If you go back to our very first post you'll see this same photo, but 2 months earlier the trees in Cimetiere du Pere Lachaise were all bare. We really don't get true seasons back home so it was nice to see the green trees.
So Vins special treat was this, Foie Gras and champagne. It's a French delicacy meaning "fat liver". Basically a duck or goose is force-fed and the liver becomes VERY enlarged until it is ready for us consumers. Some countries the farming of this food is illegal due to to animal rights.
Out of the jar and ready to eat. Elaina and I couldn't wait to dig in.
Poppin' bottles and now ready to dig it!
Vins recomended that we try it with a bit of jam if we wanted. I prefered it without the jam so I could taste all of the liver. It has a butter taste unlike any liver I've tried before. The consistantcy was that of a hard boiled egg yoke, really interesting.
The gang after aperitif, Me, Elaina, Vins, Natalie, and Olivier.
Olivier firing up his beast.
Olivier had to get home so the remaining four of us went out to eat. I had a French style stew and Elaina had some fish over rice. Both very good!
Now on to dessert. Pistachio crème brûlée and a HUGE cream puff with chocolate syrup and ice cream. MMMmmmmm. Great dinner Vins!!!
A couple days later we went to the Catacombes. The Catacombes are an underground graveyard for 6 million Parisians. The underground tunnels stretch for miles but only about 1.5 miles are open to tourists.
After entering the building you immediately take a spiral staircase 130 steps below the street surface. You end up close to 4 stories BELOW the metro. You can feel the air get thin and moist as you descend.
Walking along the tunnels we came across a natural fresh water well. We made a wish and tossed a couple euro in.
Since there are so many people and not enough space all of the bones are just arranged and line the walls of the tunnels. Yes, those are real human skulls and bones. They are stacked about 5' high and 6-7' deep the ENTIRE length of the catacombs.
Looks like someone got a crack on the head.
Nice design made of human bones.
So another evening later that week. We went to a football (soccer) game. We had wanted to catch one our entire trip but we never got around to it. Olivier offered to take us to a Paris match and we were SUPER excited. Olivier even let me borrow one of his Paris scarfs.
All set to go!
Cheering on the team as the players enter the field. That's my white arm.
LETS-GO-PARIS!
The fans here are second to none. No fans for ANY other sport can even compare. They are truely passionate about their football.
Robot had a great time
After the match, the snack bar didn't sell out their sandwhichs so they were giving them away. You don't get that back at home.
Someone's hungry! Thanks for showing us a great game Olivier!!!
At the market, what a good little gaurd dog.
This is the way a refrigerator is supposed to look!
Fresh baked pie!
Well, the time has come. Our trip of a lifetime is coming to an end. We hoped the volcano would keep us longer but no such luck. We're back to where it all started, the Paris airport. We're not happy campers. That's all of our luggauge, we've been living out of those for two months and they did a great job.
Thanks for the ride to the airport Vins. You were such a great host and we can't thank you enough for everything. We can't wait to see you here in the U.S. soon!
Elaina is actually crying in the airport because we had to go home. I told her to can it because we hadn't gone through security yet and I didn't want them to think I was kidnapping her.
On the plane now and still not happy to be leaving and not happy about the 10 hours of flight ahead of us.
In London grabbing some snacks at a quick lay over. Robot was hungry.
Time to catch some ZZZ's. Are we there yet?!?!
Elaina was going to drink her sorrow away until we landed in LAX.
All in all it was a whirlwind of a trip. We can't beleive that it's over and now we are planning our next adventure. First things first, we need to get jobs and then it'll be off to Asia for a short tour maybe next year.
We are so blessed to be able to experience all of this and have such great friends abroad that were there to help us. Not to mention the family back home that made it possible to leave in the first place. We missed everyone and though U.S. life is SO different we are glad to be home and see everyone we love. Thanks to everybody that followed our blog as we traveled the world. The adventure is not over and the blog will always be updated with our everyday life so stay tuned and we'll see you all soon!
Love, Elaina and Mike
.
.
.
.
