Wrapped

Today's memorable moment had to be this:





Here's the story... Near many of the major monuments here large groups of African men will hang out with string in hand threatening to grab you and tie a friendship bracelet on you and then make you pay for it. Harmless really, but a little on the annoying side. In all my days in France I managed to avoid them, no matter how many times they called me 'sexyyy American laydeee' or asked 'can I be your boyfrennn meees americaahh'. However, after mike, j, mom and I shared a quality picture moment and dave and dad went ahead, I turned around to find that dave was being 'wrapped'. I don't know how they managed to grab him but they did, and while I was laughing at him they managed to grab me too. The best part of the story, I only paid the guy one euro, I used my best French arguing skills, and dave coughed up five! Hooray for getting totally scammed by Hakuna Matata African men.





Dave wasn't too happy about giving up his pastry money. Oops.





Today we ventured to the Sacre Coeur, a basilica on top of a hill in the north of Paris with a grand view.





It is a gorgeous place, even in the dead of winter.





Of course there were some quality street performers, note the juggler in the background and imagine you are listening to la vie en rose plucked by a friendly harpist right nearby.





Gorgeous view.





We finally had a taste of the long awaited first crepes!





Real candid deliciousness.





Note the nutella on the face





I made some new friends in yet another Christmas market.





We liked the crèpes so much we had to head to a crèperie for lunch. We all had a meal crèpe and then a dessert one to boot.





As if that wasn't enough, right after we stopped in at Berthillion for some of the best ice cream and sorbet around.





And then we headed to the Notre dame and got inspired by the gargoyles.





Presenting... The Bodine's Gargoyle Faces



































Impressive, non? We hit the top of the Notre dame, something I've never done, and it was pretty cool.





Little doors to see a big bell.





More pretty views.





Family shot one from above





Family shot two from below, in the above picture we were in that top right corner of the right tower.





I was coveting this ensemble.





After a delightful dinner and more dessert, we stopped on over here to catch the hourly sparkle.





It was so fun to just walk around the city with the fam, and the tour Eiffel is so beautiful.





Especially when it sparkles. Oh how I love it here!

Location:Paris