04/10 Day 14: Nice

I'm still in awe of experience of Eze. Wow!

But time can't wait!

ANTIBES

We glide up Rue Sade to the Marche Provencal, similar to our Farmer's Market except the food is much, much, much tastier.

Went to the beach...

...and into town.

After lunch at a nice little French cafe, we continue to St. Paul de Ponce. It was like Eze in setup, but the location was different. Not too far from Nice and not too high up, but the stores were very unique. Almost every single store was selling art. Amazing art, too. It was nice to look around.

ST. PAUL DE PONCE

At night we ate at Le Maison de Marie, with the best Penne All'Arrabiatta in the world! I am not joking one bit.

Later, we went to High Club two blocks away. I was so bored there that when we came back, I wanted to ride a bike and the Hotel concierge found a scooter for me instead. This is what followed...

04/09 Day 13: Nice

We took a twenty-five minute train to Monaco. It's amazing this is what you can see from a train ride.

MONACO

It was surprisingly much smaller than I had anticipated, but beautiful, nonetheless.

We passed the Prince's Palace.

And this is where Grace Kelly got married.


We went inside.

Checked out the Monte Carlo Casino....

Hotel de Paris...


...more walking...

and then...


VILLAGE OF EZE

Hands down this place is in my top five favorite spots in the world. I have never seen anything like this. A village made of stone nestled in the hills above Monaco. The view was sublime! The pictures speak for themselves.

We had dinner at the restaurant overlooking the ocean. One just couldn't ask for more.

04/08 Day 12: Berlin => Nice

We are so tired from the night before, but we persevere! A flight from Berlin to Paris, and Paris to Nice.

And I present to you the view from the steps of the Hotel Negresco....

04/07 Day 11: Berlin

Last full day in Berlin. Shopping is our plan. And the night out at Solar...

04/06 Day 10: Berlin

Today was all walking.

NEUE SYNAGOGUE

This was the biggest temple on the East Side. It was in a predominantly Jewish district pre-WWII. There was an old man at the top of the dome that taught us a string trick that I'm still trying to figure out...

JEWISH CEMETERY

All the bodies were taken out during WWII.

SOPHIENKIRCHE



HACKERSCHER MARKT

These interlocking courtyards providing shopping as well as sightseeing. This photo is of a building that had contradictions written all over it. True or false, Right or wrong, Important or unimportant...



FERNSEHTURM

BERLINER DOME

LUSTGARTEN

Back to the hotel to get ready for Ruth's Birthday at Margeaux!! The place was great!

04/05 Day 9: Berlin

Today we picked up the pace a bit.

HOLOCAUST MUSEUM

This place is breathtaking. Designed by Daniel Libeskind, he mixed straight lines with diagonal ones to take away a sense of space and equilibrium. The first part had all these little windows with stories and memorabilia from Jews during WWII.

The next part led into a room that was surrounded with cement. A little light shone in through a crack at the top. Our voices echoed eerily. Yikes!

Next, there was a courtyard outside. Again, the pillars were sideways and immediately when you see them, you felt sick. Strange...

Up the stairs and into another exhibit, which was particularly interesting. It was a room with 10,000 stone faces lying on the floor. When you stepped on them it filled the room with haunting sounds...

That place was heavy, but it ended on a nice note with a fake pomegranate tree that was covered in written wishes. The paper was in the shape of a pomegranate and we all made our wish...

CHECKPOINT CHARLIE


We visited the museum as well, unfortunately they didn't allow pictures to be taken inside.

Finally, we had dinner at the hotel restaurant. So tired.

04/04 Day 8: Berlin

The buffet breakfast at The Ellington Hotel was definitely the best. Any hotel serving potato salad as a breakfast food is good in my book. I'm glad we stayed there. The service was most helpful.

The first real day in Berlin and we decide to take it somewhat easy by walking down Unter Den Linden ("under the Linden trees" in German).


BRANDENBURG GATE

REICHSTAG

HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL

I love this city...

04/02 Day 6: Paris

It was a day off and shopping was on the agenda since, of course, it was Tahlia's birthday! We dragged her mom to a fabulous store we had found and Tahlia got the cutest shirt. After some relaxation back at the hotel, we were off to Buddha Bar for dinner. Happy Birthday, Tahl!!

04/03 Day 7: Paris => Berlin

Not the most exciting day. We woke up...well...we didn't really fall asleep...and then hopped on a plane to Berlin where we continued to sleep some more. Ah...

A, T and U were seen leaving Paris en route to Berlin. What in the world are they up to? I'll keep you posted... XOXO Gossip Girl

Haha...Alana's going to love that one!

04/01 Day 5: Paris

Today we overslept. Not sure why because we went to bed relatively early last night.

We managed to get up and got some food at Monoprix again and then took the Batobus to Champs Elysees.

We walked around. Making fun of everyone.

CHAMPS ELYSEES

ARC DE TRIOMPHE

I don't really know much about it, but the view was extraordinary!

Walking, walking, walking....listening to Britney....all eyes on me in the center of the ring just like a circus...la la la

EIFFEL TOWER

We didn't go all the way up because we needed to catch our Batobus back home. But we made sure to get some cheesy photos in!

Ah! Back to the hotel.

Now, what will we do tonight......

03/31 Day 4: Paris

We ended up going out to a local bar last night. So, when we had to wake up early this morning we were a bit tired but excited. Today is Versailles. We stopped at Monoprix, the local supermarket, and got on our way.

We hopped on the RER C train at Musee d'Orsay (what a long walk from our hotel!).

When we got off the train, we met some students from Dubai taking a group trip in Paris. They were very nice and going to Versailles as well.

They invited us to take their tour with them which was actually perfect because we didn't know much about Versailles.

We had brought food and a bottle of champagne hoping to pretend like we were Marie Antoinette, but the security confiscated it, so we were starving the rest of the experience. It's okay, though. After walking around for four hours, we totally forgot we were hungry anyway.

And the hall of mirrors...

This place was huge!

We parted with our tour and decided to check out the outside. Bye, guys! (We're on the left)

Photos don't do this place justice.

The most interesting thing about the Chateau were the cottages that Marie Antoinette had built in the back of the property. So cute. Something out of Alice in Wonderland.

We decided to sit on the grass and meditate. Ah, we are such supermodels!

Afterward, we spent another hour walking back...

...and hopped on the train home. We picked up some great cheese sandwiches from Monoprix and called it a night.

03/30 Day 3: Paris

We started today with a nice strong cup of cafè (and we're not big coffee drinkers).

And we got straight to walking.

THE LOUVRE

This place simply took my breath away. It was a slice of the past. Thanks to Tahlia's excellent direction skills, we ended up losing our way once we got inside. Good thing, though, because we ended up seeing some amazing art that we wouldn't have if we had gone the way we planned.

When I saw the Mona Lisa I finally realized what all the fuss was about. The painting is alive. It's hard to describe, but it really seems like there is something very energetic there. You don't want to take your eyes off of it. You keep looking because you feel like something is about to happen. Strange, I know, but true.

And we're going again...

Walking around. Never really knowing where we are. Somewhere in the midst of rues, quais and ponts.

POMPIDOU CENTER

Very cool. Strange art. Some of it was down right annoying, actually. But there was an awesome rooftop restaurant. You could see all of Paris!

Last stop for the day...

NOTRE DAME

It was pretty heavy to be standing in its presence, but it was not so easy to appreciate it fully because there were so many people there. I thought it was great anyway!

It was an afternoon well spent. We headed back again to the hotel and I started my blog with Tahlia and Alana snoozing away......ZZZZZZzzzzzzz....

When Tahlia awoke about an hour later, she had a candy rapper in one hand and a golden ticket in the other. There was the faint taste of "laduree" chocolate in her mouth. She was convinced she had won a tour of Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory.

Then she took out her Tarot deck (that she had bought in a French store only hours earlier) and proceeded to ask it questions of the mysterious ticket.

She fell back asleep and when she woke again, she had no recollection of the incident.

Alana declined to comment.

03/29 Day 2: Paris

I guess that you could say the majority of the day was just exploring the city and visiting chapels. It's amazing that these huge buildings are just about every quarter mile. So beautiful. It's nothing you could find hardly anywhere else.

ST. CHAPELLE ST. FRANCOIS DE SALES

We saw this place while we were just walking around, but it was absolutely stunning. The amount of power it possesses is quite humbling.

LEXINGTON GARDENS

Paris is filled with parks such as these. It was pretty crowded with people doing recreational activities.

SAINTE CHAPELLE

This place was amazing! It only took about three years to build, which is a relatively short time compared to other structures, but the stained glass windows were like nothing I've ever seen! We sat there for a little bit taking it all in. The amount of detail that was in every room is unbelievable and the sheer size of the place dwarfs your existence.

There was a smaller downstairs area that led to the main part of the chapel via a winding staircase.

And then some lunch and more walking around Paris...

There was art everywhere. It was most inspiring. The city is so old and you can definitely feel the history of it. It's so nice. Little cafes. Everyone buying fresh french baguettes. Eating lunches. Smelling flowers. Sounds cliche, and it was. I didn't mind at all.

And another little chapel (I forgot the name of this one, though, whoops!)...

We ended up going to a meat house for dinner. All they served was lettuce, MEAT, and french fries. Tahl and I don't eat much meat and she has been a vegetarian for seven years! Needless to say, the fries were really good.

After that, it was back to the hotel for some R & R. Ahh.

03/28 Day 1: Paris

Just arrived!

We landed safely and are ready to start our adventure. The plane ride was smooth and the time seemed to fly by. Smile, guys!

We arrive at Bel Ami Hotel and get ready to get some dinner at Cafe de Flor down the street.

After walking around to some bars for late night drinks, we all head to bed.

TED.com is the New Communication Medium

TED is a conference that is help to bring together great minds from the fields of technology, entertainment, and design. Its membership costs are too pricey for the average person, so about two years ago they began posting their talks online (http://www.ted.com). Genius!

The mission of TED is to spread ideas. Some of them are very fascinating. In my opinion, the following video is my absolute favorite.

Matthieu Ricard : Habits of Happiness

About this talk:
'What is happiness, and how can we all get some? Biochemist turned Buddhist monk Matthieu Ricard says we can train our minds in habits of well-being, to generate a true sense of serenity and fulfillment.' -ted.com

Enjoy.

Authentic Happiness

There is a study being done at the University of Pennsylvania that is "measuring" happiness through a series of questionnaires.

It's open to the public and completely free. I'm all about personal introspection so it definitely struck my fancy, but in general I think it's pretty interesting to take a couple tests and see how you do.

http://www.authentichappiness.com

Looks Are Only Brain Deep

It's something that's been floating around in my head for the last few months. It's indeed a very hard thing not to associate someone's character with the way that that they look. But why?

It very well could be a protective instinct that shields us from the wackos and the crazies. Though, is there a look to crazy people? Good people? Mean people? Stupid people? Intellectual people? It's more of a way of being. You could probably assume a neat person if you saw them with their shirts tucked in and shoe laces tied. But that could also mean that they know how to manipulate the way they look to get a desired response in the same way girls use makeup to bring out their best look. Many people doing the same things for different reason. So, how do we know what the person is really like?

I have had much experience with people that are comfortable posing as something or someone else for months at a time, even years, and sometimes, their entire lives (Ah!). The best way to make sure that it doesn't happen again, is simply to know yourself. If you're in good standing with your mind, body and soul, there is this funny thing that happens. It's a little voice inside your head that lets you know what is really going on around you. It lets you know which people are dishonest, which ones are angry, which ones are no very smart, and which ones are truly amazing.

I'm trying to base people on what they do. Who they really are. It's not terribly hard to really know someone. You just have to be a bit tuned in and listening in on that little hint of intuition that might spark up here and there to drop a hint.

It could take a lifetime to get rid of stereotypes completely. But, just to be aware that it exists and how we are affected by it in our daily lives could prove quite interesting and liberating at the same time. It's one step closer to becoming a more uninhibited self and that's always a very good thing. Just to be more you.

Some Of The Hardest People To Love...

...Are the ones that need it the most. Enough said. Give someone you love a long, warm, hug.

Quiet Time At Night

Silence is underrated. I sat in my room last night listening to some music with the candles lit. Turned my cell phone off. Pretty romantic actually, but it's nice to be romantic with yourself like that sometimes. For about an hour this went on. It was quite enjoyable. Then, I turned the music off. And something happened. I could not think of anything.

I was drawing earlier in the day and had a lot to think about. When I was working before that, I had a lot to think about. And even when I went to bed, I still had a lot that I was thinking about. But, for about half an hour, when I was sitting back on my bed looking into my room, I felt really good. Just about as good as one can feel in a moment and I got there without doing anything. Absolutely remarkable.

I suppose it could be comparable to Buddhist meditation, but I'm not really comfortable with the idea of "focused meditation". It seems too forceful to me. You got to start with what's natural and it felt real natural. It's definitely worth a try.

To Be Connected In A Disconnected City

I think a lot about why most people are impersonal here. It could very well be that it's because we come into contact with so many people that if we were to build a connection with everyone we'd meet then we would suffer a loss when we stop the connection. We don't want to get too attached. Everyone is working on their own. That's a shameful way of thought.

I know it's not like that everywhere. I live in a neighborhood where everyone is pretty friendly toward others. It's definitely a state of mind.

With the media trying to instill fear in the public, people buy into it. One girl gets abducted and killed and suddenly all of the other children who get kidnapped are ignored. What is up with that? Or the woman with the eight kids (well, fourteen actually)? But who really cares? Unless you're going to get off your mental couch and do something about it then you have no right to judge her.

That's the thing about it. There are so many that are quick to judge someone else's life. Someone that they don't even know and have never met. We are all judged. I say, the best thing we can do is just to be compassionate. People do stupid things, including us. Instead of judging, let's make an effort to remedy the situation and offer help and support to those in need. We can't change the past and this is the best we can do.

Please everyone, the next time we can offer our help to others, even if we don't think they need it, just offer it anyway. It will benefit all of us in the long run.

Drinking and Then Not Driving

Last weekend I went out for drinks with some friends of mine. One of my friends had a little to much and told me she was going to drive home, so I stole her keys and took her home with me. She was almost literally kicking and screaming, but I'm glad I did it and so is she.

I want to take this opportunity to say that if you think that you're friend is not good to drive, TAKE their keys away! It's not brain surgery to know whether or not they're drunk. If they have that "drunk stare", or slur their words or (even more obviously) trip, then just put two and two together. It protects them. It protects everyone else.

Valentine Is Not Even A Romantic!

Alright, alright. It's Valentine's Day. Which is great. Supposedly. Saint Valentine (and there were eleven of them) were martyrs and had absolutely nothing to do with the holiday. But in any case, I'm guessing that a day when men spend twice as much money as women that must say something special. Valentine's used to be one of my favorite days. I love to write and it's the second largest card-giving day next to Christmas. But why not anymore?

I'll agree with some that love on this level should be shown on a consistent basis. Or maybe that it's to celebrate love. That's all great and wonderful, but the truth is that it's a day filled with expectations. It's a real make it or break it moment. Whatever the relationship means to the partner would be summed up on Valentine's Day. There's a lot of psychological behavior that can be analyzed by the actions committed by this specific event, or any gift-giving day in general. And I am a keen observer of human behavior. This is a real treat for me.

It's also a day for evaluation. What does my relationship mean to me? The realization hits heavily. Most relationships should not be happening in the first place. I see many people in dead-end relationships that stay because they (a) don't really care, (b) are too "comfortable" to change it, or (c) lack the backbone to leave. They know it. I know it. Well, I have news for you: It's only going to get worse. This is my advice: if you are not content in your life, then it's definitely because of choices you have made and responsibility must be taken for your actions. But you should find out if the relationship with your partner, specifically, is hindering you from becoming a freer you. It might be time to think things through. For once!

However, to all the beautiful and healthy relationships going on in the world, I hope that we can all find genuine, romantic and intimate love as well. Thank you for setting the example!

Fierce Grace

Do you want to be inspired? Then I suggest you rent the documentary Ram Dass, Fierce Grace. It chronicles the life of Richard Alpert following him through his spiritual work as Ram Dass and later with his experiences after being "stroked". His work with meditation and spirituality started while working as a Harvard professor alongside Timothy Leary, the famous research advocate for psychadelic drugs, among other things. Ram Dass has written one of the best-selling books of all time, Be Here Now in 1971. Eckhart Tolle obviously ripped this guy off!

However, please note that one should be in the mood to see this movie as it is deeply thought-provoking and emotionally draining at moments. I'm all about that, though, so I throughly enjoyed it. And because it's a Zeitgeist production, you can be sure you'll be getting some good food for thought!