| Sunday, Oct 14, we spent mostly walking around the city. We walked
through the Eiffel Tower gardens to
our first
stop which was the Hotel National Des Invalides, a military hospital built by
Louis XIV, 1671-1674. Napoleon and his son are said to be buried
beneath the dome. Then we went to the Basilique Sainte Clothilde
(although we couldn't go in due to a mass in service).
Then we walked along the River Seine where we passed the Museum D’Orsay and the Hotel des Mornales, formerly the French Mint. We kept going over to the island where the Ministry of Justice is located. We also went into the Sainte Chapelle where the fifteen panels of stained glass depicted the books of the Old Testament. And finally we made our way to the Cathedral of Notre Dame which was absolutely beautiful. After visiting the church, we climbed the stairs up to the towers to see the gargoyles and the inside of the bell tower itself. After seeing Notre Dame, we walked back toward Les Invalides. As we passed over the Seine we saw the Musee Du Louvre. That night we decided to search for a French restaurant and found a French Bistro where we all had a taste of authentic, French cooking. |
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| Monday, Oct 15, was our last full day in Paris (and our trip for
that matter). We went back to the Eiffel Tower so that we could go
up to the summit. You can only walk abut 1/2 of the way up and the
rest of the way you have to go by elevators. Then we walked over to
the Arc de Triumph. We didn't go up inside of it but we went
underneath it to see the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
We took the metro over to the Paris Opera but unfortunately they were not allowing visitors. We could only go just inside the front doors. Then walked past the Palais de la Bourse (now the futures and options market) and the National Library which houses every French book published. Then we walked through the Gardens of the Royal Palace, which were beautiful grounds, to the Louvre Museum. We did not go through the Museum due to time but we walked all around it and played in the fountains. Before heading back to the hotel we saw the Sainte Germaine church (which was badly in need of restoration) and through the Luxembourg Gardens. Our last stop was the Paris Pantheon. We peaked inside but did not take the tour. We took the metro back to our hotel and just as we were getting off at our terminal, Sarah twisted her ankle jumping down the steps - good thing we were close to the hotel. So the rest of the night was quiet while Sarah rested her leg. |
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| Tuesday Oct 16th, was time to head home. We had to get up at 3 am to get
packed up and catch our taxi to the airport. they didn't have a big
enough taxi so we had to take two - two FAST taxi's. The airport
didn't even open till 5:00 so we had a long boring wait at the
airport. Finally when they opened the gates the fun began.... Amy,
Joe, and Sarah were told that our reservations were cancelled because we
didn't make our flight coming to Paris (not sure how they thought we got
there). We had to argue with them for about 1/2 hour pulling out our
old boarding passes and everything. Nothing worked though and they
insisted that our reservations were cancelled and that we would have to be
put on the waiting list for that flight - which they were sure to tell us
was going to be really full. Thank goodness it somehow worked out
and we were able to all get on the same flight (and on time). We
first flew to Milan where we had to switch planes to go back to
Chicago. The journey home was long and we were all ready for it to
be over. We parted ways (mom and dad to Detroit and Amy, Joe, and
Sarah to Houston then Phoenix) in Chicago.
What a GREAT trip!!!! |
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