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Janet L's Diary Entries Diary Navigation: Choose A Diary Entry -------------------- Latest Entry: 11/7/00 -------------------- 10/30/00 10/24/00 10/18/00 10/10/00 10/3/00 9/26/00 9/19/00 9/9/00 9/5/00 8/29/00 8/23/00 8/15/00 8/8/00 8/1/00 7/23/00 7/14/00 7/8/00 -------------------- Janet L's Introduction

September 19, 2000

Hi everyone!

Well, I am back from France! What an amazing trip that was! Several of you have requested that I post some pictures and I promise I will with my next entry. I haven't gotten our film developed yet, but I expect to very soon.

Paris is a beautiful city. There is so much to see and one week just wasn't enough. Here is how we spent our week:

Day 1: We arrived in the afternoon with severe jet lag! The time difference is nine hours later, so although it was afternoon in France it felt like the middle of the night to us! We got settled into our hotel and found a sidewalk cafe where we ate an early dinner. That was about all we could handle before nodding off to sleep in the hotel room.

Day 2: We spent the day at Disneyland Paris. We are both big Disneyland fans and it was neat to see the differences between the two parks. Space Mountain in Europe was much better than in the US!

Day 3: We met a really nice couple from the US who was staying in our hotel. The four of us went to see the Versailles Palace/Apartments. In addition to the architecture and the artwork inside the "apartments" I was struck most by the chandeliers. There were so many of them and of course they all had candles in them. I counted 48 chandeliers in one hall. I kept thinking, how many people were responsible for cleaning all of them! The gardens were also very beautiful. One of the larger gardens right outside the Palace was a gift from Louis XV to Marie Antoinette. He was quoted as saying, "Since you love flowers I am offering you a bouquet; it is the petit Trianon." If you have ever seen this garden you would understand what an understatement that really is! I thought this was all very romantic until I found out He had her beheaded later!

This day, Sept.12, was our two-year wedding anniversary. That evening we had the most amazing dinner I have ever had in a restaurant located on the Eiffel Tower. It was very romantic.

Day 4: We went to the MontMarte, which is a kind of an open-air art sale. Dozens of artists sell their paintings here and paint while you watch. After that we went on to the Sacre-Coeur (English: Sacred Heart). This is just one of the beautiful cathedrals in Paris. Then, on to the Arc de Triumph which has a great view of the entire city from the top!

Day 5: We went to the Louvre museum. This is where the Da Vinci's Mona Lisa is housed. But the Mona Lisa is only one of many beautiful paintings on display at the Louvre. I read that if you take one minute to look at each display at the Louvre, it would take 200 days to see them all! We only stayed for a half day so we really had to pick out what we really wanted to see. Later we went to Invalides, which was originally a military convalescent hospital commissioned by Napoleon to house the elderly and/or disabled military. It is now a military museum and has all the original artillery and armor used in the past.

Day 6: We went to the Notre Dame cathedral. I was wearing a sleeveless shirt when we went there and was asked to cover my shoulders before entering. Thankfully, I had brought a sweater with me so I was able to put that on and enter the church. After that, we took a train ride to Giverny, which is a small city outside of Paris. This is where Claude Monet lived. His son donated the land and his home so the public can see where he lived. I loved this part of the trip. The grounds were breathtaking! It is easy to see how he was inspired to paint such beautiful garden scenes and of course the famous lily pond is located there as well.

Day 7: I said goodbye to DH at the airport and spent almost 20 hours traveling before I got home. It was hard to leave John there after having such a romantic week together. It's not that we have never been apart, but I wished he was coming home with me.

I have left so much out about the restaurants and the people. I must say that I had heard French people don't like Americans and are rude. That was not the case for us at all! The French people were warm and friendly, the only rude people we ran in to were tourists (LOL)!

As far as TTC goes, I did bring my thermometer and my fertility monitor. I temped some, but not consistently and I don't know how accurate my temps were because of the time change and my sleeping patterns. The fertility monitor asks for first morning urine, which I couldn't do because we were out and about when my monitor thought it was morning. I did bring it with me and did my testing on the run (in public bathrooms)!

I got two peak readings on day one and day two. I got a high reading on day three but we BD almost every day just to make sure we didn't miss it! I am sure our anniversary and the romantic atmosphere had nothing to do with it!

Anyway, I am on day 23 today and in the waiting game. Cross your fingers for me!

Positive vibes to everyone!

Janet