January 6

Got up really tooo early so we could get our 5 AM cab to the airport. Amusingly enough, the cabbie scarcely spoke English, but we listened to English music the whole time. Unfortunately, the cab was 60 or so Euros.

Checked in our too heavy bags and headed out on our plane to Dusseldorf. Once there, we had to figure out how to get our next boarding pass to go to Atlanta (we were switching from Air France to Delta) and they did not make it easy! We had to totally exit the terminal and then get in line at Delta and we were stressed since the layover was only an hour. Finally, we got back checked in and they copied down our bag numbers by hand - eeek don't lose my bags! I do not recommend making these kinds of transfers! We were some weary travellers!

Hopped our plane to ATL and in about 10 hours, we were back! It was a great trip, but it felt like time to get home...besides, all my clothes were dirty!

Well, I guess that is the end...thanks for reading! Feel free to comment! And see more photos here!

January 5

Our last day...le sigh! We slept in a bit and let our feet recover from the previous days. Heading to the Metro, we picked up a couple sandwiches...the curry chicken on a baguette was sooo good! We munched on the street and went to the Musee Picasso. They had so much of his work...very large collection! It was cool to see some early works before he started in with the cubism. He was a very talented sculptor as well.

We were ready for another bite to eat when we left the museum, so we went to a Thai place that we saw walking over. Brendan managed to order the Pad Thai which wasn't called that on the menu. We also had a bit of coffee to wake up. *Yawn*

From there, Brendan wanted to look for technical books in a bunch of book stores near St. Germain. While he was perusing, I stepped in the street and bought a cheap pink scarf.

Next up, we crossed some bridges and headed back over to Île de la Cité. We headed over to Sainte Chapelle which was built in 1245. First we entered through the lower chapel (and Brendan bought another book).

From there, we went up some narrow steps to the spectacular upper chapel. It seems like the entire structure is stained glass!

After enjoying the chapel, we walked around a bit more in the island and bought a "hot dog." It was basically a hot dog in a big roll with cheese melted over it, and potato chips stuck on top. Actually very good!

We hopped back on the RER and went to the Tour Eiffel. The lines were much more manageable this time around, so we jumped into one. I noticed the couple in front of us eating cotton candy, and I had to get in on that, so I went to a little carnival across the road and bought some...it was huge and very sticky, but yummy. We decided, since we were there, we were gonna go all the way to the top, baby! We bought our tickets and got on the elevator. After a stop at the first level, it took us straight to the second level. The views were really good, though it was getting dark out.

On the second level, we had to get in another line to take one of the four smaller elevators to the top. While waiting, we got to see the tower sparkle, as it does the first 10 minutes of every hour.

About 30 minutes later, we were on top! It was quite windy and chilly, but really cool to see so far into the distance. There were photos facing all the directions that you could look at to help yourself identify the landmarks. It was fabulous!

We went back down to the first level and saw a few exhibits. There was also this totally pointless maze of Christmas trees with really scary music playing in it. We thought maybe something would jump out at us, but no, nothing happened. ANYway, bought some tchotches at one of the many gift shops, then headed back to the hotel.

Decided to get a bite to eat at the grocery store so that we could eat in the room and pack for our early morning. Unfortunately, we had to reserve a cab and didn't have the option of the shuttle or Metro because our flight was so early. So we pretty much got packed up and got a tiny amount of sleep.

January 4

Actually got up quite early and headed to the Metro, stopping for a croissant on the way. We got to the Louvre about 8:40 and got in the little line to wait for the gates to open at 9 AM. While waiting, we got to admire the inverted pyramid (AKA the location of the holy grail, according to Robert Langdon).

I bought a Da Vinci Code audio tour and dragged Brendan around with me. It took me by lots of the highlights, especially along the Grand Gallery in the Denon wing. We saw Mona Lisa, which was impressive in person, despite being all glassed up and barricaded. Also, The Winged Victory of Samothrace, which was amazing.

We covered A LOT of ground. We walked by all the wonderful Flemish and Dutch paintings, and the amazing Rubens room. Then we stopped and went to eat lunch in the food court...it was very crowded, but we needed substinence. I had a 3 cheese panini...yum!

Heading towards the Egyptian wing, we saw the medieval Louvre excavation, which is the fortress that the castle was built upon...very interesting.

Next up, we visited all the Egyptian antiquities. We were greeted by the sphinx.

It was unbelievable how many artifacts there were! They probably have sarcophagi piled up in their storage rooms! So much to see...very cool. We detoured back by Venus de Milo...beautiful.

From there we went to look at the Mesopotamian artifacts, including the Code of Hammurabi and the amzing Winged Bulls from the palace of Sargon II.

We were getting pretty tired from all the walking around, but I did want to make one more stop and see the Napoleon III Apartments, a series of fancy rooms that were preserved in the Richelieu wing. It was close to 6 PM and closing time, so we headed back to the hotel to rest a bit.

We decided to take the Birmingham girl's advice and visit a restaurant called le "Relais de l'Entrecôte." There was a little line, but were were seated pretty quickly since there were only two of us. All they ask you as you order is if you want your steak rare, medium, or well done. Then they bring you a salad and bread. We also ordered a half bottle of the house red wine, which was nice. Next up comes a plate with steak and frites. I swear, everything comes with fries! We decided to get a dessert and took the waitress' recommendation. We had a stacked dessert with merengue and ice cream...very tasty!

The night was still young, so we went to a place called Academie de Bieres. We tried a few good Belgian brews. Seemed like a cool college place.

Headed back to the hotel to catch some ZZZs.

January 3

This morning, we slept in a bit, then packed up and moved our bags to our next hotel, in the Latin Quarter. While we were waiting about 20 minutes for our room, we walked down the street and bought a sandwich at the boulangerie, then some other snacks at a fancy grocery store. After munching in the room, we walked to the Pantheon.

We bought a ticket and walked in to find a very strange art installation that was still in progress. They were basically pouring these lightweight plastic pellets into huge white pantyhose and hanging them from the ceiling. Umm okay...

Then we went into the crypt downstairs and some tombs of Voltaire, Rousseau, Braille, LaGrange, and others.

We walked out and hopped the Metro to go check out Île St. Louis. It's the smaller island, and it had lots of cute shops. Our first stop was in a café to warm up with a drink. I had a hot chocolate and it was delish, while Brendan did a café-au-lait. We wandered down the street and looked in lots of the shops and made some little purchases.

We strolled along the Seine and went to the Bastille, or so we thought. I guess Brendan and I aren't too well versed on French history, because we were expecting some kind of old building we could take a tour of. But no, not only was the Bastille stormed in the French Revolution, it also was torn down. Good to know. There is a monument there, as well as a modern looking opera house.

We decided to do a bit more shopping so we went to the Opéra Metro stop to see the beautiful classical Opéra de Paris Garnier. Just across the street were the big department stores Printemps & Galleries Lafayette. We headed into the latter which boasts a spectactualr blue dome, conveniently located above the tons of cosmetic counters.

We were pretty worn out and had sore feet, so we headed back to the hotel for a little nap. Of course, a little nap turned into several hours. I woke up and was pretty hungry around 10 PM, so I dragged Brendan out to a pizza place around the corner. We had pizza with chorizo sausage...very tasty! From there we went back to bed, planning an early morning the next day.

January 2

Versailles day! We got up pretty early and bought some food to pack in Brendan's backpack. Then we took the double decker RER train to the Versailles station, which took about 30 minutes. We walked about a half mile up to the chateau, along with a big crowd of people.

We jumped in a big line and waited about an hour to get in to buy the tickets. It was very chilly, but not too unbearable. We decided to sign up for a guided tour, but we had a little free time first, so we toured the dauphin's chambers. Then we looked for a bathroom, but the one at the chateau had a super long line, so we wandered into the garden, going to the bathroom symbol on the map. It was super rainy at this point, so we got all wet, and then, the bathroom was closed. Grr! Oh well...we went back up to the chateau and found a dry spot inside to wait for our tour.

Our tour had about 20 other people, and the guide was a young French woman. Her English was very good. We went through the kings and queen private quarters and then ended in the beautiful Opera which was built for the marriage of Louis XVI to Marie Antoinette.

From there, we jumped right into the public tour. We saw tons of rooms...can't remember them all now! The photos below show the Chapel and the Hall of Mirrors. Part of the Hall of Mirrors was closed off for restoration.

We stopped in the shops as the tour was winding down. We headed back outside where it was quite cold & damp and took the little bus to the Trianons. First stop was the Petit Trianon, but we were low on time, so we just went to the Grand Trianon and hopped off there. When we got inside, we only had 15 minutes left, but that turned out to be enough time to look around.

We had to wait a while for the bus to come back around, so we snacked on some bread, cheese, and salami. The ride back to the chateau was bitterly cold, and we were excited to get back to the hotel. We met up with Ginny and Sara. Sara decided to stay in and pack up, since they were leaving the next day.

Ginny, Brendan and I all headed to Bofinger (that's bow-fawn-jay, y'all) for dinner. I had made a reservation and we were promptly seated. We had a really good meal, which is how it should be since the bill came in at €160! We had some oysters which were served with little pieces of bread, butter, vinegar and lemon...I have to say, I missed the saltines and cocktail sauce. Ginny and I also shared a huge chafing dish with sausage and sauerkraut and potatoes...so yummy! After a tasty mousse for dessert, we all headed back to the hotel.

January 1

It was supposed to be an early morning, but we slept in a bit, and then got on the internet to see what was open today. Ginny & Sara had headed down to get some breakfast, but we were being slow, and couldn't find them once we were ready. Brendan & I bought some croissants and juice and headed toward the Eiffel Tower. The line to go up was snaking all over the ground and so we just took a few pictures and decided to come back another time.

We hopped back on the Metro and went to the Jardin du Luxembourg. Before entering the gates, we munched on a burger at Quick, which is the big MacDonalds competitor. The burgers were very tasty. We entered the garden, which was still lush and green despite the chilly winter weather. We followed a recommended path in my map book. A small tangent...I carried "The Paris MapGuide" with me everywhere and it was very useful. Follow this link if you are interested. We started by walking by the Medici Fountain which was beautiful, then we got a good view of the Palais du Luxembourg. Also saw a bust of Beethoven and a mini statue of liberty. It was neat how hundreds of Parisians were exercising and sunning themselves in chairs, though it was chilly out. We also saw a game of petaque being played.

We hopped the Metro again and headed to the Centre Georges Pompidou. It's a really neat looking building with these hamster-tube-looking escalators on the outside. Though it was crowded inside, the line was not too bad. We saw a Rauchenburg exhibit that was very extensive, then a restrospective of Yves Klein. I don't really have an appreciation of Klein...I mean he was obsessed with the color blue and painted several plain blue canvasses. I guess it was special at the time!

We headed to the hotel and met up with Sara & Ginny. They were getting some take-out sandwiches and chilling at the hotel, so Brendan and I headed out to a Chinese restaurant we saw in Fodors. It was right off the Champs-Elysees. I had some yummy coconut chicken that was served in a coconut. Steamed rice was extra. It was my favorite meal so far. We also ran into this loud girl from Birmingham...she gave us some good restaurant tips. We headed back to the hotel and hit the sack.