Trip Pictures and Journaling for Paris

***** I am dividing my pictures and journaling into multiple posts (if you read below you will understand why). This is for Paris only :-) Pictures are straight out of camera. I haven't played with them, so excuse them if some are funky looking :-) LOL *****

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Okay, for all those who have been hounding me :-) :-) :-) Sorry it took so long. The trip was an amazing two weeks and allowed me to check some travel spots off my list. We went to Paris, Nice, Cannes, Rome, Pompeii, Isle of Capri, Monacco, Tuscany region, Pisa and Vatican city. Yes, we kept it moving for two weeks. Paris was great. The people were a lot nicer than reported. If you respect their culture an dshow a desire to learn, than they are super nice people. Rob and I sat at side walk cafes and drank wine and ate crepes and sandwiches. We went up the Eifle Tower, which isn't as pretty as you would think, except at night when it is lit up. The view from there is spectacular though. The lines can be up to 2 hours. We were with a large group, so we didn't wait that long. We saw Notre Dame. I didn't climb the hundreds of stairs, but my sister did.

We went to the palace of Versailles, which was AMAZING. The opulence in which the king lived was out of this world. We had a great tour guide for this part of had some little known secrets about each part of the castle we visited. For example: the king would sneak back to his bedroom from his mistress bed each night because the day couldn't start unless the king was in his bed when they pulled back the

curtains so people could admire him. At parties they would pull chamber pots out in the middle of the floor and use the restroom in front of everyone. The king only took a bath once a year because he feared a bath opened your pores up to disease. The gorunds around the castle were wonderful as well. So very detailed with a maze on the premises.

We went to the Louve. The art gallery is HUGE. It could take you weeks to walk through each floor and each hall and really look at the pieces. We saw the most famous of course: The Mona Lisa (not impressed). I was expectng so much more. And yes, I think she is smiling. We saw the Venus de Milo (unbelievable detail), and Winged Victory. I would love to visit the museum again. My feet hurt so bad from all the walking our tour group was doing, that I just wanted to sit down after I saw these famous pieces. We did not do it justice. We also visited the Moulin Rouge, which is in like a Red light district. Very risque.

There were tons of famous designer shops at designer prices. I never realized the importance of the value of the American dollar before. Buying something for forty euros was like buying it for sixty dollars. Very expensive exchange rate. I did buy a bronze statue of a woman wearing my sorority colors :-) I could not resist. I bought one expensive piece in each of the regoins we visited and very few knick knacks. I have to collect magnets and post cards.

Europeans have no concept of fast food like here in America. I believe we saw 1 McDonalds and thatw as it. Fast food there consists of sandwiches in various forms: cheese, ham and cheese, pizza sauce and cheese, tomatoe and cheese. My fave part....all the cheese. I was in heaven. However, I was extremely tired of ham and cheese on french bread :-) I did as the natives did though. They also walk EVERYWHERE. They are extremely fit in my opinion.

Rob and I loved Paris. We want to visit agin, when we are not with a tour group, so we can do more sitting, eating, drinking, and people watching. That's how we like to vacation. LOL. I think I will do the lower region of France next. STAY TUNED !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!