Paris & Eiffel Tower

On my way back to the US, I was forced to spend a day in Paris. There was no away around it, so I tried to make the best of it. I took it as a good sign that I saw a wedding photographer taking pictures at the carousel in front of the Eiffel Tower. It was like "Laura you are right to be going home."

I had already been to Paris once in 2005 while studying abroad in London. At the time both London and Paris were bidding for the 2012 Olympics, that's why the Eiffel Tower in my picture is adorned with kiddie-colored letters/numbers spelling out "Paris 2012". Gosh 2012 seemed a long way away back then.

5 years later, I still seem to have an affinity for purple jackets.

This trip was a little different because I've already done the whole "frolic-around-Paris-get-really-tired-and-discover-I'm-lost" thing. I had two specific goals this time. 

1) See the Eiffel Tower light up at night and sparkle.

...which sadly did not happen. I was disappointed that I had waited forever in the rain and only saw it light up but not sparkle, so my brother made me this video for me when he had to travel through Paris.

I waited for hours in the sprinkling then pouring rain, while telling a thousand people that "No, I don't want to buy a tiny replica of the Eiffel Tower," then I had to make a pretend phone call to my imaginary boyfriend after one of the vendors came up to me and kept trying to ask me questions and told me we could talk if I was lonely....sketch....

I did get a cool shot of the tower lit up even if it wasn't sparkling.

Obligatory terrible self portrait shot in the rain, barely got the Eiffel Tower in there.

Look how bright this dinner cruise boat was going under the bridge, 

it made the Eiffel Tower look dim.

Second goals was: 2) Take a drastically different picture of the Eiffel Tower, below are my favorites:

It may sound strange but I think one of the coolest parts of my trip was actually finding the Eiffel Tower. I realize this sounds like a joke for anyone who understands my directional deficiency. But it was just cool to follow the map and directions I had written for myself and think "Ok, I should be close to the Eiffel Tower." And then BAM! I turn the corner and this massive universally recognizably landmark was right there. "um yeah, ok, there it is. Found it. Guess I don't need this map anymore, I'm just gonna walk towards it now."

A few more pictures not of the Eiffel Tower. There were a couple of little parks/gardens  surrounding the Eiffel Tower and I saw these tiny birds with humongous feet. They moved pretty quickly, as you can tell from the motion blur.

These are the apartments directly across from the Eiffel Tower. 

Good for those people.

And just for kicks, I like that this girl thought so little of seeing the Eiffel Tower that she could chat away on her cell phone. Not only that, but also block the best views and photo opportunities for everyone else.

So anyway that was my last little bit of Europe. I do plan to do a summary blog and then a blog about what I'm doing now. Also on a side note you should know, I accidently woke up and started packing somewhere around 4:30 the next morning. I was ready to go at 5:20 before I was told what time it was. I had to sit and wait for the trains to start running again. Oh well...

Oradour-sur-Glane & My last day in Limoges

We took a mini-road trip to Oadour-sur-Glane, which is where our friend Robin did his internship. Oradour-sur-Glane was/is a village in France destroyed by the Germans in WWII. There is confusion over why this even happened. Some say it was to quench german resistance in France, some say it was because of rumors of a german hostage, others say they just got the wrong village. But either way over 600 innocent men, women and children where shot here and then the village set ablaze and the following pictures are the aftermath still standing as a reminder. 

These signs point out the 6 different locations where the men were separated out to stand and wait to be shot at. All the guns were supposed to fire at the same time. When one went off early some of the men were alerted to what was going to happen and a few were able to fight back and escape.

The women were gathered in this church. Many could have survived by escaping out this back door, except for the fact that panic had set in. Everyone was pressing against the door and the door needed to swing open into the church, this wasn't possible with all the people pressing up against it.

There was one female survivor who managed to escape by some extreme gymnastics by flipping off a table through a window and landing injured 10 feet below. She dragged herself into bushes and remained there until she was rescued the next day.

The village remains in ruins and a duplicate village was built nearby which is still inhabited. In the fields next to the original village there are several memorials and graves. These two glass cases contain some of the remains found in the burned homes and businesses. 

Well I guess just to continue on this sad note. I'm posting the pictures of my last days in Limgoes. I still have a few more blogs to put up but these are some pictures of me saying goodbye to my awesome friends and brother. 

(We expect to see you all here in the States for next Thanksgiving.)

This is Ghennadi's sad face.

C'est normal.

This is true brochette love.

I just love these next two pictures of William. This one because he looks like a hobbit.

And this one because this is how I will always remember him. Beer in hand, tongue out, sitting in the window smoking.

I do have good news though! I'm posting this blog today because today we are picking up my brother from the airport!!! I can't believe it's already time! 

Saying goodbye at the train station! Next stop, Paris!

By the way, Christelle is moving to America!!!!!!!!! Even better just one state over, Georgia!!!!

And Eric comes home today!!!!

Bisous! Bisous! Bisous!

Next blog....Paris!

France Bits & Pieces

This blog is my France Bits & Pieces blog. I have collect random pictures and stories that didn't totally warrant a whole blog post of their own. So I'm putting them all together to create a delicious potluck blog.

If you haven't figured it out by now, France is my favorite country that I visited. Mostly because the time I spent there was with my brother and friends, and was the least stressful. The most stressful part was having to look down everywhere I went in France, because of less restrictive laws for dogs and their business.

These are in no particular order...

Here is the crypt under our grocery store, yes you read that right. There is a forgotten graveyard underneath our fresh produce and french cheese.

So to reiterate, France is old, older than the US, progress happens, and sometimes french "Wal-marts" happen on top of old graveyards.Speaking of grocery stores, I saw this tasty looking drink at another grocery store (non-crypt related store) and I just thought it was just a great combination of english words and celebrity sponsorship. Also please note disgustingly dirty shelves, and no joke, I saw a mouse dodge between the aisles one day.
This is from the day we decided to have a picnic at the park near the train station and then play in the fountain. Did I mention we were throwing a spoon around and playing catch in the fountain...yes this is how I wisely chose to spend my days in France.

This is when Birama and Eric decided to arm wrestle for who would marry Anne....weirdos.

I really wanted to introduce everyone to a "brownie" so I tried to over-cook some chocolate cake mix and cut it in squares like brownies, it seemed to go over well. My mom and dad sent me some cheesecake mix for my birthday, everyone liked both. This was all made for a going away party for a girl I'd only met once, someone's mom came and made fresh sushi.This picture is pretty much because I love pink & green and I passed these chairs everyday on my way to the library, so I took a picture.

Speaking of the library, here it is:

I'm glad I always have a camera with me so I can capture things like this hilarious parking job that forced Christelle to climb into her car via the passenger side door. I just thought this picture was hilariously romantic. We went to a lake one night when the sun was setting. It's two dudes, my brother and Ghennadi. 

Ok, I meant to take more pictures of this McDonald's but we got caught up planning the International Murder Mystery. I just love a restaurant that pretty much encourages obesity and then chose an olympic sports theme for the decor. Note: paddles for seat backs, pommel horses for bench style seating, starting blocks for swimming used as tall chairs, I believe there was also some sledding apparatus nearby.

Now while I didn't get to shoot any weddings over in Europe, I did get to spot a fair number of brides. Not sure why they all seem to be walking around outside all the time...Now while I didn't get to shoot any brides for real, I did have a volunteer for a photo shoot, my friend Jorge. Some of these pictures are on his facebook page and one of the comments translated was "...ooo the Latino Brad Pitt!"

My stab at an iPod commercial.

Remember in "The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe" when the kid is willing to sell out his entire family for Turkish delight? Well this is it! Christelle brought us back some from her trip to Turkey. I liked the shiny pink and silver box, and the candy was pretty yummy, not give up my brother tasty but you know maybe temporarily rent him out good.

Ok that was definitely a random post, but good, non?