Bonne Annee Paris!

Happy new year! I wish everyone a happy, healthy, prosperous 2012. Oh what a lovely day to be in Paris. Yes it was rainy and a bit chilly, but that didn't stop us from having an amazing time. Today's adventure included the Louvre, Notre Dame, Shakespeare and co, lunch with mom's friends in the Latin quarter, shopping at printemps and the galleries Lafayette, macaroon tasting with Lauren and Greg...and finally hotfooting it across town to the Champs Élysées to celebrate with a mob of people in the streets. Paris is crazy for new years, but I can't imagine being anywhere else. Bonne Annee.

Paris day 1

Two of my most favorite things that can occur while traveling happened today. First, my dear friends Lauren and Greg met up with my mom and I at the eiffel tower. Hanging out with dear friends in foreign places is my number 1 most favorite thing in the world, period. My number 2 favorite thing is meeting new interesting friends and having interesting conversations with strangers while in foreign places. Today I met the most fantastic couple from Basque while standing in line for the L'orangerie, they told me all about the artist Zuloaga, then we discussed Balenciega scarves for a bit...limited French makes for the most interesting conversations, in this case the convo was in French, Spanish and English, and the lady was so sweet she found me in the gallery to further discuss Spanish artwork. The 2nd random meeting happened at dinner when we made friends with our Nepalese waiter. He invited us to ring in the new year with his family tomorrow, so sweet.

Ps we did many amazing things today, but the big thing was finally, after years of online shopping at Colette, I can finally say I've actually been to the store and it was exactly as magical as I envisioned it. My pocketbook may be lighter, but for once I didn't have to pay ridiculous shipping fees, so there is that.

Heilbronn

Today was a quiet day as we prepared for our journey to Paris tomorrow. Lunch was at a cute gasthaus in heilbronn that served the biggest portions of yummy Italian food, including the most perfect tiramisu I've had since the time I spent in Italy searching for perfect tiramisu and eating it every chance I had.

Rothenburg

I read a mystery that took place in Rothenburg at the beginning of my trip and have since been very interested the work of the wood sculptor Tilman Riemenschneider who created two of the alters found in the town in the 1400s. His work is breathtakingly beautiful and well worth the journey we took to hunt down examples of his work. The city of Rothenburg itself is gorgeous and a fine example of a gothic walled in city. Rumor has it that it was the inspiration for the Disney artists who created the background drawings for Pinocchio. We spent the afternoon walking the wall and getting lost in the maze of cobblestone streets, the day felt like we had fallen into a charming little storybook world.