Sunday, July 29, 2012

Skipping along to Days 40-41: Paris, post #1



Before we get serious, let me reassure you all that I'm still sending my boss ridiculous photos of the ugly ceramic cherub.  This time: Eiffel Tower and our hotel room.  Please note the presence of a disco ball on the Eiffel tower.  We went on the weekend of Bastille Day (their Independence Day), and the theme of their festivities was "The Disco Years."


Most of Friday - our first full day in France - was spent enjoying the vast expanse of the Palace of Versailles.  Let me just say up front that the best thing about Paris is that everything is as BIG and BEAUTIFUL as they look in pictures.



The line to get in was pretty huge, but once we got in it was a full day of wonder.




After the introductory portions of the audio tour, we commenced wandering around the HUGE palace.  All of the decorations were so ornate and the rooms so huge that it was hard to take it all in.  Definitely worth the price of admission.




















In addition to the awesomeness of the rooms themselves, there was a section of the building that had modern art galleries.  Some of it was good (I liked the shoes made from pots), but frankly some of it was ugly and garish and clashed horribly with the look of the rooms themselves.  More's the pity.


To all the crafty people out there: Ever wanted to knit a lion cozy?


Below: No idea what it was, but I likened it to unicorn vomit.


Below: If Elton John had a helicopter.


Below: Kira eating a Werther's Original.  She's bought a couple packs of those.


After we spent a couple of hours enjoying the palace, we headed out to the grounds.  It was huge and immaculately kept.  We also saw some kind of a military-looking band that was lined up for a photo shoot... so I ran up and grabbed a few shots myself.  They were pretending to play for the shot, and a few of the trumpets were humming the theme from Star Wars through the mouthpieces.  Apparently some nerdy things transcend nationality.









The gardens were my favorite part.  It was so relaxing to wander through the rows of trees, flowers and hedges.  I broke from the group for a while there to explore alone.











 

 

\The gardens I spent most of my time in were by the Grand Trianon, which was also lovely.









By the end of the visit, we were all mighty tired.  The guys are the only ones who fell asleep on the train, though.



Once we made it back in to Paris, we went to climb the Eiffel Tower and check out the view.  It was much taller than I expected, and even though we only walked up to the second platform (didn't take the elevator to the tippy top), I nearly had a panic attack due to my fear of heights.












Saturday's exploits will be in the next post...

No comments:

Post a Comment