Our trip in pictures - part II - Paris

We headed out to Paris on the eve of my birthday, so that we can spend the 26th time that day came around in my favorite city in the world. We were awfully excited about taking the train through the channel, but were mostly disappointed with that part of the trip - we slept right through that! The part for which we were both awake we saw the most beautiful countryside, both British and French.

The view outside our room

 

The Louvre

 

One of the most amazing places in all of Paris (albeit with ginormous lines and steep admission price) - L'Oramgerie designed specifically to house Monet's waterlilies. And we're talking two big oval rooms with four giant canvases of just waterlilies (done at different times of day). I could've stayed there all day!

 

My first (of oh-so-many) creme brulee

 

Z was really excited to be on top of the Arc de Triomphe, can you tell?!

 

I'm a little bit (just a tad) obsessed with stained-glass windows and cathedrals - the first one is Notre Dame and the second is Sainte-Chapelle, but very beautiful, although so different!

 

Outside of Jardin de Luxembourg, so pretty!

Z really liked Pantheon with its Fucault's pendulum

One of my favorite places in Paris - Musee D'Orsay

 

Biking to Giverny - the French countryside is so peaceful and quiet! Monet's house and garden are a must see for anybody!

Another one of my favorite places in Paris - the Notre Dame cathedral

 

The amazing Chagall ceiling in Paris' Opera Garnier - love it!

 

The beautiful roof of the Galleries Lafayette - sadly we didn't spend much time doing any actual shopping there

 

One evening, we decided to go on a boat tour along the river Seine, it was really nice to see everything from a different perspective

 

Champagne tasting, hey, why not?!

 

The Notre Dame cathedral in Reims with its stained-glass windows by none other than Marc Chagall!!

 

This was our last attempt at being tourists. We have a picture similar to this from the last time we were in Paris, five years ago, so we had to recreate it. Right after this picture was taken, we headed back to the hotel to pick up our bags and off to the airport.

Happy father's day!

Just wanted to pop in and say a very happy father's day to all the dads out there. My dearest husband has been such an amazing papa to our little Sasha for the past 21 months, I sometimes think he loves her more than I do (if that's even possible). He's always doing something with her, he always has time for a hug or a cuddle with our girl. And she just loves him so much!! Her little face always lights up when she hears the keys opening out front door in the evening and she runs towards her papa for a hug (often even carrying something for him). They have this special bond that only a father and a daughter can have.
And my own dad? Well, he's the best dad I could ever ask for! He's been strict and soft with us over the years, he's the sweetest guy who always has a smile ready for you and a shoulder to cry on when you need it. He's always full of energy and jokes. And he's always there for us. No matter what.
So happy father's day to all the dads, hope you have a wonderful day!

Our trip in pictures - part I - London

I am not going to bore you with with our daily trips, activities, and excursions while in London - I'd rather share pictures of our amazing trip. As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words... this post really does not need any more words!

 

The obligatory telephone booth photo

Pink taxi cab!

Our awesome Gretchen, whom we stayed with and who let us steal her bed for four days!

 

The Tower of London

 

The Tower bridge

I think Z and Gretchen were tired of my picture-taking so I had to resort to this

 

At the very top of the London Eye (way way overpriced, but very cool and the views are unbeatable!

 

St. Paul's cathedral

 

We visited Windsor castle - one of the coolest places ever!

 

We had some tea at Windsor

Cheers!

We are back!

And it is very bittersweet. Europe is well, it's perfect. Yes, I may have a slightly idealistic view of Europe as a whole (and Paris in particular, because you know, it is the most beautiful place on earth!), but we had a wonderful time eating crepes, fish and chips, sipping champagne and beers, videotaping the stone-faced guards by the Buckingham Palace, and riding bicycles in the French countryside. Heaven, I tell you. I was sad having to leave, but this time I was coming home to my little beautiful baby girl and that made it all better (that doesn't mean I'm not dying to go back to Paris, say, next year?)
And I'm guessing she missed us, she spent the entire morning cuddling with me (and most of the afternoon being a typical almost-two-year-old with many tantrums - I guess she got over the novelty of mama being home quickly, huh?) She also had a wonderful time here with her grandparents, aunt and uncle. I have more than 1,100 pictures from our trip (and I'm not even exaggerating) and will post them as soon as they're all uploaded. Just wanted to say, we're back (and thinking about our next vacation already!)

21 months old!

Holy moly! That's only 3 months away from being a two-year-old, but let's just pretend that's not creeping up quite yet, shall we? My little itty bitty baby (well, ok she was never really itty bitty, but still) is not so little anymore: she's running around, she's constantly on the move, yet she loves giving kisses and hugs (papa jokes that I get paid in hugs and kisses for staying home with her, and that's just fine by me) She know says somewhere around 60 words; her latest obsession is letters and the alphabet, she loves singing the ABC's and learned that the last word of the song is "me", so I sing up to that word, point at her and yells "me" very enthusiastically. She loves to cuddle, she randomly goes into our bedroom, climbs into our bed, covers herself with the blanket and tells me to come over and do the same; she then lays there and giggles quietly. I love it!! She is very independent and wants to do everything by herself, she helps clean up if she spilled something (or peed on the floor, fun times!), she tries to put on her own clothes: she is fairly successful with pants and underwear, albeit she puts them on backwards sometimes, t-shirts are a bit more complicated right now.

Here is our baby girl at 21 months old and just for kicks, a year ago, at 9 months old:

We're going on an airplane!

We're leaving tonight!! So ridiculously excited right now (well ok, generally excited, but also ridiculously worried that I'll forget something - I always get this feeling, always. But eh, we're going to be within reach of a store at any point during our trip, so if I did forget something, we'll always be able to buy it there... unless of course that something is a passport... off to find our passports now!) Annnd, I'm rambling...
Anyway, we're going to be in London and Paris for the next 10 wonderful days, I am admittedly impartial to Paris since I studied for a semester there (exactly five years ago) and never been to London, so this should be an exciting trip! we have crazy plans for both cities, but we'll see how they go. We're going to Champagne, since as Y mentioned that next time we go to France it'll probably be with the kiddo (kiddos? no, I'm not pregnant, but who knows when the next time will be) and kiddos are generally not so fond of champagne or any other alcoholic beverages really (well, until they hit teenage years, but let's just say, we'll get to France before year 2022!)
We also have quite a few people to see while we're there; I always get a little jealous when I hear of my classmates living in Europe, I keep saying I'd move in a heartbeat... But then again, I wouldn't trade what I have now for anything (but totally wouldn't mind my husband being transferred to their London office, hint hint)
Anyway, I may post sporadically depending on if we find the internet and/or time while there. Hope everyone has a wonderful beginning of the summer and we'll be back soon!

P.S. Dearest mom and dad, Frida and Mikhail, if you're reading this, thank you thank you thank you for taking care of our little girl while we frolic around Europe and drink Champagne and stay up late gazing at the oh-so-beautiful Tour Eiffel and admire ancient castles and try to get the guards at the Buckingham palace flinch! You rock!

Our lond weekend in pictures

Well, I guess you've waited long and patiently enough and I've finally gotten around to getting all the pictures off my camera, so here's a quick look at our long weekend:
Saturday, we went strawberry picking out in Long Island. Sasha slept wonderfully all the way there (on the way back though, she refused to even close her eyes, even though she was tired and cranky and kept throwing her sunglasses and then whining for me to give them back to her, oh, and we were stuck in traffic, which aggravated her even more, poor baby!)

Sunday, we decided to go to Woodbury Common on a whim (who says you can't just get up and go spontaneously once you have a kid?) We got a few much needed essentials (and baby girl got half of summer's wardrobe for next summer - they were having fantastic sales!) We then went to a state park in the middle of nowhere and hung out and *attempted* to play in the lake. And little missy fell asleep on the way back and slept most of the way!

Monday, we celebrated my grandma's 80th birthday with a giant family get-together. Everyone had a blast (or at least looked like it) and Sasha played with her cousin (second cousin?) Emily whom she just adores!

Planning, planning, planning!

We had a wonderful long weekend (but long weekends are usually too short and I always end up asking my husband on the last day before we go to bed if he absolutely has to go to work the next day... and he always says "yes") I will have pictures up, hopefully tonight, but during Sasha's super-long nap today, I got so completely carried away with something that I forgot to go through them all and upload them. What is that something you might ask? I finally got around to reading the Paris travel book we got for our trip. I think we're pretty much ready for London, we've looked through that book so many times and read it all. Paris on the other hand, well, let's just say that since I spent a semester studying there, I pretend to know it oh so well. I guess we'll see.

We will spend 9 and a half glorious days exploring Europe with its history, architecture, and romance. Oh how I love Europe, and I'm not picky either: while I adore Paris and will move there in a heartbeat, I will just as easily go to any other European city and enjoy it to the fullest! We're leaving Friday evening, so my things are packed, Sasha's almost packed, and my husband's are... well, not. But he assures me he'll have that done by tonight.