Paris

Paris, France

This was my last day in Europe, so I made the best of it before my flight home.

I spent the morning at the Eiffel Tower, a wrought iron lattice tower on the Champ de Mars in Paris. It’s named after the engineer Gustave Eiffel, who designed and built the tower.
The tower has three levels for visitors, with restaurants and gift shops on the first and second levels. This is the view from the first level, overlooking the city.
At lunch, I headed over to the Sacred Heart of Paris, commonly known as Sacré-Cœur Basilica, a Roman Catholic church, dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
The dome inside the church has a giant mosaic of Christ in Glory by Olivier Merson, H. M. Magne, and R. Martin and is one of the largest mosaics in the world. It represents the risen Christ, clothed in white and with arms extended, revealing a golden heart. Surrounding him, in various sizes, a world of adorers is represented, including the Saints who protect France: the Virgin Mary and Saint Michael, Saint Joan of Arc, as well as a personification of France offering her crown and Pope Leo XIII offering the world.
I had lunch at Place du Tertre Montmartre, which is an area known as the “Painter’s Neighborhood”, its small and steep narrow streets are home to the oldest cabarets. This area is also full of restaurants with terraces and painters selling their work to tourists and locals.
Had the best Crème brûlée dessert in this neighborhood.
After lunch, I had a few hours before my flight home so I walked through the streets of Rue de Steinkerque at the bottom of the hill, which is filled with souvenir shops.
I couldn’t leave Paris without a visit to my favorite chocolate shop, Maison Georges Larnicol for souvenir chocolates and macarons. This is a beautiful chocolate which has a mold of The Eiffel Tower, The Louvre, The Moulin Rouge, and The Arc de Triomphe. I picked this up for my brother who asked me to bring him chocolate from France.
I also picked up chocolate Eiffel Towers for my nieces and nephews. Goodbye France, I will miss you!

 

Venezia, Again

As fun as the cruise was, all good things eventually come to an end. The ship brought us back to Venezia and before flying out to Paris, we made the best of our time remaining in Italy and went on a gondola ride.

Waiting for the next gondola. This is where I hitched a ride on a gondola with my cousins.
Cruising through the canals through Venezia.
I purposely tried to dress like a gondolier today…
The Rialto Bridge is one of the four bridges spanning the Grand Canal in Venezia. It’s the oldest bridge across the canal, and was the dividing line for the districts of San Marco and San Polo.
After the gondola ride, I stopped and had pizza on the way back to pick up my luggage from our luggage lockers.
After the flight into Paris, we checked in to our hotel and booked it down to the Moulin Rouge to catch the 9 o’clock show.
Feeling a little bit tipsy from the champagne. After the show we stopped to eat on the way back to the hotel. What a night. Tomorrow will be amazing in France.

European Vacation Day 22 Paris, France

Our last day of vacation! We spent it visiting the grave of Jim Morrison, the Sacred Heart of Jesus Basillica, and bought little souveneers before getting on the plane.

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The beautiful Père Lachaise Cemetery, in Paris where Jim Morrison is burried. It is beautiful.
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This is me kissing the grave goodbye.
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The kiss with pink lipstick on the grave.
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The Sacred Heart of Jesus Basillica.
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The alter of the Sacred Heart of Jesus Basillica.

European Vacation Day 21 Paris, France

Today we departed Rome and returned to Paris for one more day & night of sightseeing before we return home tomorrow night. We checked into our hotel and walked around the surrounding area and then went to sleep.

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Goodbye Rome, I had a wonderful time here and I will miss you. Someday I will return to spend more time getting to know you better.
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We walked up to see the Moulin Rouge which was about 5 minutes away from our hotel room.
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The Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Jesus is three blocks up, we will visit this church tomorrow.

 

European Vacation Day 3 Paris, France

Today we spent the day at Château De Vaux Le Vicomte. It is a 500 acre Estate and we had fun driving around the grounds in a little golf cart. Afterwards we tried to go to the Louvre but our train got delayed so we will probably try to go at the end of the month when we return to France before heading back home. This is our last night in Paris until the end of the month. Tomorrow morning we will depart for Amsterdam.

Château De Vaux Le Vicomte.
The front of the Château.
The entrance to the Château.
The grounds of the Château.
My daughter driving us around the grounds in a little golf cart.
The view outside the front of our apt. in Paris.

 

European Vacation Day 1-2 Paris, France

On the first day of my vacation, I had such a great time sight-seeing around Paris. I got to visit Notre Dame, the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe Monument. 

The Eiffel tower.
 
The infamous Notre Dame Church.
The infamous Notre Dame Church.
Inside Notre Dame.
Inside Notre Dame.
Inside Notre Dame.
The view from the top of the Eiffel Tower.
The Arc de Triomphe Monument.
The Arc de Triomphe Monument.
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The Arc de Triomphe monument.
View of the Eiffel Tower from the top of the Arc de Triomphe monument.
View of the Eiffel Tower from the top of the Arc de Triomphe monument.