Summer Three-City Tour – Paris

This was my fourth trip to Paris, and can I just say . . . I love this city. There is so much to do and see, you could just keep visiting for years and not see it all. Having said that, most of the sites on my summer three-city tour with my granddaughters, I had seen before, but still truly enjoyed the time in this lovely city.

We, of course, had to visit the Louvre. The building itself is just spectacular with incredible and awe-inspiring architecture. I never cease to be amazed by how beautiful the buildings are here and throughout most of Europe. We have some cool buildings in the US, but not quite like these.

Of course, when visiting the Louvre, it’s hard to miss the Pyramid. I like it, especially the part underground, where it comes to a point. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a picture this time around, so I am sharing one I took a few years ago with a friend. I find the patterns and shapes in the upside-down pyramid very appealing. Unique.

There was some controversy between my granddaughters about the Pyramid. Some liked it and some didn’t, very similar to the Parisians I suppose. Apparently the design of the Pyramid was very controversial at the time. A little too modern for the time and place. As it turns out though, the pyramid is a huge tourist attraction in Paris.

We spent a good bit of time at the Louvre, as you should, so we ended up having lunch at one of the cafés in the museum. I was able to capture this picture of the Louvre and the Eiffel Tower. Have I said already that I love this place? I do.

As we did in Berlin, we signed up for the bus tour; however, this time we also had a tour down the Seine included. It was lovely.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful to live in one of these places? It would be amazing to experience the excitement of Paris and live by the Seine.

I’ve always thought of the Seine as romantic. You hear stories of couples walking along the riverbank, crossing one of the many bridges hand in hand. Movies have been made about love in Paris. Paris is the city of love and the architecture is part of the romantic beauty of the city. Cruising down the Seine you see the city from a different view, but it is one that is just as beautiful.

I was so sad about Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. It was such a beautiful, peaceful place inside; I hope they are able to restore it to its former status. They are clearly working on it now.

This is a picture of the spire that I took in 2008. If you watched the cathedral burn on TV, you saw this spire fall. It was so sad.

We spent a good bit of time around the Eiffel Tower and the surrounding area. It was fun for the girls to see it during the day, it is massive, but I wanted them to see it at night too.

We were able to get fairly close early in the evening and work our way a little closer as night fell.

We had so much fun people watching and seeing the sites. This evening was one of our high points. Look at those happy faces in front of the Eiffel Tower.

Versailles was one of our must-sees for the trip. Getting to it was a little bit of an adventure in the middle of our big adventure. Walking to Paris Metro, Metro to RER Line, RER to Versailles. Sounds simple, but glad there were four of us to keep it straight.

Versailles is massive. If you visit, make sure you have plenty of time to see everything you want to see, the great halls and rooms inside the Palace, the Gardens, Stables, the Trianon, and the Petite Trianon. You could spend the entire day trying to see everything and still need more time.

One of the things I most remember about my visits to Versailles is the Petite Trianon and Marie-Antoinette’s attachment to the small estate. It was situated on a small portion of the larger Versailles estate and Marie-Antoinette used it as a place to get away from palace life. She would have her guests or friends visit her there; they would stage plays, have dinners and so on.

Had a lovely late lunch after our visit to Versailles. It was so nice to sit under the trees at the sidewalk cafe and have something nice to eat and a cool drink after our time in the warm sun of the Versailles gardens.

On our last evening in Paris, everyone wanted to go back to the first restaurant where we had lunch the day we arrived in Paris. Lovely little sidewalk café right in the middle of everything. The food was great and we had a lovely time.

I love this view from the Arc de Triomphe, I have a couple of these pictures from different visits to Paris, but this one is my favorite. What a spectacular view of Paris. I’m so pleased that the girls got to see this sunset on their last night in Paris.

Boarding the Eurostar for our trip to London! City three of our summer three-city tour coming soon!

To see more of our Summer Three-City Tour click the link for London or Berlin.