I am really - really behind... School is out! Baseball is done for a season! And the summer is in full swing at 105 degrees!
Layne and I didn't waste time getting the summer started! My amazing parents came to be with the kids (Thanks Mom and Dad - the kids sure did have fun with you both!) and Layne and I took off (thankfully - as we were flying stand-by) for an adventure around Europe.
After an 8 hour lay-over in Pittsburg, PA,
an 8 1/2 hour flight to Paris,
and a little bit of a scary ride on the Metro (being that we are not french and had no idea where we were headed and had to change trains - and it is a little dirty and a little smelly)
- this was our first sight as we climbed the stairs (with our luggage) out of the metro.
To see the Eiffel Tower right there - it was just pretty awesome!
After walking for about 30 more minutes with our luggage, we found our hotel (that we had booked online in PA when we found out that we had seats on the flight to Paris). Funny thing though, the cute little French receptionist at our hotel let us know that they did not have the 2 nights that we had booked. But a couple blocks away they had a sister hotel that would honor the same rate in an upgraded room for the two nights that we needed. (Thankfully, she had rehearsed telling us in English so that we could understand - she really was cute.) It was "love at first sight" for Layne. For me - I was thinking, "that cute little girl with her beautiful little accent just told me, that I have to walk another 30 minutes with our luggage and hopefully go in the right direction to find the sister hotel." My heart sank a little. Then she said, in her beautiful little accent, "Taxi, billed to the hotel, will be here in 5 minutes." It was only after that, that I could "see the love!"
Welcome to...
Hotel Kleber in the Eiffel Tower district of Paris...it was small and lovely, and it was comfortable and very welcoming! :)
Just down the street is a beautiful little flower shop and a yummy bakery with some of the yummiest chocolate croissants ever!
There are so many beautiful, grand, very old, and amazing things to see in Paris. Unfortunately, we did not have enough time to do it all. Trying to maximize our time, we decided to take an open air bus tour that allows you to get off and on at different stops and hear the history of the city and the sites! It was really fantastic and super easy to get around without getting lost!
Here are some highlights and things that struck my fancy...
Lots of beautiful buildings, iron work,
and fabulous old big doors.
There were not many flower gardens, but roses seemed to be one of the main flowers you saw as you went through the city. They were big and beautiful and vibrant, but did not have a lot of smell.
This church has no windows at all. We did not get to go inside, and lighting seems to be dim in Europe anyway - so I wonder, how dark is it in there?
This street contains the infamous Moulin Rouge. They say that it is the "red light district" of Paris. The first striptease was done here. "Who knew what it would start." (They actually said that in the history.) This street has "adult store" after "adult store" after "adult store," but nestled right in the middle of it all...
is a McDonald's.
Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel. If I remember right they said many beheadings were done here ("the bloodiest place in the city"), when the Louvre was a palace.
The Louvre is so grand and so big - this picture does not do it justice. I was surprised that there were no signs in English describing the art or artifacts. Of course, you could get an audio tour in English for a fee. :)
The Mona Lisa was smaller than I expected. Maybe because it sits on a blank wall by itself opposite a wall holding the huge painting of...
The Wedding Feast.
I couldn't decide if it would be cool to be "buried" in one of these or if it would be creepy to have a statue of your dead self on the top of your "coffin." The egyptians also had their stories written on the outside - interesting - umm, maybe.
Venus de Milo from the fourth century BC. The only woman statue with sculpted abs. Of course, Kavan is most concerned that her arms are missing.
We drove through those arches to get to the Louvre.
Notre-Dame Cathedral. Gorgeous and amazing to look at, but very gothic and dark. Inside is also amazing to look at, especially the stained glass. It has "all glass" confessional rooms where you can pay 2 or 5 euros (I can't remember exactly how much) to meet with the priest. And the public can watch you confess - interesting. They did seem to have traditional, dark, wooden, old, enclosed areas (what one might see in the movies) that may have been used for confession rooms, but I wasn't able to tell for sure.
The Seine River.
The Eiffel Tower. It was so crowded in the morning that you could not even find the end of the line. We decided we would rather see the sights instead of using our limited time in line. So we came back in the evening, and thankfully our plan worked. The line was not bad at all, and we were glad to be there.
Halfway up the Eiffel Tower.
All the way up the Eiffel Tower.
Arc de Triomphe commissioned by Napoleon, now dedicated to the Unknown Soldier of World War I.
Good Night, Paris.
