Well, fast forward almost four months later, and I don’t think I’m going to be coming back here. I have really loved documenting our adventures and sharing my interests here. It’s always fun to look back on and I’ll always cherish this little blog.

I’m not quitting altogether, just moving from one location to another. I’ve started a Tumblr and am going to post there instead. I really like its format better for me. You can still do a regular old blog post, which I still plan on doing, but you can also post a song, a video link, a picture, and link to your instagram account. I was really doing that here mostly anyways, but tumblr seems to be a better format for that and I can do more posting on the go.

I have missed blogging and am sad now that I won’t have the last four months to look back on, but I can’t dwell on that too much now and only hope to post more frequently moving forward. Thanks for letting me share here in this space for the past few years and, if you feel so inclined, you can follow my ramblings on my new tumblr page.

Happy New Year and Happy Friday!

Kristin

The morning started out a little rocky – we got on the wrong train to Versailles. There are two options – Versailles Rive Gauche and Versailles Chantiers. We hopped on the Chantiers train and got a very scenic route of France. It took us about an hour and a half to get there and we were both kind of grumpy. But when we got there, we walked by the tourism office and saw you could purchase tickets there. At first I thought it might be a scam, but it wasn’t and it saved us so much time. I highly recommend doing this. You will pay a few euro more, but the line is much shorter compared to the long, long line at Versailles. We would’ve been waiting for hours.

Here is the French countryside we saw from the train.

After we got our tickets we picked up lunch from a sandwich shop and had a picnic out front.

Ryan ordered horribly wrong, so we ended up splitting my simple ham and cheese sandwich.

Then, we made our way inside the Chateau. It is so hard to describe the palace other than it is massive and decorated from floor to ceiling. It is so extravagant and gorgeous.

After weaving our way through the palace, we were both hungry again so we got another sandwich and parked it outside and got a great view of the gardens.

We had the most fun outside. One strong recommendation I have – rent bikes! We didn’t know you could do this until we happened to walk right by a bike rental stand. We saw so much more of the grounds that way. Since everything is so spread out and expansive, we would’ve missed a lot more had we not done this. And, it was just a fun way to explore and hang out together.

We were both on the hunt to find “Marie Antoinette’s Estate” as it was penned on our handy map of Versailles. Turns out, she lived in the Petite Trianon which we walked briskly through to get to her estate.

Turns out, her “estate” on the map included the Petite Trianon and the Queen’s Hamlet, where all of her maidens lived. It was so pretty, so I’m glad we spent a lot of time walking around there. We just didn’t realize that we had already seen her house as we were searching high and low for it for hours.

After we realized that we are idiots and had found her house two hours before (literally), we hopped back on the bikes and made our way around the Grand Canal for a little scenic bike ride.

I’m so glad we ended up going to Versailles. After a somewhat hectic morning it was the right choice for us and we were so happy to spend our last day there.

And that concludes our European adventure. Thanks for letting me share our trip in several posts.

Have a great weekend!

Day three was sort of known as the museum fail day. We made our way to the 7th arrondissement and our first stop was the Musee Rodin. I had heard that the gardens were gorgeous (and free) so we wanted to fill our morning with a little culture. Well, it was closed on Monday. We had a similar experience at Musee D’Orsay which was also closed on Monday. The sad part is I even wrote down that it was closed on Monday. Anyways…we ended up at Les Invalides.

We think this is an old mote that surrounded the estate.

We made our way to Rue Cler, which was on Ryan’s hot list. We both ended up not being too impressed, but since it was a Monday maybe that’s why the market wasn’t as hopping as we had read on the internet.

And from there, we ended up at our final destination – the Eiffel Tower.

Since it was so overcast, it wasn’t crowded at all. So we bought tickets to climb the stairs to see a view of the city.

Of course, we had to stop at another pastry shop, Laduree, for a macaroon.

Then we leisurely made our happy hour rounds. Café Bonaparte was close to our hotel and in the heart of the 6th. We just couldn’t get enough of the million sidewalk cafes all over the city.

Then, we made our way to dinner for the evening at Le Relais de l’Entrecote for steak frites. We heard the line would be long, but would move quickly. So we stood in line and let me tell you, the dinner was worth the wait.

The waiters only ask you one thing – how do you like your steak cooked? Then they write it on your table and bring you a salad to start. Next, you get a hearty helping of steak frites with this delicious mustardy sauce on top. Just when you think you are full, they bring round two. I’m not even embarrassed to say I cleaned my plate. It was that good.

We closed out the night with crème brulee at Les Deux Magots.

To say we overate would be an understatement, but those calories were definitely worth it.

Also on my wish list – a bedroom makeover.

We went for a walk on Belle Isle.

And had a fabulous brunch at Millie’s Diner.

Lindsay and Carrie enjoying brunch cocktails on Millie’s patio.

Beth took us to Cary Town where we did a little shopping, then we went to The Boathouse for a nice view of the James River and some cocktails.

Lindsay and I at Rowland Fine Dining. We had amazing service and for some reason Tony, our waiter, was under the impression it was my birthday.

It was a great weekend with girlfriends. I’m glad we were able to get together for some QT and I can’t wait for my next trip to Richmond. Thanks, Beth, for hosting!

I’m not sure how we missed this in Germany, but I’m pretty upset about it.

Have you seen the new Downton Abbey trailer? The song in it gives me chills. I am on pins and needles until January. If you haven’t seen the show, I highly recommend you watch the first two seasons.

How to make a life.

What are your thoughts about the iPhone 5? I, for one, am so excited about it since I have the 4. I’m hoping Santa will bring it to me this year.

This would be a fun DIY project for fall. I love getting organized!

This challenge on A Cup of Jo has me intrigued. I don’t know if we could cook for a month straight, but I’m considering cooking every week night. Could you do it?

I have been playing this song by Ellie Goulding on repeat for the past few weeks. It’s so good.

I’m headed off to Richmond this weekend for a much-needed girls weekend. TGIF!

The flower detail on the ceiling was my favorite part.

Then we headed down the Champs Elysees, which in all honesty, is a little overrated. It just doesn’t ooze the Paris we pictured in our minds and is pretty commercialized. If you are contemplating this, I would consider skipping it or not walking up the entire thing. I was thankful for the walk, but in hind sight, I wish we would’ve seen another neighborhood instead.

After a long, leisurely walk we made our way to the Louvre.

Confession: we did not make our way inside the museum (or any museum, for that matter). We just really wanted to see it and snap some pictures and then head on to the next thing. My feet were killing me (I didn’t break in my Converse in time!) and so we were here for a short time. Plus, the sun had just came out so we wanted to enjoy the day outside.

So we changed my shoes and then stopped in Pierre Herme, which was right across the street from our hotel, for a decadent afternoon snack.

Both treats were awesome and this was my first-ever macaroon. This was our favorite chocolate shop we visited in Paris.

This is in our hotel outside of the breakfast room. So we came in to eat the chocolate and take a load off before we hit the road again – in more comfortable shoes.

One of our favorite things to do every day was pop in the many sidewalk cafes and bistros for happy hour. Rue de Seine and Rue de Buci were easily two of our favorite streets. There were rows and rows of options.

And if we were lucky, we would find a great spot in the window to people watch and have a glass of wine or beer.

Then we walked over to the Notre Dame and it was breathtaking.

We actually went inside during mass on Sunday and it was awesome. There were two angelic ladies singing and it was beautiful.

All the animals on the outside of the church were scary to me.

Maybe the gargoyles are meant to  keep the evil out of the church?

And now, for my favorite part of the day – or even a top contender for favorite of the trip. We walked up the left bank of the Seine and saw tons of boats that were parked and converted into restaurants. So, we did what any sensible couple would do and hopped around from boat to boat. Our first two stops were at La Balle au Bond and Six Huit.

Along the way we walked by many of the famous bridges including the lock & key bridge.

We didn’t participate in the ritual.

Then, we feel like we really hit the jack pot. We came upon this boat and heard this awesome jazz trio playing and so we just had to stop. The boat was called Kiosques Flottants.

I cannot even begin to accurately describe this experience and the ambiance, but this is my favorite picture I took our entire trip. It was absolutely gorgeous outside, the sun was setting on the Notre Dame, we were on the water and this band was killing it. We felt like we were in a movie.

And, the icing on the cake was this glorious cheese plate.

Then our final boat stop was aboard the Vedettes Pont Neuf for a sunset boat cruise complete with a tour guide who told us all about the monuments along the river as they were lighting up. The sky was really giving us a show with these cool clouds.

We got a glimpse of the Eiffel Tower the entire ride.

And then, bam, there she is in all her glory.

Thankfully I caught the tail end of this or you would’ve seen a bunch of full moons. There’s nothing quite like going on a romantic boat ride and then some local teenagers moon you. Sweet, no?

Our time along the Seine was amazing. I highly recommend taking an afternoon and evening to explore all that it has to offer. We saw a bunch of people sitting on benches enjoying their own bottle of wine. It’s such a romantic and relaxing place.

The metro system was pretty easy to navigate so we made our way from Paris EST to our stop at Saint Germain des Pres and we were instantly put in the hustle and bustle of the neighborhood.

As soon as we got outside, we heard that classic French music you hear in movies like Midnight in Paris playing. This band was awesome. I wanted to hang out with them all day.

We quickly checked into our hotel, Hotel Bonaparte, and then headed off to lunch at Louise Café in the Saint Germain neighborhood. The service and food were so good. I had my very first croque monsieur and fell in love. Look at all that cheesy goodness. 

After lunch, we went to explore the Latin Quarter and found the Panthenon.

And saw our very first glimpse of the Eiffel Tower while we were there.

We also found an old Roman arena called the Arenes de Lutece that dates back to around 1 AD.

Gladiators used to fight here and the arenea sat 15,000 people. It was pretty cool to see. Lots of Parisians were picnicking, reading and hanging out with friends.

My favorite activity we did that day was paying a visit to the Luxembourg Gardens. They were close to our hotel and were absolutely gorgeous. We bought a bottle of French wine on our way to the gardens and had a little happy hour. We found this little canal that was lined with chairs and ended at this statue, so we posted up there and listened to music and chatted for a while.

It was so nice to relax after walking around all day. We always like to pretend we are locals in any city we are visiting, and we saw lots of Parisians doing the very same thing we were doing so we felt like we fit in. And, the wine was very tasty, too.

After we finished the wine we walked around the grounds and saw the Palace and the gardens.

Ryan found a budget friendly French restaurant, Restaurant Polidor, for dinner and it was so tasty. In true French style, we were sat at a long table with lots of other people and our neighbors on either side of  us were really friendly, recommending dishes for us to order. I went with the beef bourgignon. Holy delicious.

Ryan ordered the lamb special and he loved it.

We did some more wandering around before calling it a night.

We hopped in their car and hit the road. It took us about two hours to get to the town of Briedel, Germany which follows the Moselle River and is full of wineries. All along the highway as we got into the town you could see the hills lined with rows and rows of vineyards. It was gorgeous.

It was Rosi’s birthday and she wanted to stop at a specific vineyard, so we walked up to their house and knocked on the door and they let us come in and try a ton of wine. My favorite was the dry rose. Troken is the German word for dry.

The winemaker was so nice and did his best to explain different features of the wine in English. And since it was Rosi’s birthday, he gave us a bottle of champagne for free. (Fun fact: in Germany they call champagne ‘sect’ because technically you can’t call it champagne since you aren’t in France.)

The tasting room was pretty small but so cozy and intimate.

I wish we could’ve gone to more wineries but headed to town for a cocktail.

When we walked up to the restaurant, we noticed that there was a large animal hanging out at the table. Turns out, it was a llama. No big deal.

Its owner said (in German), “Some people have a dog, I have a llama.” The llama was pretty nice, and had dog friends there, too. It was pretty cute, too, but if you stood behind him he would kick you.

Then we made our way to Bernkastel-Kues.

The town was adorable complete with cobblestone streets and gorgeous, old buildings.

Everyone was decked out in authentic German outfits, including this little one.

We ate dinner at Rathaus and it was delicious. I was feeling overloaded by all the meat and potatoes so I opted for a veggie pasta dish and the noodles were homemade.

While we were sitting at dinner a marching band walked by and they were also in full on costumes. Never a dull moment.

Then we made our way to the wine festival that just so happened to be going on in the town. It was so much fun! The streets were packed with people and the wine was tasty.

Everything felt so festive and people were so friendly. The wine was super cheap, too.

There were pop up marching bands that would play in the street.

And there was a stage area where this band played American songs all night. I felt right at home singing and dancing to all the classic rock hits they knew.

I am so glad that they invited me to come along for the day. I will never forget it.

I flew into Frankfurt and then took a train to Kaiserslautern. Thankfully, Ryan was able to pick me up so I didn’t have to navigate the local train system after traveling all night and morning. I was slightly exhausted. This was my first view of Germany after getting off the train – so pretty!

Our hotel was absolutely adorable. They served THE best breakfast everyday and were so friendly and helpful, even though we barely understood each other. The hotel we stayed in was in the city of Kindsbach, which was just outside of Kaiserslautern – the “big” city close by – and Landstuhl, where we hung out most evenings.

I loved the terrace off our room – it was cool enough during the day that we kept the windows and doors open. There were no bugs (it seemed) in Germany which was a huge plus and zero humidity.

Ryan worked during the day for the first part of the trip so, thankfully, we got to hang out at night. The first night, he took me to Burg Nanstein Castle. Fun fact: it was built in 1162. Talk about old.

We got there after it closed so I didn’t get to go inside, but we did explore the grounds and take in great views of the city below.

Then, I had my first German beer at this really cool restaurant at the top of the hill, right next to the castle.

The Park Pilsner is where it’s at. If you want to try something really German, you should try the Radler, which is Sprite and beer mixed together. At first I was skeptical since it is pretty sweet, but if you don’t want it super sweet, don’t put as much Sprite in the mix. It is delicious and very refreshing! Just make sure you use a German pilsner.

Then, we made our way back down the hill and had dinner at our favorite Landstuhl restaurant, Rosi’s, where I met a few friends who would take me on an adventure  the next day to German wine country. More on that later…