This is the third Europe trip post. It covers the events of July 12th and July 13th of the year 2008.

-- July 12th 2008 photoset --

The morning of the 12th began very late indeed. We had consumed well more than our share of wine the night before so we didn't exactly rise to meet the sun.

Once we were up and moving we started the day slowly by spending some more time at the Louvre. I was glad I got an opportunity to look at their collection of Mesopotamian artifacts.

Continuing at a leisurely pace we took a walk across the city. We walked between the Petit Palais and the Grand Palais. Which were all set up for the inaugural meeting of the Union for the Mediterranean. As a matter of fact our walk was interrupted when we had to stop and wait on a motorcade from either Jordan or the Palestinian Authority to pass. I didn't get a close enough look at the flag to be sure which it was.

That area along the Seine near Pont Alexandre III has lots of statues and we took some time to examine them. Near the palaces there is a statue of Winston Churchill being awesome with the inscription "We shall never surrender." Not far down the Seine is my second favorite foreign revolutionary the Marquis de Lafayette. A bit further down the way the French stick a well deserved finger in the eye of all those Turkish Nationalists who continue to deny that the Ottoman Empire systematically slaughtered 1.5 million Armenians with a monument to the victims of the Armenian Genocide.

We continued our walk to the base of the Eiffel tower. We strolled around the Champ de Mars and ate crêpes for dinner before taking the Metro back to our apartment to turn in early.

-- July 13th 2008 photoset --

Early to bed and early to rise allowed us to skip the usually long lines to enter Sainte-Chapelle. The sheer density of stained glass is staggering. The nearly 20,000 pieces of brightly colored glass give the light an unearthly quality in the bright morning sun.

Unfortunately by the time we had completed our visit to Sainte-Chapelle it was no longer early in the morning. As a result we had to wait in queue for more than an hour to tour the other great church on the Île de la Cité, The Cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris. We climbed the tiny stairwell to the top and heard the bells toll.

We made a brief stop in the Crypte Archeologique located in the square to the west of the Cathedral. It is a small, underwhelming museum displaying the remains of some Gallo-Roman homes from the 16th century.

We had some lunch and made our way back to the the Louvre once again. This time we focused on the statuary. It might seem absurd to keep returning to the same museum over and over again, but it is difficult to convey how large the place is. We made four half day trips and still failed to see every exhibit.

From there it was back to our apartment to rest for a bit. For dinner we hit Chez Omar for some good Moroccan food on the recommendation of Sara's aunt.

Stuffed with couscous we ventured far to the south in order to find The Panthéon. We knew that the following evening we would be attending a reception for the SSIB conference across the street, but that is another post.

We interrupt the stream of Europe posts to update you on the things that have been happening since I returned.

On August 8th Mary Ann and Jared held a housewarming and Olympic opening ceremony watching combo-party. We celebrated with beers of the world and a male gymnastics cake.

On August 10th my paternal grandparents celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary at a family gathering including their two children, two children-in-law and nine grandchildren.

My grandparents are enormously kind and generous people who certainly deserve 60 years of happiness together.

Photoset here.

On August 16th my good friend Jeff married his longtime girlfriend Katie in the Buffalo, NY area. Sara and I were fortunate enough to be invited.

Between the ceremony and the reception there was time for Sara and I to make a flying trip to Niagara Falls. Both of us had been, but never together.

It was a beautiful day, and the festivities couldn't have been nicer. We wish them many years of happiness together.

Photoset here.

In mid September I was called out to Saint Louis. When we weren't working my coworkers and I did manage to take in some of the sights.

We saw downtown and the arch. We even rode to the top in the little pod elevators.

We also visited Forest Park, location of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition (a.k.a. The 1904 World's Fair). It is an enormous and amazing park containing a number of interesting structures. The Jewel Box is a beautiful art-deco greenhouse surrounded by stunning flowers maintained by the Saint Louis Water Gardening Society. The Saint Louis Science Center also resides in the park. There is, however, only one building remaining from the world's fair, namely, the Saint Louis Art Museum. Carved into the building is the inscription "Dedicated to Art and Free to All", and true to their word admission is free.

Fortunately I came to STL with recommendations for good places to eat courtesy of my friend and former STL denizen, Len. This allowed me to impress my coworkers with my uncanny knowledge of STL eateries. We particularly enjoyed Blueberry Hill and Fitz's.

The photos from around town are here.

We also spent a portion of one day at the STL Zoo. I enjoyed seeing the mongooses, the aviary, and the insectarium.

The photoset from the zoo is here.

On the 3rd of this month Sara, Castor, and I witnessed Amber's marriage to Iain. This was the first opportunity many of us had to meet him since they each have on-call type jobs on the east coast. It makes trips to Indiana together difficult to schedule. I am pleased to report that he is a stand-up guy. We all wish them a lifetime of happiness.

The ceremony and reception were both held at Salt Creek Golf Retreat in beautiful Brown County, Indiana. The early leaves were just beginning to turn which added a tiny dash of color to an already magnificent view.

Many of my readers won't want to miss the photoset because it contains a photo of Castor kinda-sorta dancing at the reception.

On October the 10th Sara and I traveled to Chicago and celebrated our negative first wedding anniversary. We stayed in the Hyatt Regency Chicago downtown, just across from the river. Sara also acquired tickets to a showing of Wicked at The Oriental Theater.

Dan and Sara's Negative First Anniversary photoset.

The next morning we strolled around downtown and stumbled upon an Anonymous protest against Scientology. In the afternoon we spent some time with Sara's family. That evening we met Jill and Evan at The Tasting Room so we could catch up while downing a few glasses of wine.

On Sunday morning we got up early to watch Sara's brother, Charlie, run in the Chicago Marathon. We missed him at our first vantage point, but caught up with him later by driving further down the course. Near the 24 mile mark Sara and her sister jumped onto the course and ran with their brother for a bit.

The Charlie runs the Marathon photoset.