La Tour Eiffel!! We made it!! I've waited my whole life to see it and it did not disappoint.
Eiffel Tower selfie!
We only took about a million pictures while we were there.
cool soccer ball hanging in the middle. We couldn't do as much exploring around here as we wanted to because this is where the fan zone was for the Euro cup and we didn't want to go through security...
One of the legs of the tower. This thing was huge!!
I think Doug snapped this one of me looking up at the tower.
After spending a little time at the tower we went on a little Seine river cruise that was included with the Paris passes. It was fun to see so many of the bridges in this city.
and ponder the important things in life.
And we spotted the statue of liberty!! We heard there was one on the Siene somewhere and Sophia said we had to find it. We were glad that we did!
After the cruise we got back on the bus and headed to the Centre Pompidou (modern art museum). We saw some cool things along the way.
Crazy copper metro station.
We finally made it to the Pompidou. This place was kind of crazy to figure out how to get into the building. There was this huge enclosed escalator on the side of the building. You had to ride it all the way to the top to enter the museum.
The view from the top was amazing though!
This museum was one of Doug's favorites. We saw more Dali's,
some Matisse,
and even an Andy Warhol!
After that museum we picked up some macarons (hazelnut and pistachio - yum)
and then got some dinner. French onion soup
and creme brulee for me!
We passed another darling pastry shop and snapped a picture of some Religieuse for our kids. They made these on the Great British Baking Show once and so we had to show them they were a real pastry!
Then we headed back to our hotel. We had to document the tiny elevator. It's hard to tell from this picture but that mirror is only about 2 feet behind me.
We stopped on the way back to pick up a few pastries from a bakery right by our hotel. That eclair was filled with chocolate creme and it was amazing.
A few final shots of the hotel. This spiral staircase was so charming
and I loved our hotel key.
The next morning we checked out of the hotel and left our bags at the Gare de Lyon and then hopped on a train to Versaille!! The train left from another station which was kind of a pain to find (including finding the right train!) once we found the right train (and were headed in the right direction - long story) we were finally off.
And finally arrived at Versaille!!
and it did not disappoint!! We just so happened to be there on the same day as the President of France which made things a little crazy but at least they still let us in. I think he'd already left anyway. The line to get in was super long but really it was worth the wait.
And the clouds did not disappoint either!! The skies were incredible the whole time we were there!!
Our turn to enter the palace finally came and it was amazing. Seriously breathtaking. Such opulence, beauty, grandeur, etc... This was the chapel at the entrance.
a quick view of the garden from the inside.
Then we finally made it to the actual palace.
These pictures need no descriptions
The hall of mirrors.
King Louis' room. No one was allowed past the little railing in the foreground.
Here's where Louis XIV ate dinner. He would eat around 10:30 pm and certain people (including his family I think) were invited to come and watch him eat every night. What lucky people.
This is a little out of order but here's the line outside we waited in. It wrapped around a few times.
More outside pictures.
And more inside pictures from Doug's camera. Those fire logs were huge!!
another one from the hall of mirrors.
After all the glory and opulence witnessed on the inside we headed outside to witness even more. The gardens were INCREDIBLE!!!! We spent about 1 1/2 hours in them and maybe saw 1/10th of them. It was amazing.
The sun king.
Once again, the clouds were absolutely spectacular!
The fountains were all amazing. None of them happened to be on while we were there so I can only imagine how much more incredible they are when they're running!
These next few are from Louis XIV "The sun king"'s private garden (apparently). They were amazing. I could not get enough of the flowers.
More shots from around the garden.
The whole place was like maze. It was so fun to wander and explore!
I even spotted an escargot!
More of the crazy clouds. They were almost as gorgeous as all the greenery!! The thing that blew me away the most was that they most likely didn't need to water most of this garden. Everything is just so green there and just grows!! It made me so envious!
After walking a million miles around the palace and the gardens we headed back to the train station to retrieve our bags and catch our train to Zurich!! It was so fun to ride through the french countryside. It was breathtaking. There were so many tiny villages and farmlands everywhere. It was amazing to think that some of the farmhouses and villages that we saw could possibly have been older than the US! It was amazing!
We also enjoyed a typical european meal on the train. It was a fun treat.
Can we just talk about the bread and cheese here for a minute? I seriously could not get enough.
After a few hours on the train we finally made it to Zurich to be with these guys!!!
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