the eiffel tower

ahhh the eiffel tower...you finally get to see it...it took mike and i about 3 days to get here...not because we weren't interested...we just had other things to see...but when we finally did get here...

it was pretty great. there was alot happening in paris during the week we were there...aero exhibitions near the arc de triumph, employment expo near the eiffel tower so there were alot of tents etc set up all over the place - which doesn't always make for the best photos...but we went here on a sunday afternoon and spent the whole afternoon lounging around in the gardens and eating lunch...waiting for it to get dark so we could take some cool shots. they had it lit up in blue for some euro thing happening in paris that week - it was definitely very cool seeing it lit up like this... and just a note as to how SMALL this world really is - we were up on the first deck of the eiffel tower a few days later, when we ran into some family friends (from the hunter valley) while up there...! VERY freaky! we were both in a bit of disbelief!

the louvre

we stayed near the louvre...this had to be one of my favourite parts of paris...not necessarily going inside but just the buildings outside and the gardens across from it.

we pretty much walked past it every day and sometimes just sat on the steps eating our lunch.

montmartre

montmartre was amazing - we only went there once during our 5 days and i wish we had gone there more. it's very touristy but i still loved it.

we went up inside the dome of the sacred basilica...i'm not usually scared of heights but for some reason that day i couldn't deal with it...of course my husband thought it was hilarious.

the streets were soo pretty

and the windows!

...milo...

...ok so i may have overreacted...

...just so EVERYONE understands...this was a very rare commodity on my mission...so of course if you were ever in an apartment with me when I had this product...AND you didn't appreciate it, I may have overreacted!

ps. once again this applies to the minority not the majority of readers...if you wish to be a little more familiar with this post you can read back a few posts in comments posted...:)

paris - palace of versailles and surrounding grounds

i can't begin to explain how amazing this place was! my first impression upon arriving was - 'what's everyone going one about' - because the front looks somewhat gaudy had scaffolding everywhere...but then you get in side....and then when you experience the grounds...!!!!! we spent nearly 5 hours here and still didn't get to see all the grounds it was so massive!
you can hire bikes to ride around the lake and through the gardens or you can hire a boat to go out for a boat ride on the lake...this was by far our most tiring day in paris but probably the most amazing as well...the RER had been cancelled that day (sat) so we had to fight the crowds to change train lines a couple of times and then we stood in a one hour line for our tickets to get inside...i was about to give up! I was soooo glad I didn't!

I threw in a touristy shot for you...yes that's a rare shot of the husband and i!
I'm so glad we went on the saturday instead of during the week because Marie Antoinette's house, hamlet and grounds were open as well (apparently they are only open on the weekends).

apparently she didn't like the' grandeur' of the palace so decided to build her own place - a single level house/palace.

and she also had this hamlet built...it was perfect!

paris - notre dame

it's so hard to choose which paris photos i want to show - i have 5 days worth!

we went to notre dame 3 times during that 5 days...because somebody's father is an architect and he has inherited some of the fascination that comes with being in a building such as this!...and even for those who knew nothing about architecture...it was still fascinating.

i didn't manage to get here at night - i think i could do another 5 days in paris an still not see everything i want to see!

...a bit of rome...

ok so the rome pictures are finished...
rome was interesting...when you ask people if they enjoyed rome - there are always mixed opinions...i'm guessing it's because if you've been to any other city in italy - rome will probably be your least favourite.

we chose rome because we actually wanted to take a trip down to the amalfi coast and go to pompeii - but as it turned out we didn't get there. despite the disappointment in not being able to get down there, we still enjoyed ourselves.

i absolutely loved the piazza's - every alley way seemed to have quaint little places to eat. the husband had a large pizza for lunch every day...still can't believe he ate the whole thing!

we had gelato's nearly every day - our favourite little gelato place even had profitterol mousse!!!

one other thing i loved about rome was the paintings just set up on easels in the piazza's

all up rome was pretty fascinating, we enjoyed our time there. i can't wait to go back to go back and see more of italy!