London and France only

I have the absolute worst luck when it comes to traveling. On my honeymoon to Greece, not only did I catch a cold, but I managed to get hit in the forehead with a beach chair! No, really, it was so windy that the metal part of my beach chair hit me with such force it gave me a heamatoma. The fabric of the chair was actually imprinted on my forehead. And then after a week, the blood drained to my eye and it basically looked like I had a black eye!
In Fiji, Mike and I went on a water rafting trip and it was so much fun, except the next day I paid the price for swimming in the water (which was a nice brownish color).
Now, I’m back from my most recent vacation. The original plan was to go to London, France, and Spain. We didn’t make it to Spain.
I was already sick with a cold and cough by the time we left from LAX. Since I had been sick for a week already, I knew it would be only a few days before I felt myself again. In the mean time, I decided to suck it up and deal with it. After 3 sleepless nights of excessive coughing , I started to feel a sharp pain around the upper right side of my torso. My cough was slowly going away, but the pain in my side was getting more intense. But again, I was going to suck it up and enjoy the trip we worked so hard for. By the time we flew into Barcelona, I couldn’t take it anymore and wanted to come home to my bed and my couch and my doctor. So yes, we paid a good amount of money to continental airlines to ship me back to California. It turns out I pulled/strained/tore my rib muscles with all that coughing I was doing and I only made it worse by sightseeing and walking for 10 hours a day. I’m happy to report that I no longer squeal with every movement =)
Despite the illness and pain, I had a wonderful time in London and France =) I wish I could explain the feeling I get when I travel to a different place. Mike and I do the sight seeing stuff, but we really focus on trying to go to where the locals are as well as try to find the cuisine of that particular place. I’m pleased to report that I gained 5 happy lbs from all those crepes, eclairs, and berthillon ice cream.
Enough rambling, here are some of the pics we took on out trip…

Vibrant London.

We actually had tea and little sanwiches in London. This was at the Orangery in Kensington garden.

Stunning Paris. The thing I loved about Paris was the art! I don't have images of all the art we had the honor of seeing, but I would just like to say that I so appreciate the creations of all those artists. Van Gogh, Monet, Picasso, Chagall, Matisse, and my favorite, Rodin. I loved Rodin's sculpted work...truly amazing.

The Louvre

Notre Dame

Our favorite street in Paris, Rue Saint Louie en l-Ile. This is where Mike found the Berthillon ice cream. Not kidding, the best in the world!

A local market we stubbled upon. We people-watched.

Here's some proof we were really there =)

Monet, anyone? The Musee de l'Orangerie

I think Lyon was my favorite city in France. I loved the food, the architecture and the color. It helped that there were no tourists either.

We stayed in Nice, but took a day trip to Monaco. Too many people with too much money =) Casinos, yachts, lambourginis, and Grimaldi.

Our journey ended early, but hopefully we will make it to Spain in the near future.