Anniversary fun, part II

The second part of our anniversary celebration was a dinner at the Ciel de Paris, at the top of the Montparnasse tower.

 

We had pre-reserved a menu that ensured us a table near the window with a view of the Eiffel Tower, and this was the view we had upon arrival:

Our menu also included unlimited champagne, so we started the evening off right with a toast.

We were there for the first seating, and I was worried they would try to rush us out so they could fit in as many people as possible, but the service was leisurely and accommodating.

The food was decent - not fantastic, but still pretty tasty - but then again, you don't go to a place like this for the food!

 We also had unlimited wine during the meal and a coffee or tea at the end. 

Three hours later and with full tummies, we took one last look at the view, took the elevator down 56 floors, and then started walking home hand-in-hand.

**As a side note, the Ciel de Paris also has a champagne bar and a Millefeuille bar that offer the same view...but be expected to pay accordingly!

Anniversary fun, part 1

This past weekend, C and I headed out of town to celebrate our anniversary.  I have class this weekend and will be leaving for the US straight after, so we wanted to spend a bit of quality time together beforehand. We had a Wonderbox to use up, and ended up selecting a fantastic little place near Epernay/Reims.

As you may or may not know, my family is of Finnish origins, so when I came across an imported Finnish hunting chalet nestled in the middle of a vineyard, I knew that was our spot. C was worried that we wouldn't be treated very well (as is sometimes the case with these sorts of "boxes"), but our hosts were absolutely lovely.

 

The entire chalet had been very thoughtfully decorated, and the whole thing was just so darn cozy.

 

There were bathrobes and slippers, an adorable little bedroom and reindeer skins on the walls. 

And then there was my favorite part - the indoor BBQ. We had a blast warming up in front of the fire and then cooking our dinner once the embers had burned down.

There was also a fully-stocked kitchen with a small fridge, coffee maker, dishes, silverware, etc. (and little raclette paddles for melting cheese during the cold months!).  We brought our own food, but they also offer a BBQ "basket" for 20€ per person. 

The next morning, we had breakfast on the little patio out back, and once again, our hosts did not skimp.  At our last B&B experience in Limoges last month, we'd paid a lot more for our room and ended up with literally a piece of toast each and a hot drink.  This place - at 60€ a night - offered up a multi-grain baguette, a delicious chocolate chip brioche, fresh croissants, yogurt, cheese, OJ & a hot beverage.

The owners also have their own vineyard, selling their champagne under two different labels.  Part of our stay included a guided tour of their exploitation and a tasting, and you could tell that the husband was just as passionate about his grapes as his wife was about decorating.  He had a very original approach for his vignoble, following the lunar calendar for planting and harvesting, and waxing on about biodynamism.  He used mainly natural remedies for his plants, as well as other elements -such as quartz - to attract the moon's energy to the roots of the vines.

Their champagne was also very tasty, and he made a few special champagnes that were "extra-dry" and "nature", ie low-sugar champagnes that are supposed to help you avoid hangovers.  He also stamps the date the champagne was bottled on the label so that consumers know how long they will be able to keep it.  The prices were reasonable too, starting at around 13.50€ for a bottle.

They also have a gite that can hold up to 20 people and a B&B with three rooms, and the chalet can be rented out just for an evening BBQ.  I'd highly recommend this place if you are looking for a weekend getaway or if you're heading to the Champagne region for some tastings - though the one downside is that you do need a car to get there.  But I left there Sunday feeling so relaxed, and it has been ages since I have been able to so thoroughly disconnect from the world and just be.

Here is their website in case anyone would like to check it out: http://www.la-boulonne.com/

Some things are the same worldwide

I just about died laughing when we stopped tonight to take a picture of this château and noticed that the windows were all fogged up in the car seen in the bottom of the picture.  I don't think I've ever seen French kids "parking" before...probably because they can't drive (unaccompanied anyways) until the age of 18, and it's fairly rare to get your own car anyways that early on.

Good for them though - how many kids can say they've made out in front of a deserted castle??

Le Best Of

Heading into the Mairie - can you see the relief on my face that I wasn't too late??

Have children. Many children. And have them in the 15th. Salle de mariage ceiling

The ringsWe did it!'"Can you spare a dime lady?'' Do I look like I have a dime on me??The wedding car (ie. the reason I was almost late to my own wedding)
My favorite photoTrying to make C let me feed him some cake - can you see the hesitation in his face?Time to crash into bed, complete with the pillows my aunt sent us(after spending five minutes explaining the jeu-de-mot to C that is)

A hungry bride is a cranky bride

The day of the wedding, the hair & make-up "artists" arrived not long after I woke up, so I didn't really get a chance to eat. I also didn't realize that once my make-up was done, I wouldn't be allowed to eat or drink. It was early, and I'm telling you people, I needed caffeine. Note to future brides - either eat a lot beforehand or buy some straws!!

So to pick up from where we left off, after the wedding we headed over to the park to drink a glass of champagne and take some pictures. My dress had a long train and it kept getting stepped on, mainly by C, so I wanted to attach it up. I had a few friends attempt to do it, but it wasn't really working and since I couldn't see anything, I wasn't much help to them. I was starting to get a bit cranky on an empty stomach, so I just let it go and went to take pictures.

Once we got home though, I wanted that darn train pinned up. And we were still struggling to do so, and Bridezilla reared her ugly head again. I was about ready to take a pair of scissors and cut the damn thing off myself (especially since there were a few footprints on them & I didn't want them to show in the pictures). I may have said a swear word or two. But we finally got it figured out and I was able to sit down for a few minutes of peace and quiet (and grab a quick bite to eat) before we had to leave for our picture session.

We took pictures at three spots - Luxembourg gardens (in a hommage to my shoebox), down by the Seine (luckily you can't smell pee in pictures) and over by the Bir Hakeim bridge (note to tourists - if you see people taking wedding shots, get out of the background!).

We'll have to wait two-three weeks to get them back, but hopefully they turned out nice. L's husband also took pictures for us at the Mairie and in the park with his fancy new camera - the few he's sent so far have been beautiful, and I can't wait to see the rest. And Karina and MG posted a few to Facebook as well, which I know my family back home appreciated.

We went straight from the pictures to the dinner. It was a bit confusing since I'd forgotten the list containing everyone's dinner choices in the car, but everything worked itself out and hopefully everyone had a nice meal. A few of C's friends gave short speeches - including one about a husband went on a honeymoon without his wife because they didn't have enough money to pay for two tickets and another who said "Mariage ensoleillé, mariage éternité".

And then it was back home for cake and champagne. We had Cat over at Sugar Daze make the cake, and she did a lovely job. The bottom layer was chocolate and the top layer was red-velvet:
I also have to give a shout-out to Sophie for helping C's dad navigate Paris with the cake and for decorating while we were out taking pictures. Thank you that, and for pushing us to have a reception afterwards (even though organizing it was a pain in the ass lol).

Thank you as well to all the guests who came from both near and far to share our special day with us - we are so blessed to be surrounded by such wonderful friends!

The one in which I almost miss my own wedding

Well here, I am, five days into married life. I haven't had much time to write since my family was here and they wanted to take advantage of their last few days in Paris.

But last weekend ended up being an absolutely lovely weekend and the weather - omg, the weather - who would've thunk it?! A rainy wedding wouldn't have stressed me out (after all, mariage pluvieux, mariage heureux right?), but I was hoping it would be nice for our picture session, so I jokingly told C I was going to do some positive visualization, ie that I was going to picture us walking out of the Mairie under a bright blue sky. It became kind of a joke between us - because really, what were the chances of it being uber nice on October 1st? But I still kept doing it - every day, for just a few seconds, I would imagine our wedding day being bright and sunny, with not a cloud in the sky. It's not that I really believe in that kind of stuff, but I always figure that throwing positives out to the universe can't hurt. And what do you know - we had a clear day with a high of almost 30°C!

Despite everything going on, I think I managed to stay relatively calm bride, minus two small Bridezilla incidents. The first being when we were on our way to the Mairie, but got held up because we couldn't get the gigantic mercedes out of the garage. I was sitting there, as we inched forward and reversed, inched forward and reversed, watching the clock tick by.

10:51am
10:53am
10:57am

Did I mention I was supposed to be getting married at 11am?

Um yeah.

We finally got the car out, and we raced over to the city hall. My mind was racing as well - like "How could I be late for my own wedding??". And then we get there, only to find the parking lot in front of the city hall was full! (As a side note, most Vinci parking lots will let you park for free on your wedding day and on your birthday). My poor brother - who has never been to Paris before, let alone driven in the city - was left to fend for himself and find a parking spot while I jumped out of the car and ran over. Luckily they were running behind and he found a spot easily enough, so I was able to breath for a few minutes and say hello to everyone before we were ushered inside.

The ceremony itself was short and sweet - though the Adjoint Maire did make a few too many references to having multiple children for my liking. Have children! Have many children! And have them in the 15th! It was one of the things he'd asked us last week, and now I'm curious to whether or not he would have married us had we said no. He also leaned in to give me a bisous afterward, and it lasted just a little bit too long....Those of you in the countryside will know what I'm talking about. Like when you show up at the village bar and you have to make the rounds to say hello to everyone, and all the greasy old men at the bar insist on leaning in for a kiss that is accidentally-on-purpose way too close to your mouth.

And then it was over and we had a piece of paper saying we were married. It's actually kind of funny when you think about it - that this tiny piece of paper can carry such weight and be a legally binding document. Like one second you're not married, and then *bam* you are.

How about that?



In the next episode: A hungry bride is a cranky bride....

Life is good

Yesterday marked three years since I moved to Paris. In many ways, it seems like ages ago, yet I can still remember sitting there in my shoebox that first night, looking around at my life packed up in a few small boxes and wondering "What are you doing here? What's going to happen now??"

And now here I am planning a wedding, with a man who is both beautiful inside and out:

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

La Nuit Blanche

La Nuit Blanche sort of has a special connotation for me now - after a month or so of dating, it's the night C & I officially had "The Talk" and became a couple. Last year we spent it waiting in an interminable line at the Luxembourg Gardens. C can't stand lines, so we decided to just go bar-hopping with a friend and see what we came across while walking from place to place. After a few drinks, we ended up down by the Seine. We took a quick look at Notre Dame, but it was such a lovely night that we ended up just hanging out down by the river. It was like a throw back to summer - the weather was so mild, there was music everywhere and the streets were filled with people having a good time. I think that's one of the things I like most about la Nuit Blanche - it gives you the opportunity to do something totally different each year. It can give you an excuse to go explore a new, yet-undiscovered quartier, or you can stay in your neighborhood and still come across something equally cool. It's like one last night of fun and frolicking before the cold weather rolls in and winter begins...

This is how I've been feeling this week

Lest anyone think C is too perfect, I can assure you he does have some flaws. Not many, but they are there. For example, he has some really weird issues with food - I don't really want to go into them here, but they practically merit a blog post of their own. As a quick example - he ate his first orange while we were in Egypt. How do you make it to 30 without ever having eaten an orange??? I mean my grandma did because she grew up in post-war Finland, but come on, nowadays it's insane. Fin bref. Let's just say the issues were almost a deal-breaker for me in the beginning but that to his credit, he's been making a huge effort ever since I told him how much of a problem it was getting to be.

He is also the slowest driver on the planet. For as much as I love discovering new things with him, I dread the car ride there. Our 3 1/2hr drive to Poitiers on Saturday took over 6 hours and our drive back took 7 hours because the man consistently drives 20km UNDER the speed limit. And has to stop every hour for a break. It drives me absolutely insane. He goes 70km/hr in a 90 zone. And 90km/hr in a 110. I think it's probably an American thing - we tend to just get in the car and drive, only stopping for a pee break when it's absolutely necessary. Anything else just wastes time. But the worst is on the auto-route. They're not cheap, and in my mind, you're paying for the right to go faster. I don't want him to speed, but just to go the 130km/hr speed limit. We've yet to have a major fight, but by God, the speed issue just might cause me to explode one day. (Or maybe it will motivate me to finally learn how to drive a manual car LOL).

But I try to be patient because lord knows I am not without flaws myself. The day I brought up all of his food issues, I said "but there must be things that I do that bother you too" - and he just looked at me quizzically and said "Mais tes défauts font partie de ta perfection" (But your faults are part of your perfection). Which has to be about one of the nicest things anyone has ever said to me.

And that is what I try to focus on when we are stopping to take our gazillionth break along the way.

Trop la classe, notre p'tit gite

(Celebrating in style)

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I wonder if it was a mutual love of medieval fonts that brought these two together....

It's boiling hot here, but la vie sure is belle.

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