Well, after getting to bed at 11:30 the night before, we didn't quite get out of the Hotel by 7:30 the next morning. So we didn't get to Versailles until about 10:30 where we encountered a long line of about three football fields long or about a 1.5 hour wait. (We had decided in advance not to buy a $125 ticket each to get in free to certain museums, skip the lines, and pay for all transportation. For us, it was a good decision because we got along with a lot less cost. This was our only long line.) We stood in line with a grandmother, her friend, and two grandchildren of about 8 and 11 years. We talked in French and I played slap-the-hands with the 8-year old boy.
Sacre Coeur
Mom's best-liked site was the Sacre Coeur built on the highest hill overlooking Paris. It is very striking and peaceful.
We sat peacefully at a sidewalk cafe, had dinner, looked up at the beautiful sight. I think that we may have sat peacefully because it hurt to walk. The metro station is at the bottom of the hill and I don't know if we didn't see escalators or if there weren't any. Anyway, the flights and flights of stairs that we took and took and took, took their toll on our poor old knees.
La Sorbonne
I have also been intrigued by the Sorbonne, the University of Paris. So I had to see it. It is a large building the length of the entire block and half as wide. It has a monitored entrance so not just anyone can enter (I didn't get in). Because of the fountain in front, we loved the water sound and ate there twice at side-walk restaurants.
Our eating consisted of buying yogourt and bananas the night before at a small neighborhood grocery store and putting over our mult-grain cereal that we brought with us for breakfast. Then we bought a fancy lunch at the sites that we visited at about 2:30 p.m. to save time and to enjoy the ambiance. Then we had snacks at night. Incidentally, mom liked french crepes with sugar and cinnamon so much that she had to buy them at side-walk vendores about once or twice a day.
Eiffel Tower
We spent about two hours walking the garden, sitting at the opposite end of the garden, and taking pictures of the Eiffel Tower through dusk and night.
Arc de Triomphe
I had better put in a picture of mom at the Arc de Triomphe. We walked the famous Champs de L'Elysees twice. The second time mom wanted to look at fashions in several of the stores. I stayed outside and at one point I made a fashion statement of my own by probably being the first person to pull out my ipad and reading a Louis L'Amour (french right?) short story right on the fashionable Champs de L'Elysees.
Interesting Pictures
I like two rather impressionistic pictures that we took at the Seine at night without stabilizing my camera -- so the pictures are blurred. But, I like the "aura" of a mystical and romantic Paris that the blurriness creates. One sees the Seine, boats, Notre Dame, and a beautiful full moon.
We loved our stay in PARIS!
(Yes we loved our stay in Paris!! Mom)
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