Versailles

Tuesday morning we went to go to the little cafe again and it was closed so we went for a little larger breakfast. It was a good thing that we did that because I didn’t feed Mom again until dinner. I got a chuckle from the waitress calling eggs with breads a BIG breakfast, but she was sure impressed that we were ordering such a dish!

Cappuccino and breads 

Eggs and ham

We grabbed an Uber to Versailles (Jackson is so afraid I’ll be used to this luxurious travel style on our next trips—ha!) so that we could make our 9:00 to 9:30 window. Listen, the key to European travel is to run early by their standards. They are night owls so whenever you are the first to something, you’ll have less headaches.

We waited a few minutes and then made it into the palace. It was amazing. It made Buckingham Palace look like a shack. The rooms were so small and crowded and we were more interested in the gardens anyway so we toured rather quickly. We did enjoy the hall of mirrors, though. What an amazing room. After visiting their gift shop for some things to take home to folks (Mom is more generous than I am), we toured the gardens.

The Hall of Mirrors

Mom and I in the Hall of Mirrors

I loved the view

A gorgeous room!

Check out all of the chandeliers 

Mom.

Me.

It was so fancy!

Tiny beds!

I'd have MacKenzie in my portrait, too!

Check out those gardens!

A look at the palace

Trying to show how large the palace was

Walking through the gardens

Taking in the fountain show

I was amazed at how small the beds were!

More gardens

A look at the ceilings 

The in-law quarters FAR from the palace!

A view back to the palace

A pretty background

A look at how busy and large it was

It was a whopping 96 degrees for our tour, but we trudged around for over three hours soaking it in. I didn’t say soaking it all in because the gardens are 2,000 acres and we didn’t cover quite that much ground.

We eventually decided we were too hot and tired to enjoy any additional touring so we called an Uber back to the city. Ok, I could totally get used to such ease!! Mom is a loud sleeper (putting it kindly) so I needed a nap from her waking me up each night. I got a little power nap in before we went out for a final evening of exploration.

Another castle on the Seine 

It was fun to just soak it in. We went to dinner in a little cafe which was delicious.

The cheese here is just so fresh tasting!

Mom had a hamburger! HA!
I had a delicious salmon dish.

They know their way around seafood in these parts so I broke my own rules about seeing the ocean before ordering seafood!

I love this shot of the city from a bridge by our hotel

We went to the local grocery store to stock up on chocolate to take back home and then headed back to the hotel to pack up, clean up and hit the hay. It was a hot day of exploring, but Versailles is certainly worth a visit! 

Louvre & Paris Tour

Monday was another early morning. We grabbed breakfast at a local cafe—cappuccinos and chocolate bread! YUM!

Cappuccinos and chocolate breads!

We walked over to the Louvre for our 9:00 appointment time. It was really great to be there so early. We had a couple of rooms to ourselves which is unbelievable. We got to see all kinds of paintings and, of course, the Mona Lisa. She’s just a special the second time, I am happy to report.

A whole room to ourselves!

An English map!! It made the visit MUCH easier!

Jackson and I visited the Louvre earlier in the summer and missed getting a map in English which made navigation tricky during that trip!

I loved this ceiling

Liberty Leading the People

I just liked this one

MONA.

I liked the dogs in this one.

David with the Head of Goliath

We finished up at the Louvre and headed for Saint Chapelle. A gorgeous room made almost entirely stained glass. It was magnificent.

Magnificent. 

The room was an act of worship.

Then we strolled over and joined some new friends at the front of the line to get into the Notre Dame.

Notre Dame

Once we’d finished the morning tour, we grabbed another hop on/ hop off tour. This tour had a live guide in English and it was simply amazing. We rode for two hours without really noticing. I saw a ton of places I’d not seen before around the city and got some killer views of the Eiffel Tower, too.

Les Invalides where Napoleon Bonaparte is buried

Lunch in a cafe!

We eventually hopped off for lunch at a little cafe near the opera house. We then went on a second leg of the tour to see the other side of town.

Joan of Arc

We visited Sacre Couer—climbing to the top. It was quite warm out, around 95, so warmth plus the stairs meant Mom was huffing and puffing. The church and the views were worth her efforts, though.

We rode the buses until it was back to our neighborhood then hopped off for a little break. We were pretty sweaty and gross by then. After a little break and some washing up, we headed back out for shopping (their beauty supply stores are awesome), dinner (pizza) and a nighttime cruise down the Seine River.

We got on the boat at 21:45 which meant we were to the Eiffel Tower just in time to see its 22:00 light show. Amazing. We both absolutely loved it.

Isn't she lovely?!

It was a great day seeing ALL of Paris!!! The tour was certainly much better in Paris and I cannot recommend it enough!

Church & Chunnel

Sunday morning we grabbed an Uber and headed to Westminster Abbey for services. The tour ticket was pricey, but I’d read that anyone could attend a service so that’s what we did. They were insane about not taking photos, but I snuck a couple. The service was very...interesting. They had a guest choir in from Georgia and they did an excellent job. The Abbey was beautiful.

Looking up at the Abbey

Stunning.

Looking up during the service

The view walking out of the service

Mom after the service

We grabbed another Uber (Mom didn’t love the trains!) and got back to our side of town for lunch. I didn’t realize until later that I had forgotten to feed Mom breakfast. Good thing I never had kids!! They would starve! I wanted Mom to experience some real British food so we went to a pub for fish n’ chips with mushy peas and a chicken and mushroom pie. Mom was not sold on her fish n’ chips, but she loved the peas. My pie was amazing. I look forward to those things!

A traditional English lunch

Chicken and mushroom pie--YUM!

Mom did like the mushy peas

We checked out of our hotel and headed for the train station to catch the train to Paris. The train station was insanely busy, but we got on our train right on time and got to Paris as expected. We took a local train from the station was came into to get to the hotel. That train was insanely crowded. At that point Mom was officially over trains, I think. I got a little turned around coming out of the station, but nothing a little free Starbucks WiFi could not help us with. We got to the hotel pretty quickly only to find that they’d not separated our beds as we’d asked. Bummer. We'd be sleeping in close quarters again.

Dinner in Paris

A little gelato with a macaroon? YES!

Mom had a chocolate shake

After sneaking up to the roof to get the view of the Eiffel Tower, we went for a late dinner of steak frites. We actually had the same waitress that Jackson and I had earlier in the summer. She was lovely. I think Mom actually liked this dinner. We walked around the neighborhood, grabbed gelato and then retired for the evening. Despite being a Sunday night the area of Paris we were in (near Notre Dame) was hopping. I loved it.