May 26, 2008, Day 4

Finally we get ourselves up early! I think we are used to the time change, now. We get to the Eiffel Tower via subway before it opens, not too bad of a line, and we ride to the top. What a view...and something you must do if you are in Paris. We subway'd much more today than any other day, discovering the city. After the Eiffel Tower we headed off to the Louvre, in awe of the most beautiful things we have ever seen. The Mona Lisa is of course the most well known of it all, it seems.

Then off to the Montmartre - very rainy afternoon. We wandered the very hilly streets in the rain, discovered an amazing artistic part of town, visited the Basilique Sacré-Coeur, Madeline found her special French purchase that we had talked about - a most beautiful french doll she named quickly 'Jolene'. Jolene joined us for much of the rest of our trip. A lovely dinner in the Montmartre, many cool art shops and artists hanging in the (wet) square. I think exploring the different districts was my favorite part.

After Versailles

After a long day at Versailles, we hopped a riverboat and cruised the Seine for an hour. The sights were amazing. From the river you saw the bridges up close, even the undersides of the bridges are amazing. It was also cool to see the banks of the rivers, as well as another view of the amazing city.

May 25, Paris continues

May 25, Sunday, and we take a tour of Versailles. Our first subway trip (note the acordian player on the subway! very fun. suddenly it is a party and all are smiling and laughing!) and very crowded but lovely Versailles. Madeline was spectacular as we dragged her through the gardens - the golden fountains, amazing grounds. 2 hours in a huge crowd learning about the kings and queens, I can't even begin to repeat. Madeline did love the 1st and 2nd bedrooms of both the king and queen - the 1st where they would have the grumpy disheveled wake up, then the 2nd room where the "wakeup" was beautiful and made up - where they could 'receive' people and continue the facade that they were always perfect.

Day 2 in Paris - May 24, 2008

the Brocks have been remiss - got so busy that we didn't write every day, and then we left Paris for Rome - no internet. Then to Tuscany, internet didn't work. SO -- going back is today's task.

As mentioned earlier - Day 2 we ended up waking up late and went to Luxembourg Gardens - just a great area with carousels, a puppet show in a theater that had been active for 50 or more years with the same puppets and run by the same family. We rented an old wooden toy boat and Madeline raced it in the lake with the other kids. It really was a lovely day.

From there we made our way to the Church of Madeline - a must see considering our smallest member. Another amazing, beautiful structure.