Capture

So we have finally accepted the incredible fact that Paris is our new "temporary" home for the summer and we catch ourselves walking around town with our heads constantly up because there are so many amazing sights at every corner. We will never understand how people who live here could ever get used to the beauty and the architecture! Granted, there is a definite dirty side to Paris...but we wont focus on that :)

We have been snapping pictures left and right trying to capture the beauty of Paris, which is difficult on a 2x3 camera screen! Here are just a few of our pictures so far of our favorite sights around town that we wanted to share with everyone. Most of these we took on a Fat Tire Bike Tour!

Here we are in front of Iglesia De Dome (translation: The Dome Church)...the French get very creative with their names of things.

This is inside the courtyard of the Louvre Museum. You are surrounded on all sides with beautiful intricate walls and it rocks! We have yet to tackle the inside of the Louvre, but once we get a game plan and a few hours off we will definitely do that (and probably blog about it!)

Versailles is one of our favorite spots that we have visited. It is about a 25 minute train ride from our apartment and is one of the places that Fat Tire takes tours! We both went and highly suggest going if you are anywhere near Paris! Pictures never do it justice, so this artsy picture of a bike will have to do! There are so many things to do while there: you can go to the Market, The chateau, the gardens, Marie Antoinette's village/apartments, etc.

Here we are with our friend Ben, who is a fellow Aggie and one of the tour guides at Fat Tire! We took a day trip on bikes and wondered around town (dodging children, cars, and poodles all down the Champs Elysees). We ended up at the Arc de Triumph and got some cool pictures, probably because it was a beautiful day!

Notre Dame is definitely one of the coolest spots we have seen and it always makes for a cool picture. Love the gothic architecture!

We will leave you with a few of our prized pictures that we love! Again, we are so thankful to be living in such an incredible city with God's beauty evident at every sunset!

Au revoir for now :)

-B and P

Welcome to the Office!

As you know by now, we are working full time at Fat Tire Bike Tours this summer. If you want to find out more about what we do at Fat Tire (or even make a reservation!), here is the link to the website:

Fat Tire Bike Tours- Paris

We started training on May 26th and were thrown right into it! Summer is the craziest time of year for the office, so we have determined that we are getting "baptized by fire" and forced to learn things very quickly! It has been so neat getting to know our co-workers and meeting customers from all around the world. Both of us thrive on talking to people and learning about them -- this is the perfect job for us! Our favorite parts of the job are getting to work with incredible people and also running into familiar faces from home in the shop. Each day is totally different from the one before, and there are always good stories at the end of the day.

We love the office, the people and our experience at Fat Tire so far! Here are some pics of what we get to see every day-

Welcome!

Here is the "Office Staff" area where we spend most of our time checking e-mails, working the register, refilling all the merchandise, helping customers, and answering phones. We are real, working women!!

Here is our wall of t-shirts. It is rather intimidating and people spend about 10 minutes staring at it trying to pick which one to get!

Our new BFF's for the summer...

Part of our training was going on a few of the tours that we offer at FTBT (such hard work, we know). It was so fun getting to go on these 4 hour tours with each other and it gave us a chance to get to know the city a little better as well as the Tour Guide that we had!

Here we are on the Segway Tour with our oh-so-fabulous-helmets :)

We had tons of fun on the Bike Tours. We really tried to focus on becoming "one with our bikes..."

WE LOVE FAT TIRE BIKE TOURS!

Full Circle

Bonjour from Paris! We are happy to say that we arrived in Paris safely and soundly, and have begun the craziest, most incredible summer of our lives. Believe it or not, this is the first time we've been able to sit down and work on this blog. Our time has been nothing short of madness so far, but we've been looking forward to updating the blog and updating all of you on our time here so far.

Our first task of our summer in Paris was finding an apartment. After Bethany's parents left on May 24th, our sweet new Fat Tire friend Katy Culver took us under her wing and let us stay in her apartment. She and her awesome boyfriend Sebastien were so great to us during our apartment search and we had a great time getting to know them better.

After more than a week of searching, we finally found the perfect apartment in the 15th district. Below are a few pictures of our humble abode (we absolutely love it)!

In case you are wondering where the "bedroom" is...we have a Murphy bed that conveniently folds out from the wall on the right!

Our lovely little kitchen...

To alleviate any concerns, the little toilet looking thing in the picture is a "foot washer," not the dreaded "bidet" we thought it was...thank goodness (we are not ready to be that immersed in the French culture quite yet).

This is our view out of our window to the right. There is a metro stop right by our apartment, which is awesome and SAFE!! (thought of you Carrie/Bill and Barbara/Mike)

We are so happy to have a home!!

What the Westlake and Memorial girls learned from being homeless:

1. Showers aren't necessary every single day.

2. Couch beds are a God-send.

3. Baguettes make a great meal for two.

4. Calves form overnight when you power-walk 5 miles in 30 minutes.

5. Friendships strengthen when you sleep 1 inch from them for an extended period of time.

But when it really comes down to it...

1. We are so BLESSED to have roofs over our heads.

2. We have been BLESSED by two of the most loving, wonderful families.

3. We are BLESSED by our new Fat Tire family and their willingness to help us during this crazy time (thank you Katy and Sebby)

4. We are so BLESSED to have each other :)