Paris

Just came home from an amazing weekend in Paris. Six friends and I took the Eurostar, stayed in a hotel from Wednesday afternoon to Sunday morning, and managed to survive in a country where none of us knew the language (fortunately some of the French are more worldly than us). Without a doubt, I ended up going over budget, but it was well worth it. I'll post some pictures for now, but I'll probably follow up with a post or two about the experience in words.

A heated towel rack in our hotel bathroom. A nice touch that works wonders. I had a good impression of France already.

The Notre Dame Cathedral. The interior was astounding, and the architecture intricate the entire way around.

A view of Paris from the Notre Dame Cathedral. Not sure where I was pointing lol.

The quintessential inverted pyramid of the Louvre. It was raining that day so I didn't get a picture of the outdoor pyramids. Now there's an Apple and Virgin store on either side of this pyramid. Interesting juxtaposition, as Jack Martin would say.

The Mona Lisa, duh. She was her own wall in the middle of a room of spectacular art, including The Wedding Feast at Cana, and her own three bodyguards. High maintenance, if you ask me

The people around the Mona Lisa. I apologize to any art buffs that I'm going to offend, but I personally found this aspect more interesting than the painting. Someone in the art world said this was one of the greatest paintings in the world, and now everyone has to have a picture with her. Of course, the painting was well done in that I could never make it even in a lifetime, but what makes it the greatest?

The Arc de Triumph. It's in the middle of a traffic circle, and there's a tunnel that goes below the street so you can access it. We didn't know that little fact so we ran across all 8 lanes of traffic. My friends were stopped by the police when they made it to the Arc, who just shook their heads and pointed at the tunnel. I saw oncoming traffic as my friends ran so I waited for my own clearing. A couple was laughing as I waited for my opportunity, and they promised they'd videotape me as I ran across (they probably knew about the tunnel, those jerks). Anyway, we weren't the only clueless ones since five people followed my friends, which meant there were over ten people running at once, which is why the police saw them.

The Champs Elysses from the Arc de Triumph. We went into the Louis Vutton store (think six guys with jeans) and were blown away by the decadence. We found a watch that cost 65,000 euros. Anyway, I'm sure when the trees have leaves, this shot makes for a nice view. They had the same squared-off trees here as the Luxembourg Gardens. I still can't understand why squared-off trees are appealing, I guess we have our squared-off bushs so I shouldn't be talking.

The Eiffel Tower, another duh. We waited in line for nearly 2 hours (?), but the view from the top was well worth it.

The Seine River from the Eiffel Tower during the evening. It was so cold that everyone's hands were shaking after the long wait. This picture is only one of two good ones that I got.

I took over 200 photos in Paris in four days. I've only taken around 75 photos in London in the three weeks I've been here. Granted, I haven't visited the West End and Big Ben yet, but London's got some catching up to do. Ohh geeez, as Carl would say