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Jean and Brian's wedding/honeymoon

9/11/08
We’re married. It’s official. The wedding was like being in a movie. My face still hurts from smiling so much and my feet are still swollen from all of the dancing. I was so excited to go down the aisle, the coordinators assistant had to hold me by my dress to keep me from running down to my groom too quickly. Mom looked wonderful and Dad made this strange sighing sound when I danced with him to Tori Amos’ “Winter”. I wore my converse the whole time, which made me feel at ease in such a big dress. Brian and I got to share our goofy intimacy with everyone close to us. He blew us all away with a speech before we cut the cake. I had no idea it was coming. My surprise of Rob Dickenson playing “Black metallic” went off even better than expected and he was brilliant. Brian was surprised. JPs words were very appropriate, the DJ played everything I wanted and the food was fantastic.
Meeting Brian’s extended family was awesome. They are all so warm and friendly. Seeing the women in my family always makes me feel good. Megan was freaking amazing!!! I love her. Her speech as well as Alex’s best man speech was so well put and touching. She bustled me up all by herself.
It was wonderful to see my friends and I got to talk to all of them a little. Catching up with my cousins around the hotel was great. I seemed to run into them at the steam room and the pool the most. Our guests were pretty darn generous and I actually can’t wait to write some of them their thank you notes. The vendors were so perfect as was Tobey. I was so super tired by the end of the day. Also super sad to know that this sort of affair was a once in a lifetime event. I hope to hold on to the memory of it as best I can.

Honeymoon
The flight over was almost fun and I didn’t get sick. Business class was fantastic with the lounging seats and the yummy vegetarian food. Lufthansa really knows what they are doing.
The hotel Victoria Palace is awesome. Our room is a decent size and the balcony is perfect. We slept with the doors wide open at our feet last night and I watched the sunrise at the foot of our bed. I had a nice soak in the huge tub before going to sleep. We ate a local brasserie/café. The neighborhood is quiet yet cosmopolitan with a Fnac store on the corner and many other retailers such as H&M and United Colors of Benetton.
The breakfast that comes with the room is chalk full of French goodies, like cheeses and breads. We walked around along the Seine for a while this morning after Brian consulted our various maps. We found a creperie near the Halles station/Lourve and enjoyed some goat cheese, tomato and walnut crepes followed by a shared chocolate crepe. We walked back to the hotel and caught our minibus tour of the city. There were 2 older couples on the tour One from Philly and another from Ohio. The guide was perfect, not cheesy at all, just factual. We started with a stop in the Montmartre area, which was full of artists and painters. I saw actor, Gabriel Garcia Barnal (I think that is his name) from Motorcycle Diaries. That was random. There were a lot of tourists, but they along with the street performers, were tolerable. We saw many other things as well including, but not limited to, Notre dame, the Eiffel tower, the arc de triumph and Hotel Deville. We took a lot of photos. The driver dropped us off near Luxembourg Garden. We walked around for a while and found a falafel joint. We got our snacks to go and sat in the garden while watching a group of 20 or so children play soccer in a gazebo. Their voices were loud and joyful and I found it to be a very enjoyable scene. We continued to walk around and ended up back at the hotel. We slept for an hour or so with the doors to the balcony opened once again (it was about 80 degrees today). I was woken up by the rain pelting our balcony. It was so refreshing. I was thrilled to be enjoying a nap with the love of my life while listening to the rain outside our window here in Paris. Once we woke up, we got our act together and decided to hunt down one of the vegetarian restaurants I had researched. It was a bit late and since there was another hotel guest using the computer in the lobby, the front desk clerk was kind enough to call for us. The lobby had been full of a large group of brits that got stuck here over night after a day trip due to the Eurostar getting shut down. Not sure if an accident had occurred or if it is due to the fact that the Pope is in town tomorrow and the next day.
We decided to try the La Victoire Supreme du Coeur. We took the metro to the Hotel Deville stop and were content to find that the restaurant was much to our liking. All vegetarian cuisine and very very yummy. Brian had a salad with fake chicken and then a mushroom loaf type dish with potatoes and greens. I had a small plate of greens topped with a light green creamy dressing along with a fake chicken and toasted shitake dish that also came with potatoes and greens. We were EXTREMLY satisfied. We walked along the Seine for a bit and took the train back to the hotel. We loaded up and sorted thru a few photos and now Brian is falling asleep next to me after watching that idiot Sarah Palin talk on the BBC.

9/12/08
Wow. Today was a long day...My shins feel like they are about to split open at the front of my legs... My limbs are so spent from walking around that they are shaking uncontrollably. I am however, excited about all of the ground that we covered today.
We started around 9am with a hearty breakfast of croissants, cheese, yogurt and other yummy freebies from the hotel breakfast. It was so hard to get up this morning, but Brian was raring to go. We hit the Lourve first, now that we are experts at the underground. No worries, we still manage to cover a lot of the streets on foot. The Lourve was overcrowded with tourists and we took a ton of photos. The oversized French paintings and the structure of the building itself were the most impressive part of our visit. Once we made our way up to the 1st and 2nd floor galleries, it got a bit more quiet. We REALLY did not see what the big deal about the Mona Lisa was.
After the Lourve, we went on a journey past Bellville in search of Krishna Bahavna (sp?), an all vegetarian Indian restaurant that I had read about online. Because Brian freaking rocks, we have been finding our way around some of these off the path locations. This one was in an ethnically Indian neighborhood and we lucked out that it was open. It was cheap and, oh so, yummy. We were a few of the only white people in the place and the food was awesome. It wasn’t even spicy, which makes us believe it was northern Indian cuisine. Recharged with our bellies full, we headed to the Pere-Lachaise Cemetery. There, we went in search of Jim Morrison and Chopin’s graves. Again, we took a LOT of photos and enjoyed the peaceful (yet dead) surroundings. Did I mention that the weather was perfect today? Chopin’s grave was much more impressive than Jim’s. Jim’s was so small and out of the way, it was almost a little sad. I, however, had renewed faith in the human race for paying more attention to Chopin’s memory.
We went back to the hotel for a quick catnap. My legs and feet were killing me, but waiting for a taxi was taking wayyyyy too long, so I powered on and we hit the Metro once again in search of another vegetarian restaurant that I had read about on the Happy Cow website. Aquarius was also in a more local friendly neighborhood a little north of our hotel. The staff of 3 people seemed to know every other person that came thru the door and it was a small joint. They spoke broken English but managed to communicate well enough to describe to us the specials of the evening. This place also appeased our curious appetites. I had a bowl of split pea soup with a main course of mushrooms and filo dough. It came with a ragu of veggies, a yummy salad of fresh greens with beets and some smooth mashed potatoes that had some parsnip or leek going on in it. Brian had a lasagna that he practically sucked right off of the plate. Again, another brilliant find. It made me wish we could travel the world and review veggie restaurants everywhere. These places are really helping us see the REAL Paris that is free of tourists and cameras.
From Aquarius, we hit the train to the Eiffel Tower in order to catch the last cruise of the night on the Seine. The tower is lit up all purple /blue and flashy at night. It is SOOOO cheesy, but it does look kind of neat. The night cruise was very romantic and, besides all of the tourists taking photos of only the major monuments, it was enjoyable. From there we caught one of the last metro trains of the night and made our way back to the hotel. We had every intention of getting some dessert, but my soar feet and Brian’s full bladder ran us straight back to our room.

9/13
Saturday in Paris was filled with movement just like the previous days, but Brian was not having a good day. He had a cold surface and I was feeling the beginnings of it as well. I slept in a bit and that made me have to rush to get ready for our Versailles tour. We grabbed some snacks from the corner store and awaited our mini bus. This is where things started to go sour for my new hubby. He took a dislike to our tour guide immediately. He was a typical pompous French ass, making slighted comments in regards to America and Paris’ superiority to, well... everything. I found him amusing and I could appreciate his knowledge and expertise of his city, but Brian was severely displeased. We picked up a couple about our parents age and the woman had a hard time getting into the van cause she had a busted knee and was using a cane. These 2 were an addition to Brian, myself, and a group of 3 older women (2 from Canada and one from Florida). The guide made it more than clear to the new arrivals that he would send them on their own around Versailles so they would not hold the rest of us up. Even when the woman insisted she could try and keep up. He went so far as to suggest a “rendezvous point” at a café that had amenities for disabled people. A (large) part of me was happy that he was trying to show us as much as possible during our (way too) short visit to Versailles, but he didn’t have to be so insulting to them. The pace that Brian and I had been working at while in Paris, would probably not afford the group, including our guide, the luxury of keeping up with us anyway. We were dropped at a side entrance and made our way up to the palace. Soooo many freaking tourists... made it very hard to get around, much less appreciate what we were there to see. We skipped the audio guide and walked around a bit. Our potty break alone took up about half of our time before meeting up with the group again. One thing the guide was right about was that the gardens and property were way more interesting than that palace rooms that were o display. We went to the gardens and he just sort of strolled us around. At times, I was the one holding us up due to my exhaustive efforts to get a few photos. I HATE taking photos of beautiful historic landscapes with so many people in them. I guess this is a price one must pay when visiting these places as a tourist (on the afternoon tour no less). We wandered the Enceladus Grove, the Domes Grove and the fountains of Apollos chariot. We were running out of time and the guide sent the 2 of us ahead so we could run around and see some fountains on our own without having to wait for the older generation of our group to keep the pace. Brian and I gave ourselves a limit of one or 2 photos per garden and we went running off. With 20 minutes on our own we saw The Ballroom fountain and garden, the Bassin du Miroir, Garden du Roi and the Salles des Marronniers. Once we made our way out of that section, we ran right into our group again and took some photos back by the Apollo fountain. I had been looking forward to seeing the Queen’s hamlet, but we had run out of time and only got to drive by it. Brian and I vowed that next time, we would go on our own and devote a whole day to a visit to Versailles. We will start early in the morning to try and see it without so many people around. The guide continued to annoy Brian when it came out that we were on our honeymoon. All of the other passengers offered their joyous congratulations while he offered his condolences. Brian managed to tolerate the guide on the ride back by engrossing himself in a conversation with the only other gentleman on the bus. The couple in their 60’s were from Huntington Beach and the husband was a retired CPA from the US defense dept. They had all sorts of fun discussing all of the information Brian finds on the internet. We were going to go shopping near the Louvre, but due to the Pope’s visit, traffic was all jacked up and we ended up near our hotel anyway. We settled for shopping at H&M. The area we stayed in (St Germain), is REALLY crowded on weekends. I grabbed a bunch of clothing options from level 1 and 2 of the H&M and waited for a good 20 minutes to try items on. They would only let me in with 7 at a time and seemed slightly annoyed that I did not speak French. At least retail clothes’s shopping is a universal language. I bought 4 items and discovered that Brian had been standing outside waiting for an hour. I thought that the 3rd floor of the store was menswear, but I was wrong and he stood there the whole time waiting (even during a short rain shower)...who knew the lack of a cell phone could be so complicated. This of course did not help his worsening cold or mood. We freshened up at the hotel and made the journey back to the Montmartre area to try the final veggie restaurant on my list. I have decided that Montmartre is my favorite part of Paris. No, its not cause that’s were I spotted a celebrity or that I have Dj’d at a club called the same name. You can tell it is where a lot of artists live and it feels like they share a sense of community and support for one another. The shops and residences have an old, yet hip feel to them and people seem to take great pride in their businesses there. Whether they own a shop or paint little pictures for the tourists that make their way there. I actually enjoyed a few of the street musicians that we passed by in this area. One young guy playing modern covers to a large group of students on the stairs and another playing the violin. Brian’s keen sense of direction navigated us to the correct exit from the metro stop right onto the street where our dinner was located. Au Grain de Folie was tiny. There was a capacity of maybe 10 people and (British?) girl ran the whole show. She was hostess, waitress, cook and buser. She was very friendly and did her best to whip up any of the 3 dishes on the menu for her patrons in a quick manner. Even after cutting her hand and running to the next shop to get a band-aid from her friend. Brian was not so happy with the food, but I cleaned my plate and almost got up to help the girl at one point. My meal was some seasoned seitan, lentils, cabbage, brown rice and carrots. Brian waited in agony with me as his health deteriorated while I waited for and ate the pear crumble that came with my meal. I gave the girl running the place a healthy tip and told her I hoped her hand felt better. We jumped on the metro back to our part of town and Brian stopped to get himself a nutella/hazelnut crepe from a crepe stand once we emerged from the station. While we watched them make the crepes, we witnessed a scene outside the bar next door. The 2 male wait staff had ejected a middle aged drunk woman who would not leave. She kept coming back even when they repeatedly and physically pushed her across the street. I got the feeling that it must have been personal. French people sure are passionate. We returned to our hotel as Brian polished off the last of his yummy crepe. I stayed up late that night finishing the first of the Twilight books by Stephenie Meyer. I am so hooked...

9/14
Brian woke up in a much better, well-rested mood. In fact, true to form, he jumped out of bed early and went on a solo excursion to find some shops to look for a possible new coat. Unfortunately, it was Sunday, and even though the hotel staff said the shops would open at 10am, he found that this was not the case. I enjoyed my last yummy breakfast at the Victoria Palace hotel and packed up to go to the Chateau Montvillargenne. Our driver was very prompt and helpful with the luggage, even after I had given him his tip.
The chateau is beautiful. We went to check in but they informed us that our room was not ready. I was starting to come down with the same cold that Brian seemed to be suffering. We were both looking forward to some down time in the peace of our own room. To kill time, we had lunch in the bar. The language barrier is larger here. The desk staff speaks good English, but the wait staff... not so much. We managed to order some pizzas. They were made with really rich cheeses including but not limited to blue cheese and they were topped with kalamata olives and walnuts... I know... it was salty and odd. But we were hungry and the veggie options were almost ziltch. Everything seemed to have fioe gras or smoked salmon. After our lunch we walked around the property to explore our surroundings. Our driver mentioned that this location was seminar friendly. I don’t think they see too many honeymooners here. Good thing we are not your typical honeymooners ;).
The property and building are truly representative of the French countryside. I took a lot of photos and we enjoyed our walk. There was moss on the ground and the trees were green green green. The fresh non-city air was good for our suffering lungs. Our room was ready at about 3pm and we made our way to the first floor quarters. It is technically the 3rd floor, but room 101. My only complaint is that our room was at the back of the building right over a service entrance, so you can hear the coming and going and the loading in and out of the staff. Even still, we were surrounded by many tall trees and it really wasn’t so bad. One wall of our room was covered with windows and we enjoyed a lovely nap while the breeze gently blew thru them.
We got dressed up for dinner in the dining room, but none of the other guests took the same care to. Brian was still feeling less than great and I was not 100 percent either. Dinner was stuffy and the place is supposedly known for its seafood. The dining room was nice and the orchids on the tables were amazing. They brought us an array of seafood pates and quickly informed them that my “husband” was a vegetarian. They quickly replaced his plate with a bowl of gazpacho. I had a starter of different types of raw tuna. The tartar was the best with a pleasant balance of tomatoes and tuna. I liked the use of fresh pepper on the carpachio but the sushi samples had a lot to be desired. Of course, that’s on me cause who goes to a French restaurant for sushi... My main course was cod with tiny little baby shrimps and these fried seafood croquettes. I was longing for some green refreshing veggies, but made due without. Brian had a plate of vegetables that seemed well prepared, but not very sustaining. He told me he would “carb up” at breakfast. I noticed a certificate on the wall for an award that they won, but it was dated in 1987. That made a lot of sense. It wasn’t awful, just outdated. We shared a dessert of warm chocolate cake that was garnished with mango and kiwi to give it an island flare. It was good, just a bit overdone and unnecessary. All in all this meal probably cost us over 150 dollars and by the end, the service was so poor, we had to get up and pay the matre de. Brian went to sleep almost straight away after watching the news of the Hurricane hitting Texas and the eminent bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers firm. I continued reading the 2nd book of the twilight series, “New Moon”. I almost cried when the vampire broke up with the young heroine of the story...These books are ridiculously good and a super fast read. I hope to get this one to last until I get home to Nashville and can buy the next 2.

9/15/08
This morning we got up and sampled the Chateaus breakfast buffet. I have to say that the Victoria Palace was better. After breakfast, I went back to sleep due to the illness trying to take over my body. We must have been exposed to all sorts of new germs in the big city of Paris and its metro system. We wanted to try horseback riding or get massages, but when we checked with the front desk, none of these services were available for the day. So, I retired back to bed and Brian rented a bike and took a ride. He came back about 2 hours later and showed me his photos. He saw a young deer! I was jealous but happy that he got a well-composed photo from the experience. We ordered room service for lunch and enjoyed some steamed vegetables and French fries. I read some more and we continued to be lazy in the bed together. We have not been able to do that in a long time. Since he has a lot of work to accomplish when we get back to the states, it will probably be the last day we can share relaxation for quite some time. So I don’t feel too guilty for not going outside at all today. We had dinner in the bar (Brian-pizza, Me-club sandwich) and retired to our room to pack. We have to get up at 6am tomorrow so we can be good to go to the airport at 8am. Yuck!

wedding and Paris

putting together gift bags for the out-of-towners

yes, even Brian helped

final dress fitting

final dress fitting

Jean and Megan @ rehearsal

Brian and Jean @ rehearsal

Victoria and Alex Sr @ rehearsal

Brian and little Alex @ rehearsal

Victoria and Alex Sr @ rehearsal

Bridal party getting nails done and shoulder rubs

Bridal party getting nails done and shoulder rubs

Bridal party getting nails done and shoulder rubs

Bridal party getting nails done and shoulder rubs

rehearsal dinner

hair and makeup- Tobey, wedding coordinator wiz

hair and makeup

hair and makeup

hair and makeup

little Alex showing us who's boss

our Paris balcony

Brian is so gorgeous

view from our Paris balcony

view from our Paris balcony

view from our Paris balcony

our hotel room in Paris

Brian in front of a fountain

Jean in front of the same fountain

the Seine

French flag

Jean in front of the National Center of Art and Culture

near the national Center of Art and Culture

Moulin Rouge

view from Montmartre

view from Montmartre

view from Montmartre

Montmartre

view from Montmartre

Arc of Triumph

eiffel tower

across from the eiffel tower

across from the eiffel tower

Arc of Triumph

Notre dame

Notre dame

near Notre dame

Panthéon

Luxembourg gardens

Luxembourg gardens

near Luxembourg gardens

Brian is so smart

view at night from our Paris hotel

Brian in front of the Lourve

the Lourve

the Lourve

the Lourve- medival

the Lourve- medival

Jean @ the Lourve

Brian at the Lourve

The Lourve

Jean @ the Lourve

The Lourve

Jean @ the Lourve

The Lourve

The Lourve

The Lourve

Jean @ the Lourve

Jean @ the Lourve

Jean @ the Lourve

the Lourve

The Lourve

The Lourve

Jean @ the Lourve

Jean @ the Lourve

Jean @ the Lourve

The Lourve

the Lourve

us @ the Lourve

The Lourve

The Lourve

The Lourve

The Lourve

The Lourve

The Lourve

Mona Lisa @ The Lourve

The Lourve

The Lourve

The Lourve

The Lourve

The Lourve

The Lourve

The Lourve

The Lourve

Brian is so cool

Even hot in glasses

The Lourve

The Lourve

The Lourve

The Lourve

The Lourve

The Lourve

The Lourve

The Lourve

The Lourve

The Lourve

The Lourve

The Lourve

The Lourve

Cemetary du Pere-Lachaise

Cemetary du Pere-Lachaise

Cemetary du Pere-Lachaise

Cemetary du Pere-Lachaise

Cemetary du Pere-Lachaise

Cemetary du Pere-Lachaise

Cemetary du Pere-Lachaise

Cemetary du Pere-Lachaise

Cemetary du Pere-Lachaise

Cemetary du Pere-Lachaise

Cemetary du Pere-Lachaise

Cemetary du Pere-Lachaise

Cemetary du Pere-Lachaise

Chopin's grave @ Cemetary du Pere-Lachaise

Cemetary du Pere-Lachaise

Cemetary du Pere-Lachaise

Cemetary du Pere-Lachaise

Jim Morrison's grave @ Cemetary du Pere-Lachaise

Kitty near Jim Morrisson's grave @ Cemetary du Pere-Lachaise

Cemetary du Pere-Lachaise

Cemetary du Pere-Lachaise

Cemetary du Pere-Lachaise

Cemetary du Pere-Lachaise

Cemetary du Pere-Lachaise

Cemetary du Pere-Lachaise

Jean @ Cemetary du Pere-Lachaise

Jean @ Cemetary du Pere-Lachaise

Cemetary du Pere-Lachaise

Brian, master of the Underground

night cruise on the Seine

night cruise on the Seine

night cruise on the Seine

night cruise on the Seine

Versailles

Versailles

Versailles

Versailles

Versailles

Versailles

Versailles

Versailles

Versailles

Versailles

Versailles

Versailles

us @ Versailles

street near Versailles

Versailles

Versailles

Versailles

Versailles

Versailles

Versailles

Versailles

Versailles

Versailles

Versailles

Versailles

Versailles

Versailles

Versailles

Versailles

us @ Versailles

us @ Versailles

Versailles

Versailles

Versailles

Versailles

Versailles

Indian food @ Krishna Bhavan

Krishna Bhavan

Crepes on our last night in Paris

so many bikes

last morning in Paris

these were bikes you could rent

Brian in the back on the Chateau Montvillargenne

Jean @ Chateau Montvillargenne

Chateau Montvillargenne

Chateau Montvillargenne

Chateau Montvillargenne

Chateau Montvillargenne

Chateau Montvillargenne

Chateau Montvillargenne

Chateau Montvillargenne

us @ Chateau Montvillargenne

Chateau Montvillargenne

Chateau Montvillargenne

Chateau Montvillargenne

our room @ Chateau Montvillargenne

morning @ Chateau Montvillargenne

Brian saw a deer on his bike ride near Chateau Montvillargenne

bike ride near Chateau Montvillargenne

near Chateau Montvillargenne