Not So Happy Halloween :-/

Okay so I have finally *big sigh of relief* finished the Paris pictures! I ran into so many problems and now I'm way behind on my blog (It's after Thanksgiving and I just barely have my Halloween post up!)!! I actually have a lot of posts ready but I know it gets overwhelming if I do them all at once so I'm taking it slow! Okay...

I didn't go to bed until 2 am the night before but like a good little girl I went to church! I'll have a post all about my church adventures soon but I do absolutely love it!! It was raining all day! Right in the middle of sacrament, you could just hear it pounding on the roof! Haha it was terrible!!! I actually like rain  lot as long as I don't have to go to school but if I can just be hanging out and  have it there, then I'm good. I went straight over to the Ashtons :-) I hadn't eaten dinner, breakfast, or lunch so I got there and was starving! Stasha was so nice and she made me tomato soup and salami grilled cheese! My mom always made me grilled cheese so it made me happy :) I talked a lot with the adults and played a lot witht the kids! They like to climb on me a lot! I feel like their jungle gym! They started putting on music and I had to get up and start dancing! They all made fun of me... I blame my brothers for my bad dancing skills!

We hung out a lot on their new couch. And they got their TV working while I was in Paris so the kids love that... Stasha and I talked a lot about the holidays, traditions, and stories!



 And how they compare in France!

Halloween... Well... It is definetly celebrated to a great lesser degree here. I was utterly disappointed! Halloween is by no means my favorite holiday but I've enjoyed it very much so it stunk that France just really didn't care much... It was a sorry excuse for a holiday.I'll list why...

Reasons Why Halloween Is Not Nearly as Good in France as It Is in the US

1. You have no clue it is Halloween!
~The stores aren't decorated. The schools don't do anything special like "Boo Grams".  There aren't Halloween movies or shows on TV. Me and my sister used to watch all those Disney movies like Halloween Town High and Hocus Pocus etc...for the whole month of October. There is zero decoration!!! I had forgotten it was Halloween until the day of!
2. Trick or Treating is impossible!
~This is due to a number of reasons... The houses are gated in and you usually have to be beeped in on an intercom or walk up a hill or some awkward thing. It isn't very time efficient. The US especially in the suburbs of AZ it was so easy to go door to door. You are there and back in a matter of seconds! If you planned it well, you could get a whole pillowcase full of candy! I don't think the French like the idea of just giving out free candy too. They don't understand the spirit of it. Even if they wanted to, it was raining all day so a total no go.
3. Costumes are very basic and boring
~The little kids will dress up but they always have to dress up as something really traditional and typical Halloween like a witch.


There was millions of those I heard at the little get together in the old village. [Abby-rocker girl, Sophie-Devil cheerleader, Sam-Frankenstein, Carter-A skeleton] In the US, we dress up as inanimate obects, catch phrases(my friend was the "Holy Cow"), celebrities, and just funny and random things. A witch would never win a costume contest. We have evolved past that!
4.No candy

~So even though there wasn't trick or treating, you would expect at least some candy cause welll... it's Halloween but no... not here. They are all health nuts and the idea of giant bags of candy is upsurd!
5. There is no Halloween spirit
~I think this is the all-encompassing factor in why France sucks at celebrating Halloween. Houses aren't decorated all spookily with cobwebs, witches, ghosts, etc.. I had friends who would go all out! Candy corn is everywhere! House are decked out! Scary movies the whole month! There aren't haunted houses or mazes here. Nobody even cared!!!

The snowman pumpkin is hilarious!!!

As you can see, I'm very bitter about this. I love Halloween and I feel like it was so rottenly represented here. This pictures is exactly how I feel France's attidude about Halloween is... Disregard the caption at the bottom. It's not important and I think you all understand "Non merci"! Well then again Ashlee is reading this... She's blonde! It means "No thank you!" ;-) You're welcome Ash!!!

 I just kinda laughed because the French are the ones missing out. American Halloweens rock the socks off of anyone. I missed my family traditions and just the memories of it all. Carving pumpkins! Making cookies! Trick or treating and trading with my sisters! Roasting pumpkin seeds! My parents saying they needed to check my candy and they would eat a quarter of it! Watching Halloween movies! Haunted houses! This was my first holiday away from home and it was hard. It made me miss my sis because we always spend Halloween together. We fought to no end but thats not what I remember. I remember the good times.

Candy corn in non-existent in France!

Okay back to the rest of they day! They were having company that night so they had cleaning time. I got to supervise the children cleaning their room. Reminded me of my sisters when we were little. We had assigned jobs and we always fought to be the supervisor. We had a bunk bed and the supervisor got to sit on the ladder and point to what wasn't done and boss the others around. Haha they were good cleaners though and they got down pretty quick! I was there pretty much all day! I started tiring after a bit with the disappointment of Halloween, the kids, and sleep deprivation so I just had to go upstairs and just go on the computer and chill!

Pascaline, Nicolas, and I went back to the house and it was just us there. This is where my day started to turn around. We put on the floor heater! Oh yeah!!! Keeps your toesies all nice and toasty! Haha I love it! It kinda sucks up a lot of energy so all the lights went out later because of it. I ate some salmon salad but had to pick out the tomatoes and give um to Nicolas! We watched a James Blunt concert on the TV. I liked that because it was language neutral. They are so nice! And we watched the rain! It would just randomly stop and we would be like "Oh it's tired from falling all day so it's just taking a nap!" Haha :-) The fire was going on but Nicolas caused some loud explosion or something with gas. I only heard it from upstairs. Haha so the fire got put off for a bit... I was also talking to a good friend who made me feel a lot better :-) That so helped turn my night around!!!

Because I have break until Thursday, I decided to Skype my family since I wouldn't have to wake up early the next day for school. I would chat with friends on and off. Then I Skyped my friend Ashlee... Well sorta... I can't see her face but we can talk and she can see me. Next, I skyped my family for so long! One of my best friends, Sami, and her entire family were there. I consider them family. We had some good laughs! I got to talk to my mom. We hadn't talked in a while so it made me feel a lot better. She can always make me feel better no matter what. That's a mom for you! Unfortunately, I didn't get to talk to any of my siblings. They were partying it too hard. I guess Lane went trick or treating. She's 15! What a punk... I also got to say hi real quick to the Powells! Well half the Powells-Jenn, Brian, and Macie. Our families have been friends forever. They are so cool! Carli is Elena's age and Spencer is my age and he is one of the coolest kids I know. I miss them so much!!! So with all this Skyping hour after hour passed and I ended up not going to bed until 6 am... I don't know how I did this because I had gotten very little sleep the night before because of the trip. I guess I was that desperate to talk to my family. Haha my mom wasn't especially happy with me but I think she was glad to talk with me. It was a holiday so it kinda called for it! I was on break so no big d! I slept in until 11 the next morning.

So all in all, it wasn't a completely terrible Halloween but definetly not my best!!! It was a pretty good day but not a great Halloween! Oh and I didn't show you my costume!!!

Because I went straight to the Ashtons after church, I was wearing my skirt all day and I was wearing leggings because it's cold so when I got back home, I put on knee high socks. I hate cold feet! And I just took of my skirt so I was wearing Sophies and leggings. I put on a Tshirt and got my big sweater and a scarf. I looked ridiculous I bet... What was I??? Hmmm.... I was WARM!!! :-)


My face is classic in this one!


The holiday of candy and this was all I ate... Candy from the stash... Pitiful I know!



I was telling my brother, Josh, how sad I was and he said the sweetest thing that made me so happy! He said "Ahh buddy I'll make sure next year is amazing for you!" Woo hoo! I got that to look forward to! He is such a great brother! I miss him like crazy! :)

Even though they stink at Halloween, this is pretty cool! You gotta admit!


So as one last laugh... My brother's friend made this I believe! :-)

Homeward!

Schedules are pretty meaningless for us... It's just kinda we go when we go so we said leave at 10 and it was closer to noon... Haha a 9 hour trip!!! It seemed like we had less stuff going back even though we had gotten souvenirs and such! The ride back was very similiar to the ride up. It rained. We stopped a lot. We slept. We didn't do much! Haha Mailys would give me a dead arm a lot when she would fall asleep on me but it's too cute to move!

We stoped at a gas station for lunch. We ate this shredded carrot thing that I've never had until coming to France but I like it! And sandwhich meat and cheese! And for dessert, a Kit Kat! Haha it was my first here! I think it tasted different than American but still good! Kits Kats are my absolute favorite candy!

On the way back, we stopped at the medieval village of Pérouges! The weather wasn't the best but it was cool nontheless!

The pavement was totally just stones that stuck out a lot! Kinda felt like a massage on your feet! I'm so very glad I did not wear my Stilettos that day! I had even thought about it...Haha :-)

We saw this and they were like "Good picture!"

Haha and they were like "Do they have anything like that in the US?" and I'm always being sarcastic about stuff like that! I said "Oh yeah!!! It's just like home!!!" :-)

So apparently, there is this speciality of Pérouges called galette!


I had never heard of it! I saw one and I was just like "It's pizza!" but it isn't really... It has this sweet dough/ crust and then it is covered with this sugar stuff!!! Ahh it's so hard to explain! It looks like cheese but it's not! And it isn't really served warm! It was delicious though!

This was Mailys's portion!

Along with some hot chocolate! Haha this was kinda like our dinner! It gave Mailys a stomach ache later! Poor thing! The waitress server lady was dressed in this old apron and costume... all part of the environment! :-) This set us back a little bit but it was so worth it! :-) I think we all got a sugar high because none of us were tired... Most of us were just up and kicking up until we got back at 11:30!
It started raining pretty bad. It didn't seem like we slowed down one bit. The rain drops would just pound on the car. I didn't even know how the drivers could see the road but tha's France for you! I've seen very few accidents but I've seen a lot of almosts! Drivers are just more aggressive here.

 I did however see a car explosion on the way back. It was this truck and it was just sitting in the middle of the highway. The cab was just in total flames. I've never seen anything as crazy as that. The driver is burnt to a crisp no doubt if not dead... So sad!

I was happy to be back! It had been a fantastic week but I missed the Ashtons a lot! They are like my family and I just missed chilling! Vacations are great but always feeling like a guest! Living out of a suitcase! I can only handle so much! I got that "It feels so good to be home!" after a vacation feeling! Haha well...this is my home after all!!! :-)

Day 5- Le Louvre

Last full day in Paris!! How sad :(  This day doesn't have a whole lot of pictures because I think I just took less and less as the week went by but I got all the important ones! We took the Metro again and this guy wheeled in some speakers and an accordion and just started playing for a few stops then went around for tips. Then right after him, this guy was like "Attention ladies and gentlemen... Blah blah blah" That's all I understood because he had the most gravely disgusting voice! Nicolas said it was because he has lung cancer... Ironically enough, he was begging for cigarettes! Oh the things you see on the Metro!

We arrived right at the Louvre. We had barely caught one of the Metro trains and I hadn't seen which way it was coming in... So I was expecting it to go the other way... I hadn't gotten a good hold of anything and so when it jolted forward I fell way back. I was like clutching people's arms and I fell on people behind me... Haha they were all laughing at me for a while!

Because we had taken Capucine to Versailles on Wednesday, it was Stanilsas's turn to come along. He was so funny! He had that canister of Pringles that he just carried around all day!
.

The Louvre... There are about 35,000 objects on display


The museum is actually housed in the Louvre Palace which was originally a fortress and later the household of Louis XIV. During the French Revolution, the Palace became the museum it is today


Tthe famous glass pyramid... built by I.M. Pei in 1989 which now functions as the museum's main entrance


This is the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel... And you can see the actul Arc de Triomphe de l'Etoile right through the replica!


Then we went back inside! And everyone was hungry so we ate at this food court of the World! I got pizza cuz I was kicking it Italian! Dessert was the best part! Gelato!!! Vanilla and Pistachio! The Vanilla was so good and that's totally not my flavor but it had that real vanilla taste with the litte brown dots! You know???Haha


I am one happy girl when I have me some ice cream!




After we went to get tickets at the kiosk... Haha I was trying to put the language in English and Japanese! Haha I was just saying "You know it!!" So then we headed into the Louvre! First stop- bathrooms! Typical girls line... After we had gone to the bathroom and we went up to the 2nd floor and there was no line! Haha of course!


While Pascaline and Mailys waited...

...I went to take some pics under the pyramid!


The museum itself is really pretty...


The glass pyramid also serves the purpose of letting light into the ground floor but this day obviously there was no sun to let in


This elevator was so cool!!!



This was a replica of Napoleon's apartments... We were like "We need a chair like that!"


Those dresses looked so uncomfortable...


Who would ever have this many dinner guests???





He was known for being a short man... and judging from the size of the bed... I think that is absolutely true!


The couch was twice as big as the bed!


Pretty stairwells...





You know in the Princess Diaries when Mia breaks the sculptures finger and puts it in the sculpture's mouth? And later some people are like "String cheese!" Haha well this reminded me of that... But the missing finger wasn't in her mouth like string cheese!


We really were like in and out (In N Out! Mmmm! One of my most missed American things!) really quick because lots of walking, museum-ing isn't the most stimulating activity, and Mailys is only 9... She could care less about famous works of art! But of course we saw the Mona Lisa...


This was the closest we could get... No zoom...


In French for some reason, it is called "La Joconde" instead of the Mona Lisa


The girlys!


Definetely one of the more tourist attracting sights...


So they had this giant wall for just the small painting... I know lots of people who were amazed that such a famous, well-know painting was so small but because I had heard that so much I was ready for it...


So then we just kinda headed out but we saw things along the way...We would be like "Oh that's so and so..." Haha this thing is so creepy!


Mailys wanted me to "control" her and she would stop right in front of me and make me push her. She would hit the others and then blame it on me... She finally stopped when she tripped and fell down :)


I got the worst case of hiccups! They were loud enough already but the museum echos! Haha so it was hilarious!!!


It was pretty warm in there and on the stairs Mailys and me found a vent shooting right out of the ground that was a good cool down and looked rather funny!


The others got sick of waiting so they just left and Mailys freaked out and thought we were stuck in the museum forever and then Pascaline came back after like 10 seconds...


I was making fun of him! "Haha you have a purse!!!" so in return, when we were getting our coats from the cloak room, he tried to give the lady back mine saying "We don't need this one!" Haha


So somewhere in the day, Stanislas had lost the cap to the chips. We were in the center of the museum getting ready to leave and he bent over and all the chips fell out!


Then he tried to sweep it up with his foot... Haha we just kinda left it


Some had gotten in Mailys's boot and later than night, she tipped them and all these chips came out... Haha


We took the Metro and RER back... I was so exhausted! In the train, I was yawning up a storm and Nicolas was saying that I yawned 40 times a minute! So each time I yawned, he would be like "Another one!"

The house isn't too far so the girls decided to walk back but the boys were too weak so they drove! Everyone was like "It's so cold!" and all day I was just like "It's nice out!" Haha and most of the time I just ended up carrying my jacket... I was looking around at everyone else and I had the only bare arms... I thought that was quite the accomplishment considering I'm from AZ!


This was one of the funniest nights of the entire trip... The kids played more soccer downstairs but this time Mailys got nailed right in the nose! Poor thing! At dinner, I learned French expressions like- "Ah bon?" "Oh la la" "C'est interdit par la loi" (It's forbidden by the law)... Haha I would just randomly fit those in somewhere with a decent dose of exaggeration!

The guy there is actually Candian and I was talking about how I used to say "Eh?" at the end of sentences even though I was never around Canadians... But then I got made fun of so much so I stopped! It does come up every now and again...

I was talking about how I didnt want to leave Paris and then somehow we got on the riff that I could stay as a hobo and can play the accordion and beg for cigarettes like the guys we had seen today... My key phrase would be- "Je suis une clocharde americaine"= "I am an American hobo!" Haha but since I don't smoke, I would sell the cigarettes to other hobos who did!

Okay... So I wouldn't want to be a hobo but I really do love Paris! You see and hear about it so much that you would think it wouldn't be amazingly different seeing it in person but that's so not true! You really have to go for yourselves! It's just beautiful... and I for surely want to go back!!!