Oops

Day 7 in the books: Versailles

Today's the final day of what has been a glorious trip.  Spending it at Chateau de Versailles was such a great way to wrap up our week.  There is no way to convey the opulence of the Palace of Versailles.  It is considered the most beautiful royal household in the world.  Not only is the palace itself massive, ornate and impossible to adequately describe, the gardens, fountains, statues and perfectly manicured grounds surrounding the palace are breathtakingly beautiful as well.  We downloaded a Rick Steves podcast which we listened to as we moved through the palace and surrounding properties. (Thank you, Sheree, for finding that podcast!). The best decision we made today was to spend 7.50 euros for tickets to ride the Les Petits Train which enabled us to explore the other parts of the estate beyond the palace--the Trianon, the queen's garden & hamlet, the farm, the grand canal, etc. Being able to hop on & off that little train saved us not only time but gave us more stamina to walk the 12.8 miles we covered today.  Yes, 12.8 miles today!  So glad we had Chateau de Versailles on our must see list for today!

And in case you're interested in knowing how many miles our legs have taken us in the past 7 days here's the grand total: 74.72 miles!  I'd say we've made the most of our time in France!  But we're ready to head back to Texas tomorrow and anxious to see our family and friends!

Hall of Mirrors 

Queen's Bedchamber

Le Temple de l'Amour

The farm

Day 6 in the books: Last Tango in Paris

We left for the airport in Nice at 7:00 this morning to catch our Easy Jet flight back to Paris. Throughout our stay on the Riviera there wasn't a day that went by that we didn't comment to one another about how incredibly fortunate we have been to visit this spectacular region and to experience such picture perfect weather.   But we were eager to return to the City of Lights today and continue our exploration of this beautiful city...we still had much to see.

We walked another 10.7 miles today, and we feel fairly confident that at least half can be attributed to climbing the steps from the bottom of the hill to the top of the butte Montmartre as we made our way to Sacre-Coeur Basilica, a beautiful shimmering white church that overlooks the city.  It was worth the effort to get there!  

Next on our list was Notre-Dame Cathedral.  We got there in time to catch a tour and learned so much about the history of this magnificent cathedral.

 Awe-inspiring!  Even found Point Zero, 

the point from which everything in the city is measured. 

From Notre Dame we walked to La Sainted Chappelle (Holy Chapel). The whole chapel is lined with 13th century stained glass with each window depicting a Biblical story, starting  from Genesis.  You'd think two C of C gals would be able to recognize at least ONE scene depicted from the Bible, but alas we could not. Still ... A beautiful chapel.  

While in the area we located Shakespeare and Company Bookstore, a nod to Todd Womble, avid reader and soon to be Todd Womble, PhD.

We strolled along the Seine waterfront and saw New Bridge (Pont Neuf), the oldest bridge in Paris. Don't ask us why the oldest bridge in Paris is called New Bridge--It just is! 

And to top off our day: the Louvre!

Seeing the works of world-renown artists--paintings, sculptures, ancient pieces was too much to take in.  First, let me say that the Louvre itself is so beautiful. 

We had a list of our "must sees" so for the most part that helped us keep our focus.  (Note: We won't talk about the hour it took us to find the last 2 sculptures on our list and how many Louvre attendants we stopped along the way to locate those masterpieces). 

It is easy to see why the Louvre is the most visited, most famous museum in the world! Spectacular! Love, Love!!

Bottom line....At the end of the day we were two tuckered out Texans. 

Day 5 in the books---back to Monte Carlo

We went back to Monte Carlo on this last  day on the French Coast and logged an additional 6.8 miles.  Yes, we walked.  We shopped. Nuff said! 

Even the train station is pretty in Monte Carlo.

More beautiful grounds