Our final day - June 25th, 2010

We saved the best for last!!  Today we were going to the top of the Eiffel Tower.  We went early to try and beat some of the line.  First we saw the "Wall for Peace" - it has the word peace written in 49 languages and 18 different alphabets on a glass wall.  Very neat.  Then we headed to the tower.  The kids and I were very excited about going to the top - Dad not so much :)

Again the view was amazing but a little bit hazy.  Next we went to a park that was nearby for lunch and a walk around.  The kids were being like the many statues that they had seen this week :)



And for lunch... I'll have the hot dog!  Man do you see the size of that thing.  I think we could have split it between the two of them and still had leftovers!

What an amazing trip and we had so much fun exploring the city!

Tour of Paris by bus - June 24th, 2010

Our last two days we did the bus tour throughout the city.  All along we had been doing the subway to our places and then walking around - it was neat to be on the double decker tour bus and get a view of the city that way.

We got off at the Arc de Triomphe.  The stone work on all the building is very cool.  The stairs up to the top were a spiral case which the kids thought was very neat! :)  The everburning flame is there for the unnamed solider.

At one point we had gotten off the bus for a walk around and found this neat church.

While on the bus tour we had went past the "Thinker".  We never did find out how to get there to see the frontal view :)  Our final exploration for the day was the Invention Museum.  What an awesome museum.  There were so many neat things in there that it could have been an all day or several days to cover it all.  The kids, Wayne and I really enjoyed this museum.

The globe was neat because it was prediscovery of Canada! :)  From the little bit that I was able to understand it was from 17oo.  They had all kinds of neat things from science measurement tools to old computers, weaving machines, bikes, airplanes, road construction machines and old woodworking tools.  This was one place that I wish we had had the time to go back because we didn't see everything. 

Notre Dame - June 23rd, 2010

After passing Notre Dame everyday, today was the day we were going to the top.  We got there early and there was still a huge line up.  Patrick decided that he was going to count the stairs.  There are 385 stairs to the very top of the towers and if you counted the ones to the bell tower there are a total of 426 stairs.

I think everybody's favourite was seeing the gargoyles at the top.  There were so many of them - for every water spout and at the corners.  There were the famous ones from the movie, a wizard, a gargoyle bitting off the head of a chicken, storks and knights.

Here we are heading up to see the bells.

We are at the very top of the right tower looking over the city.  What a view!

Once we came back down we went into the church for a look around.  The windows were amazing.

After Notre Dame we went to the Science Museum.  This wasn't nearly as good as Science North - but we went into a Submarine and got to see everything on it.  There was also this neat park beside it that had these art deco things in it - Can anyone guess what the theme was? :)

A Princess Palace and a river cruise - June 22, 2010

This morning we were taking the train out to see Palace de Versaille.  We went quite early so that we could see the water fountains performing to music.  We wandered the gardens all morning looking at all the different fountains.  I think we all agreed that the best one was the last one we saw that actually "danced" to the music.  What a wonderful morning but a lot of walking :)  We had lunch out in the gardens and then finally (according to Samantha) went in to see the Princess Palace.  If Samantha didn't want to see it so bad I think we might have walked out right away.  It was so packed that you could hardly move or see anything - but we did get to see the princess bed :)

Supper at a sidewalk cafe.  I think every restraunt had a sidewalk part to their place. :)  It was really neat to have supper and people watch.

We will do Notre Dame another day but the sun was on the front and it was beautiful.

The Eiffel Tower before our cruise.

Samantha and Patrick enjoyed listening to the tour guide on our cruise down the Seine River.

Good night Paris!

A Church and a Park today - June 21st, 2010

This morning we started out our day by going to Sacre de Coeur.   It is built on the hightest point in the city.  It was quite the climb from the subway and then we had all these stairs - but it was worth it.  A very beautiful church - the stain glass windows were gorgeous!  The kids got a kick out of being taller than the Eiffel tower :)



Of course you can't have a church without some gargoyles.

At the bottom of the hill from the church there was a double decker carousel that the kids tried out!

When I was planning this trip and was looking for geocaches in the area, I had come across this neat sounding park.  That was our next stop.  I am so glad we went - it was an amazing park (Parc des Buttes Chaumont).  First of all it was huge with lots of green space - lots of walking paths, water falls, caves, cliffs, islands, neat trees and statues.  We had such a wonderful time in the park playing and looking for the geocaches.

Below is a picture of Wayne and the kids waiting for the subway (we became quite the experts at riding the subway :) ).  As well as a tank at the Musee de l'Armee by Napoleon's tomb.

The Louvre - June 20th, 2010

The day was still overcast and chilly, so we went to the Louvre.  It was a wonderful morning of seeing some pretty awesome pieces.

We saw the "Winged Victory", "Venus de Milo", a long hallway of paintings and some chick ;)

We also went through the Egyptian exhibit.  Below is the "Great Sphinx of Tanis" and the "Luxor Obelisk". 

There was so much to see but we got our list of must sees done and some extras.  So once we were finished we went outside and did a few geocaches in the courtyard and had some lunch in the gardens.  That evening we saw a super mini car and went to the top of Montparnasse Tower.  We came out on the roof at 207m and then still went up another flight of stairs to the viewing roof.  What an amazing view.

Our first day in Paris - June 19th, 2010

We arrived in Paris in the morning but since we were all a bit tired but excited, we just went for a wander through the city.  We saw many neat streets and walked along the Seine River.

We saw this neat fountain that I am assuming is suppose to be St. Michael (because that is the only word that I was able to read :) )

We decided to have a little rest in the one of many parks through out the city.

We had to have a warm up break of hot chocolate and eclairs! Yummmmm!