Tuesday, April 19, 2016

Paris!

I was worried that Paris wouldn't live up to all of it's hype but I was so wrong.  It was just amazing!  We loved everything about the city (except the constant cigarette smoking outdoors!).

Day 1!  We arrived about 3pm at our hotel and decided to just explore the Latin Quarter neighborhood.  We were both pretty tired from all the different time zones we had been in but the wine and cheese kept us awake!  We also strolled through Luxembourg Gardens that evening and it was just beautiful.  It is amazing the amount of history that runs through the city of Paris.

The amazing neighborhood!

 Not sure what this was but Paris seemed to be full of beautiful random buildings!


Luxembourg Gardens





On our walk back to the hotel, you can see Notre Dame in the background!


No words!



Day 2!  We planned to wake up early and get started on the day so we woke up at the crack of 10am!  Whoops!  Once we were up and going we took the train up to the Monmarte neighborhood and checked out the Sacre Coeur Basilica.  This place was both Aaron and I's favorite place in Paris.  The views from the top of the dome were unbelievable.  We could see the whole city just laid out in front of us.  The weather was also perfect outside which was very helpful!!







After the basilica we walked through the Monmarte neighborhood and found a cafe for some lunch.  Then we hopped back on the train down to the Arc de Triomphe and walked along the Champs Elysees.  It was fun to window shop and see all the high fashion shops.


We took the scenic route from there to the Eiffel Tower.  We decided to not go up the tower since we had just seen some great views of the city in the morning.  It was really nice to just sit near the Eiffel and see everything go by.





We would like to live in this building!


A beautiful little flower market.


That evening we grabbed a spot at covered patio and drank wine and ate while it rained!  Not a bad place to wait out a spring shower!



Day 3!  This was our last day in Paris and we woke up and headed to Notre Dame.  Our hotel was in such a great location that we could walk to lots of the sights or just hop a train fairly easy.  Notre Dame was huge and beautiful.  And just realized I do not have a picture of the outside!  Whoops.








Next we took a very long walk along the river and through what appeared to be the air district and ended at the Musee Rodin.  This was a sculpture garden with some interesting statues and beautiful landscaping.  The Thinker sculpture was out in one of the gardens and that was pretty cool to see.









After leaving there we grabbed lunch and headed to the Louvre.  Before getting to the Louvre we had already walked about 6 miles so honestly we did the highlight tour of the Louvre!  We both really liked the sculptures and thought the inside of the Louvre was just incredible.  The Mona Lisa was cool but a little overrated!  Sorry art people!

Cool views on our walk over.






Napoleon's Apartment at the Louvre.



The fanciest crib I have ever seen!








That night we got all the food that we wanted but hadn't eaten yet!  Macaroons, a few pastries, a nutella and banana crepe and a baguette sandwich from one of the many sidewalk shops.  I honestly think it was a tie between all of them!!  Although as you can tell from this picture I was pretty stocked about the sandwich.



The few days trip was a huge success and I hope we get the chance to go back again someday!  



Monday, April 18, 2016

The Maldives

The Maldives is one of the places Aaron and I have most looked forward to seeing while we are over here and we finally got the chance to go.  It was a quick two hour flight from Bangalore and we had an incredible 3 days there.  The water was so clear and warm it was hard to believe it was real.  Aaron had been working a lot of hours before we left so we spent most of the trip just relaxing, snorkeling and reading some good books.  Although those are the best things to do when we are on a beautiful island!  We stayed at the Grand Centara and loved it!  The island was big enough to not feel crowded but small enough to explore all the beaches and reefs in 3 days.

Walking the sea plane at the airport to get a ride to the island!






There were some amazing views from above!   The Maldives is made of over 1000 islands in the Indian Ocean and they are all fairly small.  Some resorts share an island but the majority of resorts each have their own.
This one looked like one person's home.... trying to figure out how to make it mine!






The sunsets there were just picture perfect every night!



Growing up my Grandad always told us to watch for the green flash at the end of the sunset, I tried to capture it but just couldn't!  He was also one of the few people to ever see the green flash!  Although I'm pretty sure I saw it this time.




Lots of fish in the coral right off of our deck!


Wasn't the biggest fan of the manta rays..... They were huge!!



It was truly a beautiful place and hope we get the chance to go back some day!