wordless wednesday - europe food

crusty bread

This past week I reached a milestone.  As of last Friday, I achieved a major weight loss/healthy living goal.

I lost almost 20 lbs - over my goal of 10% of my total starting weight that I had set for myself back in March.

Sure, it's not rapid weight loss by any means (at an average of 2.85 lbs per month), but it's not so much about losing weight as much as it is about changing my lifestyle habits.  I feel better.  My BMI is 1/2 a point shy of the "normal" category, and I know that I'm already reaping health benefits that I'm not even noticing.

travel recap - versailles and bayeux

We woke early on day seven, ready to hit the ground running to visit a place that I'd wanted to visit ever since I can remember; a place of kings and queens and pure decadence: Versailles.

We boarded the metro and headed out of Paris and into the town of Versailles.  Walking up to the palace from the train station, all you could see was the golden gates and rooftop of the palace glittering in the morning sun.  We arrived, took the obligatory "photos in front of the golden gates" and then headed inside.  After picking up our (free) audio guides we started exploring the palace.

I can't even find the words to describe how over-the-top everything was.  The wall paper, ceilings, fireplaces, and chandeliers were all amazingly opulent; so much so that it almost felt like it wasn't real, like it was a ride at Disneyland.

Even though the palace itself was amazing, my (and I think Hubby's) favourite part of Versailles was the gardens.  We assembled a picnic lunch before we left the palace and then headed down the eat our lunch canal-side.  After lunch we decided to rent bikes (you can also rent paddle boats and golf carts that play classical music) to explore the gardens for a couple hours.  It was very romantic, and definitely one of our best memories of our whole trip.

the new Lance Armstrong

wordless wednesday - paris by night

travel recap - paris (days 5 and 6)

Hubby describes our fifth day in Europe as "the best day ever".  I have to agree; it was a pretty fantastic day. 

medieval walls of the Louvre

It all started with an early-morning trip to le Louvre.  We knew that we could spend an entire day exploring the museum, but we decided instead to pick out some highlights that we wanted to see and then go and do some shopping followed by a nice, relaxing lunch.

Winged Victory of Samothcrace

travel recap - paris (days 3 and 4)

We woke up on our third day in Paris and we were ready for some more sightseeing.  On the agenda for this day was le Musee de l'Armee followed by a walk down Rue Cler to do some foodie shopping  for our dinner the next day.

outside le Musee d'lArmee

I have to admit that I wasn't very excited for le Musee de l'Armee, but I ended up really enjoying it.  There was tons to see, and Napoleon's tomb was extremely impressive - that guy sure had a HUGE ego.  The museum had tons of interesting weapons, armour, and exhibits - we spent a lot of time there, but I'm sure that Hubby could have spent another couple hours there.

Next stop was lunch at a nearby cafe, and then off to Rue Cler for some shopping.