Paris: our last day- Sacre Coeur & Cimetière du Père-Lachaise

Today was our last day in Paris! We had to check out of our hotel by noon, but our train back to Kaiserslautern didn't leave until after 5pm, so we had several hours to kill... but we still had to keep in mind that we had to drag our luggage around with us wherever we went. So we decided to first stop by Sacre Coeur and take some pictures.

It's huge! Located in Montmartre, this basilica is on the highest point in Paris.

All of us in front of the Sacre Coeur!

Entrance to Pere LaChaise Cemetary- really famous... a lot of famous people are buried here.

Over 800,000 people are buried here!!

The grave site of the one and only Jim Morrison.

Eating our trail mix lunch in the cemetery.

Ugh, it was SO HOT out!

Where Chopin is buried.

Molière's gravesite.

Oscar Wilde's gravesite... his tomb is covered in kisses left by admirers of both his writing and his lifestyle.

A little bit of home in Paris-- this restaurant was called Indiana. :)

Waiting outside of Gare de l'Est for our train back to Kaiserslautern! We tried to stay in the shade... it was so hot out. Inside the train station was way worse.

Nate fell asleep about ten minutes into the 2.5 hour train ride home.

We made it back to Germany safely! What an amazing trip! Paris was so great... we got to see most of the main sights and had a ton of fun figuring everything out on our own! The language barrier made it a little more difficult than London, but I was able to speak enough to get us by. After three French history classes in college, it was really awesome to be able to see everything that we had studied... it made it that more REAL. I was so happy that we were able to take this trip.. and that the air show happened to occur while I was abroad! We all had a great time! The food and wine were great, the museums full of masterpieces that we'd only previously seen in textbooks, and the sites were just awe-inspiring in real life. Paris was definitely a highlight of the summer!

This next weekend is Fourth of July weekend, but we don't have anything planned. Nate is on call at work and so we'll probably end up at one of the huge barbeques on base. Not that I mind... I think we could all use some down time! The weekend after that, however, I'm going to Lucerne, Switzerland! I've heard it's absolutely beautiful, and I can't wait! The weekend after that, I'm going to Brugge, Belgium, and then heading back to the States two days later. Time has really flown by... but we're making the most of it! I'm sure I'll have another post up once I have pictures from our Fourth of July adventure in Germany.

Cheers,
Annie

Paris Day 4: l'Arc de Triomphe, les Champs-Elysées, le Musée d'Orsay

Today was awesome! We started out by taking the Metro to the Arc de Triomphe, which is a monument that Napolean had erected in honor of his victories. Under it is the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier from WWI.

Nate and I!

Trying to get a good picture of the three of us

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

The tunnel underneath the roundabout to get to the Arc de Triomphe.

Maybe the most famous street in Paris!

Brooke and I found our favorite staircase at the Swarovsky store. Very sparkly!

Looking down the street of the Champs Elysees

Nate in front of the Musee D'Orsay... a museum of impressionism and post-impressionism from the late 1800s through the early 1900s. Such an awesome museum... one of the highlights of the trip for me!

Totally illegal picture of van Gogh's self portrait. They were extremely strict on not letting anybody take any sort of picture, but i hid my camera in between the pages of a program and took a picture, hoping that it turned out okay. I think it did! :)

Musee D'Orsay from the outside

The Paris Opera House! (The Phantom is up there somewhere!)

The Opera House

Nate thought he would hate escargot... turns out, he loves it. Ha. This picture was too funny.

So weird... as Nate and Brooke and I were having drinks at an outdoor cafe, Fran and Stacy (friends from Germany) walked past us... out of everybody in Paris and all of the streets, we ran into them... so we all went out to dinner at a great restaurant near Gare du Nord.

Brooke had delicious lamb!

Nate had a plate of Alsace meat with a huge mound of sauerkraut.

My duck confit! So good!

Tomorrow is our last day in Paris... our train leaves just after 5pm, so we'll have to make the most of our afternoon! Til then!

Annie

Paris Day 3: Salon International de l'Aéronautique et de l'Espace: Paris-Le Bourget

Today we went to the Paris Air Show! It was out at le Bourget Airport. We had to take the Metro to another line, where we took a shuttle bus to the airport. I have never been on a bus that crowded in my life. They just had shuttle after shuttle taking people to the air show.. tens of thousands of people were there. It's the oldest and largest air show in the world. It is only put on every two years, so there were people there from around the world to see all of the aircraft, the air show, and all that the hundreds of exhibitors had to offer.

An American C-5... you see a lot of these on Ramstein AFB.

France's huge Airbus

Upside down helicopter

French Powerade

Hard to see, but there were several parachuters up there.

real French creme brulee! so delicious.

Long, hot, crowded day, but it was worth it! Much more fun to come tomorrow with the Arc de Triomphe and the Musee D'Orsay. Can't wait!

Ciao!
Annie