We joined another family, the Lewis', and pulled the kids out of 2 days of school to allow us as much time as possible visiting Paris. Ron stayed in Dresden to save up his vacation hours for another future Taylor adventure, this was his choice since he'd been to Paris previously and hopes to visit a place he's never been. Good thinking. Our train left promptly at 8 a.m. and we arrived at the East Train Station in Paris at 5 p.m. Our hotel accommodations were actually inside the Train Station and everything was so convenient because of the metro/train connections right there, it couldn't have been better. We did our best to hit the highlights of this amazing city and we had a couple of pleasant surprises while we were there. The best part was very small or no lines to get into things, so traveling off season has it's advantages. Probably the most fun was visiting the Eiffel Tower and discovering the ice skating available ON the Eiffel Tower, complete with an Ice Bar you could slide over to and order a cocktail or hot cocoa!! We had no idea this was there.
We also did a "Hop On & Hop Off" tour through Paris as well. Although it was very cold the day we rode the convertible bus, it was worth it. Seeing the city's architecture and vast size, really showed us the different areas we could have never all seen on foot. We lucked out with the weather as well, it stayed dry the entire weekend, we were worried about rain showers but it was only cold. We were prepared with lots of layers, gloves, hats & scarves-Germany in winter will train you to always have warm stuff with you.
Another one of our big surprises was visiting the Louvre on a Friday night, because of their extended evening hours we got to stay late and there were no lines, Mona Lisa was waiting patiently for us. She is still lookin' good! The kids were free and it cost Mom only 10 Euro to get in, best 10 Euro spent on a Friday night, what a deal! Jacoba was completely in love with the Louvre, we were there 2 1/2 hours and tried to hit the main highlights. This museum is SO massive, you could spend weeks there and not see it all.
Our next major adventure was the Palace at Versailles, simply amazing, enormous and overwhelming. We toured the gardens, which we can only imagine it's glory in the spring & summer seasons, we visited Marie-Antoinette's Estate and we did NOT eat cake on the premises. One tidbit was a very ornate billiards table that had knights along the bottom, you would lift their helmet to take the ball out, (see photo). We also enjoyed a delicious picnic of baquettes at the main entrance. Another treat was viewing a huge painting in the Great Hall of George Washington and the Battle of Yorktown. Jacoba's comment: "How cool is it that a ruler of France had a painting , in his house, of our US President!" Thank You Virginia Public School system and teachers!! Our time their was well spent.
In the Champs Elysees area was an enormous ferris wheel that the kids wanted to ride, they nicknamed it the "Paris Wheel", they begged for this ride and after discovering it was 10 Euro to ride, the kids decided they'd pay themselves with their own allowance. We then walked the entire Champs Elysees to the Arc de Triomphe, which was fun strolling by the extravagant shops. The Citroen Car Dealer had an amazing building about 5 stories high, each floor featuring a car that rotated and was visible from all angles, the coolest car was purple and had a very plush interior, complete with "fancy" carseat!
On Sunday morning we had a couple of hours before we had to catch our train home, we walked to Sacre Coeur which sits up on a hillside overlooking the city, it is beautiful. Inside it contains one of the largest mosaics in the world.
Because we walked we were able to find this treausre for our last photo, it is really entertaining. Paris isn't exactly known for neat and orderly drivers or easy to navigate streets, but this final photo shows how well they do with parallel parking. You'd probably agree after seeing it that they should stick to baking the world's best croissants, creating perfect crepes & gourmet food, teasing us with outrageous fashion and priceless works of art. Our trip gave us memories for a lifetime, we found people to be friendly and getting around town wasn't difficult, many Parisians spoke English, and we savored some delicious food, we didn't lack for anything during our stay. And, on that note, we say, "Here's to all the glories of France"!
No comments:
Post a Comment