Janie's World

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Versailles

We checked the weather and it said rain, but we decided to go to Versailles anyway. So far, the weather forecast had been mostly wrong. We hopped on the train and we were there before you knew it.

They were totally renovating the palace. Brand new gates in front, coated with gold leaf. They used to be black with gold highlights. Private donors raised the money (5 million Euros) to buy the new gates. The original gates were torn down 300 years ago in the French Revolution. They make quite an impression.

Gold leaf gates, no big deal!

They are also restoring the actual palace. Adding gold leaf to the roof toop and the balustrade. It looked incredible. I can see why every kind who ever visited Versaille wanted to build a palace just like it.

While waiting for our audio guides, Katie and Delaney find time for a quick photo shoot.

The Kings Chapel in the Palace. The Sun King became very religious in his old age and had this chapel built.

Every inch of the place was ornately decorated. Molding, marble, wood, and paint.

They were having a special exhibit of Thrones throughout the palace. They were quite impressive.

This was the war room that led into the Hall of Mirrors. It was used to intimidate others.

The Hall of Mirrors. Every window has a mirror opposite and it really creates a lot of light and space. Beautiful.

At the palace, they had a Laduree. We had to check it out.

After a great lunch at the palace, we had this for dessert. YUM!

The gardens are incredible. It was a super hot day and I was so glad I brought umbrellas because we used them as shade from the sun instead of protection from the rain. If you look at the body of water after the grass that is a place where you can rent rowboats.

The gardens were so wonderful, not a lot of flowers, but tons of fountains and greenery.

Paris Day 2

The first thing we did was head over to Sainte Chapelle. The stain glass in this church is amazing. When you first enter on the ground floor, you look around and wonder what all the fuss is about. Then you take the staircase up and WOW! You are visually in awe of your surroundings. The pictures do not even begin to capture the beauty.

This is the ground floor of the chapel.

The chapel is richly painted with great detail (faded over time). It is so incredible.

They are in the process of refurbishing the outside. In this picture you can see the difference that a good cleaning can do.

We then hopped on the hop on, hop off bus and headed towards the Eiffel Tower. We traveled through the Place de Concorde where all the killings took place during the revolution. They said the blood ran so thick that the oxen refused to enter the square.

It was a hot and humid day and by the time we made it to the Iron Lady, everyone was hungry and grumpy. They didn't let me take many pictures. We then started walking towards the Champs d'Elyses for lunch which looked so close on the map. WRONG!

We passed Invilides where Napolean was entombed, but too hungry to stop and go in.

We crossed the river and walked what seemed like forever to get there.

I will never live that down. Everyone was STARVING and hot and grumpy.

Later in the evening we headed back to see The Eiffel Tower sparkle. It was warm and thunder and lightning filled the air. We got a great light show before the Tower began to twinkle. It puts on a show every hour on the hour during the evening. We arrived at 10:30.

Just as the show was over, it began to sprinkle. When we exited the Metro is was raining hard. Perfect timing!

Monday, June 20, 2011

Paris Day 1

We arrived in Paris late, around 7:30pm. We put our stuff away, called Greg and Alyssa and headed off to find someplace to eat. By now it was 8:30-9 and I wasn't sure if we were going to find something open. Pssh, I forgot, we're in a big city. Everything was open. We headed towards Notre Dame and found a little outdoor cafe to eat dinner at with a great view of the Cathedral.

Dinner

Hotel de Ville. Hotel in french doesn't mean the same as Hotel in English. In french, it is a mansion. This was someone's home at one time. I'm not sure what it is now. Probably a government building. The week we were there, a giant screen was set up at one end and people were gathered together to watch the French Open.

It finally started getting dark around 10:30 and the city began to light up. The sky was beautiful and we took some pictures along the river Seine.

The kids being dorks.

Couldn't resist getting a romantic picture of Greg and Alyssa.

It was about 11-11:30 when we decided we would like some dessert. Things looked as though they were quieting down, not as many people were out and about then I glanced down this tiny alley way and saw tons of people just one street down.

We got some Gellato (not as good as Gellato in Italy) and wondered around observing people and looking at all the restaurants and shops.

It was fun stumbling upon famous graffiti too. Here is our first one. It is when I stopped to look at this, that I noticed all the action one street down.

The one thing I will not miss in Europe was all the smoking. EVERYONE smokes, EVERYWHERE you go. It is especially annoying in restaurants and crowds. I am so thankful that you are not allowed to smoke in restaurants in California. I've never appreciated that law more than after this trip.

Friday, June 17, 2011

The Paris Apartment

This was our Paris apartment, tucked away off a little street in the Marais not far from the Hotel de Ville Metro station. Katie aptly described it as looking like a Jo Malone box.

It was chic, comfortable, and convenient. It was just big enough for all of us. (Alyssa and Greg stayed in a hotel about 20 minutes away (walking). It would have been too small for the 6 of us to sleep and shower even though the couch makes into a bed.

The kitchen came in handy for breakfast and snacks. All the appliances were brand new. The whole apartment had just been completely renovated.

The bathroom was awesome. Great water pressure, big shower and a washer/dryer. The washer/dryer was really handy.

The master bedroom looked out over a courtyard.

The girls had the bedroom off the hall.

Renting the apartment was so much fun. It allowed us all to talk and share our day together. It saved us money on hotel rooms, eating out and gave us SPACE. We really enjoyed the experience.

It was close to the Metro, RER, Starbucks and McDonalds. Yay! There were bistros, cafes, bakerys and lots of shopping. (I don't do any shopping on vacation. I just can't justify the expense because of the exchange rate!).

Keeping it real:

-It was on the second floor and there was no elevator. This only was a problem when carrying the suitcases.

-The Wi-Fi barely worked. Only one person at a time could be on it and if a lot of the people in the building had their Wi-Fi on, you couldn't go on for longer than 5 minutes and then it would kick you off.

-No one to give you fresh towels everyday, take out the trash or make your bed.

-I had to do dishes and cook. Thank goodness there was a great little dishwasher.

Hot tips: Buy tickets and tours from the US using your US dollars. You will save so much money.

I bought Disneyland Paris tickets here from Expedia for $74.00 each. At the gate they were E69.00, that is $118.00!

I bought Paris Visite (paris Metro, RER and bus) passes here for $92.00 each for zones 1-6. We took the Metro everywhere we went and the RER to Versailles and Disneyland. We didn't have to stop for tickets and we could go anywhere we wanted. We would have spent a fortune buying single tickets for every trip. Make sure you get a Metro map from an information booth in one of the metros. It is easy to read and will help you to navigate throughout the city on the Metro.

Not very many places accept American Express - don't bother bringing it.

I didn't get the Museum Pass, but I saw a lot of people cutting the long lines because they had them. You can buy them here too.

Bought our tickets for Versailles at a little shop outside the train station, across the street and down a ways. It was the same price as the palace and saved us having to stand in a long line to buy tickets.

At Versailles, don't take the little train that covers the grounds, rent your own golf cart.