and while the water looked very inviting, the beach seemed a bit rocky but was supplemented by sand which the city brings in to line the shore.
The rest of Nice was ok but nothing special compared to the rest of France.
Aix en Provence is a great idyllic city about 30 kilometers north of Marseilles. We originally planned to spend time in Marseilles but after changing trains there, it seemed like an ugly industrial city so we decided against that. In Aix, we settled in the amazing Hotel Cezanne which is one of the greatest hotels we've ever stayed at. Besides great location, creative facilities, and pleasant service, it offers features such as free wifi internet and an honor bar in the lobby where we can help ourselves to drinks then tell inform the front desk of our consumption later. The hotel is named after Paul Cezanne since the artist lived in Aix previously.Once settled, our priority was to wash clothes for the first time in over a week. We have enough clothes to last approx 10 days each but it's better to be preemptive so we don't run out of fresh clothing. Shauna insisted on taking the below photo en route to they laundromat.
We'll take many more photos of Aix but generally it's a pleasant, tree lined city that has enough action to make it interesting but not too much to make it seem busy.
We've spent our time in Aix doing as the locals do which is pretty much drinking, eating and relaxing. Shauna has a lot of reasons to smile such as the great weather, wonderful meal of mussels and goat cheese salad, and of course her new blush pink leather bag that she bought in Milan.
Saturday, October 4, 2008
Monte Carlo, Monaco
Around lunchtime we took the train from Milan to Nice along the beautiful Cote d'Azur of the Mediterranean Coast. Because we only have one night in Nice, we decided to take the 15 minute ride to Monte Carlo to spend the evening. Monaco is the second smallest country in the world but is built densely along steep slopes.
The train station was near the top of the city so we had to descend over a series of steps to reach the harbor.
The amount and size of ships that are docked is just unreal and there probably isn't another place on Earth which could compare.
In port was The World cruise ship which is a floating residence that goes around the world. Prices range from 1.5 million to 5 million with annual fees of 100k to 250k USD.
We saw some of the most amazing yachts in the harbor including this one with a helicopter on the back.
The one pictured below had a chase boat which would be nice in its own right but looks tiny compared to its big brother.
It was nice to be able to walk around the harbor with no problems and to be able to get close to the megayachts.
To finish up the evening, we visited the Monte Carlo Casino which costs 10 euros to enter. Neither of us gamble so we just took a look around inside and considering it's one of the most famous casinos in the world, was worth the price to look around although the area we had access to was small.
The train station was near the top of the city so we had to descend over a series of steps to reach the harbor.
The amount and size of ships that are docked is just unreal and there probably isn't another place on Earth which could compare.
In port was The World cruise ship which is a floating residence that goes around the world. Prices range from 1.5 million to 5 million with annual fees of 100k to 250k USD.
We saw some of the most amazing yachts in the harbor including this one with a helicopter on the back.
The one pictured below had a chase boat which would be nice in its own right but looks tiny compared to its big brother.
It was nice to be able to walk around the harbor with no problems and to be able to get close to the megayachts.
To finish up the evening, we visited the Monte Carlo Casino which costs 10 euros to enter. Neither of us gamble so we just took a look around inside and considering it's one of the most famous casinos in the world, was worth the price to look around although the area we had access to was small.
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