Pictures! Page 25

Maureen and I had a long-awaited honeymoon in France...touring with friends. This is just the first half of the pictures.

15 May 2007 to 24 Jul 2007

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260 pictures

15 May 2007

For the trip, I printed a high-quality Paper Mario from one of Nintendo's press kits and had Timmy color it. We brought Paper Mario along to take pictures with it, like Flat Stanley of the popular Flat Stanley project or the gnome in Amélie. Here's Mario at LAX.

16 May 2007

Mario at our apartment on the Seine.

L'Arc de Triomphe.

Preparation for a ceremony for the new Président.

Maureen practices tap dancing on our way up the Arc.

Top of the Arc, with a view of La Tour Eiffel.

More tap practice.

Dinner at Ladurée.

A quick visit to La Tour Eiffel.

17 May 2007

Le Musée du Louvre needs several days to see just about everything (probably a whole week for everything). We gave it one day.

Colbert sighting at the Louvre.

Outside Pyramid and courtyard.

Three Graces and Venus de Milo.

Starbucks made it here too!

Inside Pyramid and La Pyramide Inversée (spoiler alert for link!).

Dinner at Le Petit Flore.

18 May 2007

Our arrival in Hazebrouck on the way to Saint-Omer, Philippe's hometown, where he and Natascha will get married.

Interior of the historic church in town.

Some layout planning.

Family and friends.

Exterior of the church and adjoining school, where Philippe went to Kindergarten.

Rehearsal dinner at Le Medieval.

19 May 2007

A short day in Saint-Omer before the ceremony.

Jessica poses outside the bed-and-breakfast for a picture for her grandmother.

Quick shots before the ceremony at La Cathedrale de Notre Dame de Saint-Omer.

Philippe and his parents; the matching American bridesmaids; Natascha and mom and brother.

The whole wedding party including Philippe's friends Lucille and Severine; all 5 witnesses sign the document as part of the ceremony.

Maureen signs and reads a reading.

The newly married couple leaves and joins the guests.

The tent outside the reception at "Le Bowling."

In the reception hall. Yes, the place is a bowling alley (not pictured) with a reception hall. Actually a classy place. No time to bowl, though.

I guess we were caught up in festivities to take too many food pictures here. Maureen tries out the "crème brûlée"-style foie gras. Also, salad with slab-style foie gras.

Chumminess with the bride.

Natascha poses with Philippe's nieces and nephews.

Natascha and Philippe play a game of how well they know each other, holding up signs that say "me" ("moi") or "him/her" ("lui/elle") in response to questions of who does or is what.

First dance and the opening of the dance floor (just before midnight).

20 May 2007

Philippe's cousin Nathalie poses with Mario, and bride and groom get a traditional wine shower. Yes, this is already past midnight. The party started at about 7 and lasted till about 3.

A day in the town just before leaving. Here's the town park ("jardin public").

It actually did rain a bit, so everyone else convinced me to pose Singin' in the Rain-style.

The town square.

Back in Paris, we had dinner at Matchan for Ben's birthday. Japanese food and servers speaking French with a Japanese accent.

21 May 2007

Paper Mario wakes up at the apartment, then off to Le Bon Marché.

St. Sulpice is featured in The Da Vinci Code, sort of.

Lunch at Café Doucet.

An afternoon visit to the art museum at Centre Pompidou.

Just outside Centre Pompidou is an Apple store and Rue Colbert.

Another birthday dinner, this time at La Bourse ou La Vie, with excellent steak au poivre.

A short trip to the Quartier Latin (just the touristy area), including another Colbert sighting and crèpes.

Notre Dame is closed by now, but we get some nice night shots of the outside.

22 May 2007

Qualifying matches for the French Open at Roland Garros. No big stars here, because hey, they don't need no stinkin' qualifying matches. Still fun to watch.

A pleasant day at the Musée d'Orsay, where we saw some impressionist art.

No relation to my high school's order's founder, Fr. Basil Moreau.

Even more art.

This guy look kinda like actor Jean Reno.

Sculptures at the Musée Rodin. Both this and d'Orsay became our favorite museums in Paris.

I think these are the Gates of Hell that Sen. John McCain would supposedly follow bin Laden to in the primaries next year.

Standalone sculpture of figures above said gates.

More outdoor sculptures.

Wow, some of these sculptures really like one of our favorite snacks, Chipster.

23 May 2007

A long day at Versailles. Really long. Here's the main palace.

We weren't supposed to take pictures in this theatre, but I think that only meant flash pictures. I took non-flash pictures.

More main palace.

Restoration is still in progress.

I guess we surprised Bob and Natalie while they were taking their audio tour.

Some meta shots.

Paper Mario does some exploring.

Lunch at Brasserie du Théâtre just outside of the palace grounds. Maureen regrets not trying the steak tartare, which a lot of other patrons had, so it probably would have been the best place to try it.