Europe 2015: Day Six

Sunday, June 21, 2015 (Day 6)

Paris, France

In Paris, our digs were the Park & Suites Villejuif and I cannot say enough bad things about this hotel.  Let us just say there was no air conditioning, there was no wi fi, the place was not clean, it had a big old boxy mattress that was not possible to sleep on and it had a bad smell that pretty much made it a nightmare.

Out front of the hotel was a farmer's market so that was kind of cool.

Also, this cool little home was at the end of the block from the hotel.  But the reality was we were happy to be out and about on this day.

Our first order of business was a moving tour of the city.

Arc de Triomphe

Champs-Élysées

For lunch break we were allowed out of the bus and sent out to find a place to eat.  Our bus stop had this view of the Eiffel Tower.  

For lunch today we were very lucky to pick this boulangerie.  One of the neat things about this trip was that without a big budget we ate like average Parisians and there were plenty of them taking advantage of this place along with us.

The bus park had this great statute.  

Even the buses were works of art.  

The afternoon was reserved for Versailles, the palace of Louis XIV. As I understand it, Louis thought the palace in Paris was not to his standards so he moved himself and the government out to this place and talked the French into building him this joint.  As it turned out, people lost their heads over it.

Does this mirror make my hips look big?

Kathy and Denice checking out the end of the statute garden.  

After walking in the gardens past all the statutes, our time for entering the palace arrived.

The Hall of Mirrors

The Obligatory Shot of Me in the Hall of Mirrors

The King's Bed

50 people dressed the King each morning.  

The Queen's Bed

Then we had time to tour the outside again.

Everyone wants to stroll on the Champs-Élysées so Donny and I did while the girls went shopping.

First stop was the Arc de Triomphe.

Can afford a dynamic car?  Rent a ride for a few minutes to know how the rich live.

There was a day and night of live music in Paris this day.  These guys were playing classic American Rock 'n Roll.  

We walked past this auto auction but found out later we could have walked right in.

This is a cafe built around an old car.

That night, we had a boat ride on the river Seine.

The lovely Denice

That night we headed back to our hotel only to discover that the bar next to it had one of the outdoor music events that Paris was celebrating this night.  We all sat around, drinking wine, and getting in touch with our feelings.