Our Family Europe Trip 2013: Versailles, Paris afternoon Tour, Train to Monterosso, Italy

After leaving Monet's garden in Giverny, we traveled with our tour group through Paris to Versailles in our Mercedes van. This was our first view of the Eiffel Tower. The little Statue of Liberty to the right is a smaller version of the one in New York City.

As we drove up closer, she is even the same color. Other than size, identical.

A barge in the Seine with a stove pipe and potted plants. Also a green garden hose coiled up on the left. I wonder what it hooks up to?

As we get closer, a view from under the trees and across the river. Many different types of boats tied up to the other side of the river.

As we get closer to the Eiffel Tower. I guess I didn't realize there was a road underneath. The carousel on the right. Tourists everywhere. The elevators are Otis (American made) and start out moving upward at an angle.

The really pretty carousel at the base of the Eiffel Tower.

The intricate work shows up as we drive under.

The French National Assembly.

Motorcyclists everywhere. They dart in any space they think is wide enough. Maybe he'll go between the van and the bus. (Nice shoes!)

Museum d'Orsay in Paris. A beautiful building that used to be a railway terminal.
It now houses art from the period 1884- 1914 and features impressionist works.

View of historic buildings from across the Seine. One of the 32 bridges that cross the river in Paris. Each is decorated differently.

People waiting for the light to change so they can cross. Notice the red arrow.

A bicyclist and a bus traveling around the same round about. Statues in every direction.

The white and yellow "tricycles" transport tourists around.

Le Pont des Arts bridge where people lock their locks and then throw the key in the Seine. Some locks have ribbons. This pledges their love to one another forever.

La Conciergerie along the Seine in Paris. A former palace and prison. Marie Antoinette was imprisoned here before her execution. Only part of it is open as a tourist attraction. Now most of it is the sight of law courts.

Another building along our route. It looks so stately. The middle section is also decorated.

A busy street corner.

Looks like you could get most anything to eat here.

This arch, Porte Saint-Denis, was built in 1672.

Itty bitty Grams barely fits in our shower.

Our guide took this photo just before we entered Versailles. I don't remember what happened, but it must have been funny. We are standing in the Royal Courtyard.

The chapel at Versailles. Marie Antoinette married Louis XVI at this gilded alter on May 16, 1770.

Bryan and Grams read the info sheets under the art work.

A beautiful staircase leading up to the second level where members of the king and royal family sat for mass.

Grams and Alex heading out on our audio tour.

This is the marble hallway full of statues.

The second floor of the chapel. The king and members of the royal family heard mass from here. The pipes for the organ are at the far end of the knave.

A corner of the ceiling in an adjacent room. One of the smaller, yet very intricate, chandeliers we viewed.

Another gilded ceiling.

Such detail in the painting and the gold work.

Where the wall meets the ceiling.

A multifaceted chandelier. I wonder if it used to hold candles.

Where a chandelier meets the ceiling.

Beautiful. Imagine if you were the candle lighter back in the day.

The Hall of Mirrors. Arched mirrors on the left, arched windows to the right. The images from the windows reflects off the mirrors. The Treaty of Versailles was signed in this room on June 28, 1919. I have always been enamored of this room throughout my study of European history, hence the big grin. I am finally here!

The ceiling in the Hall of Mirrors. A room filled with natural light. 17 arched windows reflect light off the 17 arched mirrors across the room. Each mirror is pieced with 21 smaller mirrors.

The view out one of the windows from the Hall of Mirrors. The gardens at Versailles are massive. Wind on the water. In the distance is the 1500 foot long Grand Canal.

Another view out the windows in the Hall of Mirrors. Even the outside walls are ornate. And a storm is brewing. The Marble Courtyard directly below.

This gives you an idea of how LONG the hall is. About 240 feet long, 35 feet wide and 40 feet tall. In this Hall of Mirrors Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI had the masked ball for their wedding. The wooden floor is even decorative.

The far end of the Hall of Mirrors. Marble columns topped by gold. The king's chambers are on one end, the queen's on the other end of the Hall of Mirrors.

Another ceiling view.

The chandeliers are as ornate as everything else. Many colors of marble in the background.

Louis XVI bedroom at Versailles.

This inset painting takes up most of the ceiling.

A connecting hall with murals on both sides. The skylights let in natural light that shows off the floor.

This floor is laid out differently than the Hall of Mirrors' floor. Alex awaits.

Bryan and I have walked around the reflecting pool and are looking back at the Palace. It was designed to reflect light back on to the front of the Palace. The Hall of Mirrors is located on the second floor.

The large rectangular reflecting pool is to the left. This lawn is perfectly manicured around this circular fountain. Urns and statues everywhere as well as sculpted shrubbery.

Neptune statue. The crowd to the left is in line waiting to view the gardens by golf carts.

As Bryan and I continued our walk around the gardens we made our way down these impressive stairs.

At the bottom of the stairs was the Orangerie. The gardens grew fruit and produce for the palace.

A bumble bee on an orange blossom.

The tree to the right has mature oranges in the top.

We are at the far side of the Orangerie looking back toward the Palace. Very few tourists here.

180 degrees from the previous picture is this view. More of the grounds of Versailles. At the far, far end of the lake is a white statue.

The stairway we came down is at the left, orange trees around the sculpted grass, an urn in the middle. The palace shows a little over the top right. There are people standing along the upper edge. Peaceful and quiet here.

Bryan looks at the different types of trees to the left.

The grounds keepers on the ladders are thinning out the many flowers on the orange trees. Too many flowers result in many small oranges. They are trying for fewer and larger ones.

The stairway along the far left, grounds keepers in the middle. Other tourists along the top edge.

As we walk up the other set of stairs that frame the Orangerie, all four sections of the garden show. The fountain in the middle adds to the serenity and grandeur.

Another small garden outside the walls of the Orangerie.

The statues around the top are human size.

The Orangerie with the lake to the left. Notice the reflection on the round pool and the sculpted shrubbery in the large paths.

The overlook to the right allows for a wonderful view.

From the Orangerie, Bryan (on the upper level) and I stroll back to meet up with Grams and Alex. Statues along the entire length of the roof.

Cherubs decorate this urn. One of the upper gardens in the background.

Sculpted boxwood hedges in curves and squiggles in these beds. There were grounds keepers trimming in another bed. I bet it is ongoing!

A rather large urn in one of the beds.

A collection of statues over the main windows for the Hall of Mirrors.

Another view. Looking way far, far away in the middle is the white statue on the other side of the lake. The Orangerie is not seen, but is a level lower than this garden.

Alex, in blue and sunglasses, with Grams people watching and resting as Bryan and I viewed the Orangerie. A wonderful place to sit. The gardens of Versailles! Still hard to believe...

A pathway. Wide enough for horses and buggies. Arriving at Versailles would not have been a secret.

Tubular flowers are nicotiana. They are sweetly fragrant and attract hummingbirds. The bright pink and white flowers are cosmos. The purple ones are ageratum. The yellow ray flowers are gaillardia or blanket flower. They all grow here in the Willamette Valley, too.

The whitish silvery blooms to the left are salvia. The dark purple are balloon flowers.

Grams, Alex, Bryan on the stairs. Bronze statue and urn nearby.

Rose garden surrounded by boxwood.

Statues set off by a backdrop of trimmed "green" walls.

Another flower bed. The pink with yellow centers are painted daisies. I think this photo might make a cool puzzle.

"Over there was the Orangerie with a zillion stairs up and down!"

Our last glimpse of the gardens at Versailles as we are to meet our group back at the van. Curled boxwood hedges. Immaculate green lawn.

The gilded fence around Versailles. This very long line is waiting to enter the Palace. We had purchased our guided trip to Monet's garden and Versailles with immediate entry. A bit more, but we only had so much time to see so many things.

Walking down the cobble stones to the small parking lot at the bottom. Our tour van is parked in this lot. The gilded fence is a little ways behind the camera on the left. A very short walk. Notice the black fence on the left.

The black fence is in the previous picture. These are buildings at the Palace at Versailles, too. Our driver will deliver us back to our hotel. The other family in the van with us have a flight to catch so they will be dropped at their hotel first. We hit Paris at rush hour. I was so very glad our tour guide was driving. She kept her cool in the horrendous traffic.

The next morning we set out to do laundry. We walked a few blocks with our suitcase full of dirty clothes.
Here we saw some kind of contraption. A bike? There is a young person inside the covered cab. The kick stand is amazing!

Laundry in Paris. An all automated laundry facility with all instructions in French (none of us speak French). Numbered machines that correspond with a money accepting machine on a different wall. Bryan is saying that one of them is almost done. We spent some quality family time washing and drying clothes and deciphering French.

We are inside the laundry facility and these windows at the top are letting in fresh air. The building across the street has some shutters open, some are closed. I think the upper floors are apartments.

The dryers. Alex's shirt wasn't quite dry from the previous load, the front of the dryer was hot so she continued to dry it!

Relaxing as it dries. Maybe a cat nap occurred.

On our walk back to the hotel. Skinny streets, bikes locked up, balconies overlooking the street.

Motorcycle parking. Green space in the middle of the streets near the corner.

Bryan pulling the clean clothes, Alex and Grams trucking out. A restaurant with sidewalk seating awaits the lunch crowd.

As we walked back I spied this locked driveway or is it a courtyard with parking or is it both?

The streetside view of the park across from our hotel. People don't have personal yards to play in so they probably hang out here.

Small tables, bike parking along the sidewalk. We were very happy our suitcases had great wheels as the sidewalks were usually stone and not very smooth.

A small parking lot sandwiched between buildings. Most of the bars are laying down. I wonder if the one on the far side that is "up" is reserving a spot.

Our hotel sign in blue, "TimHotel".

We wanted Grams to see how little our shower was. She stepped in and pretended to wash her hair. Even she hit her elbow.

Itty, bitty Grams barely fitting in our shower.

At 5' tall she is the right height for this shower :)

A view down the stairs. This continues for all five stories.

After laundry and packing we went for a short tour on our own. Yes, we were getting brave.

First stop, Notre Dame. Some of the people up high are wearing red and would have climbed the 387 steps up spiral staircases. Around the edges you might see gargoyles and water spouts. Groundbreaking was in 1163 and it was completed in 1345. At the bottom are 28 statues representing 28 generations of Judah. They were seen as representatives of the kings of France. During the French Revolution much destruction to the statues occurred. They were rebuilt starting in 1843. All of these statues were added to the cathedral in the first part of the 13th century.

The entrance to the cathedral. We hadn't planned on going in. The wait was about 45 minutes.

The lower part of the stained glass rose window above the west entrance is adorned with three statues. The center statue is The Virgin with Child flanked by two angels.

Bronze statue of the first Holy Roman Emperor, Charlemagne. This is located in Place Jean-Paul II right out front of the Cathedral. He was crowned Holy Roman Emperor on Christmas day in 800.

Little kids feed pigeons all over the world. Here it happens to be in front of Notre Dame Cathedral.

A stained glass window in a temporary building during construction in front of Notre Dame.

Notre Dame is on a little island. Here we are crossing the Seine to continue our walking tour. One of the 32 bridges, this one is decorated with circles between its arches.

A tour boat on the river. A different bridge with different decorative touches.

Motorcycles park off the street in the shade. Grams grew to dislike their bobbing and weaving in traffic.

Sidewalk chalk art. Wow. Sorry you have to turn your head to see it, I couldn't get it all in.

The artist is reclining.

Hmmm. Looks like we could select a sandwich for lunch. We need to eat somewhere!

Yes, Bryan has a panini for lunch. Our tad bit of French, their signs and English skills helped this to take place.

Lunches in hand we head off to find a place to eat where we won't get to jostled. The far left side near the trees, we stood and watched people and ate lunch. Very near the metro stop we needed, too.

A metro station.

We are now on our guided tour of Paris. Our driver picked us up with our luggage at our hotel at 3:00, drove us around to see many sights and then dropped us off at the correct train station in Paris for our overnight train to Milan, Italy.

Grams cringed when she saw the motorcycles AND bicyclists weaving between moving cars.

Old buildings, trees and traffic.

Ahhh, a nearly empty street. I do love the idea of trees inside this very old city.

A dignified old building.

Our driver parked and walked us to what appeared to be a secret entrance. To the right is the oldest planned square in Paris. This arched passageway was beautiful in and of itself and it opens to the square.

This is the name plate for the square. It is in the 4th arrondissement in Paris. There are 20 of these districts in Paris.

Our driver leads the way into a beautiful park. The trimmed trees are all around the edges, next to the covered walkway from a previous picture.

As we walk out from under the trees, looking left.

As we walk out from under the trees, looking right.

And the fountain, straight ahead.

The surrounding buildings have geraniums in the window boxes.

The Place de la Bastille. The location where the storming of the Bastille took place starting the French Revolution. Atop the "July Column" is the "Spirit of Freedom" gold figurine. This is all located in the middle of traffic. There is a plaque on it that when translated states "To the glory of the French citizens who armed themselves and fought for the defense of public liberties during the memorable days of July 27, 28, 29, 1830"

More motorcycles as we are driven around Paris.

A "Wallace Fountain" on the street in Paris. They are placed along the most frequented sidewalks and funded by Sir Richard Wallace who wanted to help the citizens of Paris. These needed to be tall enough to be seen, yet not be an eye sore.