Chateau de Versailles!!

We went here on a beautiful cloudy day..it was much bigger than we thought. This was originally a hunting "cottage" for King Louis XIII, and later added on by many royalty including King Henry X. It is where Louis and Marie Antoinette lived and were later arrested. It is really famous and familiar on the outside, but the interior is beautiful as well with large tapestries and authentic furniture.

The inside halls of this antique Palace.

The royal bed. Funny, it doesn't look king size to me!

They even had a beautiful church inside, what a convenient idea!

They must have a whole fleet of bush-trimmers for the immaculate grounds...

And wow do they have fountains!















My absolute favorite part of the place is the little village Marie Antoinette created as a get-away from the stiff peeps at the palace. Here she had chickens and cows and gardens and pretended she was a peasant. It is quite a quaint little place!

Back in Paris...another day, another crepe!

We saw the Mona Lisa (along with 30,005 other people), but she was a little camera shy. The Venus de Milo sure wasn't, and she was wearing less!



Our last visit of the day was to the Arch de Triumph. It is amazing because there it is the centre of 12 streets where the traffic comes to a big circle with no lanes. It all seemed like a chaotic free-for-all, but as we watched we didn't see any accidents... just a lot of merging.

Another picture with the Eiffel, this time from the top of the Arch.

Jay took his life in his hands as he shot the

crazy French drivers along the Champs-Elysees.

My aunt Carolyn told us about this subway map that lit the way for you, and we found it! We need these in NYC!

Paris Museum Day

Notre Dame! Can't you just see Quasimodo swinging? This was one of our favorite places we visited.

The inside had beautiful stained glass windows, and amazing vaulted ceilings, but it was too dark to capture much. I just wanted to sing the "Outcasts" song from the Disney version (remember Mauvia?).

This is a small scale version of the gi-normous Cathedral. Might have been an intense Eagle Scout project.




Here is the line to go up into the balcony. Good thing we got there early.













Temptation for the line peeps. Not quite like American hot dogs...more like sausages in baguettes with cheese on top.





The top! These creatures have a great view.














A gargoyle eating a chicken?

Big Marie. I am sure Quasi should have been deaf!

Only short people must have been bell-ringers. Now we know why Quasi was a hunchback.

Oooh la la!





We next visited the crypt, which wasn't as exciting...and then the Conciergerie where Marie Antoinette waited to be executed. It is very old and beautiful.

Here are some random shots we took while walking in the streets of Paris.

Musee Rodin...the museum is in the house he lived in and his extensive grounds. We got an automated ear phone guide (in English of course!) and learned so much about his work.

The Three Shades. These are actually the same sculpture just turned different directions.












The Two Thinkers
























This is called the "Gates of Hell" and it includes all his works together...we spent a lot of time trying to figure it all out, but not nearly as much time as he took to create it. It was actually assembled after his death.












Rodin's portrait with some of his sculptures, including 'The Kiss'. I think his beard was a work of art.

His grounds with "Les Invalides" in the background.

NEXT....
This is Musee National de l' Orangerie. Small but beautiful.

Our favorite piece were four wide panels of Monet's Waterlilies.


Lovely sunset outside in the square.







And the last stop for the day was our favorite, Musee d' Orsay. It was once a train station and is now a work of art itself, as well as displaying many diverse pieces. We will definitely come back!









































Why we took this picture of Jay with cows I do not know...perhaps they are Albertan beef?


















Can anyone remember where you have seen this
picture? First to guess correctly gets a special surprise!




Well, that is the end of another day!