Promenade in Paris

The first weekend back I decided to venture out of the country again ad went to Paris for the weekend!  The trip started with a visit to the illustrious Versailles.

Front Gates

 

The Mirror Room

 The Mirror room was one of the most luxurious in the house.  It was full of crystal chandeliers, paintings, gold leaf, and, of course, mirrors!  Every room was decorated in the most lavish way possible with molded, painted, and gold leaf everything.  While walking through the palace in all it's glory, I began to understand why the peasants revolted....speaking of which we got to see the door Marie Antoinette fled through when the palace was besieged!

It is the little door there to the left of her bed.  She designed this whole room herself and it is one of the most exquisite of the whole palace.  All of the flower designs that you see on the bed, chairs, and wall are not just normal fabric or wallpaper, they are embroidered designs.

I ended my visit with a walk around the gardens which are massive!  Because it wasn't the weekend (this was Friday) and because it wasn't quite tourist season yet, only a portion of the gardens were open.  This was that "portion".

By the time I was finished with Versailles and had eaten, it was about 7 and so I decided to go up into the Eiffel tower to watch the sun go down.

It was so incredible to finally see it in person.  Every time I looked at the tower I though, "I cannot really be in Paris."

This is the view from the second platform.  You can see Notre Dame in the background.  You get into these big elevators that take you 1st to the second platform, and then you have to wait (about an hour) to get to the next set of elevators to go all the way to the top.

After waiting in line for about an hour I was on my way to the top!

  The top is actually quite small and caged in, but the view is amazing.  All of Paris is laid out beneath you.

They also have a Champagne bar on top so I treated myself to a glass and enjoyed the view.

\It was a spectacular view and afterwards I retired back to our hotel to get a full night's sleep.

Saturday began with a walking tour around Paris.  It was led by an American who was living in France teaching English because he couldn't find a job in the US.  Duh.  What are you going to do with just a French degree in the US?  He was an AMAZING guide and had great stories to tell about all the sites in the city.  First we got a glimpse of Notre Dame.

 Then we walked along the river until we reached the Louvre!

 Since this was just a walking tour we continued to Revolutionary Square where all of the beheadings were carried out during the French Revolution.  Apparently the square was so disgusting not even animals would walk through.  Horses refused to pull carriages through the square.  It does have a lovely view of the Eiffel Tower and Champs Élysées :-)  I felt that needed to be in italics since it sounds so snooty when ever you say it.

After the tour we all had lunch at a little cafe, and then I struck out on my own.  I saw Napoleons tomb...

Let me point out that this was in an open crypt area below the main floor of the church so all could look down in ALL BY ITSELF.  Nicely done Napoleon.  Your complex lives on.

I tried to hit the Pantheon next because many famous French philosophers are buried there, but alas it was closed in preparation of a state event coming up.  Instead I went to the Eiffel Tower light show!

 

This goes on for about 5 minutes every hour and is so pretty even for something that just looks like a flurry of paparazzi.

The next day was MUSEUM DAY!  The 1st Sunday of every month, the museums are free.  This just happened to be that Sunday.  The morning of course started out with the Louvre.

 The inside reminded me of the Prado because they both have the same large hallway look.  The main attraction came next.

Mona Lisa

 The Mona Lisa has her own wall in a room with other pictures.  People swarm around her and try to get pictures both of and with her.  We found it ironic that there is a GIANT very nice painting on the wall opposite her and yet no one pays any attention to it.

The Winged Victory

The Venus de Milo

 I really loved all the sculpture but find it disappointing to thing that this was all stolen from their respective origins (mainly by Napoleon).  How must Greece feel to know two of it's most well known works are in France!?

 

I visited the Pyramid and Reverse Pyramid before heading over to the Musée Rodin for some sculpture.

The thinker was the main attraction there, but I was able to see the Gates of Hell and a few other random pieces that delighted me to no end.  Now, art fanatics I apologize but I did NOT go into Musée D'Orsay with all the impressionist art because the line was HORRIFIC and I wanted to see the Catacombs.  That line too was terrible, but SO worth the wait.  Probably the coolest and creepiest set of tunnels I've ever seen.  You know, since I see underground tunnels all the time.  Apparently the cemeteries in Paris were getting too full and bones were starting to rise to the surface after heavy rains.  An old quarry was then used for catacombs.  This was part of the results.

 According to the English speaking group ahead of me it reads; "Stop! Here is the Empire of the Dead."  Very Lord of the Rings.

The catacombs are just miles and miles (we only walked a few) of underground tunnels piled to the ceiling with bones.  Room after room after room.  It was the coolest thing to see.

That ended my Sunday, and Monday came soon enough.  I started the day off with a little Notre Dame.

 l must say.  Disney has tricked me into believing that this structure was much larger than it actually was.  Make no mistake, it was still a VERY impressive Cathedral, but after you've seen St. Peter's and St. Marks, and basically a million other Cathedrals, you start to get a little snooty about which ones impress you.  I decided to get the Quasimodo effect and climb to the top.  Yes all that hiking prepared me yet again to scale another tower!

 I got to the top and put my panorama function to work again.

The main body of the Cathedral.

Inside the Cathedral

 At the time I had NO IDEA what a "flying buttress" was and most likely would giggle and mistakenly call them "flying Dutchmen".  Now that I have been thus informed, the ones in Notre Dame are very impressive.  It is probably the highest ceiling I've seen on a Cathedral.

The stained glass over all was gorgeous.  It was so detailed.

I headed to Champs Élysées and the Arc to say good bye to Paris.  It was an incredible weekend!

Italy Spring Break VI: "Arrivederci Italia!"

We arrived in Rome around 1pm on our train from Venice and decided to have a nice slow afternoon.  We went a grabbed lunch and gelato near the Pantheon, took another look inside, and then headed to the Spanish steps.

 Now the Spanish steps aren't anything amazing or breathtaking, but they were a great place to just sit back and people watch and that was the perfect way to end our Italian vacation!

The next morning we got up, headed to the airport, and returned to our respective countries

Arrivederci Italia!

Italy Spring Break V: "I Still Don't Believe We're in Venice."

We arrived in Venice at night which made navigating their already difficult public transportation  even harder.  As Venice is on the water, their public transportation is boats.  These are called Vaporettos and have various lines with various stops along the canals.

Our hostel was lovely and right along the water, right next to a vaporetto stop, and only a 15 minute walk from Piazza de San Marco and the Basilica de San Marco.

The view from our hostel.

 Venice was such a haunting city.  The whole place seemed a little surreal.  As if you were always just watching video of it instead of actually seeing it.

The basilica and the square were just beautiful.  The basilica was covered in beautiful gold painted mosaics.  It was just incredible to walk into a church that took over 500 years to complete and had things pillaged to complete it.

Piazza de San Marco

In Venice we mostly wandered.  We saw some churches and I became addicted to shopping for Venetian masks.  Poor Tuna had to tear me away from stand after stand as I became obsessed with finding the right masks.

The first night we ate dinner along the Grand Canal just over the Rialto bridge.  I am SEVERELY jealous of the people who actually live in Venice and get to see this every day.  I mean I'm sure tourist season is irritating as hell, but it is one of the most beautiful sites in the world.

Our dinner right along the water.

The Grand Canal at night.

The Rialto!

I was lucky enough that Jeannie gave me some money to use on the trip.  On our last night in Venice we decided to use it for a Gondola ride along the Grand Canal.

The next morning we got up bright an early to catch a train into Rome for our last day in Italy.  Venice was truly amazing.