Ah Paris, Paris, Je t'adore! (I love you)

So we have finished with Paris, which seems so crazy since we were only there for 2 days. We came in on Friday morning after a tearful good by from Marnia, her mom Renata and her sister Bettina. We are sure we have just misspelled their names, but since we misspelled Michelle sisters name already with the different keyboards we have been using, please forgive us! We took a night train from Munich to Germany, which was a good trip. In contrast to our night train from Prague to Munich, there were only 4 of us in the sleeper car, which gave us an added feeling of security. We were able to use the door lock, which was good as at some point during the night the door was opened. We think it was from the 5-6 high school students that were on their holiday and who had been messing around all evening. But we arrived safe and with all of our possessions. Since the packs are beginning to get heavy now, I am sure we would have been willing to part with some of our lesser used items! Next time, we come with 1/2 the things we have now!

In Paris we checked our bags into our room, and met the owner, Mr. Moreau, who spoke a bit of English, but preferred French. It was not until the last day we were there that he began to smile, and when we left he said that Michelle's French was good. Michelle knows that he was being VERY kind, as it has been 8 years since she has studied, and many of the words and verb conjugations are forgotten. But she was flattered all the same.

We left our things in the hotel and headed out. But not to any ordinary destination, no we headed straight over to the Louvre. We waited in a short line, as we were there at 8:30 and it opened at 9:00. Once the tickets were purchased, we went to visit HER. Yes, the Mona Lisa, which is smaller than you would think, and now has an entire security wall with protective glass devoted to her. When Michelle was here 13 years ago, she was on a plain wall with other art pieces, and you could not take any pictures of her as the flash and exposure over time would wear away at the painting. Now only 3 guards kept watch over her, and none stopped the 50 or so people snapping pictures. She is quite a sight to behold.

We spent the next 3 hours strolling through most of the gallery, specifically the paintings from the Itailian, Duch and French masters. We all wished we had payed a bit more attention in our art history classes, because there is so much to see and so many nuances that we could have picked up from each painting. There was an audioguide for the Louvre, but we knew that there was no way we could sit through all that information, so we did not even try. There is one thing to say for the managers of the gallery, they have chairs everywhere! This is something we all have been thinking would be a good idea, because no matter how many paintings you have, if your guests feet hurt, they won't stay to see them and they might not even pay to go in. It was a relief on all our feet.

We left the Louve, with the intent of returning after lunch and officially checking into our room. We had lunch at a little cafe near the Louvre. Since Jenifer requested to know some of the food things we are eating, here goes! Michelle had a roast beef sandwich on a baguette with spicy mustard, Brandon had an omelet to eat with fries and a salad (an interesting combination!), Tim tried a mixed sandwich, with ham and cheese on a baguette and Duane had his first crepe. The crepe was less than good for Duane, as he was expecting a dessert crepe and this was more of a breakfast one, that was completely cooked brown and crispy on the outside. We made a note to add in more crepes while we were there.

We walked the distance back to our room, unpacked a bit and took showers, then met up again to finish the Louvre. For the second visit we focused on the lower floors with the various statues, and tablets, plus other artifacts from antiquity. It was amazing to see how detailed the design work was on some of the statues, bowls and goblets. We also saw the crown jewels from the last French king and queen. Such beautiful jewelry, and the case that was guarding it was like a fortress. If it was disturbed, the entire case would descend to the floor to protect it. Amazing!

After the Louvre we decided to hit as many of the other sights as we could, beginning with the Notre Dame. We walked through it and saw all of the amazing stained glass. Again, another church where you think, how can you build so high, and have such beautiful art pieces and stained glass in a church that is hundreds of years old. How can you get all that stone on top of the church without a huge industrial sized crane!

After the Notre Dame we walked over to l'Arc de Triomphe and climbed to the top of it. After 253 stairs you were rewarded with the most beautiful view of the city. Since the day was clear, we were able to take pictures from every angle. The Arc is at the center of a large roundabout, and there are 6-8 streets that all originate from the monument and span out into the city. So you have a great view from all directions.

We realized that it was about 10:30 pm at this time, and if we hurried we might be able to get into the Eiffel Tower before it closed at 12:00 (last ticket given at 11:00). We hustled over there, to find the line for the elevator impossibly long. We decided to go to the line for the stairs. No one counted how many we went up, but we reached a height of 668, which we assume means 668 feet, but we are not sure. It was a long walk, trust us! But again, the view was worth it, especially at night. We spent about 30 minutes taking pictures and admiring the view. We descended and waited in a nearby park because at 12:00 the lights would go on all over the tower. There were many other parisians in the park, and they had brought along their wine, cheese, candles and blankets to sit in the park and enjoy the evening. This is something we must do if we are ever back, as to sit and relax would have been so nice after a long day!

Nonetheless, we made the LONG walk back home. To give you a sense of it, the walk from the Eiffel Tower began at 12:15, and we arrived back in the room around 1:45. A long walk to be sure. If you measure activity by counting your daily steps taken, 10,000 steps will replace 30 minutes of exercise. On this day, we walked 46,000 steps. So yes, a long full day, but we were all excited to have seen all that we did.

The next morning we awoke early to catch the train to Versailles, which was a palace of the kings and queens of France. We needed to take the urban metro to the suburban RER trains, which was a bit interesting. We finally arrived at 11:00, along with the rest of the world (no joke!) and tried to determine which of the 5 lines we needed to get into. At 11:30 we had our tickets, and were off. We opted for the full pass, which gave us access to every room that was open, as well as the gardens, Marie Antoinettes estate and audio guides for the buildings. It was an amazing sight to see, so much opulence and grandeur. It was nice to have the audio guides, as all of the descriptions were in French, and Michelle's French is only good for questions and answers with real people! We saw the main apartments of the kings and queens, then the apartments for the dauphan (the future king) and his family, as well as the apartments for the current kings children. It is a huge building, but when you think of the number of people who could have actually live there, it seems a bit more realistic. Because for all of the royal family that would live there, you also needed to house the servants and the royal guards.

We toured the gardens and ate panini's in the park while we watched the water show in the small amount of shade we could find. It was a relaxing time after all that walking. The $5 small coke we bought was refreshing to the body, but not to the pocketbook!

We left the castle and returned on the RER train. It was surprisingly easier the second time around to get back to the city center. Since we were back early, we toured the Rodin gardens, and Brandon and Duane managed to get into the temporary and private exhibits for free as they are a student and a teacher. Michelle and Tim settled with peeking in through the windows.

After the Rodin gardens we decided to make an early night of it by taking the Metro (read into this, our feet hurt so bad we were willing to spend $1.5 each to ride back home!) and we found a place selling crepes along the way. Michelle had one with sugar (YUM!) Tim tried one with bananas (would have been better with bananas and sugar), Brandon had one with Nutella (which he is seriously addicted to now!) and Duane had one with a few different toppings. No one is exactly sure what it was, but they were all very good and cooked to order.

Dinner was eaten at a restaurant called Page 35, which served meals with a fixed price (i.e. there were three tiers, you could choose one item from each tier). The waiter spoke a bit of english, and we all managed to find something that we liked. Duane and Michelle had a beef stew, which was tender and yummy. Brandon had the most awesome chicken you could ever imagine. This makes up for the nasty pesto he had in Florence. Tim had a steak, which originally came out still mooing. He likes them medium rare, but this steak looked like it was lightly seared on each side, instead of fully cooked. Deserts were also enjoyed, and we headed home for an "early" night. I think we all got to bed around 1 am.

We took an early morning train to Belgium, which is where we are writing this update. Tomorrow we head up in the morning to England via the chunnel, where Tim and Michelle will spend their last 2 days and Brandon and Duane will spend their last 5. Belgium has been the land of chocolate for us so far, with us indulging at a few different places and relaxing after a stressful Paris. We will try to continue updating the blog once we are at London, but know that we are safe and still having a blast exploring this part of the world.

Hugs and kisses to all.