I'm back!

I got back from my London and Paris trip late Sunday night and have spent the last few days recovering/unpacking and organizing our house, not to mention enjoying time with Joe and my kids. I wanted to post a few pictures from the trip. I am relying on my sister for pictures since unfortunately I dropped my camera (which was actually my mom's camera since I didn't want to take my big one :( ) on literally the first day of the trip and it didn't work after that. So, these are a few pictures of some of the highlights that Katie was able to e-mail me.

As for the trip, we had an amazing time! We saw a lot in the few days we had and loved both cities. I had so much fun talking and hanging out with Katie. We saw the sights, ate delicious food, saw the show Wicked in London, and struggled to communicate in Paris. I took French in high school although I didn't learn much. It was a lot of fun for me to try to speak and understand the language again. I was scanning every sign and listening to conversations trying to pick up words I knew. I didn't pick up much and it made me want to study the language more.

We were also pretty proud of ourselves for mastering the complicated bus and metro/tube routes, or at least getting by. (Tip for London travel: You can go in opposite directions on the London subway and yet both will be called "Westbound"???) It was pretty physically tiring with walking everywhere and climbing to the top of everything but it was mentally and emotionally recharging. I came home excited to jump back into my responsibilities as wife and mother. I must admit, though, that even after only a few days back in the grind I am starting to feel the serenity wearing off. I know I will have to work hard to keep my focus.

So, without further rambling, here are the pictures:

Us in front of Buckingham Palace right before the little changing of the guard parade Warwick castle. We had to climb a really steep, claustrophobic spiral staircase in a tower to get this view but it was worth it.

A view of London from the London Eye

Us on the London Eye

Me on the second story of the Eiffel Tower

Us in the Hall of Mirrors at the Palace of Versailles

Me on the grounds of the Palace of VersaillesMe on a boat on the Seine with the Eiffel Tower in the background. For the first 10 minutes of every hour at night it sparkles like this (hard to see).
Us with a man pretending to be Quasimodo. He was scaring random people on the street for the enjoyment of the people standing in line for the towers of Notre Dame. He got me pretty good. :)
Me with the bell of Notre Dame
A view of Paris from the top of Notre Dame

Me in front of the Arc de Triomphe

Me eating escargots on our last night in Paris! It actually wasn't so bad if you can get past the texture. I ate all 6 of 'em!

We Found a Home!

After over a week of searching for a place to live, our search officially ended today. We found a nice house to rent not too far from the campus. It's big, a lot bigger than our house even. It's an older home but in good condition with new carpet and flooring. It's a good deal and we're very excited to move in on Saturday. So, our next week or so will be full of moving in. Then, a week from Friday I leave for London! For those of you who don't know I'm going on a 9 day tour of London and Paris with my sister. I can't believe it's almost here. I'm really excited to go but a little nervous about leaving the girls for so long. Hopefully they'll still like me when I get back. :) Anyway, big things coming up for us. Wish us luck!