Proud to be an American:

This was my first time visiting our nation's capitol!

And my goodness, I loved every minute of it. 

From the Washington Monument to the Jefferson Memorial, to Arlington Cemetery and the Holocaust museum, there was not one thing we did that didn't absolutely live up to my expectations and floor me.

(besides not running into the president, I really had a good feeling that was going to happen!)

Sidenote: flying into Washington DC after being out of the country for 7 weeks was really something too, we were soo pumped when we started seeing American flags everywhere! haha

We stayed with our good friends Jenna and Mike and I have to say, that was probably the best part of the trip! We ate our way through DC (Baked & Wired, Old Ebbitts Grill, Hard Times Cafe, etc) which is always our favorite thing to do on trips (in case that isn't extremely obvious from most of my posts on here haha), and Jenna and Mike showed us all around town which was such a blast, we had so much fun! 

Arlington Cemetery:

Eastern Market:

 ^^^ apparently my bacon needed some inspecting

Jefferson Memorial:

The White House!

And now we've finally reached the last leg of our trip: NYC is up next!

LONDONTOWN

We made it to London!!!

We chunnelled from Paris right into King's Cross Station (hello platform 9 3/4!) and made our way to our hotel before going out to eat at Nando's and stopping by the BYU London Centre! (be still my heart)

For the last two days we've been running ourselves ragged trying to see all of my old favorite spots!

St. Paul's, Borough Market, Primark, Picadilly Circus, Leicester Square, Fortnum & Mason, Harrod's, Portobello Road, etc etc. 

I think my favorite moment so far was walking through Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens with JP after dinner until the sun went down! I have walked through those magical parks so many times and it was a dream being able to stroll through them with JP!

We also visited Jermyn Street and Savile Row -- both requested by JP. Apparently those are world-renowned streets for mens (and some women's) dress-wear, who knew?! 

The stores we explored were incredible though, we went into one called Huntsman and the cutest little (impeccably dressed) old salesman started telling me how Ronald Reagan, Katherine Hepburn, Winston Churchill and the like all used to come get their shirts, blazers, and suits made there. And then he showed me Clark Gable's signature in their sign-in book and Katherine Hepburn's actual patterns! I loved it. 

London is still my favorite place in the world, hands down. 

:)

We leave tonight and have a layover in Ireland (a 10 hour layover... ha ha ha. We're spending the night in the Dublin Airport. For real.) And then we're off to Washington DC!

Paris Faves:

Cafe:

Lina's

The perfect mix between modern-but-still-feels-like-you're-in-Paris, and plus -- they have free wi-fi and it's air conditioned! 

We're obsessed with all their sandwiches (you can build your own! That's unheard of in Paris!) and our favorite dessert they have is the raspberry white chocolate tart.

I think it's a chain but the one we always went to was in the 2nd arrondissement at 50 Rue Etienne Marcel!
I instagrammed our visit here if you want to check it out!

Bakery:

It's a toss up between Le Moulin de la Vierge in the 7th arrondissement (not a bad pit stop on your way to or from the eiffel tower!) and Legay Choc Boulangerie Patisserie in the 4th (literally a stone's throw away from the George Pompidou museum. Perfect afternoon in Paris: go to the Pompidou then go get as many pastries and baguettes as you can eat from this bakery.)

And yes, the second place is the gay-kery, and so a visit here is simultaneously entertaining [and a little scarring] AND delicious.

But let's be honest, you can't go wrong with hardly any bakery in Paris. 

Shopping area:

Get off at Les Halles or Etienne Marcel metro stop and wander! That whole area is fantastic for shopping. 

Best Ice Cream:

It has to be Berthillon and it has to come from one of the vendors on Ile de St Louis. 

And just accept the fact now that it's going to cost way more than you're comfortable paying for ice cream... and yes, you do need to get 3 scoops because France's definition of an ice cream scoop is about 1/4 the United States' definition of an ice cream scoop... 

But none of that will matter when you're like "WHOA" and realize you've never had pear ice cream taste this good (or salted caramel for that matter).

Traditional French Restaurant:
Au Pied du Sacre Coeur (in Montmartre, right below Sacre Coeur)
Amazing french food, atmosphere, and evening (it's really a french meal -- we were there for over 3 hours!)

Favorite view:

Another toss up... I love the view from the top of the Arc de Triomphe (you can see all the boulevards- including the famous Champs Elysees- and have a stunning view of the eiffel tower, not to mention you can watch all the cars below you trying to not get in a car accident while navigating the largest roundabout in Paris, sans lanes, called La Place de l'etoile. It's so entertaining, I could watch for hours.)

OR if you want a free view, head up to Montmartre and sit on the steps in front of the Sacre Coeur!

I mentioned in this post how much a love that part of the city. 

Strolling/hanging out: {Top 3}

We love the Tuileries!

For a variety of reasons:

a)  they used to be the French Royals backyard, so they're beautiful and if you're there around dusk it's incredibly magical, really I mean that.

b) there's been a carnival going on in the middle of them (see pictures of said carnival in this post) all July and they have the best licorice candies. JP and I somehow found ourselves walking through there a few times a week to buy these specific licorice ropes, they're that good. And we have no self control.

Okay and we LOVE walking along the Seine at night! Crisscrossing the bridges, waving to people on the boats (JP doesn't wave, I do, remember our attitude toward the boats from this post? :), and really just getting a feel of the city coming alive after the sun has gone down is so much fun. 

Also, if you're a runner (Yeah, I had great ambitions of getting into shape while I've been here and I could count the number of times I've actually gone running on my hands haha) you should run along the Seine or on the dirt path around the Eiffel Tower! Both are great views and not full of people. 

And last but not least, you have to, HAVE TO, go watch the Eiffel Tower sparkle. 
Grab some drinks and treats and go sit at the park (champs de mars) in front of the tower and starting at 10 PM, it sparkles every hour on the hour for about 5 minutes. It's magical. 
Everyone erupts into cheers when it starts and then it's like this mad race to enjoy it but also get as many good pictures as possible while it's still sparkling... Very entertaining to watch. 

JP and I would walk to the Eiffel Tower probably 5 times a week to watch it sparkle! (we live just a ten minute walk away, remember?)


And those are my faves! If you have any of your own, please add them in the comments! 
I found most of these places from recommendations from other blogs so please, share your knowledge and then it's a win-win! 

And that concludes our time in Paris! Which is sad/happy because next up is London for a few days! Hooray!

All good things come to an end...

... including magical summers where you live in Paris. 

JP's school program finished up this week and last night there was a closing social! 

Everyone came to say goodbye to each other and it was so much fun to hang out and mingle with all our new friends, plus it was in this amazing social club in the heart of Paris so I was loving every minute of it! :)

We are now on our way to London for a few days (!!!!!) and I'll be sharing some of my "Paris Favorites" tomorrow!

Père Lachaise Cemetery

This place is easily one of my top five favorite places I have been in my life. 

Remember how I mentioned how much I love cemeteries? 

I can't get enough of the quiet reverence and peaceful solitude that is abundant in them, I really can't.  

And this cemetery is the KING OF ALL CEMETERIES!

There is an incredible amount of famous and influential people buried in Pére Lachaise (it's known as the "grandest address in Paris") and I accidentally spent a good few hours one morning researching the people who are buried there (which I enjoyed far more than I should have haha) and then I got ahold of a map of the cemetery and mapped out all the graves I wanted to see (it would be so easy to get lost in there!) 

You can see a full list of everyone buried in the cemetery here!

I apologize for the picture overload, but I couldn't help myself. It was beautiful! And haunting, and soothing, and secluded and one of the best ways (in my opinion) to spend an afternoon!

Gericault:

Artist of my favorite painting, Raft of the Medusa.

Isadora Duncan's urn full of her ashes is placed here!

 Oscar Wilde:

 Alright, so I suffered a bit of a disappointment at this stop: 

I heard years ago that it is good luck/a rite of passage/etc to kiss Oscar Wilde's grave while wearing lipstick and had decided that I would definitely complete that task sometime in my life.

So when I discovered that Oscar Wilde was buried at Pére Lachaise, I was so excited that I would actually fulfill this goal and even took like 5 whole minutes to decide which color of lipstick I should wear. 

When I finally arrived at his grave, much to my horror and disappointment, the good old historical society of Paris had put up glass walls around Oscar's grave and washed all the lips off :(

Some people still kiss the glass (see below) but I couldn't bring myself to do it! 

Life goal = crushed. 

But I bounced back rather quickly from this set back upon finding Gertrude Stein's grave just down the row!

Gertrude Stein:

Jim Morrison:

They say that his grave is the most visited in the entire cemetery!

And last, but not least, Frederick Chopin: