Paris Day 2

December 10, 2009

Adventure #1: Versaille

A short train ride out of the city, Versaille is a phenomenal sight to behold. Versaille is one of the largest royal palaces in the world, originally designed as a hunting lodge for King Louis XIII, and later transformed and enlarged by his son Louis XIV, who installed his court and government there. I had no idea what to expect, and I was beyond shocked and impressed. Below are a few pictures of it's greatness.

This is the hall of mirrors. In this room, the treaty was signed to end WWI.

They have these monster fireplaces in almost every room.

A super nice person offered to take this family photo of us. We jumped at the opportunity!

We were SO lucky that Versaille was open on Thursday. It was closed the day before because of the strikes. To make a long story short, the national monuments and museums are losing part of their funding and so they are striking...big time! We joked that even the statues were on strike!

This is the gorgeous view from the Palace.

Adventure #2: Marie Antoinette's village

Marie Antoinette was the only queen who imposed her personal tastes on Versaille. She scoffed at Court traditions and wanted a haven of privacy and refuge that allowed her to escape from the rigours of Court Etiquette. Her husband, King Louis XVI, gifted her a small peasant village where she mingled with commoners (who were really actors). It was like her own little Disneyland! Walking through the village felt like we were walking in Belle's little town on Beauty and the Beast. It was possibly my favorite part of the whole Versaille experience!

Talmage was an angel through the whole trip. This was my very favorite nap he took because before he went to sleep he would look at me and smile and then his eyes would shut. He'd force them open again and smile at me, and they would fall again. This repeated many times until he peacefully fell asleep. It was so sweet!

Daddy and Talmage, snuggling on the train back to Paris!

Jim was SO excited about getting a baguette and cheese from a small bakery. This to him was what crepes were to me...so Paris! It was delicious, a cost-effective meal, and so much fun to eat. We felt like natives...almost!

Adventure #3: Eiffel Tower

We got the best of both worlds on our trip to the Eiffel Tower. We saw it in perfect daylight, were on the middle platform during a beautiful sunset, and were on the top in the dark to admire all the gorgeous city lights. It was a dream come true!

This picture was taken on a bridge in the city. The bridges are incredible in and of themselves. Above you see a few intricacies of the bridge...but mostly the two hunks in front and the Eiffel Tower in the back. Below you see me with this incredible bridge art!

The Eiffel Tower is tall, tall, tall. This is taken right under it. WOW!
Originally we were just planning on going to the second tier. The third tier (the top) was closed for our whole time in line and so we just decided we'd do the best we could do. MIRACLE TIME: When we were about 10 people from the front of the line they opened up the top of the tower. Yep, we got right on the elevator and rode to the top. We were so excited to have this experience together. The picture above is from the second tier, the pictures below are from the tip top!

Talmage ate dinner on top of the Eiffel Tower...who can say that?!?

The Eiffel Tower is beautiful at night. The tower glitters with Christmas lights on the hour and it seriously sparkles the whole city. I would stand there in awe and amazement for the whole sparkly masterpiece.

Unfortunately that was the last picture we got that night (we ran out of batteries). But we found an incredible international Christmas market and ate yummy traditional French Christmas treats, and looked at all the fun things to buy. As I walked down the street holding my handsome hubby's hand and pushing my sweet chubby baby's stroller with the other I felt like I was in the dream of a lifetime. What a perfect day!