paris and normandy

Scratching the surface on a mega backlog of trips to share.  Last October,  friends Brooke, Abigail, and JP wanted to take a trip to France to visit mutual friends Ian and Mélanie who live in Caen.  We met Abigail, Brooke, and JP in Paris for a quick few days where Brooke was finishing up a conference for work before we all went on to Caen.

Thanks to Brooke and her business trip hook-up, we laid our heads on five star hotel pillows during our Paris stay!

First evening- while Brooke had to work coordinating a private event at The Louvre (!!!) Marco, JP, Ab, and I dined on steak and frites at a fancy brasserie near our hotel.  We then met up with Brooke in the hotel and called it a night as the boys chatted over a bottle of red as the ladies tried to sleep.

The next day - JP, Abigail, and Marco were very patient with me as I was 7 months pregnant and insisted on taxi-ing around Paris as opposed to walking miles / metroing around the city.  As a result we were able to see a lot of the city during our brief stay.  Paris will never get old.  And it was that much more special to explore the city with some of our dearest.

After a busy day of sightseeing and a lunch at Cafe de Flore we headed back to the hotel to meet Brooke, collect our bags, and taxi to the train station.  We had to be in Caen for Ian's basketball game that evening.

Marco and I have been lucky enough to watch Ian play several times since we have lived on this side of the pond but it was a first for the rest of the bunch (Like Marco, Abigail and Brooke went to high school and college with Ian).

We arrived to a packed gymnasium.  It was quite obvious when THE AMERICANS strolled in, as we were toting two Fatheads of Ian's face.  From our seats, we saw Ian on the court warming up.  We watched as he spotted us.  He smirked and shook his head as Marco and JP held massive cardboard versions of Ian's head over their faces.  We couldn't tell if he was proud or slightly embarrassed as his teammates gave him grief.  I don't think many of the fans had seen Fatheads before - so many people approached us to take photos with Ian's face.  It made the fact that we brought them even more hilarious  Anyway, Caen won, Ian led the game in points, and was named MVP of the game.  Probably all due to THE AMERICANS and the Fatheads, am-I-right?!

As for the rest of the weekend - Ian and Mélanie were the perfect hosts, as always.  Ian grabbed us pastry from the local bakery every morning.  One day we toured Caen, and then went to Normandy to walk to D-Day beaches and tour the American Cemetery.   Another day we headed to the coastal resort town of Deauville.  On the way, we first stopped in the most instagramable town of all the towns - Beuvron-en-Auge.  Incredible market and quaint shops.  Mélanie bought a cute straw market bag and we all waited while Garrett took 30 minutes in a shop picking out a scarf. ;)  In Deauville, the guys headed to the casino while the ladies browsed the upmarket shops and then ate Belgium waffles on the beach.  

On our final day, JP and Abigail headed back to Paris to meet up with friends while Marco, Brooke, and I drove to Mont St-Michel.  We did the hike all the way to the top to tour the Abbey.  Looking back, I can't fathom how I walked those steep cobblestone steps to the top while pregnant (so pregnant).

I must say this in every post where we travel with friends, but it really does make a trip THAT much more incredible.  Nothing better than seeing the world with the ones you love.


P.S.  Come to find out very soon after this trip - I wasn't the only one of the group that was pregnant. Mélanie and Abigail were pregnant as well but still keeping it hush hush.  Mélanie recently had baby Victor and Abigail recently had twin girls - Reid and Perry.

oktoberfest münchen 2014

This was our second trip to visit our friends Rosalin and Andrew who are currently living in Germany. They made the big move to Europe shortly after we did in 2012.

Andrew and Roz invited us to come celebrate Andrew's 30th birthday with them in Munich during Oktoberfest.  They had a bunch of friends flying in from Boston as well.  I would be six months pregnant but we couldn't pass up a trip to party with the Panek's and I figured, just like Sardinia, I would get to spend the time hangover free and remember it.

Hosts with the mosts welcomed the large group of us to their home in the village of Otterburg the day prior to training to Munich.  We walked down to the village biergarten, Otterberger Hof, for a schnitzel dinner and German brews before calling it a night.

It was an early start the next morning - rushing around getting packed up, boys getting lederhosen on, and questioning Roz's skillz to crank out to-go breakfast burritos for 6.  Don't doubt that Roz - top notch Air Force flight crew trainer catering to the bigwigs in the sky! She had egg / roasted pepper / onion burritos wrapped up for all as we headed out the door down to the village bus stop.

I've said before, my favorite mode of transportation is to train it!  No baggage/liquid limitations or airport hassle.

We posted up in the meal car and started ordering rounds.  (And lucky for me, not terrible non-alcoholic beer was available most places.) Our group quickly made friends (and enemies?) in the close quarters train car.

So much of Europe descends upon Munich during the month of Oktoberfest.  Andrew and Rosalin had gone the year prior and stayed at a campsite.  We decided it was a fun and affordable way to go with our large group.  We opted for the pods with bunk beds and electricity (and heat) as opposed to tents.        

We arrived to the campsite, got dirndled up and headed to the mess hall type lodge for a beer and some games before heading to the famous Hofbräuhaus in downtown Munich for dinner.  A massive hall with long tables, ornate ceiling paintings and archways separating room after room. The Oompah band music blared as we found a table.  Our group, drinking since the train journey that morning was already in prime form.

Only a handful of people in our group remembered the taxi ride back to the campsite that night.  There might or might not have been a husband who could not for the life of him get up onto his top bunk and that I later found wondering around the camp grounds in his underwear.  I went to bed as the rest of the group rallied a little longer.

Next morning, we were up early to head to the Oktoberfest fairgrounds to snag a table in one of the tents.  While the group started on their mosses (steins), I headed outside to the grounds to get a latte, sugared doughnuts, and explore a bit.  It was going to be an entertaining day for me despite the sober state, puh-rime people watching.  The traditional wears!

It was such a thrill to witness more than 6 million people coming from all over the globe converge in one city to cram into massive tents, stand on wooden picnic tables, sling beer steins, drape arms around strangers, and sing German songs at the top of their lungs with their new BFFs.  

As I look back at photos from this trip, I realize that I didn't capture the craziness that started to build around 4:00 pm (we arrived at 10:00 am).  As people started holding their steins high in the air, dancing down the aisles, and piling on picnic tables I put away the camera and took in the atmosphere around me ... totally sober.  Photos from the day at the fairgrounds below.  

Thank you for hosting us Paneks!