Paris
Here's our first day in Paris. Overcast, gray, and a bit rainy. Our hotel was in a great location, just behind the Louvre, and easy to walk to most sights.
The first day was spent walking up the Champs-Elysse, starting at the courtyard of the Louvre, and up to the Arc du Triumph.
This is the mini-arc, the the giant arc.
Here's the big one. They had the French and EU flags hanging in the Arc. There had been a ceremony of sorts, although we missed it.
Day 2 in Paris brought a walk down to the Jardin du Luxembourg. It was pretty hot and sunny that day.
After the gardens, we walked over to l'eglise Saint-Sulpice, which was featured in the DaVinci Code for the Rose Line.
Then it was over the Les Invalides, home of the golden dome and Napoleon's tomb.
We headed home for a quick nap, a stop at the grocery store, and over to the Eiffel Tower for a picnic and a trip up at night. These were easily some of the best pictures we took in Paris.
We walked up to the second story of the Tower, all 670 steps...
Nighttime views.
Something that was different from the last time I had been in Paris (2003), was that the Eiffel Tower had thousands of lights installed on it, and for 10 minutes on every hour it sparkles! This picture doesn't show the sparkling, and was a relatively lengthy exposure, so many lights appear on. It was absolutely beautiful.
Day 3 brought us to Versailles. Maybe the low point of the trip. It's impressive, I guess, although a bit opulent and overdone. The crowds were the worst part.
The gardens were very nice, of course. And very large.
The next day was more sightseeing. It never ends! This is the George Pompadou Center, full of modern art. The building was built inside-out, hence all the pipes running on the outside.
Notre Dame, of course. Not under construction this time, fortunately. Again, long lines prevented us from going inside.
No trip to Paris is complete without visiting the Louvre. Our favorite piece is the IM Pei designed pyramids in the courtyard.
Of course, the Winged Victory piece is also really cool.
Our final day in Paris we went to the catacombs. This was my favorite thing to see, and kind of creepy, of course. The catacombs are actually old mine shafts from the middle ages. Each tunnel runs under an existing street, so they have underground street signs.
In the mid 1700s, an agency was created to inspect and reinforce the mineshafts to prevent collapses. One of the inspectors carved scenes out in the rock.
There were even wells underground for the miners.
Here we get to the actual catacombs. Paris began closing the public cemetaries in 1786 and depositing the remains in the reinforced tunnels.
Walls were created from the skulls and femurs, and the rest of the remains were piled behind them. Some of the walls were quite intricate in design.
Here, a flame burned to create a natural convection to bring fresh air into the catacombs.
I had more pictures, but many of them didn't turn out too well. It was quite dark, after all.Our last sight to see was Saint Chapelle. Lots of stained glass!
Waldenburg
We took an overnight train from Paris to Hohenstein-Ernstthal, Germany. Two changes, and many hours later, Derek and Nicole picked us up Friday morning! By the eve, all of us (Mike, Donnie, Derek, myself, Chad and Justin, below) had all made it to Germany. Chad's train had been delayed, but his improvisation skills meant that he and Liz only had to walk less than a mile, instead of 10.
The wedding was in a castle in Waldenburg.
Here's Alicia, Heather, Liz, and Kelsey before the wedding.
One of the German traditions, is that the new couple has to demonstrate teamwork by sawing thru a log!
This was supposedly the perfect size log. Although the saw was pretty rusty.
Success!
Another thing was having your picture taken in a frame.
An interior shot of the castle.
All-in-all, a beautiful wedding (with great food!), and a great time seeing everyone again. Even if we had just seen each other two weeks previously.Prague
A much hyped destination, by nearly everyone I talked to. Land of cheap travel and great times, they said. Prague certainly was a good time, but couldn't live up to the hype. Or maybe we were just sick of living out of suitcases.
Here's the castle. Like the Eiffel Tower dominates the Paris skyline, so does the castle in Prague.
The architecture along the river was pretty cool.
Mike's sculpture. Named 'Piss', it's pretty much all Mike ever does. Supposedly the figures are writing text out, and you can send a text message to a certain phone number to have them write out your message.
Inside the castle on the hill, this is the cathedral.
These gardens were just down the hill from the castle. The grotto wall is poured concrete, and there were hidden faces and animals in it.
If you're in Prague, you must see the Astronomical Clock. Impossible to read, that's for sure. The clock does a little dance on the hour, and the 12 apostles come out of the windows while death rings the bell.
The next day we headed to Vysehrad, which is an old castle/embankment in the southern part of the city. Not much of the castle is left, except some old walls. Although there is a cathedral (of course) and a cemetery full of famous Czech people. The cemetery is almost like a park.
The same cathedral from the southern view.
Looking south down the river from Vysehrad.
A curious sculpture of Freud hanging from a post.
Goodnight Prague, and goodbye Europe! Till next time, hopefully it won't be another 5 years.
