France Continued

Week 2

Paris, France

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAMuNfs89yE

This page best viewed with this song in the background ;)

The road to Paris was several hours but it was fun because I was sitting in the front seat (which were the most comfortable) and helping to navigate. Here you can see the Eifel tower in the distance.

Ok.... do you believe me that this is a toilet??? The French have weird toilets but this one didn't compare to the man-eating one we used. This was one at a rest stop where you actually had to hold onto the bars on each side and lean back a little over the tiny hole. The most important thing was remembering to get toilet paper in your hand before doing so... otherwise it'd be messy. 

The man-eating toilet was one you had to pay 30 euros for. Being cheap, we figured my sis, mom, and I could slip in right after my dad and be able to go without having to drop more change for it... We learned our lesson after the doors locked, water began shooting out everywhere on the floor with the three of us in the dark unable to get out. lol We later learned that it was a self cleaning public restroom as we stepped out with soaked shoes and pants. It must have been very strange (and funny) to hear three American women yelling to get out of a bathroom.

The first night in Pari!! Our flat was just a few blocks from the Eifel tower so we all went for a stroll.

We had a wonderful surprise when we saw that every hour in the evening, the Eifel tower sparkled continuously with random lights for 5 minutes. Sooo pretty :)

Dark picture but here I am at one of the bases of the tower.

Though we didn't make it to the top this trip, we were happy enough to be in the area and got cool shots from underneath it. ^_^

This was our flat.

It had a great view and a nice breeze. Briana and I could even see the Eifel tower from our room!

 "Qua? You do what with this??" says Skyflier

And what's France without be dais? lol We didn't us it... part from my dad accidentally thinking it was a urinal when we first arrived. Eeeewww!

The second day in France we walked through a European boy scout gathering on the Eifel tower's green. It was packed with girl and boy scouts!

Ratatouille!!! This would have been the perfect movie to see before France! We saw it the day after we got back home and it really is such a cute movie! 

A double decker carousel! How cool!

Hey sis!

At the Louve!

With the fam

Da Vinci would be proud ;)

We actually went to the Louve strictly to get this 4 day museum pass, WHICH WAS THE BEST THING EVER!!! It allows you in to all sorts of museums and monuments around Paris for just like 45 euros. I think in total we went to 7 museums. If you plan to go, I'd recommend getting this to everyone! 

Without enough time to go around the Louve we went to Notre Dame! With the pass we could have gone up to see the bells but it was too late in the day for anymore tours.

Inside they had beautiful stained glass.

Then we went to check out Guilhem's flat. He too had a view of the tower... but ours was a little bit better ;)

We were touched to see he still had the Easter bunny we gave him for Easter (the second weekend he was with us).

And I was even more touched to see he had the bear I gave him with our town's High School (where he interned) on the sweatshirt.

Guilhem was obsessed with Nutella... Nutella to him are like honey pots to Winnie the Pooh. ;)

The next day we went to the D'Orsay museum with Guilhem. Since it was raining out, I turned Skyflier's plastic bag into a rain coat for her. ^_^ <---nerd

The D'Orsay museum was actually a train station at one point.

This was probably one of my favorite museums because there were so many well known pieces of artwork there. I got really excited when I saw this one because my mom has a little picture of this and always thought of it as Briana and I since I play piano. :)

These were other well known Renoir paintings. I really didn't know I would see so many famous pieces so it was really a treat.

Van Gogh's house

Skyflier pretends she's a piece of artwork ;) Silly Sky

Hah... only I would put a pony in a shot with Van Gogh's self portrait. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love art so I was not trying to degrade it at all with taking a picture with my pony.... she just wanted to see it too ;)

I forget who did this one but it's another famous one.

Monet's water lilies

Heh... Guilhem decides to help me capture a decent picture with Sky

Degas's  ballerina statue

The Whistler's Wife painted by someone who I forget

After a long morning at the museum it was time for lunch and to drink some Orangina. Mmmm..

Dad, mom, and Guilhem

Guilhem poses our ponies...

And then steals my camera for a self portrait lol

The next day we went to the Latin Quarter and were able to see three museums. This was a cool fountain you saw after coming up from the tube system

We went to the Cluney museum which was a medieval museum, and also housed something veeeerrry very special. 

A medieval cross and a tapestry

Interesting architecture

Ta da!!! This museum was also well known for housing the Lady and the Unicorn tapestries!!!

Taste

(demonstrated by a monkey eating something)

Hear

Smell

Sight

Touch

This was the sixth one that is sort of representing Love or the giving up of personal possessions

Skyflier is probably the luckiest unicorn to actually see the Unicorn tapestries.  See her shadow on the left?

After seeing the unicorn tapestries it was then very cool to see this Norwell tusk since it looks like a unicorn horn

Next we went to see a museum about the old hospital system in Paris. This was particularly interesting to me since I am becoming a nurse. ^_^ I actually got to use my nursing skillz when my dad slipped on some stairs and twisted his knee. When we didn't have an ace bandage, I came up with the brilliant idea of cutting one of my socks and stretching the tight part over his knee to aide with a little bit of compression. :) It actually worked pretty well and he even wore it for awhile even after we had got an ace bandage for him ^_^

If Doctor Barbie was there, why not a My Little Pony? lol

Sky with a nun and her (bad) habit.... har... I so funny ;)

This was a device outside of old churches that opened up where people used to leave unwanted babies if they couldn't care for them.

Statue of an abandoned baby

These were tags and necklaces that were often abandoned with children so as to identify them if they were ever claimed again by the families.

Hospital bed

No, Sky.... you can't have any opium ;)

This looks more like my dad's tool box in his workshop than a shelf of surgical tools. O_O

This I thought was interesting because it's an old EKG machine. ^_^ In my job as a Student Nurse Tech I am always doing EKGs but none as complex as this.

This was all that's left of the Bastille which had a big part in French history. I believe peasants stormed a building that was there during the bread riots.

Mmm.... yummy and pretty French pasteries :3

Then we went to the Pompidou Center. These were some fountains we had seen the first time we came to Paris when I was 4 and my sister was 8.

We certainly have grown up a lot since last we came. ;)

A reaaallllly great portrait artist. He did it all with watercolors.

The Pompidou Center of Modern Art looks sorta like a hamster track from the outside.

Sky in front of some art

Just what everyone needs... a big red rhino ;)

A giant airplane made out of clothes hangers

umm.... stuff??

"I think I'm much interesting than this"~ Skyflier

The musuem was cool in that it really made you question and ask yourself "What is art?" This piece was cool because it was an actual piece you could walk and move around in.

In the Latin quarter we also got a taste of some real live artists.

This painter painted this picture all with spray paints, bottle caps, and scraps of paper. SOo pretty!!

The next day we went to the Palace of Versailles. The palace was where the French royals used to live in until the fall of the French monarchy

This was just one of the decorative rooms.

There were French art pieces everywhere

The king's chambers. We heard from a tour guide that the reason for the beds being so short, part from the population generally being a lot smaller than now, is that the royals didn't like to lie flat because it was like the dead. Instead they slept on lots of pillows and bolsters to keep their back and head up.

By right, Skyflier should be Queen... since she's the one on the royal throne. lol

I believe this is King Louise the .... 15???

The 14th moved to Versaille (from the Louve that was actually the first palace) and the 16th was the one married to Marie Antoinette.

This was the Hall of Mirrors

After seeing all this gold, paintings, and plush lifestyles no wonder the common people were so starved

This was the crowning of Josephine with Napolean. It's learnt that Napolean sold the US the Louisiana purchase (the whole half of the US past the Mississippi river) in order to pay for his crowning of emperor. During the ceremony he also felt he was higher than the priest and took the crown from him to crown myself. An interesting fact is that there is an actual duplicate of this gigantic painting at the Louve since Napolean wanted a portrait of this at the present palace and the older palace (which was the Louve).

Marie Antoinette

Though the modern movie of Marie Antoinette was reaaalllly horrible and had no plot, this was an interesting picture in the movie. In the movie, after this was painted, it was then repainted without the baby on her lap since the baby passed away. I wonder what story is with this piece still hanging.

The beautiful gardens of the palace

Soo pretttyyyyy

Sky among the flowers

and overlooking the gardens

This was the Arch of Love or something with a statue of Hermes.

Famous picture of Marie Antoinette in her own private "play house" on the palace grounds. Not reaaally a play house though since everything was normal size to a regular house.

Swarms of carp in the river!!!

This was a continuation of Marie's "playground" with miniature houses where she and her friends gambled and partied.

After Versailles we came back and got all pretty to go on a boat tour and then to a show at the Moulin Rouge. ^^

Guilhem got many stares but we only consider him as a brother lol

We sat in the first seats upstairs on a double decker bus. It was sooo cool! My sis and I thought this pic was cute because we had the same shoes and had just painted our toe nails. ^_^;

Even Skyflier got all dressed up lol

The infamous Red Windmill

The show at the Moulin Rouge was called Feerie and was absolutely stunning!!! It was an amazing show with colorful costumes, topless girls lol, and even acrobatics. There were two acrobats who balanced each other on their heads!

On the last day we went to a Maritime museum

Mom and Briana lookin' at a boat

Dad (whose really into model boat making) admirers a model boat I'm sure would be quite a challenge for him. ;)

After coming all this way.... we just COULDN'T miss going to the Louve to see the Mona Lisa. So my mom, sis, and I went as my dad took a rest at home. We weren't allowed to take any pictures of the Mona Lisa but she had quite a crowd, and was behind glass, and was actually pretty small. Still glad we saw it though ;)

A famous statue called the Winged Angel of Victory

Some cute paintings of animals ^^

Me and a Sphinx : )

Famous statue of Aphrodite

Replica statue of the Greek Goddess Athena where the actual one is at Versailles

Statue of the 3 Fates

Nice statue of a centaur and an angel (or cupid or cherub)

The last night we met up with our British friend Alex who is a good hiking friend of Guilhem. The four of us posed for a group shot like the one we had done in Edinburgh together. :)

Time to eat!

.... and my mom thought it would be fun to get us all glowy glasses lol It was fun though ;)

Kissy kissy Briana lol

Since it was the last night, us 4 kids went to a French pub and Briana and I danced with some girls from Virginia Tech. It appeared that only Americans danced while the Europeans drank their pints ;) lol We left the pub though after a brawl took place right next to our table. Good thing I had gotten up because my chair ended up flipping. O_O

Since we were in the Latin District we went to check out the spray paint artists again and luckily the piece I had seen this painter do was still there. ^_^ I thought this painter looked a lot like my cousin Marcus which made it extra special.

Later the four of us walked back and posed once more at the Eifel Tower. The next morning we left bright and early for a long flight back to the states. It was an incredible two weeks.

Au revoir Paris!

(Our view from our room)

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