vive la Paris!

Jon and I are on our way to Morocco to meet up with our friends, Rick, Tanya, and Suresh, to do a little surfing and hanging out.  We had a layover in Paris on the way and figured, well, why not stretch that out into a few days and check the city out?

We made the most of our two full days in Paris!  The food has been amazing.  Croissants, bread, and coffee everywhere you turn!  Here's our standard breakfast - fresh squeezed orange juice, cafe au lait, bread, croissant, and a different jam every time.

We did the classics on our first day: the Louvre, Arc de Triumphe, and up the Eiffel Tower.  It was great!  The Louvre is incredible.  No matter your taste in art, they have it.  We did a cruise through most of the sections, and made a point to see the three most popular pieces, the Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, and Winged Victory.  A few of my favorites were a really neat ancient egyption sarcophagus cover (the surface is flat and polished, with an incut figure):

and aphrodite:

I'm generally way more into sculpture and other tactile sorts of art, but, for sheer scale, the "grand tableau" (aka BIG paintings) were a trip.  Seriously, these things were huge.  Jon and I were talking about where the heck you could ever put something like this.  Our question was answered on day two when we went to Versailles - a palace.   

After the Louvre, we walked over to the Arc de Triumphe at the start of Champs de Elysees.  One of the largest triumphal arches in the world, Napoleon had it built to commemorate his battles and it's also now the home of Frances Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.  I don't have any super-great Arc pictures (they're all cut off either at the top or bottom), but wikipedia does: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arc_de_Triomphe

We took the stairs to the top to check out the view.  Notably, the horror of Paris traffic in the "star," where twelve streets dump into a circle with no discernible traffic laws.

and who could spend a day in Paris without a trip up the Eiffel tower?  A perfect way to end the day!

Today, day two in Paris, we took the train out to Versailles, which was amazing!  It was a trip to spend the day wandering around where Marie Antoinette, Lois XVI, and Napoleon hung out.  Gardens that went on forever, trimmed into geometric patterns with fountains and statues.   

The biggest surprise for me in touring the Grand Palace and the Trianon were the colors - the palace was filled with bright fabrics!  Here's the Queen's bedroom, with the little door to the king's room Marie Antoinette used to escape rioting mobs during the French Revolution.

And, in the Grand Trianon, cheetah print carpet with bright pink furniture!  These folks had style!