A Perfect Day in Paris... (mostly)

The next morning, after french pastries for breakfast, we took the train out to Versailles, a suburb of Paris, to tour the Château de Versailles... the grand palace of King Louis XIV. It was massive and ostentatious... especially the King's Room which was laced in gold. We spent the morning walking through room after room and looking out over the gardens. Just beautiful. We loved it.

(view of the palace, gardens and countryside)

(is that a golden gate or what?)

(remember the 'Sasha pose'? This is our one and only from this trip. Not bad for their first try!)

(one of MANY hallways)

(the ballroom)

(the King's room)

(the Queen's room)

On our way out we bought Magnun Bars... chocolate ice cream bars, and ate them on the way back to the train.


Once back in the city we headed for the Sewer Tour. Yep, you got it, a tour of the underground sewer system of Paris. Doug was excited to do it and after telling us he didn't think it smelt, we finally decided to join him.What were we thinking? As soon as we went down the first flight of stairs we realized, "of course it smelt. It smelt bad!" We tried hard to not breathe through our noses while we walked through the cave-like tunnels but we couldn't help it since we were busy laughing, gagging, and screaming (when we saw THREE rats). The funniest part is that they had restrooms down there, (yuck) and a gift shop. A GIFT SHOP? So you could buy cute stuffed rats 100 feet from the real rats? After fifteen minutes Terri and I
bolted for the exit. I think once you've smelt one tunnel you've smelt them all. Jared and Geneva were not far behind us. We were so relieved to be above ground smelling fresh air again... until we realized the sewer stench was still in our
hair. Lovely. As awful as it sounds we sure laughed a lot. Definitely something we'll talk about for years.(Doug laughing at Terri as her eyes water and she starts gagging.)

We walked several blocks towards the Eiffel Tower leaving the sewer smell behind us and decided it was time for another snack. The crepes shack across from the Eiffel Tower is suposed to be have some of the best crepes in France and they didn't disappoint. We got a chocolate crepe and more frites and hung out on a stone wall along the river with the Eiffel Tower in front of us. With satisfied appetities (for the time being) we got on the Metro for a few stops and then began the long uphill walk to the Sacred Heart Cathedral. The stairs were many but with each step you could turn around and see more of the city... and it was beautiful. The streets we passed were narrow and curvy with tall buildings on both sides. Once at the top we found ourselves in the middle of a hundred artists sitting by easles ready to do our portrait and painters working on paintings of French landscapes and iconic monuments. It was neat... exactly what I thought Paris would be like. Around them were cafes, vendors with carts and musicians singing at the corner. I got lost in the atmosphere.

(streets of Paris)

(courtyard of artists on the summit of Montmartre butte)

We walked around the corner to find the Basilique du Sacré-Cœur (or Sacred Heart... a huge cathedral sitting on the highest point of Paris. The view was open and wonderful. We took a quick tour of the cathedral and then paid the extra 5 euros to climb the 300 narrow curly stairs to the top for an even more incredible view. It was definitely one of the highlights of the trip. The city of Paris extended as far as I could see from every direction.

( Basilique du Sacré-Cœur)

(view of the bottom of the cathedral and city of Paris)



Once we hooked up with Geneva, who opted not to climb the stairs since she's pregnant (and who had already climbed enough stairs today) we walked through the upper streets and found another place to eat. Troy ate escargot. Chris had some too. I had French onion soup. Then we walked down the stairs, stopped to listen to a band play and slowly made our way to the Metro.

I had to take a picture of this bus coming through. We got used to moving to the side for cars but even our feet had to be off the cobblestone for this one. We decided to take a picture here... we loved this street. The boys stood in the middle of the road to take the pictures. Cars stopped to wait till we were done. Everyone was so nice. Apparently on these streets cameras have the right of way. We were exhausted on the Metro but we decided to make one more 'quick' stop to see The Arc de Triomphe... a massive Triumphal arch in the middle of Star Square that honors those who fought during the Napoleonic Wars. Our 'museum pass' covered a ride up so we extended our 'quick' stop to enjoy the views from the top. I'm so glad we did!

(the Arc de Triomphe) (view of the Eiffel Tower from the top of the Arc de Triomphe)

(From the top of the Arc the streets fan out in all directions. The main street is the Avenue des Champs-Élysées... the most prestigious and broadest avenues in Paris and one of the most famous streets in the world. The Tour de France ends on this street. With rents as high as $1.50 million a year for 1000 square feet of space, it remains the most expensive strip of real estate in Europe.)

REALLY exhausted and unable to find a gelato shop we wandered back to the Metro and made our way home. A perfect day in Paris.