We flew into Utah Saturday evening and flew to France Sunday evening leaving Amelia with Oma and Opa. Lucky little one! The flight was long with bad movies but we made it in one piece and arrived around 11:30 Monday morning.
Day 1 (Monday): Checked into Hotel, napped for a couple of hours and then took our first look at the city: We walked up over the bridges to Notre Dame and then continued North to Montparnasse:
We saw the famous Moulin Rouge, but stayed outside.
Here I am walking the Seine
The outdoor artist plaza close to Sacre Coeur
Here we are on the steps of Sacre Coeur.
Then we mosied down to the Arc de Triomphe to witness its grandeur and hopefully find someplace to eat dinner (restaurants don't open for dinner until 7ish). As you can tell, Alan is a better photographer than I so most of the the pictures have just me! [Alan's note: I had the camera and have learned that if I don't want to be the one in all the pictures, I need to be the one to pull it out and put Lindsay in the frame.]
The two of us atop the Arc with a lovely view of the Eiffel Tower in the back.
A view of the traffic circle from the Arc....chaos! Alan thought about driving it when we got our rental just to experience it.
A view down the steps of the Arc...my first test of the pregnancy and climbing.
Looking down the Champs-Élysées at night. We ate close to the Arc and then meandered all the way down to the Place de la Concorde...the old home of the guillotine. Then we caught the subway back to our hotel and caught some sleep to prepare us for Day 2!
Day 2 (Tuesday): We bought pastries, fruit, and yogurt and headed down to Notre Dame. We ate in front of this magnificent cathedral and read about it in our tour books.
The inside was beautiful and I sat and pondered while Alan looked around and shot photos of the rosette windows.
One of the three Rosette windows.
Standing on the lock bridge looking back at Notre Dame. We tried to visit the holocaust memorial, but it was closed for a school group. The lock bridge has tons of locks that couples have come and attached and then thrown the key into the river as a symbol of their commitment to the relationship. Where is a pesky street vendor when you need one?
Saint Chapel, which is still on the central island with Notre Dame. It was constructed as the King's place of worship and to house religious relics, including the crown of thorns (unfortunately now housed in Notre Dame and only brought out on special occasions). Saint Chapel is small, but it is almost all stained glass. Very pretty in the light.
We hiked over to the Centre Pompidou which is a museum famous for its inside-out design. All the piping is colored and runs on the outside of the building. The museum itself was closed. We found this sculpture fountain and it called to Alan's engineering side so I needed a picture.
Outside the Louvre. We were just on a pass through since it was also closed.
Relaxing afternoon stroll and lunch in the Tuileries Garden. This is a very pregnant looking picture.
This is the Museum D'Orsay with all the French artist paintings. It is in the old train station and was quite an impressive structure. We weren't suppose to take photographs here, so this was taken as inconspicuously as possible.
We then walked to the Rodin gardens and passed this little park on the way with some great spring blossoms and the Eiffel Tower in the background. It was really beautiful to be there in Spring.
Here is Rodin's sculpture of the Thinker.
Here is Alan with Rodin's sculpture "The Gates of Hell". They were redoing a whole portion of the museum so we unfortunately missed a lot of his sculptures.
Then we caught a metro up to the Pantheon. It was built by the king following his recovery from a bout of gout! That had to be some bad gout because it is pretty impressive. It closed just as we arrived so we were unable to cross if off our list and planned it back into our trip. We headed home, took a short nap and then had dinner at a little place next to our hotel. I accidentally ordered paper thin beef "cooked" with lemon juice which essentially was raw, and Alan tried the Foie Gras!
Day 3 (Wednesday): We bought breakfast again at the pastry shop and ate on a bridge overlooking the river and Pont Neuf before heading to the Louvre.
Although the museum still did not open for 15 minutes, the lines were huge. We luckily had bought our Paris museum pass earlier so we were in a much shorter line that was allowed to enter first. We headed straight for the Mona Lisa having read that she attracted the most crowds. On the way we passed the Winged Victory of Samothrace...Alan's professors favorite work.
The Mona Lisa was not too crowded. It was larger than I expected after reading in the books that it was so small! A man there took our picture in exchange for us taking one with his wife. His wife was less than overjoyed that they were getting more pictures. She said it had been a long two week trip!
Alan with Venus de Milo.
We explored a lot of the Louvre before leaving. I was impressed with our progress. We saw the upside down pyramid on our way out. Challis anyone?
Then we were off Les Invalides to see Napoleans tomb. It was quite overstated. I went home and read his history that night on the internet to better appreciate why he received such a large tomb.
Outside Les Invalides. It was a hospital for injured veterans but now it houses the war museum, Napoleon, and other prominent military leaders and a few injured veterans.
Then we were back to Notre Dame where Alan climbed the towers and got a picture with the bell. Many thanks to Quasimodo (and Victor) for bringing attention to the Cathedral and rallying support for its restoration.
Then we consulted our map....something we did often. This was after getting ice cream and relaxing down on the banks of the Seine among the "locals" (really the backpackers and youth crowd).
We headed back to the Pantheon and saw the tomb of Victor Hugo and Alexander Dumas. Then it was back to the hotel for a short nap.
That night we attended a choral concert in Notre Dame where they featured Mozart and Hadyn pieces.
Day 4 (Thursday): We rented our car, visited an outdoor market, and then journeyed northwest to Versaille.
We did the audio tour to get the most our of our trip, but the whole palace was so crowded that it was hard to appreciate the beauty and grandeur. This is the Hall of Mirrors where guests were entertained.
Then we were off to the gardens. We walked a fair amount of the gardens. We considered renting a golf cart but they were highly overpriced and so we walked. Our feet regretted it by the end. Because it was the beginning of spring, most of the trees did not have leaves and the gardens were not yet planted. On top of that, it was mid-week and the off-season so all the fountains were off and the statues were covered. It made for a less than impressive visit. Also, they had blocked a lot of areas off but did not indicate it on the map so we did a lot of walking to areas we could not actually see. I would recommend going to Versailles later in the year and on Saturday when they turn on the fountains. Definitely I would recommend going on a Saturday when they turn on the fountains.
This is Marie Antoinette's little hamlet in one corner of the gardens. It was like a 18th century Disneyland (spend a lot of money to play make-believe, not a bad thing unless the peasants are starving and it results in your beheading). I liked it the most.
More of the Hamlet.
We took a second swing through the palace hoping the crowds had thinned. They hadn't. This is the napkin on the kings table. I took a picture so Chris would know my expectations for the family dinner. Can you learn the Magnolia, Chris?
They turned on one fountain right before we left so we headed over for a picture.
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| Here I am trying out the royal water of Versailles. We spent a lot of time walking the first couple days and I wore the wrong shoes on our first two days. By Thursday afternoon my feet were in a state of pain. Luckily we had a three hour drive to our next destination over which they had a chance to recover. I will post the last 3 days later. |
