Hello, this is Kristen, Judd's lovely girlfriend. Judd asked me to write this blog about our trip to Paris, and I, of course, was all too happy to oblige. I will try my best to remember the sequence of events, but it is difficult because this trip was just such a beautiful blur.
We arrived at the Zurich airport (which is really more like a palace) about an hour and a half before our flight was scheduled to leave. We were rushing and worried that we wouldn't have enough time, but as it turns out, our plane was delayed for about an hour so we had plently of time to sit around. While we were waiting we played the "I'm going to a picnic and I'm bringing..." game. You know, "I'm going to a picnic and I'm bringing asbestos insullation." "I'm going to a picnic and I'm bringing asbestos insulation and bumble bee pollen." "I'm going to a picnic I'm bringing asbestos insullation, bumble bee pollen, and the cryogenically frozen head of Walt Disney." That always works in making the time go by quickly, and we boarded the plane about half way through, probably on "P". The flight was uneventful, but Air Berlin gives you lots of leg room which I was very grateful for. We narrowly made it to our connecting flight, but this airport lady helped us cut in front of all the lines so we would maike it onto our plane.
When we got into Paris it was pretty late, so we went straight to our hotel to drop off our bags. And guess where our hotel was? That's right, Chinatown! The hotel we were staying in looked just like the one in the Bourne Identity and Judd and I are convinced that Matt Damon stayed in our very room. Good ole' Hotel Nouvex. We got les pizzas and french fries for dinner, brought them back to our hotel, ate them and conked out to BBC World news.
The next morning, Friday, we explored our neighborhood a bit and somehow found ourselves at the Panthéon, which I thought was really neat. The neighborhood that it was in was so typically Parisian and beautiful. The kind of place where all the windows have little wrought iron fences in front of them and window boxes overflowing with flowers.
After the Panthéon, we had lunch at a little café and paid 9 Euro for hot chocolate! Oh, the horror! We wandered into the Jardin du Luxembourg (Luxemburg Garden) which was really lovely. It was cool to see all of the things that I read about in my French book. We took a lot of pictures there since it was so nice.
My and Judd's pitiful excuses for tummies were not doing so well after all of the rich French food, so we went back to our hotel and nursed ourselves back to health with the aid of Nigel Quinn and BBC News. Then we headed out to the epitome of Paris, the Eiffel Tower. That's right, exactly where Tom proposed to Katie, how exciting. Judd, however, did not follow Tommy's example. It was strange to be at such a world wide landmark, but it was really beautiful.
We could have used a good sleep that night since we were getting up early the next morning to go to Versailles; but, unfortunately, the couple in the room next to ours was, how shall we say, making quite the, eh hem, racket. We were forced to go to sleep with BBC blaring. We awoke the next morning a little tired, but we got oursleves up alright. When we got to Versailles, I was really amazed with the size of it. I mean, I knew Louis spent all of France's money on it in order to make the world jealous, but it was HUGE. Good job Louis, you made me jealous. It was extremely beautiful and extravagant, but by no means cozy. The gardens were really beautiful too.
For the second half of that day, we took a stroll down to Champs-Elysées and visited the Arc de Triomphe. There was a big soccer store and Judd was in heaven. Also, if anyone out there is looking for a place to spot cute dogs, the Champs-Elysées is it. Good lord, I almost fainted from cute pup overload. See?
There were 3 people taking this cutie's picture.
Judd and I got up extremely early to go to the Louvre on Sunday. We were the very first ones there too. Sadly, the icy, freezing rain chased us out of line and under a ledge, so we weren't the first ones in. The Louvre is everything you expect it to be- beautiful, breathtaking, enormous. After looking around for a while, we decided to fight through the crowds to the Mona Lisa. It is a nice painting, but I don't understand why it is the most famous in the world. The subject isn't especially beautiful, it is not so innovative, and its just kind of bleak and drab. But I am very glad that I saw it.
We went to Notre Dame, which was nice but not all that spectacular. Then we went to see the Eiffel Tower again, this time in the daylight, once it had warmed up. We took a few pictures and got harassed by Bosnian women for money and a good time was had by all.
On Monday, we went to the Pompidou Centre which was hip as hell and, hands down, Judd's and my favorite place in Paris. It's a really neat comtemporary art museum. If you ever go to Paris, it is an absolute must.
We could have used a good sleep that night since we were getting up early the next morning to go to Versailles; but, unfortunately, the couple in the room next to ours was, how shall we say, making quite the, eh hem, racket. We were forced to go to sleep with BBC blaring. We awoke the next morning a little tired, but we got oursleves up alright. When we got to Versailles, I was really amazed with the size of it. I mean, I knew Louis spent all of France's money on it in order to make the world jealous, but it was HUGE. Good job Louis, you made me jealous. It was extremely beautiful and extravagant, but by no means cozy. The gardens were really beautiful too.
There were 3 people taking this cutie's picture.
Luckily, I was the only one taking this cutie's picture!
We ate dinner at a really good Italian restaurant that Judd said was better than anything he had in Rome.
Judd and I got up extremely early to go to the Louvre on Sunday. We were the very first ones there too. Sadly, the icy, freezing rain chased us out of line and under a ledge, so we weren't the first ones in. The Louvre is everything you expect it to be- beautiful, breathtaking, enormous. After looking around for a while, we decided to fight through the crowds to the Mona Lisa. It is a nice painting, but I don't understand why it is the most famous in the world. The subject isn't especially beautiful, it is not so innovative, and its just kind of bleak and drab. But I am very glad that I saw it.
We went to Notre Dame, which was nice but not all that spectacular. Then we went to see the Eiffel Tower again, this time in the daylight, once it had warmed up. We took a few pictures and got harassed by Bosnian women for money and a good time was had by all.
On Monday, we went to the Pompidou Centre which was hip as hell and, hands down, Judd's and my favorite place in Paris. It's a really neat comtemporary art museum. If you ever go to Paris, it is an absolute must.
Judd and Marilyn.
We had touble finding the Sacré Coeur (Sacred Heart) cathedral, which was supposed to be very close. But we finally made it there. We looked around outside and walked through the cathedral, and when we walked around the back we saw that they were filming a TV show! It looked like CSI: Paris, or something like that. We spent our last night in Paris on the Champs-Elysées again, a very beautiful pace to be. What a lovely, beautiful, amazing city and there's no one in the world that I would have rather been there with than Judd.
We got to the airport without a hitch. When we were boarding our plane, some lady cut in front of us in line. I thought to myself, "Ok, that's really rude." We even let her stupid husband go by with nary a thank you out of him. That was just the beginning. I saw the same the same tacky yellow haired pink shoe'd witch walking off the plane in Dusseldorf, where Judd and I had a connecting flight. I thought this was the last of her. Once again we were boarding our plane, and who cuts in front of us? Yeah. At this point, I really didn't like the woman. Of course, she and her husband were in the row of seats across from Judd and I on the plane. Now that we knew what she was capable of, as the plane was landing we moved close to the aisle and rushed to the overhead compartemtns as soon as we could. Judd was in front of me and I was pretty close behind him so as to not let in any pink shoe'd devils. But, and oh there is a but, she cut in front of me anyway! I was thinking, "You've got to be kidding me." You better believe I didn't let her husband go in front of me too. This was no time to be nice. Then, her most blatant move yet was at passport control. I was clearly in line. There was no mistaking it. I was the first one in line, and I was standing behind the line that said "Stop here". She comes up on my right, stands beside me and then steps right in front of me. Judd and I looked at eachother with our jaws dropped. How could anyone have been so rude? Why did she hate me so much? But what goes around comes around, I guess.
All in all, it was an amazing trip and I had an incredible time. Thank you so very much, Judd. You are wonderful.
We got to the airport without a hitch. When we were boarding our plane, some lady cut in front of us in line. I thought to myself, "Ok, that's really rude." We even let her stupid husband go by with nary a thank you out of him. That was just the beginning. I saw the same the same tacky yellow haired pink shoe'd witch walking off the plane in Dusseldorf, where Judd and I had a connecting flight. I thought this was the last of her. Once again we were boarding our plane, and who cuts in front of us? Yeah. At this point, I really didn't like the woman. Of course, she and her husband were in the row of seats across from Judd and I on the plane. Now that we knew what she was capable of, as the plane was landing we moved close to the aisle and rushed to the overhead compartemtns as soon as we could. Judd was in front of me and I was pretty close behind him so as to not let in any pink shoe'd devils. But, and oh there is a but, she cut in front of me anyway! I was thinking, "You've got to be kidding me." You better believe I didn't let her husband go in front of me too. This was no time to be nice. Then, her most blatant move yet was at passport control. I was clearly in line. There was no mistaking it. I was the first one in line, and I was standing behind the line that said "Stop here". She comes up on my right, stands beside me and then steps right in front of me. Judd and I looked at eachother with our jaws dropped. How could anyone have been so rude? Why did she hate me so much? But what goes around comes around, I guess.
All in all, it was an amazing trip and I had an incredible time. Thank you so very much, Judd. You are wonderful.
