Paris

sorry this took so long...

We spent the next three days in the beautiful city of Paris. The first day we did a lot of walking and saw the Louvre, Arc de Triomph and Notre Dame Cathedral. Out of those three my favourite would have to be the Louvre. We didn't go inside since its humongous and would take hours to go through, and the fact that none of us are really into museums or art. The only thing in there that I know of is the Mona Lisa, which I've heard is disappointing to see in person anyways because its really small. So we just enjoyed taking pictures of the outside and had a little break by one of the many fountains surrounding the building.

Arc de Triomphe

The Louvre


Notre Dame Cathedral

Our second day was spent at Disneyland Paris. Our family didn't go to Disneyland when we were younger so we were all pretty excited to unleash our inner child. The excitement wore off after we realized there weren't many adult rides. I think in total we went on five rides all day and only one of those was a roller coaster. We stood in line for a while to get Cinderella and Prince Charming autographs for Lacey's girls. We also got a recording of them saying hi to all of my nieces, which was worth the wait! I'm glad we went to Disneyland but I would never go back unless I had kids with me.

Saturday was our last day in Paris and we started the day by going to see Moulin Rouge. It is in the beautiful Montmarte area of Paris, which is built on a hill. Once you get to the top you have a gorgeous view of the city. The streets in this area are very cute and Parisian looking. They are lined with cafes, bakeries and souvenir shops. We used our last day as our shopping day (we can't go to a city without shopping!) and spent a few hours at various clothing stores. We also got some nice souvenirs at booths set up along the River Seine.


Our last stop before dinner was the Eiffel Tower. We didn't go up the tower but spent an hour or so walking around the base of it and trying to get a picture of the three of us with as much of the tower as possible. Not very easy! I basically had to lay on the ground to get the first shot, but it was worth it. We had dinner at a nearby pizzeria then walked back to the tower to see it at night with the lights on. After eating the most delicious Nutella and banana crepe ever, we got back on the underground to go to our flat. We were leaving early the next morning so had to pack that night, as well as try and find a hotel for our four nights in London (yes, the night before we were to leave we still didn't have a hotel, but more about that later).

Paris is gorgeous. I would have enjoyed it more if I could speak more than five words of French (it's very stressful not knowing the language) but it's definitely a city I want to spend more time in.

A Little Busy...

I'm sorry I haven't posted about the rest of our trip. I promise I will but I've been a little sidetracked with packing and trying to make the most of the last couple of weeks. Hopefully in the next few days I can find some time to write about it.

Just so you know, today is our last day here. We leave early tomorrow morning. SCARY!!!!

Normandy

The first three days of our trip were spent in Normandy, France. We flew into Paris, rented a car and drove to the coast. Our first stop was Mont St. Michel, a rocky tidal island with a small town (population: 50) and a monastary. As we were driving up to it Lacey informed us that it is the number one tourist attraction in France and by the amount of people there, I believe her. Everything about the island was beautiful and we spent several hours checking out the 1000 year old monastary as well as the gift shops. We had to have our car out of the parking lot by 9:30 because of the incoming tide. We wanted to stick around to see the tide come in but we ended up driving straight to our hotel (we were all pretty tired from getting no sleep the night before).
We spent the next day around the D-Day beaches of WWII. The first place we went to was a museum with information about all the countries involved in the battle of Normandy. There was also a war memorial there. We then went to Juno beach, which is the beach the Canadians landed on. There is a museum there that is specific to the Canadian battles and what life would have been like during that time. The museum was interesting, but Amy and I spent most of our time walking along the beach. We had a long drive to our next hotel so after a quick stop for pizza, we headed towards Paris.
The next day was all about Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette and the Palace of Versailles. The palace was HUGE, especially the gardens. Inside, we got to see several rooms, including the hall of mirrors and the king and queens beds. You weren't allowed to use flash inside so a lot of my pictures didn't turn out but I did get a few good ones. There were several other buildings on the property, including two smaller (although they were still pretty big) palaces. Marie Antoinette also had a country home, which was a 10 minute walk from the main palace, where she would go to get away from everything.
The first three days were a lot of fun but we were all excited to get to Paris.

Versailles gardens with the palace in the background

Versailles

view of the gardens from inside

hall of mirrors

Versailles

Juno Beach

WWII war memorial

Mont St. Michel street

Mont St. Michel

I'm Back.............

After 11 long, exhausting, amazing, exciting days I am finally back in Edinburgh. The train ride from London took nine hours when its only supposed to take four (tree branch on the line or something like that), but I'm back and ready to sleep in tomorrow! I'll try and write several posts over the next few days to tell you all about our exciting adventures. We all had an amazing time, despite now being deep in debt. I won't say much about it now except that I think Paris might be my favourite city ever. Its just so... beautiful. I've got more than 500 pictures and tons of stories to share so get ready!!