Day 6 – Paris Day 1 - Tuesday May 29th

We got up at about 8:30 and headed to a local bakery across the street. I got two croissants that were better than any croissant I can remember. We headed for the Louvre, but it was closed. Hazards of traveling I guess. We headed instead to Notre-Dame, and on the way, we saw the Seine and several monuments. I took a picture of a policeman who helped us to cross the street while he directed traffic. I caught him right when he noticed the camera. He didn’t want me taking a picture, so I acted like I hadn’t and kept going.

The Notre-Dame looked beautiful. It was hard to grasp how difficult and time-consuming it must have been to build something so intricate. Rob pointed out to me that it marked a major turning point in architecture. We went inside and looked around. Some people were praying, but the majority was walking around taking pictures. It seemed wrong that a church as beautiful as the Notre-Dame was used more for tourism than worship. It must be hard to go to a church like that. I’m not complaining though; I was taking just as many pictures as everyone else.

We then walked from the Notre-Dame to the Arc de Triomphe (about 6 miles or so). We saw many monuments, parks, and buildings along the way. The Jardin des Tuileries was gorgeous with all its statues and fountains. Rob and I looked for one of Minerva, but we came up short. Anyway, We continued on down the Avenue des Champs Élysées. Gypsies would come up to us and ask if we spoke English, so they could give a sob story and ask for money. I usually just said, “No, solo español.” It worked every time, though I could have just ignored them. We walked under the street and up to the Arc de Triomphe. After climbing to the top, we enjoyed a great view of the city.

We enjoyed a nice cafe on the Avenue des Champs Élysées. After lunch, we just decided to head to Versailles. We went to the nearest metro, bought train tickets, headed to the train station at Montparnasse and made it to platform 19, where we took a twenty-minute ride to the town of Versailles. It was about a 20 minute walk from the train station to the château. The whole front side was under construction, so it wasn’t too pretty until we made it to the back side. We took a vote on whether to tour the gardens or the house; the garden won. I had already seen the inside, so I didn’t mind. The garden tour was nice, but you had to pay extra to see the hamlet or to take a boat out. I thought that was pretty gimmicky. We passed on both and just took pictures from afar. We made it back to the hotel by 7:00 to catch up with people for a group dinner. We went to an expensive restaurant, but I hadn’t spent much during the day, so I didn’t mind. We went to a bar afterwards and walked back at 12:00.