Keri Goes Abroad: 2009

Finally, more than six months after the fact, I am getting around to updating my blog. These photos have survived a computer crash, so PLEASE let this be encouragement enough to back up all computer files for anyone reading this! Had I not backed up so frequently, I would have lost all of my photos, essays, music, etc.

Anyway....on to our second day in Paris! We tried to start the day early, because Rick Steves (the author of our guidebook) told us to, but couldn't leave quite as early as we'd anticipated. Versailles was the destination, though we knew it would be crowded - really crowded. After a short train ride we made it close enough to walk, but Rick said we needed to use the restroom before going in because the line would be massive. He was right. What he didn't warn us about, though, was the kind of bathroom at the train station. The toilets are in this space-shuttle-like, shiny silver room. There is one toilet and a sink, and you might have to pay up to three euros to use it. Mom went first and decided that, instead of paying for another bathroom usage, she would hold the door open for Chris. Chris went in and the door slams behind him. Suddenly we hear water spraying and Chris running around saying "AHHHH". The toilet was of the self-cleaning variety, which means it sprays water all over as soon as you shut the door. Those of us on the outside offered no help, we just stood around laughing. Chris, unfortunately, emerged completely unscathed.

After our adventures with the toilet, we walked the half-mile to the palace of Versailles. Versailles is a tourist trap, there is no getting around it. There are pickpockets gathered outside to attack the swarms of unsuspecting tourists. Once you get in the gate the pickpockets are less obvious. I am sure they're there, though. We had bought universal museum passes, thinking that they would let us bypass all of the lines. No such luck. The lines were MASSIVE (see the pictures below). We waited forever, but finally got inside...whereupon we found another line to get the headsets for the electronic tours. Dad's Rick Steves book had a room-by-room description, so we decided to use that instead. The first room we came to looked gorgeous, but it was roped off. So we waited....and waited...and waited. A crowd had gathered behind us around this red rope, and finally someone decided to break the rules and just walk in the room. We, of course, followed suit. About a hundred people poured into the room, and were promptly attacked by the furious lady who was supposed to be standing watch at the door. She had returned, and was screaming at everyone to exit (in French, of course). We pretended not to know what she was saying, and continued exploring, until she finally grabbed Mom and shoved her toward the door. It was quite the adventure, but how many people can say they were kicked out of part of Versailles?

The beginning of the line for Versailles

....and more lines

Clearly the family isn't happy to be waiting in the line.

In front of Versailles

The ceiling of the chapel - the room we were kicked out of

Vauban - half of Freiburg is named after him

Louie's bed. It's very public

The fam in the hall of mirrors

Marie Antoinette's bed

After the tour of Versailles itself, we went to go explore the gardens. Mom desperately wanted to see Marie Antionette's little dollhouse, so we headed in that direction. Sort of. The garden is HUGE, and the dollhouse is not in plain view of the main stretch of the garden. We probably walked two miles trying to find the darn house, and not a particularly easy two miles either. Most of what I remember from the gardens of Versailles is not how beautiful they were, but how exhausting it was to walk around them, especially when we were already hungry and tired. Which is too bad, but sometimes that's how it goes.

The gardens. They're huge.

Marie Antoinette's dollhouse

After finding our way back to Paris from Versailles, we took the metro to Montmartre. Montmartre is a sight to behold. You walk up a narrow alley, and suddenly everything opens up and you can see the top of the hill and the Sacre Coeur. The cathedral itself is massive. We were exhausted, so instead of walking to the top of the hill, we took the lift. The lift is an elevator-tram type of thing that shoots you from the bottom to the top of the hill (along with about 50 other people, all crammed in as tightly as possible). We got to the top, and stopped to eat. Mom ordered a coke, which came in a small glass with no ice and cost eight euro. Needless to say, that was not where we decided to eat. The boys grabbed some crepes to go from another place, which was probably a good idea. Dad, following his travel 'bible' - Rick Steves - led us in circles down the hill to try and find a restaurant. I must say, Rick knows a lot about many things, but the man is exceptionally vague when giving directions, especially about restaurant locations. We almost gave up on this restaurant and sat instead in a little restaurant with a windmill on top, but it was also incredibly expensive so we kept going. Again. Finally, finally, we found the restaurant Rick mentions in the book, and it was worth the wait. We all ordered the special, along with a bottle of wine and an appetizer of escargot. The escargot was perfect, and was absolutely drowned in butter and garlic and basil. The restaurant itself was very cute. We ate outside under an awning, and the decorating theme was sunflowers and green.

We sat for quite a while before we finally decided that we should look in the Sacre Coeur. No pictures were allowed inside, and since it is a fully functional church complete with people praying inside, I decided to obey the rule. So you'll have to just believe me when I say that the mosaic work on the ceiling is unbelievable. We admired it for a while, then admired the Paris skyline from the top of the hill, and finally walked back to the metro station. Unfortunately, in the middle of the metro, Mom started feeling really sick. We made it back to the hotel (with a small detour to a self-cleaning toilet) and called it a night in hopes that she would feel better the next day.

Montmartre

The escalators.

After we FINALLY found the restaurant

Escargot

The view of Paris from Montmartre

The next morning Mom still wasn't feeling great, so we left her at the hotel with the extra cell phone while the boys went through the Louvre. I had seen the Louvre on my last visit, and wanted to see more of the city instead. So I went off exploring while the boys set off multiple alarms by getting too close to the pictures. I think Chris even accidentally touched one and set off an alarm. Oops. Luckily they didn't get kicked out like we did in Versailles.

By the time the five of us reunited, the sky was beginning to turn black. We thought it might be better to sit and wait the storm out than to try and wander (since almost everything else would have been outside). So we sat in a cafe while it drizzled, but it never poured. In fact, the sun came out fairly rapidly. We went from the Louvre to the Arc d'Triomphe on foot (which is another long hike) but it gave us a chance to explore the Champs Elysees, the major shopping street in Paris. From there we hiked over to the Eiffel tower, where we sat at the bottom and had sandwiches. The three of us kids felt like we couldn't go to Paris and not go to the top of the Eiffel Tower, so we got in line (and stood there forever) while Mom and Dad strolled around holding hands. It took us about three hours to get from the very bottom to the very top of the Eiffel Tower, but it was well worth it. We were up there when they finally turned on the lights, and got to watch as it sparkled for five minutes at the top of the hour. By the time we got back to the bottom it was completely dark. We found Mom and Dad, who had been amusing themselves by watching the pickpockets. There are these guys who wander around selling things without a license. They have glowing Eiffel Tower miniatures, keychains, and other junk. Our conclusion was that they use selling these items to distract you while they get ridiculously close to you. They always work in pairs, so the first guy sells you whatever it is, then the second one pickpockets your wallet while it's out in your hand, or in your purse or whatever. It's fascinating to try and catch them do it - we never actually saw it, but that's got to be how it works. They can't possibly make money off of their products. The best part, though, is that when the police come by they all run away. We actually watched one guy get clothes-lined by a police officer, who picked the pickpocket up off the ground and handcuffed him. Occasionally the officers would actually chase the others. It was probably the most entertaining part of the night.