Introducing...

Fujima Yumie...

Ok, not so imaginative of a name but they gave you only a short time to figure out a name and the only one I could come up with is my Natori name (after years of practice and lots of money, i was awarded my professional name for japanese classical dance...and no, I will never dance in public again. Fujima Yumie has retired.)

I like the fragrance and do plan on re-ordering. It's really cool to have a signature scent that you created all by your lonesome. It's awesome. Although it does have a STRONG undertone of vanilla. Actually, i think that scent may over power all else...who cares. I like vanilla.

Löwendenkmal

The Löwendenkmal in Lucerne (or Luzern) was carved out of natural rock in memory of the deaths of the Swiss mercenaries at the Tuileries in 1792. Mark Twain described the Lion of Lucerne as the saddest and most moving piece of rock in the world.

It's a beautiful sight to see, and you have to appreciate the tremendous amount of work and skill that went into carving this monument. It would have been a better experience had it not been completely mobbed by tourists and surrounded by souvenir shops all trying to undercut one another on the price of postcards.

Guest post: carrie

More Goods...

Other purchases that we made included products from Le Chateau du Bois - you saw their lavendar fields a few entries ago. I purchased this fantastic essential oil. I put one drop on pillow for its soothing effects a couple of days ago and I can still smell it!! It's fantastic!!

Carrie found some Lavendar essential oil at the Beaune market that claimed to have anti-aging effects. I looked at it and looked around the booth. I turned back to Carrie and said, "it doesn't work." she said, "how do you know??" I said, "Check out the woman who is selling the product." That woman was so wrinkled that carrie called her, "paper bag woman" and she didn't mean that she should put one over her head which would have only helped the situation. Needless to say, Carrie put the product back down and stepped away from the table.

In Switzerland, we thought, "hey...aren't the swiss known for their restorative facial treatments?? surely they must have good stuff." Then we discovered the fact that everything was about 15 times more expensive than any other country in the world. I said, "someone had mentioned that they picked up some 1 euro lotion and it was the best lotion they ever tried." thus became our quest to find this 1 euro lotion. We found it. this is one of the best lotions I have ever tried. and I'm sad to say that I only bought 2 tubes for myself...the rest for gifts. Anyone have any contacts (or go to switzerland) that can get us more of this magic cream??
We also wanted to pick up some drugstore variety of face cream. I decided on the eye cream because that's the area i need the most help. Louis Widmer is fantastic as well!! I love the consistency of this cream. Carrie is very happy with her face cream as well but I'm sure she may have a blog or two about that!!

Finding the Catacombs...

Prior to our trip, Carrie had said that the one thing she most definitely wanted to see were the underground catacombs in Paris - can you imagine what a vault filled with human bones would look like??? Luckily, our hotel wasn't too far from this entrance so we figured, "piece of cake...". Sadly, we didn't have time on Saturday because of our unimpressive Eiffel Tower Tour (you know...the one where Carrie's eyes nearly rolled to the back of her head because of how bored she got by the incessant chatter of our tour guide. Yeah, yeah...we KNOW it's her job. but everyone's got their limits and she pushed ours.)

We got to this point where we HAD to see in on Sunday because it was closed on Monday and Tuesday. We knew it would be hard to find because all of the websites had mentioned that it would be difficult to find. We get to the general area of the entrance...from there we ran to the left...we ran to the right....we ran in circles...I re-read Rick Steves' directions and we realized we were running around it the whole time...and we missed it by 15 minutes. It was closed.

I mean...look at this!! Do you see "catacombs" anywhere on this unassuming green building????? GAAAAAR!!!!

I felt so bad that I decided to draw out what I would imagine the catacombs would look like with all the skulls just for you, carrie!!!! Enjoy!!!

The Louvre

Don't let the title of this post fool you. This is the closest we got to the Louvre.

No, we didn't actually go in the museum. We only had 3 days in Paris, and neither of us wanted to spend an entire day inside, fighting crowds to get a glimpse of the Mona Lisa.

Please don't be horrified. Those of you that know us will undoubtedly understand - we never claimed to be scholars.

Guest Post: Carrie

Riding on the Metro

The Metro is Paris' subway system. It is fantastically convenient - you really can get to wherever you want to go and it is relatively inexpensive. There is a downside, however - as with any form of public transportation, you have to be prepared to deal with anything.

Before we left for Paris, everything I read cautioned me about the possible evils I could encounter on the metro. I was supposed to be on the lookout for pickpockets, flashers, molesters, and various other bad people. I am happy to say that I was not mugged, flashed, molested, or harassed in any way.

I was, unfortunately, assaulted in an entirely different manner - this was an olfactory assault. The smell on the Paris metro is indescribable (in a very bad way). Use your imagination.

- guest poster, Carrie

Flowers in Provence!!!

Lavande photos (not to be confused with Lavandine that is grown everywhere else but the mountains of Provence). The bees buzzing freaked me out a bit but I regretted not purchasing some of the honey from these Lavender bees.

These photos just don't do the colors justice...but carrie was right, we were both lucky that we didn't have any objects that could be used as tools of death. Although I was driving...and complaining about the twisty narrow roads. Sadly, I was starting to get car sick...and i was driving. This was their idea of a two lane highway...

We pulled off on the side of a road to take some photos of sunflower fields (sorry, erin...we found the fields in provence, not italy!). We would've crossed the road to get to the other side to take some close up photos but we feared that we'd become road kill from oncoming traffic. I could see the headlines "two dumb tourists flattened down by cross traffic in an effort to photograph some dumb flowers"

Montmarte...sacre coeur

Sadly, it was raining when we went up to the Sacre Coeur but it made the view no less spectacular. Carrie probably has some city views from the Montmarte that she may wish to share...

Lavender Madness

As Jenny reported earlier, you really expect to see fields of lavender everywhere in Provence. Since this is not the case, we had to go looking for it. It is a testament to our friendship and sense of decorum that neither one of us flipped out and there were no attempted stabbings during this truly hellacious car ride in search of lavender. (Jenny's lucky I didn't have my shiv on me.)

Guest Post: Carrie

comment from Jen: i had my shiv on me...i was just saving it for dire circumstances...then we came upon the lavendar fields. carrie was lucky...

carrie at Grasse

The mad scientist at work...please note that I am not the cause of all the bruising that you see...

all ready for her session as "Ms Floral/Fruity"

Adding additional scents to the mixture

I have to admit that I've never been good at chemistry but this was really easy! If only high school Chem was this much fun!! I would've actually paid attention.

One side note to the photo below in Carrie's blog about Grasse...I nearly attacked the puppy because he was so darn cute. The father of the guy who was holding his leash told him to just let me pet the puppy so they can get on with their shopping...

Galimard at Grasse

Best part of the trip. We made our own perfume at Galimard (a famed perfumerie) in Grasse. It was a great experience. The "Nose" at Galimard uses about 2,000 different scents every day. He works 15 minutes at a time to preserve his finely honed sense of smell. In the class we were given around100 choices, which are all of the scents combined.

The store at Galimard

They refer to this as "the organ" (like a musical instrument in church, not like a liver or something).

They have you smell about 10 little bottles and then pick 2. As Jenny stated before, I am floral fruity. Those that know me are saying "no shizzle". Anyways, then they give you other choices based on what you pick, and so on and so forth.

The Nose's organ

Perhaps the most special thing about France - it is a dog country. People take their dogs on the metro, the train, to cafes, and into stores.

Fini

Guest Post: Carrie

Lucerne Lake Trip

Here's our charming view of a little boathouse on the Lucerne...it was so adorable I couldn't pass up the opportunity to snap this photo...

Ok, here was the real reason why i took the photo. If you look up at the first photo on the very right hand side, this is the image that I have blown up for your enjoyment. We were so fascinated (carrie says she was THRILLED so it was just me who was fascinated) that anyone would actually sit out looking like this, it was QUITE mesmerizing.

Pont du Gard

The Pont du Gard is definitely an impressive site (unlike an aforementioned, totally famous French landmark). The Pont du Gard is an aqueduct in Provence, and a remnant of the Roman empire. For those not up on their French history, Provence was a Roman province and is an amalgam of French, Roman, and Greek culture.

Being a minimalist, I find it amazing that something so beautiful (and lasting) could be built with limited technology.

View from the Pont du Gard.

Guest Post: Carrie

Cannes Do

Cannes - we spent less than 24 hours there but it was one of the highlights of the trip. It is completely beautiful. As one of my friends said when I sent him a photo, "It's easy to understand how a guy could look at this and think 'I'm going to stay inside and watch movies all day'...".

Jenny in the Mediterranean (literally)

Guest Post: Carrie

Cimetière de Montparnasse

There is an amazing cemetery in Montparnasse (14th arrondissement). Some of the monuments there are truly beautiful, and the place is full of notable dead folks including Samuel Beckett, Bernard Lacoste (the guy responsible for the alligator logo polo shirts), and a lot of other people that are famous in Europe but not so well known here in the states. We went during the day in the interest of avoiding contact with vampires and assorted other undead.

Guest Post: Carrie

Eiffel Tower...an unimpressive sight...

I'm not trying to be blase about the Eiffel Tower. I truly felt it was unimpressive. I can't explain why but I was expecting an impact of awe and amazement.

Notre Dame...

Unlike the Eiffel Tower, I was very impressed with the beauty and grace of Notre Dame. I told Carrie that she was just darn lucky that I didn't start hunching over and dragging one leg behind me like Quasimodo.

The inside of Notre Dame was an even more impressive sight. It does seem so odd to me that people (me, included) would sit there snapping shots of the church while service was in session like God was going to smite me for this act of disrespect but I couldn't help myself. You guys judge...isn't it just beautiful??

Paris oddity...

ok, perhaps "oddity" is a bit harsh but they've got these free (pretty darn clean, considering!!) toilet booths in the streets all throughout paris. It's quite convenient when you're on the go and touring around the city...unless, of course, it happens to be out of order. Then you're pretty S.O.L.

More Food....

Artichokes at the Beaune market......

The same market also offers a variety of meats.
We declined to purchase any meat that day...





Peppers marinated in oil and stuffed with cheese...



Lotte (monkfish) souffle...the best meal I had in Beaune

and possibly evidence to support Jenny's theory

that I am a food savant.....

Guest Post: Carrie

Some Trip photos...

Here are some of our food photos! I'm sure carrie will have some to add too!

Ham & Cheese Crepes in Paris!

Escargot!

Coq au vin

Beef Bourguignon
Poire something or other...
"pancake"
bouillabaisse

strawberries for our picnic...

Apricot
Our picnic!!
oh...just looking at this makes me want to have some more!!
To market! a TON of different olives...

Herb Vendor...

Biggest Cherry EVER!!!

Carrie, the idiot food savant strikes again. this was the best blackberry we've ever tasted. it was soooooo sweeeeeeet.