Europe Trip, Day 6: Paris

Tuesday morning, we headed to see the Catacombs. 

At the entrance.

 

There are tunnels all over Paris, but the one's included in the Catacombs tour cover about 2km.  Most of it is just walking through dark tunnels.  This was an open area where some guy carved a few cool palaces.  Here's one. 

 

And Brian with the other. 

 

The walkway from the dark tunnels up to the entrance to the ossuary, where about 6-7 million people's bones are.  They were put there in the 18th and 19th centuries.

 

A close up of the piles.  The front is very orderly looking with long bones and skulls lined up. 

 

There are a few crosses throughout. 

 

After the Catacombs tour, we headed North with plans to go in the Louvre.  On our way, we hit Laduree for some macarons!

 

Unfortunately, because I was extremely busy with work the weeks leading up to our trip, I had somewhat dropped the ball on finishing our Paris plans.  Had I planned better, I would've realized that the Louvre is closed on Tuesdays, so we just took a few pictures in front of the building and were on our way.

 

We then headed over to Notre Dame.

 

Next stop the Arc de Triomphe.

 

A brief stop for lunch at La Cantine du Troquet.  My garlic, pesto mashed potatoes were amazing! 

 

Next stop was going up the Eiffel Tower.  Here we are at the bottom.

 

A view South toward the Military School from Deck #1. 

 

A view North from Deck #2. 

 

We ended Tuesday with a night bike tour.  Up to this point, we had great weather in Paris.  Unfortunately, it was a steady downfall on us the entire night bike tour.  It was about 2 1/2 hours on the bike, and then ended with an hour boat trip up and down the Seine.  All in all it was fun, but we were pretty wet by the time we got back to our hotel around midnight.

 

Our tour took us through the St Germaine area and the Latin district over to the back side of Notre Dame.

 

 

A bridge just North of Notre Dame.  The building over the river behind my left shoulder is one of the most expensive hotels in Paris.  The winner of the Tour de France gets to stay in the Presidential Suite free of charge for a week (it costs ~$10k/night).  Rumor is that they sent Lance Armstrong a ~$420k bill for his 7 weeks of stays after he was stripped of his titles.

 

The front side of Notre Dame. 

 

One of the "Locks of Love" bridges.  Our tour only took us over 2, but I think there may be 3 of them.   

 

At night, on the hour, the Eiffel Tower sparkles.  It's really hard to tell from a still picture. 

 

A view of the tower from our boat.  You can see the rain coming down.



Europe Trip, Day 5: Paris

Early Monday morning, we took a train from Brussels to Paris.



 After we checked into our hotel, we headed out to see some of the city.  This beautiful church was about a block North of our hotel.  Our hotel was really nice and in a great location just on the North side of Luxembourg Parc.

 

We stopped to eat lunch in a café on Boulevard de St Germain.

 

Our lunch... 

 

A view of the side of the Louvre from the South side of the river. 

 

Looking East down the Seine.

 

Monday afternoon we took a bike tour.  Eiffel Tower was the first stop. 

 

A church built by Louis XIV. 

 

The back side of the Military School.  This is where the Nazi's retreated to in WW2 during the Liberation of Paris, when the Allies were regaining the city.  They hid here because they knew it was too important of a building for the French to bomb.  You can see tons of bullet holes sprinkling the building.  

 

Military school from the other side. 

We took a break in the bike tour in this garden right next to the Louvre. 

 

Our treats...a nutella crepe and orange crème brulee. 

 

We finished the tour with a few of the other side of the Eiffel Tower. 

 

Someone at our hotel highly recommended a little restaurant tucked in a small street just North of Luxembourg Parc called Chez Fernand.  It was incredible.  Our starter...pesto escargot. 

 

Our dessert...cheesecake and chocolate soufflé. 



Europe Trip, Day 4: Brussels

Sunday morning we got up early to take the train from London to Brussels.

At the St Pancreas bus station in London...bye bye, London!

 

We spent all of our time in Brussels in the City Center area.  It was pretty busy, since it was a Sunday afternoon.  First stop was lunch.  Here's the view from our table, where we enjoyed Belgian Frites and a sausage. 

 

A covered, almost mall like area, with a ton of shops. 

 

Grand Place. 

 

This silly little statue (Manneken Pis) is quite the attraction.  People were clamoring to take it's picture.  There are quite a few different legends about it, but they dress it up in different costumes several times a week.

 

Another view inside Grand Place. 

 

A sampling of some of the food.  Clockwise from top left is our sausage and frites lunch, one of the chocolate shops, Brian enjoying his waffle, and a close up of our waffle. 

 

There are a ton of restaurants lining the little alleys.   

 

We finished our evening at this incredible Italian restaurant, Pasta Divina.  Here are pictures of our dinners.