France

France was quite different from what we had experienced about Europe so far. Overall I liked it. Seeing the sites was really neat and were all so beautiful. 

The things I didn't like included: crazier drivers, snooty air about people, dirtier, no English subtitles on any signs, and the people either didn't or pretended to not speak English as well.

That being said we still had a great time and I wouldn't say no to going back to visit again.

We rode the train into the city and left our car at our hotel. I took a picture for Will since it was a double-decker and that means it's pretty cool.

This just screamed Paris to me.... what a beautiful building with the iron balconies and cafe on the bottom. SO many of these types of buildings everywhere. They are adorable!

Visiting the Pantheon. Quite the impressive building! We all enjoyed seeing the famous or distinguished people that are buried here. Jamie ran across a few of her favorite authors. 

Louis Braille---- the man who invented Braille

Next, we walked over to Notre Dame!!! On the way we picked up some chocolate croissants (not as good as the ones we ate from McDonalds that morning!!! ) and then stopped for some lunch and had the most amazing crepe filled with nutella! Wowza, we went for a few more of those later in the day as well!

Notre Dame is so amazing!!! It's right next to the river where there was the most darling old man playing an accordion and I loved just walking around this building. We then realized it was free to go inside so we were able to tour inside as well!

Caught a few of the cherry blossoms! Loved it!

Can't quite remember which building this is but check out that gate!

We took a little stroll along the river under those trees on the right. It was romantic and wonderful being in Paris together!

After our walk we happened upon one of the famous love locks.... There was a little lady there selling locks and she had a small one for 2 euros. Dale surprised me and was all into it.. It was super cheesy but fun none the less. We wrote our initials, locked onto the bridge and threw the key away into the river. I guess this means we now have unbreakable love :) 

Tiny, blue lock in the middle

Walking through and around the Louvre. This building is incredible from the outside and I can only imagine how amazing it would be on the inside. We just did not have the time to make paying the money worth it. We could spend a week or longer exploring (it is massive)!

A beautiful park on the way to the Arc de Triomphe

We walked a TON on this day. Our feet felt bruised for days after... It was painful. As we grew closer to the Arc de Triomphe we noticed more and more police, military and road closures. We had noticed a few earlier in the day but just thought it was for added security measures. However, the Arc was temporarily closed due to the Prime Minister of Australia visiting.... they had the whole set up going. Marching band, police on motorcycles, giant flag.  We couldn't see or hear much but we sure wish we would have known because we would have reversed the order of our day. For over an hour we huddled under a small awning of a souvenir shop, freezing, waiting to go inside. The clouds finally let loose and the rain started, bummer. 

When we finally were able to go up the Arc, it was totally worth it. The view from the top is incredible! 360 degree views of the entire city. And those stairs were amazing... Jamie counted (200+?) and I was certainly out of breath with really tired legs by the top, plus a little dizzy!

In the middle of the city... All the roads lead to the Arc de Triomphe

As we made our way over to the Eiffel Tower it really started raining. We pulled out the ponchos which luckily we had. It was fine until our shoes got soaked and then we were just miserable and wet! But, I had to get this picture which my sister had said was a must :)

The Eiffel Tower was WAY bigger than I had expected! I would have loved to spent more time, but it was late and we were wet, tired and hungry. So we hailed a taxi and went to our hotel. 

The next morning we spent at the Palace of Versailles. What a beautiful palace! It was so fun to explore. Minus the thousands of people and feeling like a sardine.

The chapel with organ inside the home

So grandeur and detailed. Wow, I loved all the effort they put into everything!

Hall of Mirrors

We decided to go ahead and pay to see the gardens. It started out really nice. Then it started to rain. Then it started to hail. We ran for it and sure wished we would have saved our money on that one. Oh well. 

Huge. Huge. Huge staircases!

You could easily get lost in these gardens!