For the last day of our first free-travel week, Becky, Shandra, and I decided to visit the famous Versailles palace and gardens, quaintly named 'Chateau Versailles'. After stowing our bags at the train station in preparation for our departure to Barcelona later that evening, we took a local train to the nearby town of Versailles to see the palace. Upon arrival, we were pleased to find we only had to stand in line for tickets for about an hour - which Becky an...

This Saturday, Becky, Shandra, and I decided to tour the Louvre, as we're planning on visiting Versailles tomorrow before heading to Barcelona to meet the group for the Spain leg of the study trip. Wow. Getting to see so many pieces of art and history was mind-blowingly amazing. We chose to see specific areas, as the whole museum takes 4 days to walk through completely. We went through the various halls of marble sculpture, some dating from antiquity others by ...

Becky, Shandra, and I arrived in Paris by train early the afternoon of the 19th, and took a quick nap while we waited for the rest of our small group (Shane, Josh, and Nick M.) to arrive by a later train. When they got in, we all went by Metro to visit the Arc de Triomphe and the Eiffel Tour. The Arc is very impressive - with grand militant carvings on nearly every surface. By the time the sun went down, we were at the Eiffel to see it with the lights on. As ...