Europe Part 4: Paris

We did it ... 4 months after returning we're finally finishing the posts and pictures of the trip. Better late than never??? haha! (If you're wondering if you missed something, you didn't.... we pretty much posted part 3 and 4 together.) So here it is ... our last stop! Paris!

Here we are at church. We didn't understand anything that was going on in the meeting ...

This was the day we went shopping down the famous Champs Elysees. This is a Toyota concept car in the Toyota store. That bag Seth is carrying has some crazy macaroons in them and other french pastry types. It was a long walk up and down toward the Arch de Triumph.

One of the many baguettes we enjoyed in France. Seth even started going out every morning to get something fresh and new from the nearby bakery.

This is Versailles. A lot of gold everywhere, miles and miles of gardens, and the former home of Marie Antoinette!

Here is one of the walls of the palace. Apparently they haven't re-gold plated (that's not a word) the full building yet.

This was a familiar site ... Lindsay and Scott standing in line for the bathroom. I understand why pregnant Linz is in line so often, but what was up with Scott??? I think he had to go more than she did!

The Hall of Mirrors...

Here we are behind the palace in the gardens. That lake behind us is waaaay back there, those are boats on it in the distance. Apparently the king would have his own little ship battles on that lake just for the fun of it.

Some more shots of the extravagant gardens at Versailles. Stuff like this stretched literally for miles!

Notre Dame was a familiar site. We were living about a block away and crossed the courtyard almost daily.

This is in the Louvre. Up at the top of the stairs is Winged Victory. Seth started having that familiar feeling, almost like deja vu. Like ... he's been here before, ya know?

It was when we got to this room that he knew where he had seen and walked these halls before. This is the room that contains the Mona Lisa. He laughed as he said, "oh I know how I know this place ... from playing The DaVinci Code game on the Xbox!" haha! Apparently he went all through the Louvre in a few levels of the game. He knew where hallways were, stairs, elevators. It was hilarious!

By the way ... no pictures (and you can see everyone has their hands up with a camera in their hands)

And yes, we took a picture too...

At the inverted pyramids. Had to get a shot of this ... since it was in the movie and all. (The DaVinci Code)

After the Louvre we got tickets to go to the top of Notre Dame. See the gargoyles in the background?

The famous Quasimodo bell.

Some more gargoyles. Why would they put these things on churches? (Not asking for an explanation, we get it, but why? ya know?)

Here's a shot from the top of Notre Dame tower. What you are looking at is the apartment we stayed in. It's in one of those buildings to the left of the bridge.

Great shot of the Eiffel Tower overlooking Paris from the top of Notre Dame.

And again ... Notre Dame

Ok, so the Gellato was amazing in Italy, the Daim was good in Switzerland, but here in France they also had these Glaciers. If you go there find the plaque that says Berthillon. You won't regret it. It was amazing how incredibly flavor packed these fruity scoops of heaven were. So rich you could just barely finish it, but when it's gone you want to go buy another! Seth's is Strawberry ... mine is Rhubarb! mmmm...

Ferry ride to the Eiffel Tower

Stopped here every time we went to the Eiffel Tower. They make crazy good crapes here, and everyone knows I LOVE cotton candy! Seth is also taking town a green apple slushy! We mentioned the crazy flavorful ice cream ... but amazingly they also had crazy flavorful slushies, perfect for when it got hot out there!

Here we are, part way up the Eiffel Tower and about to hop on the next elevator to the top!

Seth was making me so mad by holding the camera over the edge to take shots like this ... I don't care if the strap is around his wrist I don't wanna risk losing our pictures!! haha!

We stayed up there and watched the sunset ...

The view was incredible ...

Posing for the camera ...

And if you're wondering why Seth looks kinda weird ... it's because it was windy up there!

And we had to smooch at the top ... it's what the French would do, right?

We stood in line for a good hour to get back down, but when we did we got there just in time for them to turn the lights on! (And no, this is not the Vegas Eiffel Tower)

Visiting another spot, the church of Napoleon's tomb.

Napoleon I's tomb looks great ...

But look at Napoleon Bonaparte's tomb ... puts the others to shame! haha

This is how we had to travel around when it came to stairs. Seth would pretty much push me up everywhere we went ... including the 400+ spiral staircase to the top of Notre Dame!

Here's a tip for you future France travelers ... If you get lost in the subway tunnels ... just follow the Sortie!

This is The Opera ... the building most people would know as the setting of Phantom of the Opera.

Does this staircase look familiar? (Masquerade!!!!)

Here we are in our seats, we went to a Ballet in the Opera building. I enjoyed it. Seth thought it was kind of a snooze-fest. But he enjoyed the last dance ... the people were dressed like zombies and their dancing was like doing the robot. And he's ok with zombie-dancing robots! Every here and there between robot like movements they'd do this shimmy seizure type thing, and he'd almost laugh out loud. I hope people around didn't hear him. haha!

And here we are all tuckered out in the Airport in Paris, waiting to board the plane that will take us home. We were tired, but this picture was more for show ;) It was a great trip and we're glad we went!

If you decide to go back and review any of the other parts, you will notice that Seth is wearing the exact same jacket/vest in every picture. He bought this jacket just for our trip. He wanted something with pockets on the inside and that is what he got, this thing has like 25 pockets in it!!! He loved this thing, he wore it everywhere and it literally carried everything, and from the outside you'd never know! Take that pick pocket people ;) I didn't have to carry a purse around the whole time. Here's an example of how much stuff he had on him ... take for instance the Opera:

Cell phone, iPod, Camera, keys to the apartment, wallet (in a hidden pocket of course), Passports (mine and his), money (carried it separate from the wallet and his credit cards), multiple maps (one as large as a magazine), tickets, small LED flashlight, umbrella, 20 oz. water bottle, package of tissues, package of hand sanitizer, pack of gum, my lip gloss, lotion, and anything else I needed including 3-4 snacks (granola bars etc) and in the back pocket he would carry the hood of his jacket and when he took the sleeves off and made it a vest he'd store those in there too! Ok ... that was just the stuff he carried around daily ... when we were at the Ballet he even snuck in a package containing 2 large macaroons and the quarter size can of Pringles. (I was starving and made him go out and get me food! haha)

The security guards had no idea, and when we'd get to a metal detector he'd just take off his whole jacket and run it through their scanners. One time he forgot to take it off! He tried to step back and take his jacket off for the scanner but the French guard said heck no, get over here and broke out his little detector wand. It was hilarious ... it would beep, Seth would take something out of his pocket. It would beep again, Seth would take something out of another pocket. This went on for quite awhile down the whole right side of his body. When the security guard was satisfied with that side he moved to the left, Seth opened his jacket and revealed that he had just as many pockets on the left side as he did the right!!! The security guard was very upset, rolled his eyes and just told us to get our stuff and go! haha! Seth just smiled and said, "Jokes on him ... I could have done this all day." ;) If anyone wants to know, Seth says it's the SeV Evolution Jacket, and he highly recommends it for travel!

Anywhoo, that's our story! So many memories that we hope did the trip justice as we gave you a taste of our experience out there! Thanks to Seth's 900+ pictures we had a lot to show for it! Next time we post something it'll probably be for a baby announcement!