Au revoir Blogger, Bonjour Wordpress!

Exploring Carcassonne

I'm happy to announce that I've updated my site and have moved to https://ashleydaleyphotography.wordpress.com/home/! I'm so excited to share my new site with you and I think that it'll be a great change. 

I'll be posting new content from our last 3 weeks in the south of France there, so make sure to go check it out!

The site is better organized and a lot cleaner looking than this one. It will be easier to follow and find exactly what you're interested in. I still have a bit of work to do, but I think that overall, this will be a change for the better.

I'll continue to leave this blog as is for now, but at some point I may switch over to have it redirect to my new site. 

Thank you to everyone who has ever read a blog post or looked through photos here. I've always appreciated all of you and especially my photography clients and everyone who has been keeping up with our European adventures. 

Abiento,

Ashley 

Paris with Kids: Eiffel Tower, Art Museums, and Sacré-Cœur

We had family in town for a few weeks in June. It was so nice to see everyone and we actually got to see some more touristy things in the city that we hadn't made time to see before. 

Since we live close, we did these different activities over two days, but it could easily be condensed into one. 

We spent one day checking out the Eiffel Tower and then from there, we walked along the Seine River to Musee d'Orsay and Musee de l'Orangerie. 

We used http://www.parkingsdeparis.com/ to reserve parking in a garage near the Eiffel Tower and it was fantastic! It was way cheaper and prepaid and we knew exactly where we were going ahead of time.

Eiffel Tower
We've walked around the Eiffel Tower many times but had never made the trip up it before. My brother and I decided we would like to, so we stood in line and then walked up almost 700 steps to the second floor (there are also elevators, but the wait time is way longer and plus a little exercise is good, right?). The view was well worth all the stairs!

Buying our tickets ahead of time online would have definitely saved us some time, but it ended up being okay.

My brother on the second floor of the Eiffel Tower with the city of Paris behind him

While we were climbing hundreds of stairs, my husband and stepdad took our girls on the carousal out in front of the Eiffel Tower. They of course loved it. :) They had also wanted to take them over to the playground, but it was unfortunately closed due to the football tournament going on at the moment.

That view!

Musée d'Orsay

From the tower, we then headed along the river towards the art museums. We bought our tickets ahead of time online and were able to get a discount ticket for the two art museums, which was awesome.

On the way, we grabbed some quick sandwiches to go and then unfortunately got rained on quite a bit between the cafe and the museum. But as Audrey Hepburn once said, "That's when Paris smells it's sweetest". It wouldn't be a true trip to Paris without a bit of rain. ;)

My favorite Van Gogh at the museum

Our little girl was so excited to find Van Gogh's self portrait

The museum was fantastic. We had a great time seeing Van Gogh, Monet, and many others' beautiful art. Beforehand, we had showed our toddler different pictures of the art that we would see there so she could be looking for it when we walked around. We had already visited Monet's Gardens last summer, so we focused a bit more on Van Gogh. She was so excited to see his "swirly" art and even drew a few of her own "swirly" pictures beforehand.

These two did so great all day long.

Musée de l'Orangerie
This museum was located just across the river from d'Orsay so it was a short walk over. It does not allow strollers, but does have a spot where strollers can be checked. Our toddler fell asleep on the way over so instead, my husband and I just took turns in the museum while the other waited in the front room with our sleeping little one and stroller.

If you only have time to see one thing in l'Orangerie, go see Monet's giant canvases of water lilies. They're spectacular and breathtaking and you won't regret it. The museum has two circular rooms set up with his different canvases wrapped around the walls. I took our youngest in first and both her and I loved it. She loved walking up to the paintings and just pointing at all the colors before running over to the next canvas to see what she could find.

There are other famous art downstairs that's also definitely worth seeing too if you have the time, but Monet's water lilies were by far my favorite.

I love this picture so much

Sacré-Cœur

On a separate afternoon, we visited the Basilica of Sacré-Cœur. It's in a different part of Paris, so plan accordingly if you want to visit it.

We drove and did nearby street parking. Then we climbed a bunch of stairs until we got to the foot of the church.

The basilica is beautiful and has an incredible view of the city from it's steps. We enjoyed walking through the church and the surrounding area.

Both of our days in Paris were great. It was wonderful spending time with family and also exploring our beautiful city.

Checking out the view

Springtime in Paris

Springtime in Paris is just lovely! It seems like every week we see a new type of flower.

A month ago we visited Parc de Sceaux in Paris and saw the cherry blossoms. It was gorgeous! We found a nice spot to sit and hang out and our girls loved running around. Our toddler would pick up flowers off the ground and hand them out to people around us. So cute.

These two are just too cute

Looking up at the blossoms

All around where we live there are a ton of rapeseed fields. We went for a walk back in May when the flowers were blooming and enjoyed all the pretty yellow flowers.

Back when we had blue skies and sunshine

Even though we've had non-stop rain lately, Spring has definitely been my favorite time here so far!

Garden in le domaine de Marie-Antoinette - Château de Versailles

One of my new favorite places these days is the gardens in le domaine de Marie-Antoinette in Château de Versailles. We've been lucky enough to have visited the grounds a couple of times now.

 All of the gardens of Versailles are beautiful. We've been several times and it is always enjoyable to walk around with our children.

The last couple of times though, we've made it a point to visit the Hamlet area of Marie Antoinette's domaine and have loved it.

Walking out of the Queen's château, you first see the English Garden with the Temple of Love. It was built in 1778 entirely out of marble. Marie Antoinette could see it from her room in the Petit Trianon.

 We continued walking past this in order to find the actual Hamlet and farm. I was excited for London and Adeline to see all the animals and was interested in seeing how Marie Antoinette's little village was laid out.

 We saw a few other interesting things along the way: the Rock, the Belvedere, a cute little bridge crossing the stream- all part of the English Garden.

 After a 10 minute walk or so, we came to the Hamlet.

I've always been curious to learn more about Marie Antoinette and now that we live in France and so close to Versailles, I am especially interested in learning more about her.

 The Hamlet was constructed between 1783 and 1787. Marie Antoinette was enchanted by the idea of rustic peasant life and would come here to escape the court of Versailles. No one could enter without her permission.

The village included eleven houses spread around the lake and also a working farm.

This tower was the departure point for boat rides or fishing outings.

 It's a very charming little village and we've enjoyed walking through it on both occasions.

Probably our favorite part though, is the farm.

Walking up to the farm, there is a small vineyard and beautiful little wildflowers. I actually took London's birthday pictures here. It's such a beautiful little area!

The first animals we saw were the chicken and rabbits. Both the girls loved peeking through the fence at them!

 There was also a bunch of goats and sheeps in the field. Of course we had to stop and watch them for awhile too.

 In another area there were different large birds (geese, ducks, etc.). I had to remind our girls not to put their fingers through the fence, but we continued to enjoy seeing all of the animals.

 Unfortunately, after the Revolution, the Hamlet was left in disrepair and wasn't restored until very recently. I'm so glad it has been restored! It was a great place to visit and not very crowded. It's located near the back of Versailles and is a bit of a walk from the actual palace. Luckily, there is parking closer to the Petit Trianon if you only want to visit that area.

We've enjoyed our visits to le domaine de Marie Antoinette and will definitely be visiting again soon!

For more information, please check out:
http://en.chateauversailles.fr/marie-antoinettes-estate

Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris and Marchés de Noël

A few days before Christmas, we headed over to one of our favorite spots in Paris- Notre Dame Cathedral.

It's traditional to wait until Christmas to place baby Jesus in the nativity

Notre Dame de Paris translates to "Our Lady of Paris". It is considered one of the most well-known cathedrals in the world and also one of the most beautiful.

Construction on the cathedral began in the mid-1100's and wasn't completed until the early 1300's. Notre Dame has very gothic architecture and was one of the first buildings in the world to use the flying buttress.

We really enjoyed walking around the outside of the building looking at all the little details in the statues.

The inside was gorgeous! I loved all the stain glass windows.

The carvings above depicted the ministry of Jesus.

Further in the cathedral, they had a second, more intricate nativity. At the very center was Mary and Joseph with baby Jesus.

While I did see families enter the cathedral, they do ask that you stay silent while in the building. Our two kids were asleep at the time so Aaron stayed outside with them while I ran in for a few moments. 

After checking out the cathedral, we walked around the surrounding area and found a very nice Marchés de Noël just across from the church.

The market had all sorts of specialty items and gourmet food. We tried two types of cheese (and later bought a bit of each). The red cheese has tomato in it and the green cheese has pesto in it. Both were delicious, although if I had to pick a favorite, I'd go with the tomato.

Samples were being given out at just about every food stall, including foie gras. We had our first little taste of foie gras and decided to buy some as part of our Christmas dinner. Foie gras is considered as part of a traditional appetizer for the Christmas meal and we wanted to try and have a traditional French dinner (more about that in a later post!).

Fois gras

After checking out the Marchés de Noël, we walked along the Seine River. The Seine is 776 km (482 miles) long and twists through Paris. It's a beautiful river and often has tour boats and other vessels running through it.

Along the river are little stalls where one can buy art or books or other small items.

On our way back to our car, we crossed over the Pont de l'Archevêché bridge, another popular spot along the river to hang "love locks". In 2010, the mayor began to express concern over the love locks stating that they were problematic for preserving the city's historical architecture. The locks cause additional weight on the bridges which can lead to other problems.

Love locks can be found on at least 11 of the city's bridges crossing the Seine. Unfortunately, many tourists believe that this is a longstanding tradition, not realizing that this has been going on for less than 10 years.

In 2014, the city asked that tourists no longer place locks on the bridges and instead take selfies. Obviously people are still putting locks on the bridges, but hopefully that campaign helped a little bit.

Along the Seine, one will often see different street performers like the photo below. He played Christmas music for the girls and me while Aaron ran back to buy a few things from the Christmas market.

We had a wonderful day and continue to enjoy the area. I highly recommend coming here, Christmas time or not. It's a beautiful part of Paris and one that can be enjoyed by everyone.

For more information, check out:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Notre_Dame_de_Paris

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seine

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Love_lock