Chartres & Paris, France Day 6 & 7 of Katie's European Trip

Monday & Tuesday, June 14/15, 2010

Monday: Katie called us on Monday late afternoon (Paris evening time) to let us know how her day went today (very brief phone call). She said today was the day that the U.S. delegates met the French teens. She said it was a bit uncomfortable in the beginning because she felt like they were staring at her and her clothes. I didn't get too much information about this visit.

Tuesday: (Have not spoken to Katie yet) Katie left Chartres and headed toward Paris. Today they visited Montmartre-a hill which is 130 meters high, giving its name to the surrounding district, in the north of Paris. Many artists had studios or worked around the community of Montmartre such as Salvador Dalí, Amedeo Modigliani, Claude Monet, Pablo Picasso and Vincent van Gogh. Montmartre is also the setting for several hit films.

Katie visited this historic area which was a haven for artist and writers before WWI. She was able to marvel at the white Basilique du Sacre Coeur, which is the 2nd highest point in Paris.

Katie also got to take part in an educational meeting at the "Atelier d'Art Lepic" artist Henri Landier and discover his artwork. This is his galery-studio where he continues his creation, and that yearly exhibitions are organized. She got to learn from his assistant about art history and other famous artist. Wow!

After going to see the designated places they were able to break out in small groups to discover the area's other treasures. I'm hoping they stayed clear of the 'red light' district but it would have been cool to see Moulin Rouge!

Tonight they boarded their train for the overnight train ride from Paris to Venice, Italy: 12h 30 min total duration. She is sharing a room on the train with 5 other girls. There are 6 beds in her room...think bunk beds with an additional bed on top...interesting.

When she wakes up on Wednesday she will be in the city made up of 118 islands, 180 canals, and 450 bridges...Venice, Italy (or most people call is Vicenza....I had no idea).

Chartres, France - Day 5 of Katie's European Trip

Sunday, June 13 - Day 5 of Katie's European Trip with People to People (Chartres, France)


Katie called us today at 4:45 p.m. EST (10:45 p.m. France time) and shared with us briefly her day. She said she is staying at a place where artists used to gather/paint/retreat a long time ago. She said the food was so-so at this place...not as good as Paris though.


Today Katie spent most of her day at a circus training school. She tried to explain to us what tricks she learned and what stunts she did but we could not quite understand all that she was saying. She said she took a lot of pictures and a video to share with us so we could experience it too.

She sounded very tired on the phone today so the phone call was short.

Paris & a small town called Chartres, France - Day 4 of Katie's European Trip

Saturday, June 12 - Day 4 of Katie's European Trip with People to People (Paris & Chartres, France)

Katie called us today around 3:45 p.m. EST and it was perfect timing because her Aunt Lori and cousins Emily and Madeline were at our house.

We had Katie on speaker phone so she could share her experiences with us all. Today was a huge day for her. She had to be ready at 7 a.m. in the lobby for her first event.

First they had a French guide that took them on a tour of the city that Ernest Hemingway called a "moveable feast." Katie informed us that "jet lag" was kicking in today so she actually slept for 30 minutes during this "guide." What she could remember was the artist district of Paris. She said she was shocked at how busy everything looked...motorcycles weaving in and out of cars in traffic, bicycles everywhere, buses, walkers, etc. And she was surprised to see all of the cafes and how cheap the bread was in Paris. She said bread is found everywhere and it is served at just about every meal. She said it was delicious!!

She said they had lunch at Flam's Colisee. She said the ritual is the same everywhere they eat. First you get your drinks (which she said tastes different than the U.S.), then they bring bread (which she says is YUMMY!), then an appetizer, then the entree, and then dessert. At Flam's she had a traditional French meal, Flammkuchen, which is very similar to American Pizza but Katie said it tasted a lot different. What she loved about French pizza was that it wasn't greasy! Katie & Lily always take napkins and take off the grease on American Pizza. Then for dessert she ate Flammkuchen but instead of mushrooms & onions on the flat bread there was chocolate or cinnamon apples.

Finally she said nothing compared to her trip to the Eiffel Tower. She said it was just unbelievable! On the elevator ride up to the very top she said that they were giggling with excitement and she said two other elevator passengers said, "Americans." So Katie and the other delegates that she was with got quiet because they could tell they were not saying it in a positive tone. Lily asked her if the French were rude or nice and Katie said they she had encountered very nice French people and very rude French people. So I guess they are like Americans as well...I know very nice ones and very rude ones!

Katie said she took many, many pictures of the top of the tower. She said she was amazed to see how large Paris looked from the top and to see how many old yet beautiful buildings were below her.

So when their Eiffel Tower time was ending her delegation leader asked them who wanted to go down the elevator and who wanted to go down the stairs. Well guess who wanted to go down the entire flight of stairs....Katie! Katie said it was something she couldn't pass up...climb down 1,666 stairs of the Eiffel Tower!! Wow...she'll never forget that!

After the Eiffel Tower and they did more strolling around Paris. Katie said they came to some boutiques and one of them said "Chanel" which Katie said she knew was really expensive because there was a door man at the front of the store opening, closing, carrying bags for shoppers. She said a few girls (including herself) got curious and went inside to check out the shopping. What is funny about this story is that Katie said they didn't stay long because she looked at a rack of clothes and checked out the tag for a long sleeved shirt. She said the tag said 2,000 Euros which meant too expensive!! She said they left pretty soon after that but at least she can say she was actually there.

She said the they headed to the countryside (about 90 miles away from Paris) to a city called Chartres. They had dinner at the hotel in Chartres and then they all decided to go swimming at the hotel pool. The weather has been fairly good since their trip...mid to low 70's. Today was sunny and no rain so they took advantage of the pool.

Stay tuned for Sunday's activities...and it involves some 'juggling.'

Paris, France - Day 3 of Katie's European Trip

Friday, June 11 - Day 3 of Katie's European Trip with People to People (Paris, France)

We did not receive a call from Katie today so this update comes from her delegation leader, Gretchen. Gretchen sent out a very short email to all of the parents saying that today was a very, very busy day and the kids were extremely tired.

This was Katie's activities today:

This morning she started bright and early for a guided exploration of one of the most important art collections in the world, the famous Musee du Louvre. She visited principal parts of the museum - including a look at Leonardo's masterpiece, Mona Lisa. I cannot wait to hear all about this amazing piece of history. I'm sure Katie is taking loads of pictures and I will share those as soon as I get them.

One of her other highlights of the day was when she got to eat lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe Paris. She had a Cheeseburger with French Fries and Hard Rock Cafe Ice Cream.




For dinner she ate Cordon Bleu! I'm not sure of what the restaurant was called but I think it was called Latina Lounge.


Her delegatation leader also said that they spent alot of their day at the famous avenue called "Champs-Elysees", stretching from Concorde Square to the Triumph's Arch.
And to top of her afternoon her delegation met with their private French tutor at Fragonard Museum. Her tutor helped them with simple French phrases to aide them while they are visiting France. I can't wait to hear what Katie has learned to say!!

Katie may call us tomorrow night but of course she may not due to the time change or her schedule. But I know she is having a great time!

Paris, France - Day 2 of Katie's European Trip

Thursday, June 10 - Day 2 of Katie's European Trip with People to People (via Katie's phone conversation with us at 3:38 p.m. EST/9:38 p.m. Paris time)

This morning 6:30 a.m. Paris time (12:35 a.m. EST) Katie got off the plane, gathered her luggage, and ate a small breakfast. She said she did not sleep on either flight so she was very, very tired. Nonetheless, after a quick breakfast, the bus came and she left for Versailles, France to tour the magnificent Chateau de Versailles. She said she took ALOT of pictures and was in awe of how enormous this castle was. She said the doors were made of solid gold. I could tell she was floored by this fact.

I wanted to ask her more questions about this historical site but Lily really wanted to talk to her. Lily's first question was: "Have you seen any hairy armpits yet?" And Katie responded, "Not yet, but in the bus I smelled a lot of body odor." Well at least Lily will not require Katie to take the armpit hair picture anymore!

They ate lunch at Au Fou du Roy in Versailles. She ate philo pastry with cheese, Pork with sauce and tomatoes Provencial. And for dessert she had her favorite...ice cream. She said it was good but tasted a lot different than American ice cream.

After they left Versailles they boarded a bus in which Katie said she fell asleep for about 30 minutes. No surprise since she had been up for over 24 hours!!

After lunch they went to the largest shopping district in Paris, France. She said she could not recall the name but many Hollywood Stars shop there. She really liked that experience as well. She said it was hard to believe she was so far from home and that she really was in Paris. She said she thinks tomorrow she will 'feel' the reality more.

The dined at Leon de Bruxelles Porte Maillot. She said, "You'll never guess what I had for dinner??" and I could tell by her voice that it was something really different. She said, "Duck...and it was pretty good!" For dessert she had a waffle like pastry. The only negative she mentioned was that it was really hard to find a water fountain. Katie loves water so I'm sure this is really hard for her. I told her to make sure she stays hydrated with water bottles.

After dinner I believe they retreated to their hotel to 'hit the hay.' She is bunking with three other girls and she could not recall their names yet. She said the rooms were smaller but they are only staying one night. Here is a picture of their hotel:

Europe...Here Katie Comes!

Wednesday, June 9, 2010 - Day 1 of Katie's European Trip with People to People.

Everyone woke up in the morning with a lot of excitement for Katie!! She was excited as well and ready to get to the airport. The Lexington and Louisville delegation (here in this picture) flew together. They departed from Louisville, Ky to Atlanta, Ga (11:30 a.m. - 12:45 p.m.) then Atlanta to Paris, France (3:30 p.m. Wednesday - 12:30 a.m. Thursday EST). The teens were told by the delegation leaders to get some sleep on the 2nd flight because when they got off the plane in Paris it would be 6:30 a.m. (they are 6 hours ahead of us). So I hope Katie was able to fall asleep on the plane. Typically she cannot go to sleep easily in a car or plane but I guess she'll figure it out.

We miss her already and watched her flight all day yesterday online. It is amazing what technology allows you to do! We got a call from her leader last night at 12:30 a.m. and she landed safely. They were met with a bus at the Paris airport and off to start their day.

I'll post again as soon as I get an update from Katie!

2nd Power Outage...January 2009

I am very late in posting this but felt compelled to do so because we have fond memories of this latest power outage. We lost power due to ice and snow the end of January. It was on a Wednesday morning around 8:00 a.m. School had been called off due to the road conditions and lack of power at most of the schools. We were so ecstatic because our power was still on.

All five of us were making omelets, bacon, and toast when we saw the first flicker on our lights. A brief moment of panic went over all five of our faces. We remembered Hurricane Ike's wrath...7 whole days without power! Fortunately the omelets were almost done and the coffee was finished brewing when we lost complete power. Good grief! Well at least our tummies were full.
During breakfast we contemplated...well we knew we were not going to lose all of our food in the freezer & frig this time around. After breakfast we dug holes in the snow and buried our freezer food. We put our frig food in the garage in coolers. This saved us hundreds of dollars...okay the freezing temperatures are good for something.

Next on the agenda was deciding where to go....it was 20 degrees outside not a balmy 75 degrees so staying in our home was not an option. Lexington, Ky was out (Michael's parent's house) because they had gotten snow/ice too and some Lexingtonians were out of power too. We briefly thought about high tailing it to Tampa to catch the Steelers game in the Super Bowl. But we realized this was pushing it a bit much and settled on the most economical approach...head to St. Louis (my parent's house). My parents are ready for World War 3 to break out. They have generators, two stocked freezers, canned food, dutch oven, camping supplies galore, ammo (yes & their own guns...many guns). I would not be surprised if they've dug a bomb shelter in their back yard and have covered it up with grass...hmmm.

Off to St. Louis we go on Wednesday afternoon. St. Louis got a lot of snow but no ice but the roads were still slick in many places. What should have been a 4.5 hours trip became a 6 hour trip. But that was okay...normally I would have been a tad grouchy from the delay but since I knew what was in the ville I overcame.

So why was this trip more fun than the trips before...well Michael and I were not working because most everything had shut down in Louisville. So we were able to visit more with my parents and play with the kiddos alot.

Our most memorable event was when Katie, Lily, Ben, my mom, and myself went sledding at Faust Park. We had so much fun!! You have to check out the video where I was filming and got knocked to the ground by out of control sledders (Katie & Lily). It is hilarious.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE HILARIOUS VIDEO

We also got to visit with our friends, The Raiche's, who used to live on our culdesac but relocated to St. Louis. Our kids adore & miss their kids...our kiddos actually spent the night because they were having so much fun.

Also one afternoon Michael & I got one hour massages at Massage Envy while my parents watched the kids. I could get used to this :).

We were so thankful that my parents do not live that far and that they were so welcoming at the last minute. Thank you Mom & Dad!