Bonjour! Paris Day 1

What do you do when you have no kids? You go to Paris! Micah and I spent our first free weekend (he was off from work!) in Paris. Our GPS got stolen out of our car about a month ago, so we had to borrow one from a friend. About 2 minutes into the trip we realized either it didn't work or we were challenged, so we used our trusty ole i phone for directions. Once you get into France, which takes about 45 minutes (it's a 4 hour drive) our phones have to be put on airplane mode. So, as we are getting ready to cross into France I am writing directions onto the closest piece of paper I can, and as fast as I can write. The directions were barely legible. We finally made it into Paris, and after spending a whole hour lost trying to find our hotel I jumped out of the car and yelled at Micah to follow me. I hopped into a taxi and tried to explain to the cab drive that my husband was going to follow us and we needed to get to the Comfort Hotel Paris Nation. He got it, and off we went. We finally made it! Our room had 2 twin beds, European twin beds are smaller than American, if Micah laid on his back both shoulders touched the edges. Oh, and they were hard as rocks! That will teach us to get the cheapest hotel possible.

When we woke up we headed to the metro and made our way to the Louvre. It was a 3 hour wait! We decided to come back and headed to the Eiffel Tower. Up, up and away we went. It took two cars to make it to the top. When we made it half way I looked out and decided that we had gone far enough and could stop here. Micah insisted we should go the rest of the way, I looked up to see how much farther we had and tried my best to convince him we were far enough. He won and we made it the rest of the way up. It took me a second to compose myself to walk away from the wall that I had a death grab on to get a better view. Impressive? Amazing? Intimidating? It was SCARY! This crazy lady was letting her kid, who was maybe 14 months old hang on to the gate and shake! That gate was the only thing keeping him from falling! I actually asked her to please not let him do that because it was scaring me to death. They were from Australia, she smiled, and told me that it was okay, he wasn't scared. At this point I had to walk away because it took everything I had not to pick him up and hug him and explain to him how very dangerous that was.

After the Eiffel we grabbed a hop on hop off bus and went back to the Louvre where we waited for 45 minutes and got it. It was impressive to say the least. I actually found it quite overwhelming. We saw most of it, I think. There were so many turns and so many levels to go up and down and it was just huge! On a side note, I didn't know the Louvre used to be a palace. Napoleon III apartments were inside and still in tact. In the late 1800's the Louvre was opened up to the public, obviously it was no longer a residence. It was absolutely amazing.

After spending a few hours in the Louvre, allowing ourselves to get lost in art, we made it back to the hop on hop off and our next stop was the Notre Dame Cathedral. Actually, we were both starving and some friends of ours told us of a little cafe across the river called Cafe Panis, so we took their advice and had an early dinner. The food was great and the resting was even better. Did I mention earlier that we walked from the Louvre to the Eiffel? It took about an hour.

After lunch we headed back over the water to Notre Dame. We went inside, only to realize, they were having mass! There were probably 200 people walking around inside during the service taking pictures. We felt a little rude. We took zero pictures while inside because it didn't seem right and after about 5 minutes of watching the service decided to leave. I was astounded by the people taking pictures of the service. They offer tours of the cathedral and we would have loved to have done that, but it wasn't in the cards for us. Taking pictures from the top would have been incredible, but since we left the next day we will have a reason to return.

After touring the cathedral we decided to ride the hop on hop off and see the rest of Paris. It quits running at 7:00 pm. When we got off we made our way back to the metro and to our hotel. It was a very amazing, very LONG day. It didn't matter how hard that bed was I couldn't wait to get in it.
Here I am holding my (Tucker's) Spiderman umbrella, did I mention it drizzled the whole time? I was so glad it was in the car!
Standing on one of the many bridges throughout Paris.
I forget what the bridge is called, but all along this railing are locks. While taking pictures another American couple began talking to us and explained that these are locks of love. You're supposed to kiss and put your locks on the fence. So we kissed, but had no lock to donate, maybe next time.
The Louvre from across the water. This was after we decided not to wait for 3 hours and headed to the Eiffel. Looks like a palace right?
There it is. In all its impressive glory. Who wants to go up? I wouldn't blame you if you said no.
This is the view from half way up! Micah had to lean back to get this photo. You know how when you are climbing up high everyone says not to look down? Not only should you not look down, but I don't recommend looking up either. Just close your eyes until you make it to the top!
The view from half the way up.
Okay, take it from the top. Yes this is the top. NO, I did not look down at this angle. I had a hard enough time getting close to the edge for a photo.
Micah didn't find it difficult at all to hang out by the ledge. Remember the kid I was talking about earlier? The one who was shaking the fence and trying to climb up it? There is the fence, you see the view, am I crazy for wanting him to stop?
The Arc de Triomphe. This is a zoomed photo, it was pretty far away. Napoleon had it built and along the shields that are around the top of it are the names of the battles he won. He had it made to resemble to triumphant arches in ancient Rome, he loved Roman architecture. We were in Rome in October and those arches, that are over 2,000 years old, are incredible and look a lot like this one. I actually upon first seeing it expected it to be much older than it was. The arch dates to early 19th century.
Just another view from the Eiffel. This one is from half way up and shame on me because I have already forgotten what the picture is of.
Me and Micah from the top. Actually I had no problem here. You can see there is a window behind us, from the top you go through a door and down about 10 steps and you are in an enclosed area. There was a cafe for lunch, a gift shop, and restrooms. Who knew? And up those ten steps to the top was a small "apartment." Not a place to sleep, but an enclosed area where Mr. Eiffel entertained guests, where he took meetings. Really. There were fake people in there! One was Mr. Eiffel, one was Thomas Edison and third was the daughter of Mr. Eiffel watching them talk. This scene apparently took place before the worlds fair. All in all going to the top of the Eiffel is a MUST DO if you go to Paris.
This is inside the square, I guess is what you'd call it, while waiting in the line to enter the Louvre. Do you like the Cars umbrella? It's Luke's.
The first time we arrived the line went from where we are standing, around to the right, around to the wall you see there, out that entrance and wrapped around the outside. To the left that you don't see is the entrance to another courtyard.
This is inside the second courtyard, the nicest couple from South Africa took this picture for us. I was unaware of this, but the pyramid behind us...it's the entrance to the Louvre.
Here is The Winged Victory of Samothrace. It was amazing! I wish I could have gotten a better picture. There were so many people.
And there she is. Mona Lisa. She has a piece of glass covering her, a rope keeping you from getting too close, guards keeping you from crossing that rope, and about 100 people trying to take her picture all at once. I wish I could have stood directly in front of her and gotten a picture, and believe me I tried, but it was about impossible. Every time I took her photo someone bumped me! This is the best I could get.
Aphrodite, known as the "Venus de Milo." Again, amazing!
A mini Sphinx. I forgot exactly what this was, I think it was a sarcophagus.
Micah with a statue on the wall.
One of Napoleon III apartments.
The cafe we ate at.
Notre Dame Cathedral. It's impossible to get the whole thing in one pic. It is absolutely massive from the side. I got a post card of a shot from the air.
Here we are again.
And finally the Arc de Triomphe. This photo was taken from the hop on hop off bus. The bus, is, by far the best way to see Paris.

France Day 2

Micah and I spent our second day in France a little more relaxed. We started off our day by taking the metro back to the Louvre to do a little souvenir shopping. We got a few postcards, sweatshirts and a t-shirt for the quilt we want to make of all our travels. When we were finished shopping we caught a taxi to the Hard Rock Cafe Paris. Exciting right? We have also decided, since every major city has a Hard Rock to grab a t-shirt from there as well and make a quilt and title it, "Rockin' Around the World." Catchy right?

Once we were finished we grabbed the metro and headed back to our hotel to get our car and head to Versailles to see the Palace. The concierge at our hotel gave us a map and highlighted the route and off we went. We only got lost like 3 times! As we're heading down this road, that looks like we're going nowhere, I asked Micah if we should ask for directions or if he thought we were going the right way. He answered, "I don't know, but there's something big right ahead." WOW! we made it and it was impressive!

We parked and strolled up to the Chateau de Versailles, as it's referred to in France, only to learn that it was closed! UGH! It wasn't too bad though, we did get to tour the grounds, we just couldn't go inside. I would have loved to have gotten to see the inside, but we'll save that for another day. The grounds were amazing, the gardens, the ponds (if that's what you want to call them), the perfectly manicured lines of trees, and of course the massive size of the castle itself. There were quite a few men and women dressed in Victorian clothing. I attempted to find out what was going on, there English wasn't great, and neither is my French, but they were either shooting a movie inside or watching a movie. Either way it was pretty cool.

After getting lost for about an hour trying to find our way back to the Peripherique (Autobahn) we finally got there. This time with no map or directions we simply followed the signs to Disney. I couldn't help myself but want to go. Do I feel guilty going with no kids? Absolutely. Guilty enough not to take a peek? Absolutely NOT. I just kept telling myself we needed to see if it was worth taking our kids to this summer for a few days. We have heard mixed feelings towards Euro Disney and wanted to "check" it out. It wasn't as massive as the one in Florida, but it was still Disney. They closed at 8:00 and we got there at 6:00 so we didn't bother paying FULLPRICE for tickets for only 2 hours, so we walked around the boardwalk, at dinner, bought a key chain (Mickey leaning against the Eiffel Tower), grabbed an ice cream cone, and headed back on our way. We finally made it home around 11:00 and I was so glad to finally sleep in my own bed!

Here is a photo inside the Hard Rock Cafe. I probably should have grabbed a photo of the outside, but oops I forgot.

This is a picture of the Chateau de Versailles from the parking area. Pretty impressive right?
You probably don't know this, but the very first picture I have of me and Micah is one he took of the two of us, a little like this one. Now, everywhere we go, Micah or myself takes a picture of us. We have a lot of very close up pictures. We are standing in front of the Palace. You can see over Micah's left shoulder the gold colored gates that are the entrance to the front of the castle. They were closed of course and we had to walk around the side.
Me in front of the gate. Notice the rope that is supposed to keep visitors back in front of me.
Here are two of the actors I mentioned earlier headed around to the back of the palace. I wish I had gotten some better photos of them.
This view is from the back of the castle of the water fountain and then walk way to the water. It was truly amazing. I can't imagine a view like this out my window every morning when I woke up.
And another self portrait. :)
The back of the castle. It really was ginormous, and I really would have loved to have gone inside.
View from the fountain. Yes, we walked all the way to the water. I would love to be here in the summer. The fountains are always on and in the evenings they do fireworks.
These statues decorate the outer path all the way to the water. I especially loved this one of a mother holding her baby. Most of them have plaques in front of them telling who made them and what year. Most of them are made between the 1600 to the 1700's, while there are a few that are ancient Greek or Roman dating around 2,000 years old!
We're about have way to the water at this point and we used our zoom lense for this photo. You can see the statues on both side, fountain and just an amazing view of the back of the castle.
This is as far as we made it. We didn't walk to the end of the water, we sat right here. Along both sides was concrete, for sitting I guess, and on the top of the water wood planks, I suppose to rest your feet and not get your shoes wet. There were little cafe's on the side, closed of course, but it would have been an ideal place for a picnic. This Swan came over as if she wanted to be photographed, so we made her happy and took her picture.
This is how far we walked, we chose not to walk to the very end, mainly because it was a long walk back...slightly uphill. Our feet were pretty tired by this point.

Euro Disney!! It looks like Disney right? We thought so too.