Paris in Flames

Currently Listening To: Teenage Bottlerocket - Total

As some of you may know (and most of you do not), I just spent this past weekend in one of my most favorite places in the world...PARIS, France! I know how most of you reading this post must feel right now..."What a spoiled jerk!" is a phrase that comes to mind. I would like to start off by saying, "Yes, I know that I am spoiled, but I do not take it for granted." Not one second have I ever not been thankful for the wonderful life my parents have given to me. To say that I had a marvelous time would be a total and complete understatement.

My journey to "The City of Lights" began at 3am last Thursday morning. I showered, got dressed, had a cup of PG Tips, and was out the door of my Aunt Noella's pad by 340am. The 'Super Shuttle' got me to the airport by 430am and by 630am, we were wheels up. I would spend the next 24 hours traveling ( roughly twelve hours of actual flying time) and by 8am (Paris time) the next day I was at Charles De Gaulle airport. I was supposed to meet the brothers at the airport, but after waiting around for fourty-five minutes I decided I would take a cab ride to the hotel and just meet them up there (maybe they had already left the airport and were already checked into the rooms)

After my 50 Euro ($65 American) cab ride, I made it to the lovely little boutique style hotel called "Hotel Le Bellechase". (If you are ever traveling to Paris I highly recommend that you stay at this gem of a hotel.) I was welcomed warmly by the hotel staff who told me that my brothers had not yet arrived and that our rooms would not be ready for another hour, so I decided to go down to the breakfast room to relax, wait, and eat.

It had been five and a half years since the last time I have traveled to Europe and since then I have forgotten a lot of details, but one thing that never left my subconscious was how unbelievable and special the food is. I sat down to a gorgeous, fully stocked, continental breakfast which included: fresh baked breads and pastries, tasty cold cuts, several different types of cheese, scrambled eggs and bacon, and the most fabulous yogurt I have ever put to my lips...I HAD ARRIVED! It was just then hitting me that I was sitting in a hotel, eating the best food in the world, in one of the greatest cities in the entire world. I took another bite of bread and smiled wide. Shortly after finishing my breakfast the brothers were walking down the steps to meet me. We hugged and sat down so they could enjoy some of the fine food and catch up (since the last time we saw each other was the first week if November.

That evening we would be dinning wit the folks and surprising our Mother, so that day was entirely up to us to entertain ourselves. We decided to go be "tourists", so we walked around the heart of Paris, taking lots of pictures, drinking fine espresso, and eating crepes. During this time, Alex's good friend Christina (the German) meet up with us to explore the city. We had a great day together, but it was going to be a better evening because we were going to be surprising TM at dinner (an elaborate plan all staged by our very sneaky father.

I would love to keep going on, but there is far too much to recall for you here. Instead, I will attempt to post all 200 + pictures I took and you can see for yourselves what all went down. Please do not expect ALL pictures by the end of the day because I am loading them to Photobucket first to reduce the size.

I hope you all are having a very pleasant 2011. I cannot believe that we are already in the month of March! So far it has been a wonderful year and we are only two months in. I love and miss you all. Thanks for reading.

With All My Heart,
Maddog