paris

sorry for the delay in this post. i was more concerned with getting all the pictures uploaded on the computer!!

paris was great! we had such a great time enjoying the sights of the 'city of lights'. our hotel was nice, with an amazing location. we were a 2-minute walk to the nearest metro stop and a 5-minute walk to the louvre, with the beautiful jardin de tuilleries nestled between the two places. during the 4 days in paris, we successfully visited all the places on our list! many days were incredibly exhausting. there were times that i was sure it would feel better to cut off my feet and walk on the bloody stubs.

instead of posting a 'paris, day-by-day' blog as i had originally promised, i decided to rather include a few highlights, with pictures. i decided that 1) i dont' want to write 4 novels detailing my trip in paris and 2) my readers don't honestly care that much about the miniscule details of my french vacation.

day 1:
21 hours of travel, chicago to paris.
louvre
la tour eiffel at night (we climbed the stairs to the first level)

musee de louvre

an amazing art museum, especially for those that appreciate fine art. i, however, am not one of them. of course it was great to see such classics housed in the louvre, including the architecture of the castle, itself. and while the french are not fond of it, i happen to enjoy the interesting glass pyramid that sits at the entrance to the louvre. (perhaps part of it is my bias to designer i.m. pei because he also designed the beautiful iu art museum!)

la tour eiffel

sure, it may be cliche, but we made our way to the eiffel tower the first night in paris. we were both eager to see la tour eiffel at night. i had heard about the light show (it wasn't a part of the eiffel tower last time i was in paris) and was eager to see it for myself. we decided to take the stairs to the second level. we made it to the first and stopped. it was almost 10pm and as soon as the lights on the exterior started to flash, i ran down the stairs to get pictures and video during the light show. perhaps we would have enjoyed ourselves at the first level if we had been told that there was another show at 11pm. UGH! how exhausted do we look in this picture?!

day 2:
opera garnier
montmartre walking tour
notre-dame
bateaux mouche ride along the river seine

opera garnier

the paris opera house is amazing to me. seeing the phantom of the opera numerous times, the grand staircase and infamous chandelier appeal to me greatly. i was excited to have the opportunity to view the inside of the auditorium during this trip to the opera garnier! seeing the library which holds numerous famous operas was also impressive.

montmartre

sacre-coeur

using our fodor's paris guide, we followed the 2-hour walking tour laid out for us of montmartre, the bohemian area of paris. located on a large hill, we walked up and down very steep streets. we saw where van gogh, renoir, and berlioz once lived. additionally we saw picasso's former studio. at the top of the hill is sacre-coeur, a large church that overlooks all of paris. on our way down the hill, we noticed the filming of a movie. we were "lucky" enough to watch the short takes at the small cafe. montmartre is a beautiful area with alot going on!

notre-dame

notre dame a beautiful, must-see cathedral located on the ile de la cite. the rose stained-glass windows are amazing. it's said that the blue colors in the window have never been matched, even historians do not know where the builders found this particular color of glass! even more amazing is the architecture of notre-dame. the flying buttresses make notre-dame so recognizable. the views from the church look towards the right and left banks of paris. lunch in the park behind notre-dame is a great spot to watch people and take in the beautiful scenes!

bateaux mouche

i was looking forward to the ride down the seine in the bateaux mouche. one word describes my experience - disappointed. aside from the 578 asian tourists and the 27 college students on board, i was fighting with the camera. because it was dark and we were moving 10 mph, the pictures didn't turn out well at all. we attempted to take our picture in front of the illuminated eiffel tower 281 times and got ONE, with small, blurry spots. if you're looking for romance along the seine, i recommend a dinner cruise, or perhaps a private, individual cruise along paris' river.

day 3:
chateau de versailles

palace de versailles

fortunately the tour of the palace includes an audioguide. walking through the castle with large headphones and an awkward box hanging from my neck, i learned the purpose of each room inside the castle. the intricate detail of the walls, ceilings, and furniture are unlike anything we see today. king louis (the something), versailles former resident, was obsessed with the sun. his bed had to face the east to look towards the day's sunrise. the famous 'hall of mirrors' was bright and took in every last ray of light. ooonnn...the.....flipside, there were many tour guides leading groups from room to room. in one instance, a tour guide stepped over the rope holding people back from the historical furniture to tell her group about what they were seeing. as she made her way to the next room, she literally pushed me out of her way. as a paying tourist myself, i pushed her right back and moved to the front of the room to take a picture. get me to the gardens, now.dear.god!

gardens at versailles

"oh! you have to see the gardens!" i had heard from so many people that the gardens of versailles are just BEAUTIFUL. they were enormous. each way you looked there were trees, brightly colored flowers, and fountains....which lay still. i would have LOVED to see the fountains - which were everywhere - flowing, but they were off today, as they are most days at versailles (which i do not understand since the chateau has its own reservoir!). a slight disappointment, but i still enjoyed wondering through the large pathways, finding a secluded spot to each lunch, and taking as many pictures as possible.

marie-antoinette's estate

amazing. walking around marie-antoinette's estate was the highlight of versailles. not enjoying royal life, marie-antoinette had her own estate where, as you can see, the buildings were much simpler. there were ponds, waterfalls, grottos, and nature all around. the backdrop made for some of my favorite pictures!

day 4:
saint sulpice
la tour eiffel (to the top)
arc de triomphe

saint sulpice

some might say, ABC (another bloody church), but not true. i was excited to see saint sulpice after recently finishing the da vinci code. in this book, this was home to the 'rose line' and the obelisk where the supposed holy grail was located. upon entering this church, it was beautiful. perhaps i enjoyed it more because there were probably only 10 other people inside the church. like most cathedrals, the architecture was amazing, with huge ceilings and the entire church shaped like the christian cross. due to dan brown's book, there were signs inside that defended the church and assured that there was no priory of sion and the gold meridian line that ran through the church was actually the work of astronomy researchers in paris.

view of the parc du champs de mars from the top of the eiffel tower

we ventured the long lines to take the lift to the top of the eiffel tower. in line, we met a very nice british couple with their two grandkids. surprisingly, the line moved relatively quick to get in the elevator to the second level. from there, you wait in another line to take the elevator to the top. by the time we took some pictures on the second level and then made our way to the top, i was O-V-E-R people. snapped a few pictures at the top, looked around, and then made a dash to come down. for future knowledge, the top of the eiffel tower is not large and does not hold the hundreds of tourists that want to look around. advice from myself: stop at the second level.

arc de triomphe

we ended our trip with a shopping day along the champs-elysees. at the end of the large street sits the arc de triomphe. to avoid the 5 lanes of crazy french drivers, there is a tunnel to reach the center of the arc de triomphe. the picture here, though, was taken from the middle of the street. how many people are "fortunate" to get stuck in the middle of the street to take such a picture?!


in conclusion, paris was GREAT. i was so glad to enjoy a vacation with gary in europe. yes, it was a whirlwind tour, but we got to see everything that we wanted to see. paris is a great city, but i don't think i would want to return anytime soon. there are many more countries yet to be stamped in my passport!