Sunday, April 15, 2012

Home Again, Home Again

WOW! It's been over two weeks since I last blogged. I bet some of you have been wondering where I skipped off to, and I can't wait to tell you. Friday March 30th, Alan and I flew to PARIS! We met up with Grace and then began our European adventure. We had the most amazing time. The weather was perfect and we were able to see everything that we had hoped to see. Over the next few days I'm going to share some of the highlights of our trip. Don't worry, I'm not going to bore you with all 625 pictures that we took.
We visited Paris, Rome, and several cities in Spain, so that's what you have to look forward to.

After arriving in Paris and checking into our hotel, we ate a quick lunch and then did what all American tourists do when they are visiting for the first time. We found a movie theater and watched the Hunger Games (in English with French subtitles) I know you probably think that's a strange thing to do, but we were all extremely tired from traveling and we needed something to do until dark.

Apparently it is a big deal to see the Eiffel Tower lights turn on. The movie was exactly what we needed to help keep us awake.
















The morning of day 2 in Paris we walked from our hotel to the Louvre. Alan had gotten a great tip on which entrance we should use to avoid the mega crowd. The first Sunday of each month the museum is open to the public for free. We quickly made our way to see the Mona Lisa and then relaxed a bit and took our time going through the rest of the exhibits.
We had to keep reminding ourselves that we were really there.
































After a beautiful lunch at an outdoor cafe next to the Louvre, we walked along the river to visit Notre Dame. It just happened to be Palm Sunday, so the place was really hopping. We were able to go inside, but the line to climb up to the tower was even longer than Alan was willing to wait in, so we walked around some more just soaking up the French air and sunshine.
















The next day we got up early and took the train out to Versailles. That King Louis sure did know how to spend his money. I'm not sure that I've ever seen anything quite so grand in my life. The gardens went on for miles and everywhere you looked there were statues and giant urns.

We were not able to go into the house because it was closed, but I'm sure it would have been a sight to see.

Our next stop was a visit to Montmartre to see the Moulin Rouge of course. Another one of those "I can't believe I'm really standing here" moments. We walked through a rather creepy old cemetery where some important people are buried and then we continued on up the road to Sacre Coeur.





















You can tell from the pictures what a gorgeous day it was. You can also tell from the pictures that we were not the only ones visiting. I guess I must have expected to have Paris all to myself or something. I did not count on everyone else from all over the world planning to be there over spring break that's for sure.

After lunch we had to head back to our hotel, gather up our bags and take a taxi to the train station. We rode in a sleeping car overnight, passing through France, Switzerland and Italy on our way to ROME!

(To be continued...)
Sally









































































































2 comments:

Bette S. said...

WOW! Sounds like a wonderful adventure! Can't wait to see more!

Anonymous said...

I am so excited to hear all about your travels! Sally, you look great! Alan and Grace aren't too shabby either! Barb