Versailles: The huge palace that deserves it's own entry.

The Palace of Versailles is absolutely humongous. I cannot believe that someone actually lived there, that someone actually spent the time to have it built. Louis XIV is the one who made this palace so grand, so important, so regal.

There is no way to describe this place. No way to even go through all the rooms, all the paintings, all the amazing architecture, and all the gold. So, since I can't try to explain it, or try even to potentially describe it, I've decided to let the pictures do the talking. Enjoy. Versailles: I've never seen anything as royal as this.

Paris Encore, but with Mom this time :)

So, the next place on my list was Paris. I was really happy that Mom was able to stay in Paris with me because 1. Paris is an amazing city that definitely needs to be visited, and 2. I got to show off my French skills. It was a really fun time and I'm glad I got to share it with Moms.

On to the good stuff--We saw tons in Paris; everything we wanted to see. The good thing about this was, we never rushed. We just took our time. We got up when we wanted to, and if we didn't get to do every little thing we wanted to do in one day, we just saved it for the next day. I liked that. Usually when I visit a city it's only for a short time, so I spend my time trying to see everything. Since we had four days in Paris we were able to take it slow, and that was nice.

The first thing we decided to see was the Eiffel Tower. We were in Paris weren't we? And hello, it is LA TOUR EIFFEL, the symbol of Paris. I always laugh to myself thinking about how the French used to hate the Eiffel Tower and actually wanted to take it down. Can you even imagine Paris without the Eiffel Tower? I can't. Just think of how much revenue they make off of it...damn. A lot.

We then went to go see the L'Arc de Triomphe--I, of course, wanted to show my mother where I almost got arrested, so we had to go. Sadly, a lot of renovations were going on

... but it was still nice to see it. Just a recap, the L'Arc de Triomphe is where the tomb of the unknown soldier is, so it is very important to the French people. To the right is a picture of the eternal flame, and it says, "here rests a French soldier who died for the fatherland." Always a nice place to visit.

We then moved onto Notre Dame. Of course, we got lost somehow and ended up right by the church but not actually there. Okay, we asked for directions and this man pointed in a direction and well, we thought we were going in the right direction. Our thoughts proved wrong because Notre Dame was nowhere to be found (though we did see other nice things along the way). We then headed back the way we came and asked some police for directions. They too pointed in the same direction in which we went. This can't be it, I thought, they have to be lying or we're idiots. I then asked one last set of police man, just to be positive, and also made sure that I was asking for l'eglise de Notre Dame...FINALLY we got real directions and FINALLY we made it to Notre Dame.

Notre Dame is beautiful. It's so detailed and ornate. It honestly is one of my favorite things in Paris. It's really incredible. Also at Notre Dame is point zero, which is where all the measurements in France are taken. Legend says that if you touch the spot, then you will come back to Paris. So...of course, I touched it! Mom even left some coinage for extra luck :)

Here's a pic inside the lovely lovely Notre Dame:

The next day we decided to head to La Louvre. The Louvre is HUGE and I don't know how you could ever see it all. Mom and I aren't huge museum lovers, but we did spend time seeing the things we wanted to see. Of course, like all big museums, it's quite easy to get lost, so we sometimes ended up in section we w

eren't planning on going to, and even had to ask for directions. Oh well, it happens. We saw the Mona Lisa, obviously we had to since it was right there, and well, it really isn't that special. It's so tiny, and there was such a large crowd that you had to fight your way to the front. Not only that, but its incased in glass, and has a rope around it so you really can't get close. So we saw it, and we said...eh..okay, what's next? Well we saw all the ancient greek and roman art, then moved on through the egyptian, ended up in the mesopotamian section maybe? Who knows. Definitely very interesting though. I wonder how they get all that stuff in there.... some of the pieces are massive!

We then met up with my friend Katie and went on a boat cruise on the Seine. It was a beautiful day and th

is was SO relaxing. You just sit, and watch Paris go by. It's really awesome because you literally see everything and from a view that you wouldn't normally see it from if you were just walking around. I really enjoyed it, and honestly enjoyed the break from walking around...

Apres ça, we took the long metro ride up to Montmarte. I love this section of Paris--the Sacre Coeur, the great views of Paris, the artist sitting out doing their thing; it's just really beautiful, and unlike any other part of Paris. That's the thing I like about Paris: there are so many different sections that you can honestly find anything you are looking for. Nothing is like it. We walked around for a bit and decided to head home...

Of course, a trip to Paris wouldn't be complete without seeing the Eiffel Tower at night! So, here's some fabulous pics from the magnifique Tour Eiffel. Sadly, we couldn't go all the way up to the top because it was closed, but we did go up half way (the highest we could at that time). It was so beautiful seeing all of Paris lit up at night. Lucky us, while we were in the Tower, it started it's light show. Every hour on the hour for five minutes, the Eiffel Tower lights up the entire night sky. Forewarning, this "light show" is not for epileptics, and would be completely dangerous for them. So, if you are epileptic and planning to go on the Eiffel Tower, make sure it's not within those five minutes...

PARIS Je t'aime

Beauty right? Next up: Versailles--The Palace that deserves it's own blog!