Summer in Germany = awesome festivals almost every weekend.
A festival in Germany is maybe a little bit like the county or state fairs we’ve all been to, but that’s really an understatement. Each fest is packed with rides, music, artwork, and a delicious assortment of food and goodies–our favorites are the gebrannte Mandeln (sugar roasted almonds), the traditional Bratwurst, and a good Weißbier (wheat beer). So far this summer we’ve gone to the Wilhelmstrassenfest and the Johannisfest. The first set of shots below were taken with our point and shoot camera at the Wilhelmstrassenfest a couple weekends ago. This fest takes place on the Wilhelmstrasse (Wilhelm Street) in downtown Wiesbaden. The last three photos were actually taken right before we headed over to the festival, but I knew you all would love to see our beautiful faces, so I included them too ;).
Also, we just got back from our trip to Italy a few days ago. I’ll be posting some photos soon, but wanted to put these up first!

Day three of our trip started out at Notre Dame. The cathedral is amazingly grand and beautiful. However the day was dreary, and that did not allow for much light inside. While we did take a few shots capturing what we could of the expansive interior, none of those images really caught my attention as I went back through them. This photo was my very favorite, and I knew it as soon as I clicked the shutter. Every single part of Notre Dame is so detailed and decorated–even this column that opens up into one of the many small side rooms in the cathedral.

After visiting Notre Dame, we walked along the Siene River for a while. These huge mooring rings are planted all along the wall of the river, and Jason snapped this shot while I was waiting for him to catch up. The second photo below shows a view of Notre Dame (right in the center) from across the river.

Next we headed to the Arc de Triomphe, located at the top of the Champs Élysées. This arch is in the middle of an insane traffic circle that is multiple lanes wide, with no lines or markings. The only right-of-way goes to the biggest, fastest, or perhaps most agile driver. Since it is impossible to cross the traffic circle by foot, they’ve built an underground passage leading to the arch. Below is a shot of the seemingly never-ending spiral staircase we climbed to reach the top of the Arc de Triomphe, and to get back down again. And finally, the last photo was taken at the top of the arch, which provides a beautiful, 360 degree view of Paris.

Welcome to day two! After our delicious Valentine’s meal and a good night’s sleep, we were ready for our second day in Paris. It was a busy day, and we visited many different places. First off is the Palace of Versailles. We got there just as they were opening, so it wasn’t too crowded to start off, but by the time we got inside, it was packed. Jason rocked the camera on that day–he took more than half of the pictures I’ve posted here. See if you can guess which ones!

Our next destination was Napoleon’s Tomb at Les Invalides. For such a small guy, he’s got a pretty spacious resting place.

Next, we went to the Musée du Louvre. We bought a museum pass, which provides access to more than 60 museums and monuments. Because the Louvre is huge we decided to pick a few sections to explore from our little map. Of course, we couldn’t leave before catching a glimpse of the Mona Lisa, and taking a couple quick mug shots in front of it!

These next two were taken at the Musée d’Orsay. The building used to be a train station and is now the home for many works of impressionist art in Paris. The second photo below shows a scale model of Paris built beneath a glass floor.

Here is a shot of the famous Moulin Rouge. Jason and I happened to walk by it after dinner that evening. The final photo below was taken during our boat tour on the Seine, the river that runs through Paris. The tour gave us some great views of the city just as it was getting dark. Stay tuned for photographs from day three!

And the answer is…the Winged Victory of the Musée du Louvre in Paris, France. We had a wonderful time in the “City of Lights” last weekend. If you ever get the chance to go there, do it! It is such a neat place full of history and amazing artwork. We spent three days there and were able to see quite a bit, but there is still so much more to discover. The following three shots were taken very early on the morning of our first day in Paris. We walked through the park in front of the Louvre and came upon the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel, the first of Napoleon’s two triumphal arches. Look at the beautiful shot Jason took of the Louvre with its glass pyramid. We realized later in the trip how amazing it was that we were able to capture these shots–completely void of people. Each time we were around this area later on, it was always swarming with visitors.

Just a couple hours later, this is the first view we got of the Eiffel Tower as the sun was coming up.

We walked around the area surrounding the Eiffel Tower. As I was taking this shot I thought, “hmm, the lucky Parisians on this street get to wake up each morning to this lovely view.”

As we were roaming around town, we came upon the Old Opera House. We walked around to the side to practice some statue impersonations and to soak up some sun–I know it looks warm and sunny in these pictures, but it was quite windy and chilly. Later that evening we went out for a special Valentine’s day dinner. Jason’s favorite part was that they served cheese as its very own course between dinner and dessert. Photos from day two are coming soon! Thanks for looking