European Vacation... Part 5
Closing the trip with the grandeur and elegance of France.
October 13th
From the Cinque Terre, we took the train to Monaco, and because of railwork,
we took the bus to recconect to Nice. Nice was nice... beautiful beaches and warm.
We spent the day exploring the local park of Nice and the afternoon having lunch on the beach.
Nice was not what we came to France to see though, and we prepared to head north to Paris.
The next day we took the fast train to Paris. Paris is an amazing city, from the Louvre Museum,
where you could spend a week and still not see everything, to the Eiffel Tower.
Paris is a unique combination of history, culture, architecture, geography, and glitz.Much like Rome,
Paris is jam-packed full of historical locales and significant landmarks,
our first day started after a brief stop at the patisserie (French pastry shop) for a light breakfast.
A brief walk from our hotel takes us to the majestic cathedral of Notre Dame, we look high and low,
but the hunchback is nowhere to be seen and he wasn't at the other major religious sites,
the Pantheon, or Ste. Chapelle with it's amazing Stained Glass windows.
Our first vist to Jardin de Tuileries, the Palace that makes up a significant part of the Musée du Louvre,
brought us to the realization of it's immense size, it is the largest museum in the world after all.
One visit to this amazing museum was not going to even come close to being enough.
Dan Brown's 'The Da Vinci Code' took on new meaning after being at this historically significant location.
We were going to have to make multiple visits, and be strategic, look for the most notables first,
the Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, Winged Victory of Samothrace, from the 13th century, to the egyptian exhibit.
Some were amazing to see, and some, like the Mona Lisa, just weren't as impressive in person.
After being cultured in art, we needed to escape outdoors and see some bigger sights, looking to the skyline their was none more obvious than the Eiffel Tower, it was not hard to find. This was one of those landmarks you have seen since childhood that did not underwhelm. It's unique construction, it's massive size, and the elevators that take you to the most amazing views in Paris. That is if you can get over any fear of heights you might have, this is amplified by the winds, our first visit to the tower we were only allowed to the first level due to high winds. We'd have to come back to the Eiffel Tower again and go to the top, oh, the hardships we must endure.
(Mouse over for a Night view)
Even more impressive is the 10 minute sparkling view of the Eiffel Tower when it's dark out, for the Millenium celebrations, the tower is covered in flashers and four rotating searchlights were added. At night the sparkling light show goes every hour, the rotating searchlights can be seen from across Paris.
From the Eiffel tower we can see the famous Arc de Triomphe, a massive monument on the Champs-Élysées.
It appears to be a short walk, cut over to avenue des Champs-Élysées, and just go straight up the road.
Due to its massive size, that distance was a little misleading, it was over 2.5 kilometers away.
Even today the phrase, "I can see it from here, we'll just walk" makes us break out into laughter.
We walk past all the exclusive shops, and make our way to the Arc de Triomphe where we sit and watch the traffic,
the crazy crazy traffic circle that goes around the monument. It is 5 lanes of mayhem.
We have a lovely dinner just around the corner from the Eiffel Tower, and watch the light show, before grabbing a taxi (taxi in french) and heading back to our room.
October 15th
The first day trip we did by train was to the estate of Versailles... Grandeur at it's best.
Built by King Louis XIV in 1682 it is the largest palace in Europe. The Château de Versailles is impressive,
impressive inside with it's amazing rooms including the hall of mirrors, but it's even more impressive outside.
The grounds of Versailles behind the Palace seem to go on forever, with amazingly complex gardens,
very unique fountains and man-made canals more comparable to lakes.
The grounds are a national park destination for picnicking, and rowers race up and down the canals.
We return to Paris later in the afternoon, and spend some more time at the Louvre
October 16th
Another day in Paris, today's plan of attack is to use the hop-on hop-off bus service to get around,
the buses take different routes around the city, and you get on an off as you please throughout the day.
After 6 weeks of walking around Europe, that bus saved our aching feet from falling off.
We wander the beautiful gardens at Jardin du Luxembourg, and head to the Musee D'Orsay.
The Musee D'Orsay features prominent mostly french artists from the 1800 and 1900's, artists such as Degas, Cézanne, Monet, Rodin, Renoir, and even a few from some guy named Van Gogh. After Florence's Accademia and Uffizi, the Louvre and now Musee D'Orsay we were just about art'ed out. Back on to the bus...
We want to see the basilica of Sacré-Coeur (Sacred Heart), located at the highest point in Paris,
strangely enough the sacred church is located right above Paris' red light district,
a seedy part of Paris, with it's sex shops, live shows, and the infamous Moulin Rouge cabaret.
The bus tour takes us back around the regions of Paris, we cross the famous Pont Neuf bridge,
and make our way back to the Eiffel Tower for the ride to the top and it's amazing views of Paris.
October 17th
The second day trip we did was to Chartres, A beautiful church, but not much else.
We followed our bad map and walked forever to get to La Maison Picassiette,
a house decorated inside and out with mosaics made of shards of broken china and pottery... it was closed.
So back across town, back onto the train, and we returned to Paris.
Back in Paris on our last day, we walked the banks of the river Seine, and then to finish off our last evening romantically, we took a cruise on a river boat to see the lights of the city.
When leaving Paris, reality hit home when there was a bomb scare and the airport was closed down, an abandoned bag was found in the bathroom, and everyone was evacuated for a few hours before we could finally get back in, they determined the bag was just left behind accidentally and we finish our trip with the long plane ride home.
Western Europe piqued our curiousity to see more of the old world's history, so much more to see... now we just have to find the time and some plane tickets to do it.