Paris!!

I was so lucky to be able to travel to Paris for the weekend! The trip was one I won't forget :) I went with 9 of my friends from Point Friday night - Sunday night. The 12 hour coach bus ride was a bit ridiculously long, but besides that the weekend was great! We left at 8pm Friday night, drove through the EuroTunnel - our coach drove onto a train that took us beneath the English Channel (this is a cool YouTube video of how it was made: www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXVDxp7gYIg) so I was on my coach bus on a train under the Channel. It was a fun experience! I can't believe how much we were able to do in such a short amount of time. You've been warned - I took so many pictures!

Welcome to Paris!

Notre Dame

The buildings in this area were beautiful! Typical French buildings

You can walk climb all the way to the top, between the bell towers. We would have loved to do that, but the line was really long and we didn't have much time, oh and it was 15 euros!

The chandeliers were so pretty inside

Notre Dame had my favorite stained glass windows that I've seen yet

There was a display of bells down the middle of the cathedral. I'm not sure what it was for, but the bells were huge!

This was an original chandelier in the cathedral. We could have probably fit all 10 of us inside it and still would have room!

Anyone need to do some confessing?? :)

This is where prisoners were held after the French Revolution before they marched down to the Guillotine

The Seine River

One of the Love Lock Bridges in Paris

This little island just beyond the boats is where famous French artists would come to paint, drink, and smoke opium

This is one of the most famous Love Lock Bridges is Paris, and all over Europe. The idea is that you write your name down and your loved one, lock the padlock on the bridge, kiss, then throw the key over the bridge and into the Seine River. Aww, isn't that cute!

Entering the Louvre Palace

The Louvre was originally a royal palace until Louis XIV decided not to have permanent residence here, but instead at Versailles because of his fear of a possible uprising.

In 1692, ten years after Louis XIV moved to Versailles, the Louvre was used for holding collections of art. Back then it was total chaos, wall to wall, frame to frame of pieces of art.

The glass pyramid

The pyramid surrounded by the Louvre Palace - a big part of the DaVinci Code was shot here. The main entrance to the Musee de Louvre is on the opposite side of the largest pyramid.

Bottom of the main pyramid

This was the most beautiful museum I have ever been in! I would absolutely love to go back and explore even more

Winged Victory of Samothrace

Ceiling painting

This museum was so ornate, I couldn't get over it!

The Italian Room

The Wedding Feast at Cana

Mona Lisa

This man was painting a picture of the hall in the next picture. It was really good!

More beautiful ceiling art

Aphrodite, known as the "Venus de Milo"

This Greek sculpture room was so beautiful! I would have liked to look around a bit longer in here

Looking up through the main pyramid

The sun finally decided to come out!

Place de la Concorde - this area is where the Guillotine would have been during the French Revolution

Egyptian Luxor Obelisk - 3,300 years old, engraved with ancient hieroglyphics given to France as a gift in 1829. It took four years to transport it, arriving in 1833.

Arc de Triomphe de l'Étoile - we had a wonderful French meal at the restaurant on the left with the red banner. I ordered Trout (which still had it's head on!! It freaked me out a bit, but one of my friends showed me how to eat it and man was it good!), potatoes, and chocolate mousse! Yumm :)

And the sun happened to set right behind the Eiffel Tower! This is not an edited picture!!

The group

We saw it light up, so fun!

When it sparkled, it was the most amazing thing I've seen since I've been abroad. By far my most favorite part of the day!

Château de Versailles - 24k gold plated fence!

I can't even begin to describe how gigantic this palace was! It has 2,300 rooms inside

I wish we could have gone inside, but we didn't have enough time so we waked through the gardens (as you'll see later)

The water at the very bottom is water dammed from the Seine. It allowed for party guests to arrive by boat. It also supplied all the water for the water fountains. During the years Marie Antoinette resided, in one day the amount of water required to pump through the over 50 water fountains was the same amount used in Paris in that same day!

I can't even fathom what this must look like in the spring or summer, when everything is in bloom, the statues are uncovered, and the fountains flow

A beautiful church just down the street away from the Palace of Versailles

Flower cart in a french food market

This market was a pleasure overload for the senses!

A French chocolatier

The Moulin Rouge

Basilique du Sacré-Cœur, Montmartre - this was absolutely gorgeous inside!

Montmartre is the highest point in Paris. On a non-snowy day, you can see the Eiffel Tower we were told. It was still pretty, nonetheless

So many stairs!!