Not Perris. Not Paris Hilton. Not even that casino in Las Vegas. Nope. The real Paris...as in FRANCE!
I was here a few years ago during a work-related trip to France and had an amazing amazing amazing time so I jumped at the chance to come again. With my dad "in town" and with how much he loves all things about the European part of World War II history, I suggested that we head up to Paris and on to Normandy so he could check them out. He was game so we loaded up the fam and went to get our fill of French Fries, French Dressing, French Bread, and Peru!
Let me just start out by saying that Paris is everything that you've heard it is but better. It's an amazing city that you just absolutely must visit at least once in your life. I have a few different stories to post about the trip to France but this one's kinda' an overview of Paris and some cool photos that don't really fit into any other story such as this one of the Eiffel Tower during the day looking down a typical tree-lined street near Invalides:
Les Invalides is a building from the 1600s that used to be a hospital for for war veterans. It's a museum now but is probably best known as being where Napoleon is buried. This is a statue of Napoleon inside one of the courtyards of the hospital:
...and this is my dad doing his best Napoleon in front of the Arc de Triomphe:
Little did I know when we planned my dad's visit that pretty much every high school student in Europe would be doing a class trip. Everywhere was full of teenagers in heat large packs. The Arc de Triomphe was no exception. We didn't bother waiting in the long line to go up to the top but we did walk around and check it out up close for a while. The Arc was originally commissioned by Napoleon as a place to memorialize/celebrate his military victories. By the way, have I ever mentioned how much history you can see in such a small area as you can in Europe? It's very cool. Anyway, I didn't have a chance to visit the Arc during my last trip to Paris so I was happy to get some photos out in front while my dad was very happy imagining all the history that took place there.
In the (new) tradition of Darren-and-Dad photos, here's us in front of the Louvre, which I love to pronounce like "loo-ver":
...and in front of the Eiffel Tower:
Although Paris is always a beautiful city full of amazing architecture, the City of Light really "shines" at night. This is the view up the Champs-Elysees towards the Arc de Triomphe just after sunset:
We took one of the Seine River boat tours. I wasn't super excited to do it but it turned out fun and was full of nice views. This photo of the back of Notre Dame was taken from the boat and I like the random angle and the way the water looks:
Finally, probably one of the better photos that I've ever taken is this one from one of the bridges looking toward the Eiffel Tower just after sunset. Ahhhhh...Paris...
Hey bud....that bridge is the Pony Neighborhood, or New Bridge, and it was new to the area when it was built in...the 1500'sarea or there abouts....been a while since I was in Paris and should Google that!! :-)
ReplyDeleteLuv the stories and reminds me I need to get outta the house more!