I would have to say my FAVORITE getaway would have to be to the ocean!! My husband and I enjoy traveling, we've seened different places, but I'd have to say I absolutely LOVE the ocean!! The smells, the sounds, the sand, even hearing the seagulls fly over, it is such a comforting and relaxing place for me to be. I will sit on the beach for hours reading and listening to the waves crashing in. I even enjoy the squeals of the children playing in the sand or when the water gets too close they're running and screaming, or when they see a small crab appear, it is so funny hearing them. I'd prefer to hear children screaming and playing then hearing people carry on a loud conversation as if they're the only ones there, that to me is annoying. No need to talk so loud that everyone in the 1/2 mile radius on the beach can hear what you ate last night, or that you went to a club the night before and got drunk, seriously, does everyone need to know all that?? I just want to hear the kids play, the waves crash in, and hear the seagulls going over me while I relax and read my new book, which by the way, I bought "My Life in France" by Julia Child and I could not put it down. Now I cannot wait to see the movie "Julie and Julia". Wonderful book to read on vacation. I also now want to learn how to cook French Cuisines, thanks to Julia Child....lol.
Well, now we're back from our vacation, and my hubby and I are so grateful that my in-laws own a condo just one block from the ocean. It's WONDERFUL!! We ate well, too well, I'm on a diet now...but the food was incredible. So, now back to our routines, that was a wonderful break, I am ready to go back though. I can smell the salt water now!
We read a little on the history of these soldiers, but I need to go back online and read a little more.
In the meantime, we went to the other museums and toured around. We entered into the Stone gallery, I wouldn't mind a piece of jewelry out of every one of these stones! A girl can only dream, huh? They had some gorgeous pieces of jewelry but I couldn't take any pictures because there were people hogging up the areas.....sheesh!
But what I REALLY wanted to see was, Julia Child's kitchen!!!! Here's her certificate for Le Cordon Bleu:
Now, her kitchen. Taking pictures was very difficult, since the kitchen is encased in glass, so it was frustrating. I took a ton of pictures in different settings, and I got these. I was trying not to be like the others who would hog up the areas for pictures so I was trying to be quick. Sorry for the stinky pictures:
She had a place for everything. So organized and took such good care of her appliances and her wares:
Look at her knife collection:
Then some history of her, it was fun. They had all of her cookbooks there, plus her own collection of cookbooks she kept for herself.
As we continued through the museum, we came to this gallery, "Within these Walls" I think it was called. They have a real house in the museum that is over 200 years old. I now can't remember the whole story, but I do remember that this house has been lived in for 200 years by different families.:
Then on our way to our hotel, I saw this building and I just liked the architecture of it,
We then went to see the mammals. Sometimes I have mixed feelings about this area because I'm not sure how many of these animals are real and are not. You can tell which ones aren't but not too sure about the others. I am an animal lover and do not like the idea of killing animals in order to stuff them and place them behind glass, especially when some of them are just wee little babies. There were some fascinating animals in this area, some I have never seened. Like this elephant, imagine him running towards you??!!!! I would faint.
And this one, well, he's just a bad kitty!! This is something my kitty once did when he got outside, I managed to get the poor little birdie out of his mouth by holding the extra skin at the back of his neck and telling him to drop the bird NOW!! He did, and I picked up the poor fellow and took him away somewhere safe. He got his bearings and flew away. But I have a feeling that wouldn't of worked with this cat.
As we walked around the museum we came to the door and saw that it was snowing out. You can't see it here, but it was, and it was beautiful.
This is taken in one of the train stations, there was shopping and restaurants inside this place. It was so pretty.
And after walking all over the city in the snow, then rain, we came to this wonderful Irish Pub. It brought back memories of London. We ate at a local pub in London just about every night, and when we entered this place I thought we were back there again. The atmosphere was great and the food was wonderful.
We had a nice time and plan to go back soon to see the Terra Cotta Soldiers and probably go back to the pub again. It was a short weekend but relaxing. Now back to work.
