A Trip to Europe Part 2: Paris

 We stayed primarily in Paris for this week of the trip. To save time, we flew out of Venice to Paris. It turned out to be not much more expensive than to take the train that would cut our trip down by about two days. 

Once we arrived, we did a scouting mission to check out the lay of the land. We stayed at an Air BnB that was about a 15 minute walk to the Eiffel Tower. Not far from it was a really nice multifunction athletic venue. It had both tennis courts and basketball courts. My son took advantage of the free basketball vending machine. You download an app. Your phone opens the box and you borrow the basketball. Once you are done, you put it back in and lock it back up with the phone app that registers that you returned the ball.

Eiffel Tower and Hôtel des Invalides

We never did go up the Eiffel Tower, but at least we got to see it. We also visited Napoleon's Tomb and the military museum. 

Luxembourg Garden, Panthéon, Latin Quarter, and Notre-Dame Cathedral

It was on and off rainy both in Paris and London, but it kept the temperatures mild. It was a long walk, but worth it. We even visited the neighborhood where Netflix's Emily in Paris is filmed. Hey, don't judge! Its even listed on Google Maps. 

The street where Emily in Paris is filmed

The restaurant were Emily's love interest
is the chef of. Its actually an Italian restaurant

Walking along the Latin Quarter. The buildings on the left of the picture is the Sorbonne. Ivan air shooting a basketball. Maybe he can try out for the Sorbonne's basketball team! 😉

Notre-Dame cathedral didn't really feel packed with tourists, even though there were a lot of them. Maybe the cathedral transcended the throngs of people. 

The Louvre and Musée de l'Orangerie

We spend about five hours at the Louvre, and probably could have spent more time. The Musée de l'Orangerie is about a 10 minute walk from the Louvre. It holds these large paintings that Monet did of his garden. We ended up walking down the Avenue des Champs-Élysées to the Arc de Triomphe. As usual, Keona and Alice checked out the various shops while Ivan and just sort of hung out at a nearby McDonalds. There was a basketball store along the walk, but Ivan was not all that impressed. 

I apologize for all the offset angle shots of many of these paintings. It was so crowded around some of them, that photographing them off to the side was the best I could do.

Mini Thinker

Musée de l'Orangerie was far less crowded. You could actually look at the paintings. In addition to the Monets, there was an exhibition of Henri Rousseau's work.

Palace of Versailles

First of two side day trips. It started off with nasty weather, but ended up with sunshine. 

Marie Antoinette’s getaway cottage.

Monet's House and Garden

Our second one day trip was to his home in Giverny, which is about an hour's train ride northwest of Paris. I had asked Keona where she would like to visit while we were in Paris since she had gone two years ago on a school trip. She said Monet's garden and since she had graduated, that was her gift. At Giverny was his home and famous pond which he painted his lily pad paintings. It was the exact opposite of the Versailles gardens...chaotic, wild, and very natural. It was unbelievable the flowers that were in bloom. There were ones I had never seen and ones that were familiar but in very different colors. Again, crowded but more peaceful than Versailles.

On the train heading back to Paris

Last night in Paris

We walked around the Eiffel Tower. The next day, we took the Chunnel to London. That will be the next and last installment of my vacation to Europe.