Paris- City of Lights

Thanks to Angela Williams for all the tips about France! And the key French phrases she taught us. The French people are incredibly nice and helpful! Thanks to Mandi for the Rick Steve’s books- without them we would have been lost!
We arrived in Paris on Tuesday and went straight to check in at the hotel. We rested for a bit then headed out to see Paris’ main attraction- the Eiffel Tower. Cody planned our itinerary for Paris and he couldn’t wait to see it. We walked from our hotel through Luxembourg Gardens. Some of the leaves were changing for fall and it was a pretty walk. We headed over to Rue Cler- a street one of our books recommended as a good place to eat dinner. The street has one of Paris’ oldest buildings, a pharmacy, and a good example of Paris Culture. We had some great French food for dinner at Café du Marche, recommended by our book. We loved the sauce on the pork we ordered! Funny Story- In Europe they don’t give you ice if you order water and rarely ever will they bring you just water, usually they offer mineral or sparkling water. I was tired of the water so I decided to order a drink. They only thing they had without alcohol was Sprite or Coke- Sprite it was. To our amazement the Sprite came with ice- lots of ice in a small glass. We quickly drank it and asked for another. The waitress took forever and brought it almost at the end of our meal, another small glass, lots of ice, barely any Sprite. When we got the bill we were charged 3.50 Euros for each glass- which means we spent about $12 on less than a can of Sprite- I could have bought 4 cases for that at home!

The Eiffel Tower was amazing. We decided to go all the way to the top and we got up there just before sunset. It was beautiful! It was so clear you could see for miles. It was quite the romantic place. We got to see the Tower all lit up on our way home and there was a special light show that made the Tower look like it was glistening. It was amazing! Luxembourg Gardens

The Eiffel Tower

Yay- can't believe we actually were there! It was awesome! We learned that they originally built it for the World Fair and intended for it to be disassembled following the event. We rode the elevator to the top instead of climbing stairs.

Pretty views from the 2nd level. Paris is very romantic. We got there at the perfect time.

Trocadero Square- right in front of the tower.

The sparkling lights!  As we walked away the whole tower sparkled like it was bidding us farewell! Cody got a great shot from the middle of the street!

It twinkled for awhile that night! It was amazingly beautiful!

The next day we started on foot and walked to the Pantheon for a quick tour. It was cold and windy you can tell in the pics. Then headed to Notre Dame Cathedral. Notre Dame was pretty cool. I loved the stained glass windows. It was weird to walk in and around during their Mass Ceremony but they let us in. We then made the trip up to the top of the Cathedral to check out the gargoyles and the bell. Then down below to the crypt. We had a crepe and a yummy ham and cheese sandwich for lunch.

The Pantheon- brrr...


                                          Lots of art and statues

Notre Dame

We waited in a cold line so we could climb to the top of the cathedral. Cody loved meeting the Chimeras.

That evening we went over to Champs-Elysees to see the Arc de Triomphe and do some shopping. We went to the top of the Arc de Triomphe and we were quite entertained watching the chaotic traffic in the round-about below. From there we headed to the Louvre Museum for the evening. Neither of us are big into art but because we took our generals at BYU we had some Art history/Humanities background. We saw the Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, the Law Code of Hammurabi and many other famous works of art.

Arc de Triomphe

The view of Paris from the top of the Arc

The Louvre Museum-
We would get so excited when we recognized Art!

Cody recognized this piece of history from one of his art history classes- he was pretty excited as you can tell. It was fun to see all the artwork- sometimes you wonder what made some so popular and not others. The museum is huge and filled with all kinds of art.

The Louvre Museum- Loved the lights.

Mona Lisa- Kinda small huh?!?!

Thursday we headed to Versailles. It was fun to see where the kings lived and see the manicured gardens with fountains and statues galore! We toured the Chateau, the main palace. It had a chapel and a hall of mirrors that was amazing. Then we wandered over to the Domaine de Marie-Antoinette, the Queen’s estate. It was a pretty pink marble color. We also found the Love Dome-(Paris is all about the romance) And some swan to play with. The whole thing covers acres of land and it was a long walk! It was cold and windy that day so we enjoyed some hot cocoa, a Belgian waffle and a baguette sandwich along the way.


The Love dome.

The chapel in the chateau- Pretty ceiling.

Cody having a good time.

The Hall of Mirrors

The gardens are huge and very cool. Ponds, statues, etc. You can see why the royality loved it here. The people were so nice to us. Cody loved Paris the most! I really liked both London and Paris. This was the trip of a lifetime for us. We are so glad we were able to go experience all Paris had to offer. Even though we were only there 3 days we felt as if we did it all!

Now off to Rome...