Peyton Kathleen

We were so tired after our Fat Bike Tour, the next morning we slept in until 11:30! Here the sun doesn't set until around 9:45pm which is nice because it extends the amount of time we have to sightsee. What we learned the day before at Versailles was pretty priceless: go into the palace two hours before it closes. Hardly anyone was in there! So we decided to take that approach with the Lourve and not even try to go in until 5:30 or 6. So when we finally got up and moving, we  took a cab to the Arc de Triomphe. We climbed all 284 steps of the spiral staircases to the top- totally worth it! Such a beautiful panoramic view of the city.  When we left, we started to stroll down the Champs Élysées, looking at all the designer stores and famous brands. We stopped at Louis Vuitton, Allison bought a gorgeous Longchamp, and of course we got macaroons from Laduree. We walked all the way down to the obelisk and into the  Musée de l'Orangerie. Monet's Water Lillies were not was I expe...

I think the three of us would agree that our Fat Tire Bike Tour of the Palace Of Versailles was one of the most fun things we have ever done! If you are coming to Paris, book it immediately! We woke up early to go meet up with our group and tour guide, we had a hard time catching a cab and almost missed the strictly enforced arrival time! Thankfully we didn't, but it got scary there for a minute! We took a train out to Versailles, got our bikes and headed to an authentic French open market.  We bought cheese, wine, bread, cherries, apricots and dried meat for our picnic later that day. It was so fun to explore this little area! We biked the grounds with an incredible tour guide named Valentine. We would ride around for awhile, then pause so he could explain the history of the palace. He was a great story teller and made the history come alive!  After riding and seeing all the different "pleasure palaces" we stopped around the gran...

The morning of our second day in Paris we woke up early to go meet Patrick at Notre Dame. I will admit, I hardly had any interest in going inside the cathedral but oh my gosh I am so happy we did! Stunning, awe inspiring and humbling are barely enough to describe it! We spent a lot of time looking at the stain glass windows, art work and relics. I learned so  much about the history of Notre Dame, it was a great experience.  We walked around the Ile de Cite for awhile before saying goodbye to Patrick. We love him so much, goodbyes are never easy!  We then hailed a cab and headed over to the Eiffel Tower! We had reservations at 1:30 to skip the line and head to the top! We got there early and had time to walk around, snap pictures and enjoy the Iron  Lady!  The morning was pretty windy, but getting higher and higher on the tower made us realize just how windy it really was! The line to the top took awhile, but our passes easily cut the time in half! It was an incr...

We left Saturday June 6th for our direct flight from DFW Airport to Paris, France! We were all a little nervous that morning, triple checking everything we packed, staring at our passports, and flipping through all the different passes that we bought. Fortunately, everything went super smoothly! We even go to see Erik's mom as she headed out for London! So fun. Our flight was 9 hours and we landed in Paris at 7:30am. Which in Texas time was 1:30 am! We had basically stayed up the whole night because none of us could sleep on the plane. We were slightly delirious when we checked into our apartment but excitement definitely trumped our exhaustion! My mom's best friend Patrick, who lives in Geneva, Switzerland, had come into Paris the night before. He and my mom met when they were in high school doing a foreign exchange program and have been best friends ever since. He is like an uncle to Allison and me and we were so happy to have to him join us the first few days of ou...

This is a little controversial, so take it for what it is worth to you. About twice a year, I will do four days of the "cabbage soup diet". I first learned about it my junior year of college right before going on spring break. It is a little controversial because it can be viewed as a crash diet, and in some sense it is, but I see girls paying 100's of dollars for juice cleanses and I think this is a better and cheaper alternative. Basically all the information you need is on this website: http://www.cabbage-soup-diet.com/ I follow days 1 through 4. I love doing it before a trip where I will be in a bikini because it really slims down my tummy. This year going to Paris and traveling around Europe I won't be in a swimsuit, but I know I am about to eat a ton of rich foods, so I wanted to slim down a bit before I leave on Saturday. What I do is make the soup according to the recipe on the website. Then I divide it up into containers- two per day. I reali...