Paris!!!

Dan and I were able to go to Paris for our four year anniversary! We dropped Vinson off at the Wicker's house and caught our flight. Poor Dan had been so busy with school and work that he didn't even have time to research Paris or get excited. We wanted to see everything right when we got there so we walked from our hostel to the eiffel tower. This was fun, but things are at least three times farther apart than they look on the Paris maps. Our hostel was fairly close to Notre Dame. By the time we got to the Eiffel Tower I had shin splints (haven't had those since high school cross country) and was feeling all of those muscles that you use when you're pregnant because you're leaning back more. It was fun though!! Notice how Dan and I accidently had the same type jacket so we look like goofy tourists in all of our pictures.
The next day was France's "labor day." In Prague and the U.S. everything is open on holidays that is touristy because it's a big day for tourists, but Paris is different. The gardens at Versailles were open and the Eiffel Tower. Good thing I found this out before hand, or it could have been very frustrating. The gardens at Versailles were amazing! I was expecting more flower arrangements, but it was very green.


Then we tried to hit all of the sights that were further away from the center. Here we are at the Arc de Triomphe.

Our next stop was Sacre Coeur. Interestingly enough, it was open!!! And very pretty! One of the best parts was that it's so high up on a hill that you can see a lot of Paris from the steps. It's also pretty close to Moulin Rouge, so of course since we were that close we had to see it.
Dan didn't know what we were looking for and pointed out every wind mill (and there are several around there.) "No that's not it. I'll know it when I see it. Believe me. . . . There it is!"
We ended up at the Eiffel Tower again.
It was our anniversary afterall.
Then we walked to the oblisk. (This is where the guillotine was). And walked some more.

Even though we both were very sore, Friday was our last day and the only day to go into any churches or museums.

So we got up early and saw the inside of Notre Dame. Very pretty!

Then we headed to Sainte-Chapelle which was quite different. The inside was crazy painted and had stained glass all over the place. Some interesting facts. This church only took 5 years to build. It cost 40,00 livres to build the church itself, and another 135,000 livres to purchase the relics of "the thorns" from Christ's crucifiction to put inside the church. Crazy.

It's never a good idea to begin a trip to the Louvre tired, but seeing amazing art in person evergizes me. I was also able to do some research on some of the more famous paintings in the Louvre and told Dan everything I learned from what I read, and thought I remembered reading and I threw in a few lies that I thought were truths ;) "Oh just kidding, that was about another painting . . . I think." We had enough time to still go to Orsey if we wanted to, and I actually considered going, but it didn't take too much to convince me another museum was a bad idea. Dan and I had both hit our max of tiredness and soreness from walking so we park hopped and walked as little as possible for the remainder of our trip. It was a blast! The food is pretty amazing too. Dan and I both lived on crepes, croissants, panninis and keishe. YUM!