NATIONAL DONUT DAY!!!!

So, have I ever told you the story of the first time Clay and I hung out? You can call it our first date if you want to. It was a Thursday night, and I was sitting at home. John (Babe) Murrugarra called me and informed me that Clay really wanted to go watch his ultimate Frisbee (I have no idea how to spell that) game, but he didn't want to go alone. So John proposed to me the idea of me going with Clay. I replied with a "give me this kid's phone number" and proceeded to text/call Clay. I don't remember if I texted him or called him. I told Clay what John had proposed, and he explained that he had refused John's offer to go watch the ultimate game, and that he had no interest in going. He figured that John was using me to get him to the game. Anyway, Clay said he wanted to hang out with just me, as long as it was what I wanted. I said "yeah, that would be fine" and he said "no Amy. Do you WANT to hang out with me. thats what I need to hear." Not until I said "Clay, I want to hang out with you tonight" did he ask me out on a date. We weren't sure what to do, since it was such short notice, but we started by stopping by the frisbee game (which had already finished), then I remembered that I had heard on the radio earlier in the morning that it was National Free Donut Day (or something like that) so I suggested it, and off we went to Krispy Kreme.
The point of all of this reminiscing is that yesterday I looked on facebook and saw someone had commented that they had taken advantage of free donut day... so that means one year ago yesterday was mine and clay's first date! Pretty adorable. Clayton Henderson Welch, I LOVE YOU. Je T'Aime. Eu Amo Vocé.

The Tourist Knows Best

Clay and I had a discussion a little while back about tourist hot-spots. We were debating on whether or not places become "known" because they are better than the others, or because at one point there was group of people, and so more people came and were seen there, and eventually it became the place to be. For example, there is a Patisserie here in Paris called Ladurée. Its a high end tourist trap, and sells Macarons for about 2, 2 1/2 dollars a piece (im talking about the mini macarons)

Anyway, I had been told by numerous people that it was a "must" and so off we went to ladurée. To make a long story short, we spent way too much on macarons that didn't taste awesome, and a few days later we bought some at the grocery store for a third of the price, and they were better... So the point of my rambling is that we decided together that just because lots of people go there, doesn't mean that the place is better than the others, though we have to remind ourselves of this when we see loads of people in a restaurant, and no one at the one next door.

Now that I have set up my story, I will proceed to tell you about our day today. It was a holiday, so no work for us. We decided to be tourists, and planned out a busy day of sight-seeing, etc. And just like the France that we have come to know and love, everything was closed. Appartenly holidays are not good days to be tourists. So, I pulled a back up plan out of my back pocket, and decided to hit up the famous ice-cream place "Berthillon" that I had been told by several people to go to. So off we went. When we arrived, true to any other tourist trap, there was a huge line of people waiting to get their gelato, or 'glace italienne' as we say here in france. So we joined in the line, and waited a good 30-45 minutes for our ice-cream cones. I might add that it was 1 million degrees outside, and we had little to no shade while in line, but that really isnt a necessary detail for my story. When we finally arrived at the freezer, we requested three scoops. White chocolate, raspberry à la rose, and mango. We paid, walked down to the river and sat down. I took the first lick, and just about dropped the cone I was so shocked. It was absolutely the BEST ice-cream I have EVER tasted. Seriously! Clay had a lick, and agreed with me. It was well worth the 45 minute wait. In fact, I would do it again tomorrow, or even again today (except for the fact that its midnight, and its no longer open). So, in this particular situaion, the tourist was right. Berthillon is not a tourist trap. It is an absolute gem, and I am so glad that we decided to play tourist today and try it out.

Me waiting in line

All the people in front of me

Before the first lick

Before the first lick #2

Love at first lick

The one you have been waiting for... whether or not you knew it.

Versailles! This is a shot of the gardens just behind versailles. Amazing. So, Versailles is the palace that king louis the 14th (the sun king) built... Its pretty much amazing. He lived there as well as his son louis the 15th, and then finally louis the 16th (the one who got his head cut off... you know, the husband of marie antoinette, who also got her head cut off). It was a pretty amazing day, with lots of pictures and other tourist activities, such as sharing a $5 ice-cream cone, walking so much that your feet ache, and of course being so tightly packed up against people while passing through the rooms in the castle, you feel a slight urge to start mooing like a cow, or baa-ing like a sheep (i just now realized that I don't know the word for the noise that sheep make). Anyway, it was the best. We saw more Americans there than we have seen yet in Paris (not sure why American's are so fascinated with Versailles). We even met a man from South Jordan. We was standing in front of us in line, and heard us say something about missions, and he turned around and started talking to us. He is a member and was just in Paris on business. Sweet guy though. He does iron man's. Plural. I can't remember how many he has done, but he just finished the st. george one 3 weeks ago. He said it is the hardest one around. It was funny cuz we had just been talking about training for a triathalon a few days earlier (and when I say we were talking, I don't mean that I was ever planning on doing one, I mean I participated in the talking part, by telling clay that he should do one). Anyway, it was great. Here are some pics to prove it.

In front of the cardboard cutout of the castle (it looks fake for some reason but in actuality it is not)Just to clarify, this is a real picture of the real versailles castle

Hall of Mirrors. This place was pretty cool. You might want to google it to see some better pics and understand what im talking about.

Me in front of the queens bed. (AKA Marie-antoinette's bed)

Us standing behind the castle

Us listening to our Audio Tour of the castle

So, we haven't posted in a while...

Well, since last week was busy with the normandy trip, etc. we just sort of took it easy this week. We went up to sacré coeur again (for like the fourth time) with some friends on sunday. It was a lot more crowded this time, since it is closer to summer vacation, as well as getting warmer. There was a guy playing guitar and singing on the steps, and everyone was gathered around listening. He kept asking for volunteers to come up and sing or dance or whatever, and we had a friend go up. It was pretty funny. Probably the best thing that has happened this week though, is the "cheque déjeuner" that I recieved from my internship. Basically I have a prepaid check written for 5,40 euro for every day of my internship. They backtracked and gave me some for the last month, so I have them to Clay, and we have had fun going out to eat for free for the past few days!

That is basically what they look like, and they are accepted pretty much anywhere you go. Yesterday for example, for lunch I got a falafel sandwich and some baklava, and I paid 10 cents out of pocket. Pretty awesome.

Thoughts on Normandy

We posted a few pics yesterday, so I just figured it would be good to have some sort of personal account to go along with the pics. I will make Clay write one too, so you get both of our perspectives. The day after Mont St. Michel (so, yesterday) we woke up, and after breakfast, we went straight to the museum to see the Tapestry of Bayeux. Its a 1000 (yup, one thousand) year old tapestry that recounts the story of William the Conquerer, and how he became the kind of England. Its close to 70 meters long, and though its called a 'tapestry' its actually just a long piece of linen that has been embroidered.

We got in for 3 euro because we are students, which was nice, and took a little audio tour that explained each of the scenes on the tapestry. It was pretty cool. After that we jumped in the car and headed of to the beaches and took a self guided D-day tour, with the help of our roomie Andrew, who has been on a D-day tour before and also is a big WWII history buff, He took us to Utah beach, Pointe du Hoc, Omaha Beach, and then finally to the American War Cemetery. It was a really interesting day. The beaches were actually very beautiful, and peaceful, and tranquil... It was really hard to imagine such terrible things going to at that same location 70 some odd years ago. So beaches were really interesting, but my favorite was the cemetery at the end. There was a very nice little memorial/museum there, where we read and watched clips that brought it all to life. Then, walking out into the cemetery, which happened to be one of the most beautiful places I have seen, ever, was just surreal. It was manicured to perfection, with all of the crosses lined of in perfectly straight lines. The one question we had though, was why each of the stars that marked the grave of a jewish soldiers had little rocks stacked on it. Almost every single one we saw had on or several small stones set on top of it. We wondered why, but none of us had an answer. Anyway. Our trip was pretty incredible.

Pics from Normandy

We are going to post our thoughts about Normandy probably tomorrow... We are pretty tired, so we are just putting up some pics.

Notice the parachuter stuck on the church tower.

A quick pic of utah beach.

Pointe du Hoc. More to come about this place. We are standing in a bomb explosion crater.

Mont St. Michel

Here we sit in our hotel room in Bayeux, France. 3 guys in one room, 3 girls in the other. We are currently on a weekend trip to visit Mont St. Michel as well as the D-Day beaches of Normandy. We took a train from Paris to Caen, where we rented a car and spent the day in Mont St. Michel, then drove to Bayeux where we are staying tonight, then off to the Normandy coast tomorrow. We are with 2 other couples from BYU and the cheapest hotel we could find was 2 rooms with 3 single beds; weird, but cheap. The rooms are actually surprisingly clean, and nice once you get past the striking resemblance to cruise ship bunks, and the bathroom being like an airplane bathroom. The shower is literally barely big enough to fit someone standing, but, like I said, clean.
As mentioned we spent the day at Mont St. Michel. Neither of us knew much about this hidden gem before, but we are so grateful to have been able to go spend time there. It is located on the coast of Normandy and is a cathedral/monestary/little french village on top of a mountain/sometimes island . I say mountain/sometimes island because depending on the day the tide raises and lowers 50 feet causing it to clearly be an island sometimes, and other times not. This place is incredible! Apparently this is the cathedral they based the castle in the movie Tangled on. It is known for its seclusion and its rich history of a place Christians have taken pilgrimages for centuries and is listed in the top four places to go on a pilgrimage. The village was beautiful and the view was incredible! Also, thanks to Rick Steves we were able to find out all about the abbey which was way nice. All in all, it was a great day which only got better as we finished with a kebab and panito (whatever that is)!
Oh, did I mention, it's our 6 month anniversary today? Happy anniversary to us! Perfect time to start sleeping in separate bedrooms. It will actually be the first time sleeping apart since being married, which is oddly on our 6 month anniversary.

Hope you enjoyed these pics! Tomorrow we are off to see the D-Day beaches!