Ok, so I've been distracted ...

Saturday: what happened Saturday? I got ENGAGED that's what!!!!! I woke up at 3am to catch the train from Milan to Turin, and then from Turin to Paris!!! It was fun BBMing with Justin as he landed in London and traveled through London and under the Channel to Paris! I thought that I was going to FREEZE to death while I was waiting for his silly train to get in to Gare du Nord ... but he FINALLY got there and we changed his money and caught a cab to Le Meridien Montparnasse. If you are ever in Paris and are looking for a hotel STAY HERE. It was AMAZING. The beds were like something from a 1950's sitcom ... but whatever, it was a great hotel with an amazing concierge who were a fabulous resource. We went out to dinner at Montparnasse65, and Justin was acting like he had ants in his pants or something ... so I asked him if he was ok and he said "yeah, I've just got a question for you." "ok, what's up?" "Ummmmm, will you marry me?" "wait, what? seriously??" "yeah" and he pulls out this GORGEOUS ring!!!!! I almost fell out of my chair!!! We then had a fun time calling all the friends and family!! I also discovered that drinking nothing but coffee and wine for 3 weeks will, in fact, dehydrate you and Justin realized that a 7 hour plane ride has much the same effect ... water is your friend. You'll be happy to know that since Saturday I have only had 2 glasses of diet coke ... and roughly 7,000,000,000,000 of water.

Sunday: VALENTINE'S DAY!!! We got up and headed off to Versailles! It was ALOT of fun walking around all the different rooms in the Palace, but it was FREEZING outside, and there was snow on the ground, so we skipped the extended walk through the gardens and Marie-Antoinette's Hamlet. We had lunch at this yummy creperie/galletterie (have I mentioned that I love French food????). We got back to the hotel and decided that there was no more perfect way to spend Valentine's Day (and the Chinese New Year!) than having CHINESE FOOD. There was a great place down the street from our hotel so we went there and then managed to get hold of the last members of the friends and family who we couldn't reach the night before!

Monday: My FIANCE and I spent the vast majority of the day at the Louvre. It's hard for me to say which form of art I prefer: sculpture, painting or architecture. They are all so amazing and so rich in detail and nuance. I love the room 6 in the Italian Painting section (aka Gallerie de La Jaconde, or the Mona Lisa's room!) because of the contrast between the TINY Mona Lisa and the GIANT Wedding at Cana. While I typical love looking at Da Vinci's painting for all their detail and heretical religious commentary, I am actually not a huge fan of the Mona Lisa. I feel like it's not actually his best or most interesting work ... and seeing it is JUST such a hassle (there are THOUSANDS of people who pay for admission to the Louvre JUST to see this painting because it's famous ... and don't really even GLANCE at anything else in the museum). After wandering around the Louvre for HOURS (Italian painting, French, Italian, Roman, Greek and Etruscan sculpture, Egyptian antiquities, Antiquities of the Levant, Ancient Mesopotamia including Hammurabi's Code) we decided that it was time for a mental break and grabbed lunch in one of the cafe's in the Louvre and then I wanted to go SHOPPING! I have been wanting to get a Longchamp bag for 3 years but have always talked myself out of it ... I decided when I was in Israel that i really, REALLY wanted one and decided that I would wait until I was in Paris at their flagship store to have the BEST selection. The boutique is at 404 Rue Saint Honore. I had a MASSIVE blonde moment and started us walking up Rue de Fauberg Saint Honore ... the western extension of the street. It was an AMAZING walk (home to Chanel, the US embassy, the UK embassy, the Palais de Elysee -- the residence of the French President -- Prada, and other fine, FINE stores) ... after walking ALL THE WAY UP THE STREET and not having found it ... I realize that we had walked up the wrong freaking street ... so we hailed a cab to spare our ACHING feet and arrived at 404 Rue Saint Honore. SUCH a good life decision. J and I walked around the entire store and also looked at all the luggage and bags and leather goods before I grabbed my bag. SO HAPPY! By the time we were done we realized that we really didn't have enough time to really SEE Notre Dame or the other sites on Ile de la Cite, so we decided to just head back to the hotel and have an early night (the Louvre is EXHAUSTING!!!). We had a marvelous dinner in the Restuarante Justine (hehehe) which is in the hotel. They had an amazing dessert buffet which we availed ourselves of.

Tuesday: MARDI GRAS!!! After a lazy morning, we headed off to Ile de La Cite. We grabbed lunch in this great little bistrot and crossed the street to visit Sainte-Chappelle. Unfortunately, Sainte-Chappelle was closed due to renovations (foiled again!!!) so we headed over to Notre Dame!! We spent the money for the audio guides which were REALLY informative, but since it wasn't a day to view to the crown of thorns, we decided to skip the treasury. I must say that I LOVE gothic architecture. It's just so interesting and every piece of embellishment is completely different!! We spent quite a while wandering around Notre Dame and decided against climbing the 422 winding stairs to the top of the towers (even if you DO get an up close view of the bells and gargoyles!). We then walked around the cathedral and found several great shops for Justin to do his souvenir shopping at and then headed off to La Conciergerie. I firmly maintain that it is the HEIGHT of irony that the place that you go to in a hotel to get information for things to do and see is called the concierge ... as La Conciergerie (named after the KEEPER of said site) was, in the 17-18th centuries a torture chamber and prison for those sentenced to death. I actually think that the reason that the place attracts female visitors is the fact that among the illustrious people held there before being taken to have their heads lobbed off was Queen Marie-Antoinette. It was actually a pretty informative site and has some GREAT gothic architecture to check out ... After we had had enough of La Conciergerie we headed to Arc de Triumphe and Champs-Elysees!!!! We walked part of the way down Champs-Eylsees, but had pretty much had our fill of designer shops the day before ... and the grumblies in our tumblies informed us that it was time to investigate dinner! We stopped at the CONCIERGE in the hotel and received the suggestion to eat at La Rotunde ... and I'm SO glad we did! The BEST meal I've had in Europe (and therefore in a VERY long time ...)!!! I started with an amazing pumpkin soup and Justin had the Veal Carpaccio. For our main course we each had the roast duck fillet (my mouth is STILL happy!!!) and of COURSE we finished with creme brulee. The wait staff was REALLY nice and helpful and I strongly recommend that ANYONE visiting Paris go to this restaurant (3 courses for two people, including water and service complis, 80 Eur).