Paris France

Paris, the city of lights, is a place that I think everyone should visit at one time or another. Paris is full of so many wonderful foods, smells and not to mention some of the best shopping in the world! We just left Paris so, let me tell you about our experience, and maybe inspire you into wanting go to Paris…

We took a train from our previous location (Amsterdam) and arrived in Paris. As soon as we got there we knew we were going to have a great time.

The day after we arrived, we took the metro to Charles de Gaulle airport. At the airport we picked up my cousin, Allie Pacini. Her flight had a four-hour delay so we picked her up around 12:00p.m. For the rest of the day we just went shopping in the local stores.

The next day we went on a Paris muse tour called "If The Walls Could Talk". On this tour we were given little booklets with clues in them. These clues led to historically significant places such as the house of Victor Hugo, (the writer of Les Miserabe and The Hunchback of Notre Dame) the hotels or government buildings of Sully and Seines and the Philippe Auguste wall.

Day four we took a tour of the Eiffel tower. Eiffel was the name of the man who created the magnificent tower. He was born in 1832 and died in 1923 and in that period of time he was also the creator of the Statue of Liberty's frame. The Eiffel tower was to be destroyed 20 years after it was built, but Eiffel would never let this happen. In order to save the tower, he allowed the government to use it for experiments such as long range message transmitting and radio broadcasting and the government decided eventually to keep it forever. It is still used today as a radio-broadcasting tower. First we went down into the machine and elevator engines room. We walked around and saw how the machinery under the tower works (see pictures to get diagram). Then we climbed up to the top of the tower and looked down upon the dots that were supposed to be people. One last piece of information, the Eiffel tower has been painted 18 times since it was created.

After the Eiffel tower we went to a museum dedicated to WWI and WWII (Les Invalides). Inside the museum were models, dioramas and movies giving examples of what both of the WW's were like for the soldiers. There were all kinds of guns and warfare machines, used during these eras, as well. When we stepped outside of the museum we saw that Napoleon's grave was close by so we decide to go in. Napoleon's grave is the biggest tomb I have ever seen. It is at least 15 ft. tall and has statues of angels all around it looking at the grave as if watching and waiting for something to happen. They also had Napoleons outfit that he wore during battle displayed in a glass case near the tomb. After Napoleons grave we went to the Arc De Triumph. The Arc De Triumph was built by Napoleon as a burial to the two unknown soldiers. It is also used as a monument to the victories of the revolution of 1876, WWI and WWII. We climbed the spiraling steps to the top and looked over the edge in amazement at the city of lights at night.

The following morning went to the Louvre where the Mona Lisa is displayed. At the Louvre we took another Paris muse tour. We went through the museum and saw beautiful works of art by painters such as Rafael and Leonardo Davinci. Finally the last room we went into was the Mona Lisa. The Mona Lisa is a painting of a woman whom is wearing a pregnancy gown while sitting on a chair on what they assume is the balcony of her or Davinci's home. The Mona Lisa took Davinci two years to make but it was well worth because he created one of the best paintings the world will ever know!

On our last day in Paris we went to the Palace of Versaise. The palace was originally built by Louis the 13th but he died shortly after construction was complete and Louis the 14th took over. Louis the 14th tried to extend the palace but shortly after this was complete he died and Louis the 15th took over. He lived there the longest and kept a collection of paintings, which is now the Louvre museum. After he was deceased Louis the 16th took over the palace with his wife Marie Antoinette. They were later beheaded because they had tons of riches and the town's people had nothing so they killed them. The Palace was never used again because it was so hard to support such a big home and it was turned into a museum.

RS