Paris Day Two!!

We had booked a two day open top bus tour so we set out to take in half the sights in the morning with a trip to the Louvre planned for the afternoon. The server would blow up if we posted all the pics of the day so I will just share the top picks. First stop was Notre Dame. Not sure why but seemed everything about the church was different to what we were used to in London. Free entry, pictures welcome, and no monuments. I give the nod to Paris for that one. Always amazing the things they were able to build 700 years ago.

We stopped for lunch at a little cafe across the street, and again french food rocked my world. With that said I got outordered by Kristen's ham and cheese.

All along the river there are little lockers that people set up their shops. Apparently if you are looking for a specific old book this is the place for you.

Vetern's Hospital, or the L'Hôtel national des Invalides. Not so many people live there now, but back in the day, it was quite the hot spot. Well maybe not a hot spot, but since the French are very socialistic there were quite a few vets which ended up living here.

Right across the street was The Thinker. You have to trust me, its only the back of it but.....

Kristen spotted a great little candy store to satisfy my sweet tooth. I felt like I was in the candy store from Wiley Wonkas. So I bought some scrumdiddlyumptous bars and we headed to the Louvre. I was really excited at the time but went overboard by the end of the evening and was regretting the decision the try just about everything.

So the Louvre.....they say you will go crazy if you try to see everything in one day, so only had 3 things on the agenda. The first thing we noticed was that everyone was taking pictures of everything. In London if you try to take a picture you get tackled and given a swirley. But not here...nothing was off limits. So what were the big three...

1.............Mona Lisa

2.............Venus de Milo

3.............Victory of Samothrace

Shortly after we knocked out or top three we got lost in the ancient Egyptian section, and I am talking ended up in the same place 3 times trying to get back to the entrance. From the time we actually decided to leave till we found the exit was 42 minutes. We saw so much in what seemed like a very short time, can't imagine how many things we missed. I am pretty sure there were wings and floors that we couldn't even figure out how to get to.

Didn't expect to catch a flashback to Stillwater in Paris, but there it was.....(ok so I initially posted this and then went back and read it, and thought......hmmmm this is going to need an explanation. This statue is in front of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in Stillwater, not whatever you were thinking!!!)

Not sure why this kid is wrestling a goose, or why it is considered art, but probably my favorite piece in the whole museum.

The buildings themselves were amazing, and the pyramid made some of the most impressive sights of the of the evening.

'High' lights tomorrow......

Paris day one!!

Sorry this is all a couple days behind but we didn't have internet and such while we were in France. Anyway, we left bright and early to catch the Eurostar. I was very impressed with the Eurostar station at St. Pancres, made me feel like we were traveling first class. The train itself wasn't as nice, especially since we were sat facing another couple across a little table. Lucky for us they moved so the didn't have to ride facing backwards, and we were able to stretch out a bit. The say the train does 186 mph but really didn't seem that fast. All I knew was we were back out of the chunnel and in France in less than an hour.

The station isn't in the best part of town, and in our first 30 minutes in France we had 3 people try to get money, some teenage girls try to pick our pockets and got lost.

It got better as soon as we got off the Metro and above ground. Our hotel is right in the middle of everything. The Louvre is directly across the street, and you can see the Eiffel tower from the front door.

My french food experience a couple weeks ago got me excited and lunch didn't disappoint.

A quick stroll through the garden of Tuileries and a waffle for desert.

At this point we had already given Paris the nod over London for the food and the parks. It was looking good for the next two days.

We went on a boat cruise that evening to see the city by nightlight. Not sure how it happened but what was supposed to be a two hour tour turned into nearly 4 hours. The Eiffel tower by night light was pretty amazing.

We hadn't eaten dinner beforehand and by the time we got home McDonalds was the only thing open, and it was just barely. They locked the doors behind us, and we could only order what was already made. So....Royal Deluxe it was.

Taylor Swift

I started my Birthday Bananza off with a Taylor Swift concert.

I order to keep with the American theme, we ate at Friday's and enjoyed free refills of Coke Zero with ICE. It was lovely!

They must have know Bob was a cyclist, because they sat him underneath a bike trail sign.

I had shrimp, Yummy!

Of course, Bob had the fajitas

I was a little sad because the O2 wouldn't let you bring "professional cameras", which meant cameras with changeable lenes. Since I couldn't bring the fancy camera, I had to take all these pictures with a little old one.

The screen was MASSIVE!



Sparks Fly and Mine

Back to December

This was a picture of the MASSIVE screen.

Back to December




She moved to a little stage in the middle and had a Fearless breakout

 

Dear John

Enchanted

Long Live - I love her sparkly guitar.

Confetti and Streamers! She must have known it was almost my Birthday

Encore - Love Story.

It was a great show, even if I was the oldest person there that didn't bring their child. Birthday Bananza continues in Paris. Au revoir!