paris and pumpkins

in honor of my 26th birthday, I was given probably one of the biggest birthday presents I have EVER gotten - a trip to Paris! My family here that I work for was going to be out of the country on my birthday and weren't planning to take me with me, so because they felt so badly for leaving me alone they paid for me to spend the weekend in Paris...awesome, right? I have a great job.
I left on Friday, October 26th, and flew from Stockholm to Paris on a direct flight and, after much effort that involved dragging my suitcase into a Parisian post office and cell phone store, I finally met up with Connie, my friend over at Paris Au Pair, and we started our weekend of walking and pain au chocolats.
I spent Friday evening doing a little bit of walking on my own while Connie worked for a couple hours, and then on Saturday her and I walked around for most of the day, and I was able to see everything from Montmartre, Sacre Couer, Notre Dame, and Chateau de Vincennes. On Sunday we did some more walking and went to visit Notre Dame (this time in the daylight) and the Eiffel Tower, where we got some amazing pictures. Later that evening we trudged through the little streets to find a cafe that we let us have dessert and a glass of wine for my birthday - a much, much harder feat than you'd think. We were finally "allowed" to sit at one of the cafes that, initially, we had left cause they told us we'd have to sit in the crappy section (read: outside, NO HEAT LAMPS). After returning to the cafe and grudgingly asking for a table outside in the freezing cold, they graciously allowed us to sit under the heat lamps, and even brought out my chocolate mousse with a candle. And THEN when I knocked off my glass of champagne and it shattered on the ground, they brought me another one! They were very nice.
Monday was spent sleeping in a bit and then heading out into the rain to do some shopping. I made some great purchases, including some french soaps, four beautiful serviette napkins, a pair of jeans, and some small magnets from an old map of Paris. I also got to see the Arc d'Triomphe on Monday, which was great. The highlight from Monday, though, was probably sitting in McDonald's across from the Louis Vuitton flagship store and having coffee. Felt like a million bucks right then :)
I have to say, most of this would have been impossible if it weren't for Connie! If you haven't checked out her blog, do it. She's far more faithful at blogging than I am, and is a great photographer. Most importantly, she's a wonderful host and great girl, and I'm so glad to call her my friend :) (My real-life friend, now!)
Here's some pictures of Paris...













Here's one of me and Connie -


Also, I thought I'd post some pictures of the kids. Klara's been getting over a nasty cough and since they were traveling to the States on Friday (same day I left for Paris), she stayed home with Sixten to catch up on some rest. We spent Thursday carving pumpkins and running errands, so here's some sweet pictures of the two little ones: