Paris

Paris! Over the summer I was in Europe with my husband, and we had an amazing time! I wanted to share with you some of the incredible sights and art that we saw (and also the food). We spent about 5 days in Paris, and then went to London (which will be in the next blog post). 

It had been 8 years since I had been to Paris, and it was my husband's first time abroad, so it was quite a magical experience.

We didn't end up having time to go up the Eiffel Tower, but we had an incredible view from one of the bridges. At the top the hour, the lights shimmered in a beautiful light show for about 5 minutes.

Croissants and cafe creme. Perfect French breakfast.

Nutella and banana crepes. Yum.

Of course we had to see the Louvre! There was a huge line to get in. We probably waited about an hour or so, but it was worth the wait.

Some of my favorite paintings...

I saw some amazing jewelry at the Louvre from ancient Egypt and Greece.

One of the things I was most struck by in Paris was all the beautiful doors everywhere.

Versailles

One of my favorite places on this earth. Such beautiful grandeur! Every inch of the palace is draped in detailed beauty. The photos above are in the chapel in Versailles.

The famous hall of mirrors.

When I was at Versailles eight years ago, I missed seeing the inside of the Petite Trianon, which is where Marie Antoinette spent a lot of her time away to get away from court. This time I got to see it!

I also wanted to see the Queen's Hamlet, which is where she pretended to be a milk maid and live the "simple" farm life, but I didn't realize how large the property was, and by the time we walked over there it was closed. :( It just means that I'll have to go back! Seriously, the Versailles gardens are so huge it would probably take a few days to see everything.

This is the Queen's Hamlet from the outside wall. It looks like it's from a fairy tale!

We had to run through the Musee d'Orsay before they closed, but I was really excited to see some plique-a-jour enamel!

We also went to the Notre Dame Cathedral while in Paris. Such beautiful detail!

And I saw enamel! This is a reliquary with enamel and gemstones.

There is also a really cool exhibition at Notre Dame on the jewels of the cathedral. We had to pay a few euros to get in, but was well worth it. I was hoping they had a book for sale with images from the show, but no such luck.

A really amazing book cover with metal and enamel.

A beautiful challis with enamel and gems.

Some of the amazing looking (and tasting) food...

While walking around, we happened upon this beautiful garden market. I so wanted to buy a Paris plant, but there was no way to take it home. :)

We also went to the flea market at Clignancourt, Le Marche aux Puces de Saint-Ouen. It was amazing! We never would have found it without our Rick Steve's book, but once we did, it was so much fun to walk around and see all of the treasure. We didn't end up taking anything home because everything we wanted was either too big to fit on the plane, or too expensive. But it was still fun to see!

We also went to this crazy restaurant called Chez Louisette, where there are performers singing Edith Piaf songs, and supposedly a fake Toulouse-LauTrec (though I didn't see him). The food wasn't great, but it was a fun atmosphere with tacky Christmas decorations everywhere.

We also went to the Pere Lachaise Cemetery. It was raining almost the whole time we were in Paris, and on this day it was raining pretty hard. It was a pretty amazing experience walking through the rain with our umbrellas (something we don't experience too often in Arizona).

We also found this little flea market while walking around, and found some really cute things. 

Including this jeweler's bench! I wanted to take it home, but obviously I couldn't fit it in my suitcase. :)

Be sure to come back to read my blog post about my London visit! Coming soon!