Friday, May 6, 2011

Friday, Last Day

Friday, May 6 2011.

Today is the last day of the trip.  "Not ready to go home" is a huge understatement.  I left home on April 1 and figured 5 weeks would be a good long time.  It was, but eventually May 6 rolled around and we have to wrap it up.  No real reason to return home, though - I have my Travelers laptop with me, so I could just work from France and make a life of it!  But Heidi wants to go home and see Liam, understandably, so we take off at noon Saturday for home. 

For the last day, we wanted to wrap up some loose ends and visit some more relaxing places.  So here you go.

First, Sacre-Coeur in Montmartre.

And the view from the Montmartre hill over the city.

Next we visited the Parc Floral de Paris, in the Bois de Vincennes at the eastern edge of Paris - where there were sights like this.  


Finally, a few wrap-up photos from where we've been staying.  As you can see from this map, the location was just about perfect - 2 blocks from the Louvre Museum in central Paris.   

Here are a few of the local stores and restaurants we visited nearly every day.


Here is the living room of the apartment, where you can see the actual computer used to update this blog every day...  Oh by the way, there is wine showing up in this picture - which was taken after noon by the way. 

And one last shot from the living room window of the neighborhood.

That's it for the this trip.  We are already planning the next one, so stay tuned.  Thanks for following along with us.

Thursday, May 5, 2011

Jardin de Luxembourg & City Views

Thursday, May 5 2011.

Today we visited the Luxembourg Gardens and the Tour Montparnasse to see the city from the 56th floor.

A couple of shots from Luxembourg.


And Paris from the top of Montparnasse.

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Versailles

Wednesday, May 4 2011.

We visited Versailles all day today.  The first part of the day was very calm and peaceful, strolling through the gardens, rowing a boat in the canal, lunch in the grass.  Then we visited the Palace where there was a horde of people shoving their way through the tour like they had a tiger on their tail.  Not enjoyable at all. 

A few days ago we saw the Conciergerie where Marie Antoinette was imprisoned.  Today we saw where she lived.  Nice house.  Nice backyard.



Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Museums and Monuments

Tuesday, May 3 2011.

Today was a museum and monument day.  First (and only) museum was Orsay, followed by a quick dash to the Eiffel Tower, Place General-de-Gaulle and various other destinations.  No pictures were allowed in the museum, but here are a few from the other locations.



Monday, May 2, 2011

Prisons and Cemeteries

Monday, May 2 2011.

Today we visited the Conciegerie and Cemetery Pere-Lachaise.  It rained lightly for most of the day, so it seemed appropriately gloomy.  The Conciergerie was once a palace and later a prison, where the likes of Marie-Antoinette once had a room.  The cemetery is the largest within Paris and apparently a big tourist draw as we saw lots of visitors.  Here are a few shots of the cemetery. 


Sunday, May 1, 2011

Paris Sunday

Sunday, May 1 2011.

Today was a casual sightseeing day.  For most of the day, Heidi and I walked around to see some of the city.  We started out with a walk on Ile de la Cite where we came across a ticket sale for Vivaldi's Four Seasons being performed tonight at Sainte-Chapelle.  Decided to buy tickets for that.  Had breakfast at a nearby cafe, which consisted of two coffees and two crepes for the amazing bargain of $32.  Continued walking through Ile St Louis, along Rue Rivoli, through the Tuileries and along the Champs-Elysees to Arc de Triomphe.  Then back to the apartment on the Metro to change clothes for the concert.  While standing in the long line to get into the Chapel, the funniest thing was the large number of tourists envious of the tickets we had in our hands - the concert was sold out and many people were still looking to buy.  The concert was great, and the chapel was incredible.  

Notre Dame from this morning.

Sainte-Chapelle, where the concert was held.

Trip to Paris

Saturday, April 30 2011.

Sadly, packed up our luggage, cleaned out the apartment, and left Nice behind on Saturday morning.  Didn't have enough time to buy a condo there, but there's always next time to do more searching.

Saturday was mostly a travel day, on the TGV from 9:00 to 3:00.  Here are a few shots of the voyage.


In Paris, we checked into the next apartment and spent a few hours walking around before having dinner.  All of these shots are within a 10 minute walk of the apartment.  Nice location.



Here is the apartment - two stories above the toy store...