the past few days...sorry i've been bad at updating!..Venice and Paris

Bonjour from Paris!! I know it's been forever since I've updated (and please know I'm updating as much for me to remember everything as for you out there to hear about our trip :) ) but it was a lot easier to blog in Rome when I couldn't fall asleep at night from jet lag! haha. Here we are in Paris right now, after safely making it on a train to Venice and seeing what I think is one of the coolest cities in the world. We were only there for a day, but it was a great day. There is a square, or as the Venetians say a "Piazza" with a church that is 1000 years old. It's so hard to even wrap your head around that! It was one of the most elaborate and decorated churches I've ever seen, and it was all completed over 900 years ago! so crazy. Of course, we took a Gondola ride--which was one of our favorite things we've done on the trip so far--and to think we almost didn't do it! It is outrageously expensive to ride the Gondola, I had no idea it would be that much! they want 100 euro (which is about $150) for 40 minutes (!), but luckily my conquering hero negotiated it down to 50. hehe! We both decided we couldn't leave Venice without riding a Gondola, we would regret it forever! And we were glad we did. To see the city from the little boat and see all of the really old buildings and have a "gondolier" in his little striped shirt and hat with a ribbon on it was just priceless. From Venice, we took the overnight train to Paris. It left at 8:00 pm and arrived at 8:00 AM. We stayed in this little cabin that had 6 bunks in it, and the other people in it were nice, BUT one old man snored SO LOUD THE ENTIRE TIME that I literally was about to reach down and "accidentally" kick him in the face. haha j/k. but seriously, so frustrating! why would you book a little cabin with 5 other people when you know you snore that loud! oh and p.s. Matt can sleep through anything, so we arrived in Paris with him feeling amazingly well rested, and me ready to rampage the city like Godzilla :) (I smile now, but it was bad that morning...poor matt. and when we got off the train, the cab driver was mean to us because we weren't going very far, and so I asked him--in french--what the heck his problem was and to just drive. haha! poor taxi driver. you don't mess with a grumpy pregnant woman! haha) So consider this my apology to the universe for having a bad attitude that morning and for sending bad vibes into the air. :) Once we arrived at our hotel, I seriously needed some sleep. We decided that we would nap, then just take it easy and shop on the Champs elysee and see the Arc de Triomphe. That night, I started having symptoms of a cold (for some reason, I get them really easily!) and haven't been feeling well since then. It was an adventure going to their pharmacy trying to communicate needing medicine for a cough, but that I can take while pregnant...The lady gave me something, but just to be sure, I called my OB back home. Unfortunately, he didn't know French medicine, and only said "if they said it was ok, just take it." We'll have spent 5 days in Paris by the time we leave, and both Matt and myself have been here before, so after the extreme rush and exhaustion from Italy, and with my cold, it's been nice to be lazy in the morning and then go out in the afternoon. The next day we saw the Louvre and the Mona Lisa, and it just so happened that the day we went it was free--and very crowded. But we were glad it was free because we only really wanted to see the Mona Lisa, and didn't feel so bad leaving right after. The next day we went and saw Notre Dame and all its cute little gargoyles (it made me want to watch the hunchback real bad...) and then the Eiffel Tower. Today, Versaille, the palace built by King Louis the XIV (we think, maybe the XIII) and a major factor in the French Revolution. Walking through the palace, Matt and I kept saying "what was he thinking?! of COURSE there would be a revolution over this place!" Every single inch of the HUGE HUGE HUGE place is painted elaborately or covered in gold and crystal and expensive marble. We just kept thinking of the impoverished people of France who got taxed to pay for the highly unnecessarily decadent palace where Marie Antoinette once had a "pretend farm" so that she could play "shepherdess." We kind of didn't even feel bad that they got beheaded for their selfish lifestyle...is that bad? I've never seen anything like it. Probably even more impressive was the gardens. They go on for miles and miles and miles and there are tons of elaborate fountains and perfectly groomed hedges that form little mazes. The whole place was exactly how you would picture a pompous king to live. Tomorrow, we're going to try and get up early to see the Van Gogh paintings at Musee D'Orsay, but we'll see if we have it in us before we have to leave for the train to London. Pray for me to feel better! I was freaked out at first that it was swine flu (we've been taking the subway and buses a LOT and they are very crowded and gross...) but after some research I'm 95% sure it's not that. Just a cold. But it's scary to be sick in a different country... I also must add as a side note how amazing it's been to just be here on this trip, to be able to spend 2 weeks of uninterrupted time with each other after a stressful summer, and to learn together, laugh together, and grow even closer together. I'm such a blessed and lucky girl, and trust me, I don't forget that! :) Love you all! xoxoxo