So it appears we'll be spending a few days in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, this summer.

Has anybody ever been there?  Have any ideas of things to do (besides the obvious Civil War things)?

Thanks!

I'm so very happy that we got a snow day today!

I set a new record for my commute last night - 3 hours, 15 minutes.  That's approximately 4x my normal commute time.

And although I have to get up before the time that they make decisions on snow days and was already dressed and had eaten breakfast by the time I got the call, I'm still deliriously happy.

Having the morning off allowed me to finish up a little project I've been working on for the past few days.  Our friend Jen compiled her pictures from a recent trip to Paris and Rome into a cool little photo book.  It was pretty awesome, so we decided to make one for our Paris pictures.

The site I used is run by Jostens (since I'm a big yearbook nerd and a loyal Jostens customer).  It is called Our Hubbub - www.ourhubbub.com.

Basically it allows you to create a mini-yearbook (scrapbook) for anything - a trip, an anniverary, a sports team, a new baby, a birthday - literally anything!  They have templates to choose from, or you can set everything up yourself.  It's very easy to use.  You just upload the pictures and start putting it together.  The cost is around $40 for a 23-page book.  (If you are interested, I have a link that could get you a discount of $5!)

I'm very excited to order ours!  I highly recommend the site to everybody!

The final installment of our trip pictures have been uploaded.  We haven't captioned all of them yet, but will be working on that this evening.  Go see our day at the Louvre and Orsay, our stroll down the Champs Elysees, our climbing of the Eiffel Tower, and various other stops.

We've just uploaded a lot of new pictures.  Sights include Versailles, The Orsay, Napolean's Tomb, Pere Lachaise Cemetery (with cats!), and New Year's at the Eiffel Tower!

Check them out!

We spent the day in the Montmartre area of Paris.  Pictures of Sacre Couer, Moulin Rouge, Adolph Sax's Grave, and the Rousseau Family Grave over at our picture website. 

Versailles tomorrow.

We arrived this morning around 8:30 AM local time (that's 1:30 AM for you Chicago folks).  Took the RER line into the city center, walked up the stairs and right smack into Notre Dame.  Our apartment is just south of the Ile de la Cite, so naturally our first stop was Notre Dame followed by the Archaeological Crypt just outside the catherdral.

See our pics and check back often for updates!

Now it's time for a nap.

Click here to see them!

Thanks to my wife's diligent monitoring of airfare prices, we scored an incredible deal on a non-stop flight to Paris.  Non-stop from ORD to CDG is usually around $2150 for two people (thats with taxes and fees).  Early this morning that same non-stop flight dropped to $1447 for two people!!  That just saved us over $700!  The non-stop was even cheaper than the 1-stop, which we were originally going to choose.  Way to go wifey!

We had seen the rumor on the internets that Wednesday morning was the best time to buy overseas tickets.  Something about the airlines releasing tickets just after midnight.  I guess that rumor is true!!

Now it's time to find the best seat on the plane.

Lately, I've become a big fan of Rick Steves.  He's the guy on PBS who does a bunch of travel shows about different cities all over the world.

I like his style.  It's very practical and informative.  (He definitely knows his museums, that's for sure.)

In preparation for our trip to Paris, we bought his guide book and have been reading through it.  (It's really good, by the way.)

On a whim, I did a google search for the guy, and guess what!  He has a blog!

http://www.ricksteves.com/blog/

He is currently traveling through Europe and filming new episodes of his show.  He's been updating his blog every day or two, and it's really cool to read.  Enjoy!