Versailes, France - 2nd Family Trip

Our 2nd family trip was to Versailes & Paris in October.

By now I was dressing Isabel up in this get-up



So when Greg even mentioned the first few letters...Pa, for Paris
My ears quickly perked up and I was pleading 'PLEASE DEAR!'
'HONEY, SWEETIE PIE...PLEASE!'

Greg knows I love Paris, and he knew he would score extra points for taking me on this work trip.
That was the first place we went to when Greg and I were first dating. Greg invited me to his friend's wedding in Finland and when Greg found out that I had not really been to any place other than the states around Texas, much less out of the country. He thought it might be good to see a little bit more than just Finland and decided I needed to see Paris and London on the way to Helsinki.

Thank goodness he checked with me to make sure that I had a passport, because I didn't and it didn't even occur to me that I was going to need one. My rationale..."I am an American, don't they let us into any place we want??" After all we didn't need a passport for Mexico or Canada. HA! so sad. But my how things have changed, as here I am living in Helsinki and making a second trip to Paris.

Greg is not a big fan of Paris (not sure why) so he wanted to check out another city and suggested Versailles. Versailles has the Palace of Versailles, where Kings lived, including King Louis XVI until the French Revolution... you know Marie-Antoinette, "off with her head!"

Sounded good to me and it was a great choice. I was a little nervous about the plane flight because of what happened last time we flew but Isabel was in good spirits and it was all smiles from Isabel and the happy passengers (glad that there wasn't a screaming baby on board)





We stayed at a beautiful hotel called
the Trianon Palace Waldorf Astoria, which was a hop, skip and a jump from the royal grounds.

Here Greg and Isabel are modeling outside the Trianon.






The hotel/palace was really pretty and so were the grounds.

I loved the different colors of the trees and you could really tell autumn was in the air.


Greg loved playing around with Isabel outside, I guess the crisp air and bright colors made Greg fun loving and playful, like the mules my grandmother Memo always talks about when the air in Texas starts to get a little cooler.


After a play in the leaves and trees we decided to head out and about.

Here we are on the street that ran right next to our hotel. LOVED the tree shapes and color, very pristine.


Even though it was a bit chilly, Greg decided to wear the carrier and went without a coat! brr!

Isabel was all bundled up and was kept warm by her Daddy.

The walk into town was really nice.
I loved how clean the city was.
So manicured, so cute and chic.

















































On Saturday morning the market was open.

I don't know enough French to get me around the market so I just kept quiet but enjoyed people and food watching.






















































The first time around in France I didn't eat much food, as Greg and I were first dating (back then I also packed a huge suitcase including 8 pairs of black shoes) BUT this time I packed 1 pair of black shoes and took advantage of the pastry situation.

See I can't drink the wine I want, so to make up for it I told myself I deserved several pastries a day and boy was I was excited to eat some pastries!
It looks like Greg was too!
















Oh the pastries! Not only were the pastry shops adorable, they would wrap up these delicious treats in a very fancy box. I guess this lessened the blow of spending 5 bucks on a single treat.


BUT OH! I didn't mind the cost at all because these pastries were très bon!
I got something that was creamed filled with powdered sugar on top.

As you can see in the image below, I was wearing Isabel. Well, by the end of my treat the poor little girl had powdered sugar all over her!


Greg got an eclair and it was very yummy too. He is very lucky I let him eat some of his eclair.

We thought about viewing the Palace but the line was LONG and we had a baby that needed a feed and a change. So back to the hotel we went.

Speaking of feeding. If you had told me in 2005, before I met Greg, that I would be in France before the age of 40 I wouldn't have believed you. And if you told me that I would be back in France 4 years later with a baby and would be breastfeeding in public, I would have told you to 'Get Out!' and pushed you like Elaine on Seinfeld!

But here I am breastfeeding Isabel in the carrier as we walked the streets of Versailles....pretty crazy for me! The carrier hid most of what was going on, just looked like a baby sleeping.


We went back to the Hotel around dusk and enjoyed the atmosphere of the hotel. It really was a nice hotel, inside and out. Here are some shots of the interior.































I got some fruity champagne drink (mostly realfruit juice it seemed) and Greg held Isabel so I could relax and enjoy! Thank you sweet hubby!































The next day Greg had a phone conference call, so I decided to go see the royal grounds with Isabel.
Here we are about to say goodbye to Greg and head out.
















I went out of our hotel and turned right and not a very long walk later, I arrived at the Petit Trianon, which is a small chateau located on the royal grounds and was Marie Antoinette's sanctuary, a place for her to get away from it all.































It took me awhile to figure out what was different with this pool table. Ok, I confess I knew something was different but didn't realize it was missing pockets until Greg said something.

I guess this is a billiards table...sounds like an even more boring game without the pockets if you ask me.

Not too far away was the Grand Trianon, which I guess was where the king could get away from it all to relax. Pretty nice place to relax.





























The grounds were so beautiful.








































































In this picture below, you can see the palace in the background.
















It really was a big and fancy looking palace. I wished we had the time to actually go in, but with long lines and a baby it was a little hard to make it happen.

Here Greg is out front of the palace with Isabel asleep in the pram.











































After a walk around the palace, we had to catch the train to go Paris!














Au Revoir, Versailles



Bonjour, Paris!

Stuttgart, Germany - 1st Family Vacation

Stuttgart, Germany home of Mercedes-Benz & Porsche.

In September, Greg had a work trip to the US and then had to go on to Germany for another 4 days of meetings.
Daddy figured that he would miss little Isabel and so he asked Mommy to join him in the last leg of his trip, which was Stuttgart Germany.

Let's see....get Isabel dressed up like this


















or go to Germany where it was warmer...hmm... Sign me up for Germany!!!

It took me 2 days to pack for a 4 day trip that was a 2 hour plane flight away! I was very nervous about what to pack, what not to pack but I still ended up with a huge suitcase!

Oh well, we didn't lack for anything except diapers which I almost didn't pack enough of. Try finding an open store on a Sunday in Germany, you can't!

Even though I was really nervous all went well at the airport flying over to Germany. Unfortunately, the aircraft was small and I had to check my stroller/pram in with my luggage.

This meant I had to juggle my winter wardrobe, my carry on, my nursing pillow and a baby that couldn't hold her head up! Luckily I had a sling that allowed me to put Isabel in. Unluckily I had not done this before and Isabel wasn't really happy about being squished in the sling. Also the sling goes around 1 part of your body and puts it off kilter and so my back was pretty sore the next day.

When we arrived in Germany a nice man helped me with getting my luggage off the conveyor belt. He said he had a pregnant wife at home that was just about to pop! (not sure if he used those exact words hehehe) . Great first experience of the people in Germany!

I kept waiting for my pram to come on the conveyor belt, so I could put Isabel in it and take a load of my back BUT the airline LOST the pram!!!
So I now had my BIG suitcase, carry on, nursing pillow, and a squirmy Isabel who didn't like the sling.
Luckily Greg's seminar was close to the airport and he was able to meet up with me and help with Isabel. Here we are on the train going from the airport to our hotel.

















Notice the cute Miffy shirt Isabel is wearing.

I didn't know who Miffy was until our Dutch friend, Patrick, came for a visit after Isabel was born. He brought over a Miffy shirt and said Miffy (which English speakers know her as) is really Nijntje, which comes from Dutch toddler's pronunciation of the word "konijntje", meaning "little rabbit" . I had Patrick pronounce this word several times and I still have a hard time saying it.
Anyway Nijntje/Miffy is a cute little rabbit created by the Dutch artist Dick Bruna and is all the rage over here kind of like hello kitty....well at least over here she is all the rage, and more cute than that stupid Elmo!

I promise myself I will never buy an Elmo toy or introduce Elmo to Isabel. Not so sure why that stupid Sesame Street character is so irritating and so popular, Grover and Cookie Monster have it totally over Elmo.

ok back to the trip.... When we arrived a storm front had come through and made the temperatures go from the upper 70's to the lower 60's, but hey that is what the temps are for a Finnish summer, so it was actually summer weather here :-)

Greg took me to a beer garden to sit outside under the stars and have some nice fried German food (not so different from the fried foods back in Texas) and a treat of a German wheat beer.

Isabel was asleep in the sling and we sat there talking for awhile and it was really nice. As I sat under the dark sky something dawned on me. I noticed something that I have NEVER experienced in Finland. It was night outside and I had on a short-sleeved shirt and wasn't in need of a thermal or sweater. The temperature was perfect, not too hot not too cold.. perfect weather for drinking and eating outside.

For some reason when that sun goes down in Finland it is SOOO cold but not in Germany! Made the wheat beer extra sweet.

Greg had to work most of the days that we were there, so that left Isabel and I to make it on our own during the day. Luckily our hotel room was pretty big and a great shopping area was not too far to walk to.

The next day the pram came and I put a little hat on Isabel and off we went.


















I was excited to do some shopping.

Stuttgart had something called the Köingstrasse, or shopping mile. Alright! Stores and shops for a whole mile, can't wait!!

Unlike Finland which is great for Moms and their strollers, Stuttgart was wheelchair and stroller unfriendly!
This really surprised me but kept Greg's wallet pretty safe, as I couldn't go into most shops. grr! I would walk in and bam, tons of steps going up! Most shops were like this and there wasn't a ramp or elevator in site.

Another new experience was breastfeeding.
To brag a little about Finland (which I never seem to do) ...is that in Finland you can breastfeed anywhere and you NEVER get looks much less someone that looks at you with disgust or a look that tells you, you are doing something naughty. In Finland you can usually find a room in any department store or mall, that is clean and is dedicated to breastfeeding or of course you can do it any PLACE, any TIME and any WHERE you want. No one thinks anything of it and no one looks twice at you.
Most of my friends that breastfeed back home in Texas, have to go to their HOT cars sitting outside, or find some bathroom to breastfeed and let's face it, most bathrooms are pretty nasty.

Now that I am breastfeeding I can really appreciate the openness of the Finnish culture that boobs with a baby attached is not really a big deal (it is a baby eating after all!)

In fact boobs are just another part of the body here, not a big deal at all. The Finns had a real hard time understanding the whole Janet Jackson debacle as "it was just a breast, like an ear....another part of the body", HA!

Well, just because I now live Finland doesn't mean that years of being boob repressed in Texas hasn't consumed me and made me paranoid.
So up until this trip I had only done breastfeeding at home or at the doctor's office.

Well, when you are on a plane and your baby is hungry, guess what? You have to feed her on the plane.
And if you are traveling from the airport to your hotel on a train and your baby is hungry, guess what again....you have to feed her on the train.
When it came to restaurants Greg and I were able to find restaurants that had seats out of the main walk way, but by the time I had left I was pretty used to ...gasp! breastfeeding in public!

The next day it was a little bit cooler but Greg had most of the afternoon off, so we decided to head out to the shopping area.

















It was a really nice area with lots of boutiques, art galleries, and gift shops all nestled among the area's beautiful, old buildings and lots of trees.






































Greg loves carrying Isabel and I think she always looks so adorable peaking over his shoulder Anyway, this left me pram free and I could check out the stores for some clothes! yea!

Near the main shopping strip was "das Neue Schloss", The New Castle is a building which is more of a palace. From 1746 to 1797 and from 1805 to 1807, it served as a residence of the kings of Württemberg.























































After a long day of walking and shopping we went back to the hotel room for a break. I took this opportunity to have a soak in the hot tub and have Greg watch Isabel for a bit. When I came back to the room I saw two couch potatoes. Greg said Isabel was crying unless she could see the TV!

too funny here is a video of it


It was a nice and easy first trip with Isabel only being 3 months old!

The flight over was a breeze but going back was a little bit of a nightmare! Our flight was cancelled and Greg HAD to be back for a global meeting the next day. I think you have all heard about the flight back where it was late at night, we had checked through twice and Isabel was just worn out! She had a diaper leakage accident on the plane just as it was about to descend and her poor little ears couldn't handle the change in altitude and she screamed!

Ear piercing, nerve grating, made me sweat kind of screaming which lasted for the next 30 minutes.
Both Greg and I tried to help her calm down but nothing would work!
In case you forgot what her screaming sounds like I can remind you :-)
Thankfully she doesn't do that often but when she does you don't forget it!

Over all an easy place to visit for Isabel's first trip out of Finland.

Thanks Greg!

Tears of Joy?

Not all toys bring smiles to children as this this video will show you

Poor Isabel!

Scared by the song 'The Wheels on the Bus go round and round'