Holy Cow - it´s been quite a while, hasn't it?!

Hello everyone. Today, I will be your guide through the wonderful adventures of Kelly and Chuck en Europe. The last we spoke (or you spoke with Charles), we had visited Sainte-Chappelle and the Musée d'Orsay. The former was incredible! My heart was beating a mile a minute. My breath was taken away. It was absolutely stunning! Pictures do not do the place justice. It is an experience that has to be lived. That evening, Charles and I visited the Eiffel Tower and walked along the Seine. Charles impressed me with his excellent translation skills (renard=duck, mouche=mouth) and I was faced with one of the most important questions of my young life when a bus full of French firefighters piled out before us as we watched the Eiffel Tower glittering before us - as the French seem to only hire the hottest guys for professional type jobs, should I reevaluate my life path to join their ranks and bask in the beauty that is the male French firefighter for the rest of my life? Given that I'm not much of a fan of strenuous exercise of any sort, I thought better of it. But, wow!

Anyway, back to the important stuff. The following day, we visited the best museum EVER! We went to the Medieval Cluny museum which is held in a medieval monastery which was built over 1st century Roman baths! It was pretty amazing. We encountered a lot of works that I had studied, and Charles and I interpreted the works as best we could. It was lots of fun. That evening, as we had moved to our new home in Monmartre, we decided to walk around the neighbourhood and find ourselves our first full French meal. We ate escargots and boulliabase and creme brulée and smoked fish in bernaise sauce and a chocolate and pear dessert - it was decadent! Chuck even had some red wine with his meal. Magnifique! Oh, I forgot - we also went to see Sacre Coeur at the top of the hill, which has a fabulous view of Paris. Inside the church, there were nuns singing which added to the ambience of the already impressive structure and decor. It's a huge fricken church!

The following day we made our way to Toulouse by train. Nothing much to say about that, except that I beat Charles in a game of chess on the bus. Oh yes... The train we wanted to take was full and the guy at the desk said our only options were a midnight train or travelling the next day. But we prodded and prodded and he found us a route in which we took an intercity train then a bus then another train! An adventure!!! It was quite fun, But we were exhausted when we got Toulouse and went to bed right away.

My hands hurt from typing, so Charles is going to type now while I dictate...

In Toulouse we had an awesome place to stay (The President, and they gave us a really awesome breakfast). The next morning we first visited Les Jacobins, which was like a convent/abby, made in the gothic style with beautiful "palm tree" pillars (we'll put up pictures eventually so you can all see it - facilities are limited at the moment). Charles was very excited for two reasons - first there was displayed the remains of St. Thomas Aquinas. Also, there was an exhibit on the Golden Age of Arabic Science - Charles had a blast explaining all the science stuff to me. I had fun too, and I learned! After that it was my turn, and we went to see Saint-Sernin, which is a beautiful Romanesque cathedral - that was the most exciting experience, which would take a lot of discussion, but we don't have much time... so on to Madrid!

We had a disastrous trip... I mean, a new adventure from Toulouse to Madrid. We had to take three trains, the second of which was late, so we missed our third train. One argument and an hour in line later, plus another 2 hour wait, we finally hopped a high speed train and made our way from Barcelona to Madrid. Our first (and only day) in Madrid was fabulous - we went on a walking tour with an Australian named Deb, had tapas at a little restaurant on some back street, marvelled at the art of the Northern Renaissance in the Museo del Prado. The highlight of this visit was, of course, Bosch's "Garden of Earthly Delights" - mindblowing, and defying description. It was fricken HUGE! We also saw a lot of other art that really blew us away - Charles even enjoyed it. Then we met up with a friend of mine who lives in Madrid, had oodles of fun with her (lovely lady), and came home and chatted with our roommates (who are rather interesting in themselves). Mendy (from Toronto) and Aaron (from LA) had just finished their rabbinical studies in Venice and were medieval geeks like me!

Today we are leaving, sadly, I really like Madrid - it's chill, and it's hot (thank god, finally a place that's hot), and oh my god I completely forgot! When we were in Toulouse, it was Bastille day, and we went and saw the fireworks on a bridge over the river - it was beautiful. There was this sweet little girl who was maybe one or so years old, and she kept saying "oooh, oooh, oooh" at the fireworks - so cute!!! And Charles was very proud of himself for making a French joke (it was hilarious). The little girl was curious because he was taking out a map to try to figure out what a particular building was in the distance, so Charles showed her the map, pointed, and said ¨Vous êtes ici!" - to which everyone tittered. You know, being French and all. So back to Madrid...

We're leaving today, so sad! But we're off to Calpe, sandy white beaches, torrents of vacationing Spaniards, and we're hoping some respite from the big city. Although, Madrid was rather laid back, and certainly a very different experience from Paris. Goodbye, and goodnight - I love you all! As soon as we can put up pictures, we will!

P.S. But wait! That's not all!!! I've decided to save the best news for last. Our last night night in Paris, we got a phone call from my family letting us know that my little baby nephew, Connor Lawrence, finally arrived safe and sound (8lb 60z) - which of course means he'll be super smart. I can't wait to meet him, I'll post pictures on Facebook as soon as I get the chance. Now we have to pack and check out, so I really really really gotta go. I love my little nephew, and we're having a great time, and we'll talk soon! Bye bye bye!