Birthday Extravaganza

Today is Erika's birthday!!! The flowers she is sitting next to pale in comparison to her beauty on her 23rd birthday yet matched her dress perfectly!
We celebrated in style with a trip to the Eiffel Tower, a true symbol of France. If you ever go, which we recommend you do, take the stairs. It is much more scenic and doesn't take very long at all to climb. We took many more shots of Paris but could not show them all. From the top, you can see almost all of Paris, basically 30 miles in every direction. It was stunning to be able to see so many beautiful sights, especially many that we have already visited!
A typical AJ and Erika pose, this was taken from the 2nd floor and was awesome! Fun fact: Every 9 years they repaint the Eiffel Tower. It takes 25 painters 18 months to and 60 tonnes of paint to finish. Whoaa!!!!
From a distance, the tower seems relatively unremarkable but once you are up close it is ridiculously immense. Not only is it the most recognized French symbol, it truly takes a while to comprehend its size. It was built within two years and finished in 1890. It was only supposed to stay there for 20 years but the Parisians eventually fell in love with it and became the national monument.
This is the Arc de Triumph which is AJ's favorite thing in France. It is based off of the Roman idea to build something remarkable after a successful war campaign. Napoleon Bonaparte did the Romans justice when he commissioned this massive Arch. It has such simple elegance and is the centerpoint for 13 roads that all intersect at this landmark. The Champs-Elysees runs directly to it and you can travel to the top of the Arc for a fee and see all of surrounding Paris.
Erika loved her birthday and celebrated not with a cake, but with a traditional French crepe filled with nutella. It really was a great day and we celebrated in style! Who can say they climbed the Eiffel Tower on their birthday? Not many we are sure but we would recommend it to anyone!

We also visited a museum that houses the largest collection of Monet paintings. It was stunning and definitely worth the trek. It was in a ritzy area that was refreshingly quiet and filled with boutiques for Erika and Lisa to shop for dresses.
It was unbelievable to see the collection that spanned his extensive career. Most do not know that he developed cataracts later in his life that drastically changed his paintings. While his earlier works were filled with small details, his later works became more about representing landscapes through strong colors. A researcher even created pictures of Monet's paintings from his perspective with cataracts.

Overall a wonderful day! Happy birthday also to Kira and Pat. We miss everyone especially today!!!! Thanks for all the birthday wishes,
AJ and Erika