Website Home | London-Paris 2007 Portal Page | Day 0/1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8/9 

So it took me quite a bit of time (a month or so) to continue the recap of the amazing European trip...from over 2 months ago. Yes, I suck. But I endeavor to get these cranked out sooner than later, as hell, I'm beginning to forget just what it was we did! Part of my delay has been the fact that there are a TON of freakin' pictures to go through...still. This page and the next have a fuckton of pictures to look through so persevere with me!

Let me bring you back into the vacation mode though - that's the least I could do. The night before, we all (me, Jeff, Susan, Shannon and Brian) had gone on the kick-ass nighttime taxi ride through Paris. I must reiterate what a fantastic thing that is to do. Do it, if you are ever in Paris. We got back around midnight or so, but had to make sure to get some rest because we were going to get up first thing in the morning because it was time to beat the crowds to Versailles!

To get to Versailles, you actually have to take a train out to it from Paris, as it's not exactly right in town. We planned for this endeavor by making sure to leave early enough to get to Versailles shortly after opening, so we all met at our hotel lobby first. This morning, we added another to our crew, Mike. Mike is a friend of Susan's and is currently stationed over in Germany so he took the train over. He is a pretty cool guy and got along well with the existing group of us.

I ended up using some more of my admittedly limited French skills to buy a Versailles Rail Pass which gets you a round-trip ticket on the RER AND a ticket into Versailles, allowing you to bypass the ticket line there, which is a definite plus. Easily enough, we got there and walked the brief journey from the train station to the palace gates, which you arrive at and immediately are overwhelmed by the sheer grandiosity and Size of the Palace of Versailles. It was the retreat from Paris politics and hubbub that the Sun King, Louis XIV, built - and it's freakin' amazing in its scope and over-the-topness. It definitely earns its reputation as Europe's Top Palace, because while the palace itself is huge, when you actually get to the back of the palace, you see the immenseness of the palace grounds - which you'd need a whole day to walk around and explore on your own.

Anyways, we were able to walk right in and begin the self-guided tour throughout the palace. Jeff and I had downloaded the Rick Steves iPod walking tour which was very informative and fun to listen to - Rick Steves is kind of a dork. But it was a good tour, although the recording was based on an old tour route, as you see, Versailles' tour path has been reorganized because they've finished restoring some sections that you weren't able to visit before, including the Hercules grand entrance hall and, most exciting, the Versailles Opera House. It was amazing to see that, especially since it was featured prominently in the recent movie by Sofia Coppola called Marie Antoinette (boring movie, but beautiful). There was plenty to see in Versailles, but it mostly served to illustrate how much freakin' money was spent on lavishness. Incredible. Oh, but if you really want to know more about Versailles, here's a Wikipedia entry all about it! We finished the tour, walked around the top portion of the gardens briefly, but then headed soon enough back on the train to Paris, which was good timing on our part, as the place got PACKED by the time we were leaving. A Saturday is definitely not a 'light' tourist time for one of the biggest attractions in France!

March 31, 2007: Journey to and Exploring Versailles
Jeff and Susan are ready for their French breakfast
Keeping it real, yo
Guess I'm trying to keep things in control here
The map of Paris on the wall of our hotel's restaurant
Us in line to buy our Versailles passes
Walking the long plaza to the palace gates of Versailles
The Hercules entranceway
A better view of the Hercules' ceiling
Golden something or an other
Me lounging in the halls of Versailles
Jeff and Susan
Hanging out by the windows
Me in one of the many rooms
Looking outside to the gardens
A bust of Louis XIV, the builder of Versailles
Ornate red room in the palace
Seriously, a wing of the palace you don't see - can only imagine what's in there
The infamous Hall of Mirrors
Me in the Mirror (cue Michael Jackson music)
third time's the charm
After you exit the palace tour, you are at the rear of the palace
Right by the top of the gardens
These are ornately maintained - can't imagine how much work that takes
Looking to the East
And there you can see the MANmade lake
Cool, angular shot of some Versailles hedges
You can see the amount of restoration still going on at the palace
A look out at the immense gardens - the Grand Canal is what you see way out there
A view of very contradictory architectures; but still beautiful
Walking away from the palace and towards the town and train station
         
 

 

What visit to Paris would be complete without visiting a few choice sights: the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, the Champs Elysees .... and of course, the Arc de Triomphe! This was built to commemmorate the many victories of Napoleon Bonaparte - and it certainly has one of the premier locations in Paris to be situated in, as it is directly at the end of the Champs Elysees away from the Tuileries and Louvre museum. And it is amazing to see it as you travel up the Champs Elysees. Here's some more info on the Arc de Triomphe from Wikipedia.

We got back from Versailles and hopped off the Metro at the Champs Elysees in order to walk up it a bit towards the Arc. You have to approach it in order to really get a good look at it. The weather started to turn a little dreary and when we were up on top of the Arc, it actually did start to rain. But even with the dreary weather, there's nothing like being on the top of the Arc and seeing all of Paris in 360 degrees. It's amazing to see the crazy road turnabout that lives around the Arc but you can also see every main tourist landmark from the top as well. So here are some pictures from our time atop the Arc!

March 31, 2007: Living Large at the Arc de Triomphe
The Arc from the Champs Elysees
An even closer view
I had to take another picture that was similar to one I took in 2002...
...which was this one from my trip with Jason and Wendy. Not exact, but still funny.
Looking up at the Arc from the ground
More detailed shot
At the top and looking out
There's Sacre Coeur in the distance
Looking straight down at the turnabout
Looking toward the modern Paris business downtown
You can see La Grande Arch - the hollowed out square building in the middle
A view of the rainy Arc roof
More Paris scenery
The Eiffel Tower!
The Champs Elysees
A comprehensive view of the Champs Elysees
Another view of the Tower
The top of the Arc, again
Where the Champs Elysees begins
ME
Me again
Shannon and Brian
sans Umbrella
Jeff and Susan in their hooded glory - no umbrellas for them
Our 'candid' conversation shot
The gang headed down the stairs
The Ghosts of the Arc
The spiral staircase from the Arc's top level to the street
The French Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
There's my friends....
....and now I am getting pointed at! I have finally arrived.
 
 
 
 
 

 

So a part of Paris that I had always wanted to see was more of Montmartre, especially after seeing the movie Moulin Rouge. Within Montmartre, I've always wanted to see the cathedral of Sacre Coeur, mainly after seeing it in Amelie and just having seen it in the many guidebooks of Paris. So while we were strolling around the Champs Elysees in the rain, and everyone was kind of like "What Do We Do Now?" (and at the same time, driving Susan insane...), I suggested going to the Montmartre area and seeing not only that eclectic neighborhood but the Sacre Coeur cathedral. So off we went on the Metro to Montmartre!

Arriving there, you get to street level and are immediately enveloped in a sense of exciting activity and 'alive'ness. It is a very interesting neighborhood to say the least. Lots of vendors and lots of people. To get to Sacre Coeur you have to walk uphill through the area, eventually getting to the main plaza below the cathedral. And then you have even more uphill walking to do to just get to the cathedral, but it's well worth it, as the view from the top of Montmartre is stellar, just like from the Arc. Unfortunately the weather was still gloomy, so while the view was still great, it could have been better with some clearer skies. A few of us toured the inside of the cathedral, which is amazing in its own right, but in a town full of ancient landmarks, this one is almost a baby: it was built in the 1800s, but you wouldn't know it by looking at it. Again, more information to be found at Wikipedia.

After visiting the cathedral, we met up with everyone and started walking along the main street in Montmartre, which takes you through the red light district of Paris (where all the sex/porno shops are) and to the illustrious Moulin Rouge! It is certainly interesting to see all those strip clubs and stores - interesting things that are sold there!

Finally, it was dinner time and we found a cool restaurant in the area that served us great food, but most importantly, red wine and chocolate mousse (our first round of chocolate mousse for the trip - but rest assured, there would be more chocolate mousse, let me tell you!).

March 31, 2007: Exploring Montmartre and Sacre Coeur; having dinner in town.
The bustling neighborhood of Montmartre
There's Sacre Coeur atop the Montmartre hill
Closer view
ME
The carousel at the bottom of the hill - it was in Amelie too
The cafe at the bottom of the hill - and Susan crossing the street
The same curvy walkway up the hill to Sacre Coeur as seen in Amelie
Sacre Coeur
There's Mike hiking up the hill
Jeff and Susan making their way up too
Looking down the hill to Montmartre district
looking right close at the cathedral
At the top of the hill
You can see the Eiffel Tower if you look just right
When looking to find where Susan and Jeff were, I found them sitting at the cafe through a telescope. I'm that good.
Oooh, the Sexodrome! Yep, this is the Red Light District.
The Moulin Rouge!
Me and the Red Windmill (aka Moulin Rouge)
Jeff points too
I think that this would have been the building Ewan McGregor's character lived in in the movie
Ah, the glorious red wine we drank at our restaurant/cafe
Susan and Jeff enjoying some French food and ambiance
Shannon, Brian, and Mike enjoy it too
Me, Susan and Jeff
A finished meal
Me and Susan
The waiter took our picture. Ah, Paris!
An accidental shot of the nearby bar
I love me some Chocolate Mousse
So does Shannon
 
 
 
 
 
 


After dinner, I invited myself along with Brian and Shannon to go visit the Eiffel Tower at night - it was time for Jeff and Susan to have some alone time....

We Metro'd over to the Rue Cler area and proceeded to walk to the Eiffel Tower from the L'Ecole Militaire section, so you get a good long approach to gaze at the wonder that is the Eiffel Tower at night. As you'll see below in the pictures, the Eiffel Tower is truly amazing to see at nighttime with all its lights on. We also went and walked up the first two levels of the Eiffel Tower via the stairs which is always a fun experience and I think Shannon and Brian enjoyed doing it. To get to the very top though, you do have to take the elevator, which is not exactly my favorite thing to do...but at least at night, it's not nearly as scary as it would be during the day. The night we were there, it was still a bit murky out there, so the view wasn't as crystal clear as it sometimes as (see Jeff's pics from the next day).

Well, there are lots of pics to see, so no more blathering on by me...this has been a lot of freakin' webpage to write. To say the least. And there's still THREE MORE DAYS to write about!

March 31, 2007: Journeying to the Eiffel Tower at night with Brian and Shannon
Looking at the Tower from the Ecole Militaire area
There's Brian
We would soon be walking this distance to the Tower
Shannon poses with her umbrella
A WWII memorial at the end of the lawn
Getting closer to the Tower
So cool - even with the spotlight
Different flash settings of that same pic
Here's the Tower again (notice the theme)
Doing my impression of the Eiffel Tower
Brian and Shannon sing a happy French song for the occasion
Even jumping to show their joy
Getting real close
and now we're under it
Some more shots as we climb the Tower
Getting up to the first level
Me too
More stairs
Illuminated awesomeness
Barely made it up the stairs
Shannon the spidergirl
I messed up the shot - but this was Brian's Spiderman shot too
Looking down to the ground from the first level
Shannon makes sure she looks fantastic for the next set of stairs
The signs to the next set of steps
There's the second level mocking us from above
A mockup of one of the guys who made the Eiffel Tower
All the elevator people LOVED my camera
View from the second level
Shannon and Brian rejoice
Me too
While waiting in the LONG line for the top elevator, I took this pic looking straight up to the top
Another shot of the amazing architecture
Parisian cityscape from the top
Looking back towards the Ecole Militaire
More Paris cityscape shots
Another shot of the grids in the Paris landscape
Seine River shot
Me enjoying the top of the world feeling
There's the Arc de Triomphe
Shannon and Brian enjoy the scenery too
The Seine river again
There's the Trocadero (where we took our awesome shots from the night before)
Me again
Looking right up the Eiffel Tower from the ground
Sparkle time
Whoever dreamed up Sparklevision for the Eiffel Tower was a genius