It's Mardi Gras season around here. This is the painting that now sits on the easel at my back door. Of course you can probably figure out what "Trouver la joie" means...."Find the Joy" of course! It hasn't been much joy around here this week. I went to a training session in south Louisiana earlier this week and came home with the flu. The training session was great and well worth the looooooooooong trip. I even brought back the "famous" king cakes that my sister has discovered for us. Unfortunately, I didn't get to enjoy them, but glad everyone else did! I hate being sick.....it's a waste of time!

Favorite Rome Pictures

When I first realized I was really going to the Vatican I couldn't wait to see Michelangelo's Pieta. It was even more stunning than I imagined.

This is one of my most favorite pictures of the trip. It was part of a group of frescoes in the Vatican Museum. I think it would make a beautiful Christmas card.

This is the balcony where the Pope greets the crowds at St. Peter's Square.

We had a private guided tour of the Roman Forum. It was well worth it. Fasta was also our guide through the Vatican. She gave a wonderful history lesson both days and it was very rewarding to see the kids hanging on to her every word!

After the Roman Forum we walked over to the Colosseum. It was amazing. We saw the large cross near the floor of the Colosseum where the Pope begins the Stations of the Cross on Good Friday. That was very interesting.

Favorite Paris Pictures

These are some of my favorite shots from Paris*. This first set if from The Louvre. Of course The Louvre is any art teacher's dream! It is unbelievably huge and of course in the few hours that we were there we only saw a very little bit of it. The last picture in this set is of the Arc de Triomphe.

These were pictures taken at Notre Dame Cathedral. It is gorgeous. It's amazing how something so architecturally beautiful could have been built so long ago.

These are from the Eiffel Tower. It's just as the French people claim---a big chunk of steel! Seriously, it really is beautiful. We only made it to the 2nd level. It was extremely windy that day and the 2nd level was plenty for us!

The last pictures is the clock in front of our hotel at Gare de Lyon.

Trip of a Lifetime

This is the first time I have had enough time to sit down and update this blog. As you all know by now I took 5 of my high school students, along with 3 mothers and 3 grandmothers, on a trip to Paris and Rome. We went through an educational travel company, but I custom designed this trip myself. I wanted this to be a "true" art trip. So, I started by choosing the greatest art museums in the world----The Louvre and The Vatican Museum---to center our trip around.

The trip was for 8 days and truly by the power of prayer, was an amazing trip. 8 days/12 people and no major drama speaks for itself! We learned quickly how to use the metro system in both Paris and Rome. We even took a train to Versailles with no major problems. Of course we got lost a couple of times, but we looked at it as just another adventure! Austin and Ethan were great navigators!

The day we returned we didn't realize that we would have been up for about 24 hours by the time we all got back home. I didn't realize that I would feel so bad the next day. It took me about 3 days to snap out of it. The funniest thing is that on Tuesday we had to travel about 45 miles away to take a picture for our church directory (we missed the date they were taken here because I was on the trip). While taking the pictures, the photographer said something goofy that made me laugh and for some strange reason after that I thought...OK, I'm back to normal. The picture was funny because I'm looking at my husband cracking up and he's laughing but still looking at the photographer. Believe it or not, that's the picture I bought. I will put it in my trip scrapbook with a note that was the moment I felt like myself again!

Here's a quick summary of our trip:

We left Saturday morning from an airport about 50 miles from our hometown. We flew to Atlanta then on to Paris. We arrived in Paris at about 5:00AM Sunday morning. Like I said earlier---we lost 7 hours. We stayed in Paris until Wednesday. While in Paris we had a private city tour with our own tour guide, Claire. She was also our guide for a private tour of The Louvre. We also visited Notre Dame Cathedral, Musee D'Orsay, the Eiffel Tower, and took a night cruise of the Seine River.

In Italy we visited The Spanish Steps, The Pantheon, Piazza Navona. The Vatican including The Vatican Museum, Sistine Chapel, St. Peter's, The Colosseum, and The Roman Forum. We had a private tour of The Vatican, Colosseum, and Roman Forum. Fasta was our guide and she was AMAZING!

I will update again with more details and pictures of each place. It has taken me over a week to get caught up. I'm still trying to get back into a routine. I took over 600 pictures and have finally gotten them all developed. That was an ordeal for a later post!

BONJOUR!

Yes, believe it or not I am in Paris!!! I have taken 5 students on an art field trip. I'm not nuts.....I have 6 other adults with me! I have logged onto a computer at our hotel and trying to figure out where some of the keys are.....So, bare with me if there are mistakes! And...........it has been an extremely long 24 hours with little or no sleep. We lost 7 hours on the way over here!
Here's how it all began....We left our local airport around 10:20AM (CDT). We arrived in Atlanta with no major drama. We left Atlanta for a loooong flight to Paris. About an hour into the flight the pilot announces that there's a medical emergency on board and if there is a doctor or nurse on board to please identify themselves. Well, out of over 200 passengers there's no doctor on board. 2 of the moms traveling with us are nurses-- Now these 2 just happen to be a little nervous about the flight anyway, so we were all laughing that they are the only medical professionals on the plane. But, their professionalism truly showed as they both were escorted to first class to assist the passenger. It seems that the man was a diabetic and was having complications from that and a stroke. He just also happened to be from our home state. After they get him stabilized, they were able to return to their seats. The flight crew was extremely gracious to them....thanking them numerous times, bringing their kids ice cream, and giving them travel packs, etc. Unfortunately, before we landed one of the nurses was called back to first class to again assist the passenger. We now think he was having TIAs or small strokes. As we arrived at the gate, paramedics boarded the plane and were ready to take him to a hospital. The pilot and other crew once again thanked the nurses and took some information from their tickets. My guess is that she will once again be thanked from Delta.
Now for the flight.....bumpy, bumpy landing!! It was raining pretty hard when we arrived and the wind was pretty bad. Let's all pray for a better landing on the route to Rome and thenhome!!
We arrived in Paris an hour earlier than expected (5:00AM)....thanks to those tailwinds! It was dark and we were surprised that the sun doesn't rise here until almost 8:00. The ride from the hotel was very pleasant. The hotel was kind enough to let us check in early. The rooms are SMALL, but that's normal for Europe. The hotel is right next to the train station which is cool.
So, what did we do with little or no sleep in the last 24 hours?.....We hit the road! We ventured out to the Eiffel Tower! Yes, we all went up to the 2nd level. It was pretty cool considering I'm afraid of heights! We have learned how to use the Metro---which is their subway system. It's also pretty cool. After the Eiffel Tower we had lunch in a sidewalk cafe....pizza and pasta. After that we headed to Notre Dame Cathedral....That was AMAZING!! The steward on the plane told us there would be a High Mass at 4:00, so we were all going to attend. It wasn't ...we think it's at 6:00. We still walked through the Cathedral......ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS. We have walked all along the Seine River today. I have TONS of pictures that I would love to download on here, but I don't know how from here. I will download plenty when I get home.
For those of you that I gave this blog address to, be sure to leave a message and I will try to respond back tomorrow. Someone be sure to tell Mama that I miss calling her!! I started to call, but was afraid she wouldn't recognize the number.
Also a few other notes..... Thanks for all the prayers....they are surely felt as today was suppose to be a rainy , windy day. Instead, the sun has shown most of the day and it's rained only when we were inside eating lunch. It's been windy, but tolerable--except at the top of the Eiffel Tower!
I will try to update again tomorrow,
Take care and thanks again for the prayers!
Also, here's something that's funny that Mary and Sharon will recognize.....The steward on the plane was originally from Bordenlonville (sp?). He is also cousins with the Coco's that lived next to Aunt Dee. How bizerk is that?!?!?
Well, as you can expect we are all exhausted. All are up in the rooms "refreshing", so I'm headed that way. By the way, it's 5:20PM here!!

Another "Painting A Day"

It's been an extremely busy week, but I did manage to get at least one P.A.D. completed! I will be updating the blog in the next few days about the exciting project that I am currently involved with!

Painting A Day

Here's another "Painting A Day"---- although, I have to confess, this one was done about a month ago. I have been super busy this last week and haven't had time to paint. I have a really awesome adventure coming up soon that has totally consumed most of my time lately. I will share more details of this adventure in about 2 weeks. It's really awesome, but involves a lot of work!!