Paris, Days 1 and 2

Paris is huge, and has enough to do and see that you could easily stay for a couple of weeks.  On our first two days we strolled through the Château de Versailles, ascended the Eiffel Tower, contemplated La Basilique du Sacré-Coeur de Montmartre, toured Le Louvre with excellent art-historian guides, visited The Panthéon and some of its famous permanent residents, cowered under the enormous Grande Arche de la Défense, looked for traces of noble blood on the Place de la Concorde, climbed the Arc de Triomphe, and somehow fit in some food and sleep as well.  It's because we have our own personal chauffeur, Rens, taking us from place to place that we are able to do so much - on your own using the public transit system, these two days would not be possible!  Today, however, Rens gets a well deserved break, and we are heading out in an hour to take the Metro into town.

 In front of Versailles.

 Fun times in the garden waiting for the girls...

 Is this man a bad influence?

Jennifer stays warm with her stylish chapeau.

 Behind the palace.

 Taylor and Jesse check out the Orangerie.

 Louis XIV, the Sun King, had an overwhelming desire to show that he shone so brightly, he could even control nature.  His huge, elaborate gardens are evidence of this.  This is the Orangerie, where orange trees would be wheeled out from greenhouses and set into the pattern.  Oranges, of course, do not grow this far north, so this was quite an accomplishment.

Jessica's very sad attempt to jump into the frame.  It did refocus the picture on her though.

 L'etat, c'est moi!  Gabe decided to be our Sun King, though no one seems to be paying any attention to him.  Notice Louis' face in the sun just to the left of Gabe.

 You know those obnoxious shirts you sometimes see tween girls wearing that say "It's all about me!"?  I think Louis would have proudly worn one of those.  One of the hundreds of depictions of the Sun King in his residence.

 Hannah and Kassaundra frame a shot in one of the many palace rooms.

 

In the centre of the enormous Hall of Mirrors, where the Treaty of Versailles was signed in 1919.

 Is this "the one"?  Bundled up for our trip to the top of the Eiffel Tower.

 The kids really play it up when they are 1000 feet above the City of Lights.  Josh seems to enjoy the attention?

 The City of Lights.

 On the steps of Sacre Couer.

 Bravo Reggie!

 Bravo Hannah Magdalena!

 Bravo Britnie Emily!  This guy must make a fortune.

 The boys hold up the inverted pyramid in the carousel of the Louvre while Magdalena ponders what's under their feet.

 Our wonderful guide Katherine took us to many of the great works of art housed in the Louvre.  You can see just by this one Grand Gallery that the Louvre is huge.  So huge, in fact, that one of our kids lost her group!  Every year I give all the students "emergency" cards with my cell phone number on it and instructions in various languages that the student needs help and would like to call the phone number.  For the first time ever, someone got to use the card!  I got a phone call from a nice French man who then brought our missing student back to the group.  I don't want to embarrass anyone, so I won't mention who it was, but suffice to say that the student handled the situation really well and did exactly what she was supposed to do.  I'm sure Victoria won't get lost again.

 An artists pallete in the Louvre.

 Everyone jockeys for position to get a shot of La Joconde, or, as we know it, the Mona Lisa.  France was very fortunate that DaVinci brought this somewhat obscure painting with him when he was a guest of the French king.  Despite Vincenzo Peruggia's successful theft of the painting in 1911 (he said he wanted to "repatriate" it to DaVinci's home country of Italy), the Louvre got it back and it remains the most popular of all the thousands of works of art in the gallery.

 Andrew checks out the original Coronation of Napoleon.  The day before, we saw the second copy of it, which hangs in Versailles.

 Artists can apply for three month passes to copy great works of art in the Louvre.  They sell them to people who wish to have an actual painted reproduction rather than a print.

 Everywhere you look in the Louvre, you see something interesting.

 Venus de Milo, and her famous "attitude".

 On the steps of the great neoclassical secular temple, the Pantheon.

 A little down time to relax and enjoy a laugh.

 In front of the Pantheon.

 The Grande Arche is actually a huge office tower complex that is the workplace of about 30 000 people.  The elevator was closed, and there are no stairs for public use (too bad!).  For perspective, please note that the entire Notre Dame Cathedral of Paris could fit under the arche.

 It took Mr. Johnson awhile to frame this shot.

 Rens keeps the bus sparkling clean for us.

 On the Place de la Concorde.  The Egyptian government gave this 3300 year old obelisk to France as a gift in 1829.  It's hieroglyphics detail the reign of Ramses II.

 Enjoying the sun.  In their eyes.

 Contemplating the spot where the guillotine stood during the bloody and violent years of the French Revolution.

 One of the fountains on the Place de la Concorde.  In the background directly behind the street lamp is the Church of the Madeleine, with the inscription D.O.M.SVB.INVOC.S.M.MAGDALENA

 Catherine and James share a laugh.

 Enjoying each other's company.

 Going up the 284 steps to the top of the Arc de Triomphe.

 A great Parisian perspective.  Note Andrew's lower right corner attempt to get into the picture...

 It's great to travel to Europe with your kid.  Dan and Josh, Mirella and Britnie, and Jessica all alone.

Under the impressive Arc de Triomphe as the day is coming to an end.  We were fortunate to see a short military parade celebrating a graduation from the École Militaire, which ended at the tomb of the unknown soldier of Verdun, directly under the arc.