Ahhhhh, Summer in Paris

Monday July 28th:
Finally we are in Paris and we have no schedule, no luggage, and no train to catch. After our long weekend we did catch up a little at home base before heading out for the day. The first obvious destination.....

We did take every cliche picture in front of the Eiffel Tower. 

Including the girls group shot of the jump. 

We didn't quite get it on the first take. Here is a little video on the making of the perfect shot.

I tried to tell you.....every cliche shot that we could think of.

We walked to a restaurant with a view of the tower but they were closing for the afternoon and were a little pricey. We turned back to a place we passed on the way advertising a lunch special of filet mignon. Several in the group fell for the bit. We should have known something was up when we asked the waiter about the meat temperature. He told us well done. It was all cleared up when he brought out cuts of pork tenderloin, this was the filet mignon special, pork......the French. It was still a good lunch.

After lunch we did catch a subway back to our part of town and close to the Seine and island that is home to the Notre Dame Cathedral. 

We walked along the river past a couple of bridges to get to the famous lock bridge. 

I had heard that they had stopped people from doing the locks and even a rumor that they had removed the existing locks. Right, good luck with that. I had no idea the density of the locks on this thing. Every possible square inch of space is covered. I can understand why they worry about structural integrity of the bridge. 

There was a super long line to go into the cathedral but it moved very quickly. A few of us ventured inside to take a look. After we did a little artsy photo shoot. 

Another great picture of Chris with the top of the city hall in the background. 

Le Centre Pompidou. Very ugly if you ask me. I may be a little bit of a history buff now, but I am dang sure not a modern art fan, at least not yet. Around this area some of the group splurged on some expensive gelato. Based on their feedback it must have worth it. For future reference the place is called Amorino. Unfortunately the only locations they have in the USA are in Manhattan. http://www.amorino.com/en They do have a location in Munich so we will try to keep it in mind if we are in the area. 

It was a nice, fairly relaxed day of sightseeing. We still did a lot of walking but we did not have to worry about staying on a schedule. We ended up close enough to walk back to the apartment. I think we ended up doing another wine and cheese with assorted other sides for dinner that night including a few pieces of sushi. Once again it was fabulous. 

Tuesday July 29th:

Only one late morning appointment for today. We did have to get up a bit early and catch a train for a thirty minute ride to the palace of Versailles. Made famous by King Louis the XVI, the Sun King; and also the site where the treaty to end WW1 was signed. The Ferguson Four had learned a little about Louis XVI prior to our Paris trip. King Ludwig II of Bavaria was fascinated by the Sun King and tried to build a replica of Versailles on Lake Chimsee in Upper Bavaria. Ludwig also referred to himself as the Moon King. 

We successfully navigated the RER regional train system to arrive at our scheduled time for a no line access tour. This worked out great I think. The tour was very inexpensive and we did not have to wait in a massive line that was longer than any roller coaster line that I have ever seen. Just an observation, there was a very high percentage of Asian people here over any other. I did not notice this anywhere else on our trip, just at Versailles. 

I think I pretty well documented the inside of the palace, at least the rooms that we saw. Here are just a select few of the images.

I was really excited about seeing this place. It has been the gold standard for the other palaces that we have seen around Europe, you always hear about Versailles. I think I built it up in my mind too much to the point that I was a little disappointed. The fact is that this palace is much older than any of the other places that we have seen. For that reason it is impressive to see the condition that it is in still today. I still expected more. The replica of the Hall of Mirrors at Herren Chimsee in Bavaria was actually nicer than the real thing, at least that is how I remember it. I had it in my mind that the Versailles Hall was much bigger. I think I misunderstood something at some point.

I am still glad that we came to see it. It is something that I have wanted to see since we started this adventure a year ago. It is incredible to think about how much walking we did inside the place and we only scratched the surface on the interior space. This place is so massive. People spends days and weeks just at this palace to see it all.

This is the actual table used for the signing of the Treaty of Versailles. 

The bedroom of Marie Antoinette.

We also had passes to tour the gardens of the palace. Considering how massive the main structure is, it is only a small square on the massive grounds. If you want to see Marie Antoinette's separate estate on the palace grounds get your walking shoes on. They appeared to have a trolley system going to take people around the grounds. We did walk around for a while, and I think all of us got what we wanted out of the visit. For the hardcore fan there is plenty more to explore and see here I think.

It was passed lunch time and we found ourselves way out on the grounds with no food in sight. For some there was a little panic setting in, it was not looking good. I had read that there were places to eat on the grounds, but we were not seeing it. I think Amie was the first to peek into the tree maze and spot this little restaurant.

It was a great find. We were able to get a table outside under a canopy next to the forest area. It was another nice lunch. We had a nice afternoon and started to make our way back to the base.

That evening we fed the kids and left Josh in charge. The adults headed out to a restaurant around the corner. Of all places it was a sushi restaurant. Gary enjoyed the couple of bites of sushi so much the night before he was on the lookout for more. We found a cool little place called Eat Sushi Rolling Bar. You sit down at a table and look at the little conveyor system rolling by with various choices of sushi. You pay based on the number and color of plates after you are finished. It was not the best sushi that I ever had before, but it was still good. It was fun to try things that I would not have ordered at a typical restaurant. 

After dinner we had planned on getting a crepe dessert at another restaurant right across the street from our apartment, La Crêpe Dentelle. 

Most everyone got a crepe, on fire. They had various fillings, but a couple of them had a liquor that was lit on fire at the table. I think the general consensus was that the liquor overpowered the crepe and was maybe not the best option. It was fun. I opted for the ice cream with the mint liquor. It was really good for a while, but eventually the liquor was overpowering the ice cream too. 

We managed to do it again, another great day. I keep ending the posts the same way, but it is true. I am enjoying recapping these days and remembering all of the fun stuff. I may have built up Versailles too much in my mind, but this trip was exceeding expectations. You cannot beat spending time with loved ones, then throw us into Paris and watch out. 

I think I only have one more post left to wrap up the rest of the trip. The Ferguson Four have already completed another short trip and I don't even have this one documented. School is starting back this week for our kids too. So much to blog about and so little time. Stay tuned, they are hopefully going to be coming at you fast for the next little bit.