Paris

I took a train from Antwerp, Belgium to Paris France where I spent my last 2 days in Europe. Everyone says the French are rude and they don't like tourists but I didn't have any problems what-so-ever. In fact, when I first got to Paris, I tried to take the Metro (train) to my hotel. I say "tried", because I don't think I will ever do that again. The Metro wasn't hard, except for my luggage. You have to follow long tunnels going up and down flight of stairs to get to the next train to go where ever you're going. By this time, I had bought a few souvenirs and it was getting difficult to carry all that luggage, especially down a lot of stairs. I actually had a lot of nice people stop and helped to carry my luggage down for me. Thank goodness I remembered how to say Thank You in French...

Palace of Versailles	Fountain at Palace of Versailles		Palace of Versailles Gardens
My first stop - The Palace of Versailles. I finally made it to my hotel around 2:00 then headed straight for the Palace of Versailles. I wasn't all that impressed with the Palace itself and it's furniture (very gaudy...) but the Gardens were absolutely unreal?! They went on forever in every possible direction. There were mazes, fountains, ice cream carts, statues and a huge pool of water (in the back of the top right picture) where they had boat rides.	Room inside Palace - who picked out those colors ?!?!?		Me in the Gardens at the Palace of Versailles
	Next, I saw the Eiffel Tower. It's so renowned that you have to take a zillion pictures of it. And besides, you can see if from just about anywhere in Paris. The thing that surprised me most was the color - I thought it was going to be silver but it's actually a brown / bronze color - who knew ?!

Behind the Palais de Chaillott, I stopped at an outdoor cafe to have lunch - which consisted of Chocolate Mousse and Beer. While I was eating, I met 2 young men - Rafael and Ladislas - who asked if I would like to join them for lunch - well, sure! Rafael spoke pretty good English so he translated (or at least tried to) for the rest of us. They happened to be police officers in Paris, 21 & 20 years old and very interesting to talk to. I asked them what French people typically think about Americans. They said we are arrogant (which made me laugh since they just finished telling me that they have the most beautiful country and the best rugby players and best looking men, etc etc), we are fat, all our planes have bombs, they don't particular like Bush and thought the whole Lewinsky scandal was stupid. They also think all Americans are rich.
	Arch de Triomphe
The Arch de Triomphe was one of my favorites in Paris. I got there a little before sunset where I was able to look around and see the museum that is inside the Arch and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier that lies in front. Then I climbed to the top and watched the sun set over Paris - which is beautiful at night, and the Arch lights up spectacularly. When I first walked to the Arch de Triomphe, I was a little confused at how to go about actually getting to it. You see, it's located in the middle of a round-about. This round-about is about 7 lines wide where cars circle the Arch until they disappear down one of the 12 streets (Champs-Elysees being one - which is famous for it's many stores and where you can find the Lido) that meet at the Arch. I'm glad I didn't drive, I would probably still be driving in circles...
	Les Invalides - where Napoleon is buried
My second day in Paris, I decided to take the L'Open Tour. It's a bus tour that you can jump on and off different buses that go to all the main attractions and come by every 10 to 15 minutes. A friend who had already been here told me about it so I decided to check it out - this was the best advice I've been given. It was the easiest way to see Paris - jump on and off when I want to and still get to see sites on the way from one thing to another. Plus, it was narrated so I learned a little more of the history on the way. I picked up my bus at the Eiffel Tower and headed to the Les Invalides. Above, you can see a picture of the outside and the inside of the dome above the Invalides. Beneath the dome lies two churches : One for the soldiers, and the other intended as a mausoleum for the king but now containing the mortal remains of Napoleon (his tomb is pictured on the right above).
Place de la Concorde	Musée du Louvre		...more Louvre Museum
After seeing Napoleon, I jumped back on my tour bus which took me to the obelisk at the Place de la Concorde. It was constructed to hold an equestrian statue of Louis XV that the city of Paris commissioned in 1748 from Bouchardon to offer to the king. Later, it became the Place de la Révolution and held in its center the guillotine that executed in particular Louis XVI, Marie-Antoinette, Danton, Robespierre, and 2800 others between 1793 and 1795. It is said that the smell of blood was so strong that a herd of cattle refused to cross the place. The place today maintains the general appearance that it had in the eighteenth century. The statue of Louis XV, removed during the Revolution, was replaced by the Obelisk of Luxor given by the viceroy of Egypt and several fountains.
		From there, I walked through the Jardin des Tuileries (Left) which are a magnificent set of gardens between Place de la Concorde and the Louvre. I could have sworn that no one in Paris works. All you have to do is come to this garden because it was packed with lots of people - and the majority didn't look like tourists. Musée du Louvre is a famous Art Museum that is absolutely huge!? It is well known throughout the world for being soooo incredibly big and for housing the Leonardo da Vinci's painting of The Mona Lisa as well as many other famous pieces of art. Unfortunately, I did not have time to get lost in the building (someone told me they went in and spent 4 hours and didn't even see 1/2) but I did make it to Musée d'Orsay which is another well known art museum in Paris (see below). I was able to see some wonderful sculptures in Musée d'Orsay as well as lots of Impressionist paintings from famous painters such as Vincent van Gogh, Claude Monet & Auguste Renoir.
Musée d'Orsey	Notre Dame		Rose Window in Notre Dame
Notre Dame (above) was another favorite of mine in Paris. It was kind of dark inside but had 2 beautiful rose windows that helped to feed light into the cathedral. Even so, there were a few modern additions - like the confessions. It almost looked like you were going in to be tortures. Plexiglass rooms where people can see in but can't be heard with tables and chairs - almost like watching Law & Order. It's a Gothic cathedral with lots of very cool statues and gargoyles on the outside. I sat and had one of the most expensive lunches I've ever had outside while I people watched and found more gargoyles.