Walks along the Seine

NAME THAT TUNE!!!!!!

That island has the highest real estate prices in all of Paris! 

Just a pretty peace bridge!

As Dave and I walked daily along the Seine River I could not help but sing the Abba song “Our Last Summer”…not that I want this to be OUR last summer…NOT AT ALL!!!!!  But because there’s a line in the song that goes “walks along the Seine, Laughing in the rain, Our last summer, Memories that remain”.  (It’s from Mamma Mia…the guys are singing the song with Sophie as they explain each of their relationships with her mom the summer before she was born).  It’s one of my favorite songs in the movie and I would find myself grabbing Dave’s hand and bursting into song!  He would laugh and roll his eyes…especially when he asked what more of the song was and those were the only 4 lines I could recite (over and over again)…some fan I am!!!   Haha!  

Just another view of the lovely River Seine 

Everything is more beautiful at night!  <3

Paris Sights...Day 2

Who wouldn't take a picture of the ground if there was a heart???

Welcome to long day number two!  But yet…another super fun time!  Liz, Stuart, Dave and I met at the Metro station nearest our hotel and headed to Versailles for the day (well, morning at least).  Stuart was meeting his ride back to Germany in the afternoon and Liz had to catch her train so they left after we toured the actual palace while Dave and I remained to grab lunch and then walk a portion of the gardens for a while.  It was a lovely day (not nearly as rainy as the day before).  It was still a bit cool but I was bound and determined to FINALLY wear one of the dresses I bought for this summer…so I rocked the little black halter dress and (you guessed it) SPERRIES with a long cardigan.  And you know what…I blended in!  People here really don’t care about matching I’ve noticed.  Which I LOVE…but heaven help me when I get back and actually have to dress somewhat nicely for work again!  But I digress!  Obvi!  It’s ME writing really whatever comes into my head! 

The ORIGINAL residence in Versailles
Both sides (wings if you will) were added on later...
but this central portion was the 1st hunting lodge!

So…back to Versailles.  Rick (Steves) was our guide on getting there…he said any train who’s name (yes…they NAME trains here) started with a V (Vick) would take us to Versailles…and you know what?  He was RIGHT!  We hopped on the train early and our adventure began.  Once we were settled on the train we saw three men get on with accordions and gave each other a look.  And then they started to play.  Lively.  We were really hoping they would move to another car…and they did…but not before they came around and asked for money!  Yeah right!  Do they KNOW the exchange rate right now!  No way José!  

Out front...it was kinda windy...no way to tame that mane!  

My man out front!  SO MANY PEOPLE!

CUTENESS!!!!  <3
If I do say so myself!  

Okay, so long story short (and I am by NO MEANS a history teacher!)…Versailles was the second capital of France.  King Louie (the something!) moved the capital from Paris to Versailles a long time ago.  One of the King Louie’s had a wife…Marie Antion…oh we all know I can’t spell.  I guess I should let Rick handle this one “Versailles was the residence of the king and the seat of France’s government for a hundred years.  Louis XIV (r. 1643-1715) moved out of the Louvre in Paris (WHO KNEW!?!?!), the previous royal residence and built an elaborate palace in the forests and swamps of Versailles, 10 miles west.  The reasons for the move were partly personal – Louis XIV loved the outdoors and disliked the sniping environs of stuffy Paris – and partly political.  Louis XIV was creating the first modern, centralized state.  At Versailles he consolidated Paris’ scattered ministries so that he could personally control policy.  More importantly, he invited France’s nobles to Versailles in order to control them.  Living a life of almost enforced idleness, the “domesticated” aristocracy couldn’t interfere with the way Louis ran things.”  YIKES!  Talk about big brother!!!

How many languages can YOU say toilet in?

Anyways, to avoid standing in a horribly long line for tickets to enter the palace the 4 of us decided to take a tour of Marie Antionette’s private quarters…it was like a backstage tour of a Broadway show!  Spectacular!!! The tour was about 90 minutes, complete with a French guide speaking English!  We saw baths, and bed rooms, and nurseries and DRESSERS for jewels and small staircases that they would actually use (we asked…I was skeptical due to the size of the skirts back in the day…but it was said that the hoops were removed when not in public) and hidden passageways from one bedroom to another (fun fun considering King and Queen did not sleep in the same quarters!).  Lovely tour really.  I’m not good at learning things by listening very well though…so if you would like more details…ask me and I’ll ask Dave and get back to you!  :)  

Then we toured the actual palace from the “tourist” side of the ropes.  I think the Hall of Mirrors was my favorite!  Go figure!

View of the palace from one of the fountains!

Can you picture him spitting water???

After we picnicked at the gardens (we ate before we actually entered them…I was too scared of the guards and having our food taken away…but wouldn’t you know…there are little places to purchase food throughout the garden so we really would have been fine…but this teacher was just trying to follow the rules!).  The actual gardens are HUGE and massive and daunting and B-E-A-UUUU-TIFUL!  I could not get over it!  I believe breathtaking is the word I first used to describe them.  Wow!  You could really get lost in them without a map!  And the critters!  Oh we saw fish (in some of the fountains…I was hoping there were guards near the water intake for the actual fountains…could you imagine your surprise as you watch a bronzed horse spitting water and out comes a gold fish?!?!) and a momma cat with a few playful kittens (no…I didn’t pet them…they were too far away) and lots of birds and ducks (well, I guess ducks are birds…but I’ll classify them separately!).  

Which way would YOU go???

Armed with our trusty map of the gardens and fountains we were on our merry little way.  History states the King Louis XIV would like to wander through the gardens with the fountains on…but there wasn’t enough water for them to be on all the time and all at the same time…so people would run ahead of him and turn them on and others would follow behind him to turn them off…all to assure that as he strolled through his “yard” he would be met with rushing waters!  What a guy! 

Such amazing detail!

Self portrait #1
With the silly shades...
notice the clouds???

Self portrait #2
LOTS of grass! 

Water show take 1

Water show take 2

Water show take 3

Cute boy + Pretty Fountain = 1 Happy girl!

Cold...and slightly windburned...
but totally enjoying the experience!  :)

 As Dave and I took in the grand view of everything from about ¼ way through the gardens he asked “how’d you like to live here?” to which I responded “there’s no possible way you could call kids in for dinner…you’d need a megaphone!” and then laughed and added “plus if I were to have a child here it’d probably inherit MY sense of direction and we’d send him/her to play in the garden and never see him/her again”.  HA!  I really think if I a)wasn’t with Dave and b)didn’t have a map I really would get lost…and we didn’t even get to see ½ the garden! 

<3  :)  SO FUN!  :)  <3

We passed lovely hedge rows and TONS of flowers.  The landscaping was immaculate!  And the HEIGHT of some of the trees was incredible!  I can’t imagine the water bill on a place like that though!  WOWZERS!   

For the record...Dave's about 6'5"-6'6"...them some tall hedges!
Anyone wanna play ghost in the graveyard???

Dave and I took our time getting back to Paris.  It had started to sprinkle a little but we didn’t let it get us down…we were just a little cold so as soon as we got back we changed into warmer clothes and headed out for a walk.  (See post “Walks Along the Seine”!!!)

TWO fountains...
you just can't see the one on the left very well!
Beautiful palace!
I definitely wouldn't mind kickin' it in one for a while!

We walked west (I’m learning) from our hotel (FANTASTIC LOCATION right next to Notre Dame) along the Seine River towards the Louvre.  Dave had been through the exterior of the Louvre before but this being my first time in Paris I obviously hadn’t.  He wanted me to experience it the same way he had a few months before so we walked the same way he did. 

Notre Dame...the REAL one...NOT the college!  :)

We walked over the Lovers Bridge (I’m sure it has a real name…but it’s got thousands of locks and is said to be a very romantic bridge…it’s actually a pedestrian only bridge!!!)

Lots of locks...good luck to place a lock here with the one you love!

Kitties!  AND their tails make a heart!  TOO cute!!!

Then we entered a courtyard from the side.  And I was silent.  Dave asked what I was thinking and I didn’t have the words.  Humbling, I think was the best word to describe the area.  To think of all the work that went into that palace!  WOW! 

We walked past the glass pyramid (which I guess the locals really dislike) and through some of the gardens there.  We walked further and further and further and found ourselves at the Eiffel Tower again only this time closer to dark.  I REALLY wanted to see it at night so we parked ourselves on a bench and waited and waited and waited for the sun to set and the lights to light.  OH. MY. GOSH.  I am SO glad we waited!  It was remarkable!  Again…no words! At first it was just the large lights that were illuminated.  We wanted to get a better view of the whole thing so we headed back to where we took pics the previous day…as we were walking I turned to look back and the tower was SPARKLING!!!!!!!  The little lights were dancing and twinkling.  And…I cried!  Not a lot…like tears and tears…but my eyes were definitely a little misty!  Dave just looked down, smiled at me with those sweet dimples and hugged me!  All I wanted!

Just being creative!

I'm going to go out on a ledge here...

Nice and warm now!

Paris at night!!!  LOVE this city!  :)

Being silly!!!  And NOPE...not photoshopped!!!

Ladies and gentlemen...I give you...PARIS!  <3

Blurry Louvre...but I think it's got character!

Had to be a tourist!

Now me!  Now me!

Looking out from the Louvre...the pyramid, a Ferris wheel
and the Arch de Triumph Carousel 

 We took decided to go out on a limb and hire a car…kinda…a rickshaw…maybe, only motorized…not really sure what to call it…to get us back to the Louvre since it was quite a walk!  How fun!  It was like a disco on the inside…think open air carriage with a roof and blue Christmas lights…oh!  And don’t forget the hooka!!!  :)  The Louvre at night is also breathtakingly beautiful! 

Long day…but excited that we have one more left!  

Just us...
bein' cute! 

Paris Sights Day 1

Okay, I’m not sure if it’s that I was so over-tired or that the map I’m looking at doesn’t have it…but one of the first places we visited in Paris doesn’t have a name (or at least one that I can remember!).  

Liz & Stuart...the map readers!  Such savvy travelers!  :)

We went to a famous cemetery, and although I have a huge respect for those that went before me, I couldn’t get over the fact that there was an Adams Family headstone!  From the cemetery we walked through the Luxembourg Gardens.  (Or maybe it was the other way around…either was it was fantastic!)   The gardens are supposedly the most beautiful gardens in all of Paris, and I can’t say I disagree.  They were breathtaking.  Well maintained.  Great variety of flowers and plants and colors.  I personally really liked the pond in the middle with a little duck house and the paper boats you can rent to said on the pond (the boats you sail…by themselves…you can’t go on them!).  The gardens cover 60 acres and the palace (where the French secret service meet below) is said to be modeled after the Pitti Palace in Florence.  No wonder it looked vaguely familiar!  :)

Luxembourg Palace
The flowers in the gardens are changed completely 3x/year!

Dave and me outside the palace, in front of the pond!

One (well two really) of the MANY statues in the gardens 

Duck pond with a small sailboat...it was REALLY windy and kinda rainy...
so only one boat today :(
And yes, that IS a little duck house!  how kind of you to notice!!!

Yup...I was the one who pointed this one out!
Come on...kinda funny! Right? 

Following our time in the gardens and cemetery we headed for “the sights”.  Or at least the two things that topped my list of “Must Sees”.  First we made our way over to the Eiffel Tower.  I didn’t have a clue what to expect…really.  Dave said he wasn’t a huge fan and all the books I’ve read say not to waste your time going up in it (unless you have time to waste…which I might on my next trip there!) so I really didn’t know what it was going to be like being there.  Well, I tell you what…I really like it.  I think it’s charming and although it’s rather cold (brown metal) it’s a very neat building architecturally speaking.  I had a feeling it looked better at night! 

It's real!

Not sure where I'm looking...BUT...this is my cousin Liz on my mom's side.
The sign says "Johnson Girls in Paris"
(our moms are sisters and their maiden name is Johnson!)

Dave and me!  Duh!
First time together up close and personal with the Eiffel Tower!

Our silly attempt at being "cool"...
 Rockin' the peace signs!  :)

Just bein' me!

From the Eiffel Tower we strolled the Champs Elyeese (high end shopping…for tourists…not really the French!) towards the Arch de Triumph.  We did have a good laugh when we passed a store with a line out the door and through queues you might expect to see at an amusement park…which turned out to just be Abercrombie and Fitch.  Really?  Yup!  And you could smell it down the street!  Poor fools!!!  It’s not worth a wait THAT long!

I think there are better ones of the two of us here on Dave's camera :(
Hoping to swap pics with him...maybe once things slow down a little!

We then hopped the Metro up to Montmartre…the highest point in Paris and home to fantastic sights (usually…but not much could be seen in the “pisser” (major rain…think DOWNPOUR) that we were experiencing!  :(  But it was a grand adventure and has wet my appetite to go back!  The church at the top (Sacre Coeur) was beautiful and lovely on the inside and a welcomed haven from the weather.  Stuart gave me a little tour from under my umbrella of what I was looking at while I chose to bare the elements.  Dave had been in contact with a high school friend who was backpacking with a friend of hers and we all just happened to be in Paris so we all (the 6 of us) met up for dinner in the Montmartre area.  It was cold and wet and well…that just about sums it all up!  We found a nice little restaurant off the beaten path and invited ourselves in.  We were the only patrons in the place and had a very a-typical French waiter who played into our jokes and gave us a few food laughs!  It was a fantastic time and dinner was wonderful!  It was nice not to have to worry about keeping our voices down or feel like we had to finish up quickly. 

Beautiful church...WAY too large to fit it all in one picture!   

Rainy...but making the most of things!

I really wasn't miserable!  Promise!  But that WAS supposed to be a lovely sight of downtown Paris...can't see too much!  But you CAN check out that wind!

Wet...but still smiling!

All in all…although it was a terribly long day…it was a wonderful start to our weekend in Paris!