Paris ~ Day 3

Monday morning we woke up early determined to make the most of our last day in Paris. We ate breakfast and boarded a train that stopped right outside of Notre Dame. I had completely forgotten about the gargoyles that are so famous the night before, so I was very happy to be able to have a second chance to check it out again during the day.

The Invalides - From Notre Dame we boarded another quick train that would take us to the Invalides, an army hospital built during Napoleon's reign. It is beautiful and I loved the big court yard, it is fun to think of all the events that probably happened there. Rob was lucky enough on one of his business trips to be invited to a party inside, he said it is beautiful. It is also a war museum, which is not really my cup of tea so we skipped it, and Rob had already been before and didn't mind not going again. But we did go in to see Napoleon's tomb, which is HUGE.

We walked into the chapel first, on the other side of the glass window is the tomb area that was built after Napoleon died.

We laughed at these two pigeons flying around inside.

The old pipe organ was gorgeous!!

The other side of the glass inside the tomb area looking towards the chapel.

Rob had shown me a picture from when he went before, but I didn't realize at the time just how big his tomb was.

The sun was shinning but it was windy and cold, it was warmer the two days before when it was raining. As we were walking to get something to eat we saw this couple taking wedding pictures, I felt so bad for the bride in her strapless gown. But how pretty is that door for a background!!

Versailles - after lunch we boarded a train to Versailles, the LDS temple is being built there and I wanted to see it. We got off the train close to the Palace of Versailles and walked around, we decided to wait for a summer business trip to go inside when the gardens would all be open. Instead we walked the mile to the temple, which I hope when we make it back will be open so we can go.

I fell in love with Versailles and decided if I lived in France that is where I would go. It was the most charming not so little town, and was one of my favorite stops.

We boarded the train again and ended where we started, at the Eiffel Tower. I was hoping for another beautiful sunset but it was not as pretty as the night before. We found a bench and sat there watching the sun go down, we were both freezing, exhausted, and our legs were aching. We covered a lot of ground in 3 days, but it was so amazing, and I am still pinching myself that I was actually able to go. I am looking forward to going back, and yes I will be going back, I already have my list of things I want to do.

Paris ~ Day 2

Sunday morning we woke up at 9:30, it was bliss, I hurried to get ready and then we went down for breakfast in the hotel restaurant. I didn't know what to expect, but let me tell you that French breakfast is my favorite. There were croissants, croissants with chocolate, fresh sliced Swiss cheese and ham, fruit, yogurt, and crusty bread. The Swiss cheese and meat was my favorite with the croissants coming in at a very close second.

I gobbled it all up and even took a few things as we ran out to catch the bus that would take us to our train stop back at the airport.

Somehow we managed to get on a direct train into Paris, we thought we were doing pretty good, until there was an incident on the tracks. We are still unsure of what happened but we stopped a couple times and then approached a stop very slowly where we stopped and they opened the door. There was a lot of yelling outside the train. I told Rob that someone was probably upset they were without a Valentine and threw themselves on the track.

Whatever the reason we sat for a half hour before our train started moving again.

At one of our pauses I snapped a picture of the graffiti, it is all over the walls as you are coming into the city but we are always going too fast to snap a picture. Rob also said it was a good thing it was all in French so we couldn't read the swear words.

The Lourve - Our first stop of the day was to the Lourve, we waited in a drizzly line to get in but it was worth the wait. I overheard someone in line say that you could visit the Lourve every day for a week and still not see everything. This place is HUGE!!! (652,300 square feet to be exact)

I didn't know where to start so we picked a wing and went. We ended up in ancient Greek and Egyptian artifacts, which was really interesting to see. Everything was in French so I had no clue what it was specifically, but I still enjoyed looking.

Inside the glass pyramid.

I loved the ceiling at the bottom floor where you buy your tickets.

The pictures in the bricks were some of my favorite things.

I was pretty excited to find a unicorn for Hannah, her favorite.

This was an actual mummified person, so very cool and creepy all rolled into one.

As I am going through my pictures I have noticed how many ceilings I have pictures of, but they are amazing, and can you imagine how much of a pain that must have been to complete?!?! Not to mention the MANY hours looking up, yep they are pretty amazing.

This was one long hall with floor to ceiling art and at the back were crowns. Rob said they were different than the ones he saw when he came so they must change them out.

I knew we had to see the Mona Lisa, cause you just do, and we were not alone in that. This was the crowd in front of it. I did push my way to the front so I could get a closer picture. It really is not very big, and it is the only thing on this huge wall which only makes it look smaller.

After the Lourve we went to get something to eat. Guys, I ate the best burger of my life, I still dream about it and my mouth starts watering. The bun was perfection and the blu cheese was unlike anything I have ever eaten. Please just let me go back now and eat another one and I will die happy.

After that delicious burger we headed towards Notre Dame. It had been raining since I got there and the clouds finally parted and left the most beautiful sunset, which sealed the deal, I was officially in love with Paris.

I snapped this walking across the road, I stopped in the middle of the cross walk and quickly got the shot before hurrying the rest of the way across before the light changed. Cars do not wait for anyone when the light is green.

I have been rereading Harry Potter on Audible, and I was pretty excited to come across this window display.

Notre Dame - As we were walking towards Notre Dame we heard bells, Rob said the bells were not working the last time he came, but as we got closer we knew it was them. The bells were signaling evening Mass was about to start so we decided to stay for a bit and watch. It was interestingly beautiful and I didn't understand a word, but I very much enjoyed the experience of Mass in Notre Dame.

Rob said they have the headless statues to scare off the evil spirits of those who originally cut off their head.

We headed back towards our train stop, picked up a few things for the kids on the way home, and bought ourselves a crepe. I LOVE crepes, and it was one of the things I was most excited about eating, and it didn't not disappoint.

And yes this is not a picture of a crepe, but we loved watching this horse pulling the carriage as we were shoving our crepes in our faces.

To continue with our train adventures that day we ended up on the wrong train back to the airport. As soon as we realized we jumped off and tried to get back on going the other way. We had bought round trip tickets but they would not work and we couldn't get back on the platform, and there was no where to buy tickets.

I had to use the bathroom and they are not easy to find in Paris, but we had no choice but to walk to a different train stop and see if we could get back on, and it was torture and I couldn't think straight, I had to go really bad. As we were walking we rounded a corner and there was a McDonalds, we knew we would be able to find a bathroom in there, thank you American restaurants!! Once that distraction was gone we figured out what we needed to do and made our way to the train station.

But we were no longer in downtown Paris and our tickets were no good, we tried to buy tickets but our cards would not work. Thankfully there was someone in the information booth and they helped us to get on the train so we could make it back to the airport and then on our bus to the hotel.

It was an adventure for sure and you can bet we double and triple checked our train routes from then on.