Vacation of a lifetime

Mom, Brittany, and I just returned from an amazing and tiring vacation all around Europe. I would love to type out all the stories that we shared, but there is not enough time in the day. I will however, post tons of pictures, starting with the best from Paris. We left on Saturday, June 13th for Paris. We arrived and found our way to the hotel. We stayed in a hotel (Best Western) a couple blocks from the Arc d' Triumph. This hotel was great. I would recommend it to anyone. They had free breakfast and free tea time (which included snacks, enough for dinner). They also spoke English very well and they were very nice. The only downside, no one knew where the H&M clothing store was located. (Which we tried to find on three separate occasions).




We arrived in Paris around 2pm (their time of course).Thanks to Brittany, our navigator, we worked our way through the subway system with ease.That day, we walked around Paris, admiring its general splendor, and found the perfect place to eat. Besides paying way too much for this Cheeseburger and a bottle of water, it wasn't all that bad.

Then, we went back to the hotel to rest up for the remainder of our trip. We could sleep well knowing we would survive the French cuisine :).

The next day, we had scheduled a Fat Tire bike tour through Paris. This was a wonderful experience, and we had a great time. The only way it could have been better, is if it hadn't been raining. Either way, here are some of the pictures.




Here we are about to go!
There is Brittany and Mom on the bikes! I was very impressed at Mom's biking skills. I would also like to say that I took this picture while biking myself, and I did not fall. :)
Here is Brittany at the Peace Monument.


And here we are in front of the Eiffel Tower.And this is the building that holds Napoleon's grave. Our tour guide was obsessed with Napoleon. I just thought the building was pretty.

After the bike tour, we headed back to the hotel to get into some dry clothes. We then hit the town to go window shopping.

We thought we better take some pictures while we were clean and dry. This was proving to be a rare occurrence.

The next day was my day. We planned to wake up early and take advantage of our Paris Museum Pass.

Here is Britt on the subway, in her Paris disguise.


Here we are, bright and early, in front of the Louvre Museum. It was sunny with a high of 75. It was a very promising day.
And here I am, after we found out the Louvre was closed (on a Tuesday?!?). Very disappointing.

Anyways, we then went back towards the fancy bridge that Britt wanted to look at and headed toward the Musee d' Orsay.Here is the Musee d' Orsay. You can tell it used to be a train station from the architecture. It was so beautiful inside.

It is an art museum that has a special collection of Impressionist paintings. We saw a few of Monet's, Manet's, and Van Gogh's. Mom got to see a lot of famous works :).

After the museum, we went to the Notre Dame Cathedral. It was the most beautiful building I have ever seen. Here are some pictures from there.

Afterwards, we caught the subway and headed back toward our hotel. On the way we stopped by a couple more museums. Here are a few pictures from there.

After the museum we decided to climb the Arc!

The Louvre is actually straight down this street. I love the symmetry.

Here is an example of the roads in Paris. It was chaos.

The next day, we tried the Louvre again... this time, Victory...

Speaking of victory... Here is Mom and Britt in front of the Nike!

Here I am waiting for my turn in front of the Slave Ship. I am not the most patient person...

Britt and her Mona Lisa smile...

Me and Venus.

Here is Britt in front of an Anselm Keiffer.

Mom is petting the big kitty. She likes to touch old things.

Here we are after the Louvre. What a great day!


After the Louvre, we went to Starbucks to rest and burn some time. Our train for Venice didn't leave until 8pm and we did not have anything planned for the rest of the day (a rare occurance).
Here is dinner :)
And dessert.
And here is the Paris train station.
And here is a sketch I did of Michelangelo's Dying Slave, that I had seen earlier. It was incredible to stand right next to such awesome work. Paris proved to be a wonderful experience. Paris was Mom's favorite city.