Paris in Photos

Sorry the posts are out of order - our internet has been inconsistent and the blog has suffered as a result!  We will try harder to stay current as we continue.

To accompany Max's lovely color commentary, here are some pictures to go along with our voyage thus far.

In contrast to Max's feelings about the city, I really enjoyed Paris.  It's full of very elegant, old buildings and monuments, all magnificently situated alongside the Seine.  Only one skyscraper stands in the city center, and the rest are outside in the suburbs - without these modern urban essentials, I really felt like we were walking through history!

After watching the sun set over the city from the top of the Eiffel Tower on our first day, we spent our second day at the Louvre.  The Eiffel Tower is a tough act to follow, but the Louvre lived up to the hype.  

Not only did we see the Mona Lisa and the other masterpieces housed in the museum, we also got to learn about the history of the palace itself.  An excursion to the basement allows visitors to see the Louvre's original purpose as a medieval fort, built to guard the city from invaders entering by way of the river.  There are also rooms dedicated to palace life at the Louvre.  The Napoleon III apartments (though they actually belonged to his secretary of state) showed the opulence and elegance of France's monarchs a few decades ago.

Dad, I thought of you when I saw this guy throwing chlorine in the pools outside of the Louvre.  The water was crystal clear!

On our third day in Paris, we were awakened by an angry lady telling us in French that we had to get out of the room so that she could clean.  We went to the front desk thinking that it would be no problem to stay another night, we found the hotel to be completely full.  Left without options in central Paris, we relocated to the lively neighborhood of Montmartre atop a hill overlooking the city.  Full of delightful creperies and whimsically winding streets populated with performers like this one, this new setting was a pleasant alternative to the city center.

Montmartre is also home to the Basilique du Sacre Coeur, an exceptionally large church that is said to house the heart of Jesus Christ.  It's also the home to a spectacular view of the city.  The magnificence of the basilica combined with the exceptional vista make it a destination for both tourists and locals alike.

Unswayed by this lovely location, Max took the stairs leading up to the basilica as an opportunity for some shut-eye.  See if you can find him here.

Happy to be in Montmartre.

The view from our seat on the stairs.

Max practicing his snooty Frenchman impression.  I actually thought most of the people were pretty nice, except for the aforementioned cleaning lady, who had reason to be cranky with us.  Our first foray into the city from the airport found us outside of the Louvre-Rivoli metro stop with no idea how to get to our hostel.  With map spread open, searching for our destination, we were conspicuously lost.  Within a minute were approached by an elderly lady with her own map, looking to guide us.  Granted she was originally from Argentina (but had lived in Paris for the past 20 years) and she couldn't tell us where to go, but it was a nice welcome to the city.  We found similar hospitality throughout the city as we were often lost and asking directions.

While Max was resting, I took the afternoon to explore more of Montmartre.  I wandered through the neighborhood's beautiful and very large old cemetery, full of late 19th century tombs and funereal statues.  After seeing the burial sites of French chanteuse Dalida and a coincidentally named Alexandre Dumas (unfortunately not the Three Musketeers author), I meandered down the street to the Moulin Rouge.  As any fan of Baz Luhrmann's production would be, I was disappointed.  The sterile exterior and cold mechanical windmill totally lack the charm and whimsy of the establishment immortalized by Toulouse-Lautrec.  Price for dinner and a show: 180 euros.

After meeting up near the Arc de Triomphe, we spent the rest of the afternoon walking down the Champs-Elysees and admiring the sunset over the Seine.  It was a much improved sight after our cloudy first afternoon in the city.

Sunset from the Pont Alexandre III.

View from the Jardin du Tulieres to the Place de la Concorde's Luxor obelisk and the Arc de Triomphe.

We spent our fourth day at Versailles.  We hadn't had much trouble with tourist crowds elsewhere in Paris - no lines at the Eiffel Tower or the Louvre - so we were surprised and overwhelmed at the number of people swarming the palace interior.  The extravagance of the palace was exceptional, but the construction on the front facade and ambiguous renovations to rooms and artwork throughout were distracting (not to mention the crowds, again).  When we got outside the palace and saw the gardens however, we were immediately won over.

The palace grounds are enormous and amazingly landscaped, divided by canals punctuated by fountain filled pools.  In contrast to the palace itself, the grounds are peaceful and relaxing.  Kids can ride ponies through the tree-lined promenades, nautical enthusiasts can row boats through the canals, and bikers and walkers enjoy the trails.  People and geese also sprawl along the shores to take advantage of the thoroughly relaxing and unbelievably beautiful setting. 

That basically sums up our time in Paris.  I'll add Amsterdam's photos in a bit so you have a visual complement to Max's eagerly awaited R-rated post!