So after navigating the train, we got to Nice, France. The train part wasn’t that bad, other than the Cat Lady! First, we didn’t really understand that you had to find space for your luggage in the train car anywhere you could. We barely found space for the 2 suitcases and the stroller. I figured for 3 people, that wasn’t too bad, but it barely fit. In fact, I barely fit in my seat. We were fortunate enough to get seats as a group of 4 with a table in the middle. We only occupied 3 of the seats, 2 window and the 1 aisle. For whatever reason, Lisa got forced into the back corner seat between the table and the cat lady. I was loading luggage when this happened, so I missed the incident – but the cat lady wouldn’t move to let Lisa to her seat. She was too concerned about someone bumping her cat kennel. So Lisa proceeded to climb over the table to get into her seat. Oh yeah, she did this while carrying Memphis!

The cat lady kept her cat kennel at her feet which took up 3/4 of the feet space that we shared. This meant that my feet only fit at an angle. It was a wonderful 6 hrs spent. Actually, it wasn’t too bad, I got lots of reading done.

The Nice train station was a lot smaller than expected and the “short 1km” walk to the apartment wasn’t too bad. We made our 2.5 km trek through Nice toting our luggage and boys. The apartment turned out to be really nice and met our needs quite well.

Most importantly, the balcony has a good view.

The last couple of days have been extremely relaxing. We spent time walking around town, spending time at the beach, drinking caffe creme and eating ice cream cones. The downtime is needed. The views and the water are spectacular.

Yes, that lady is tanning topless – it seems to be pretty common here (didn’t notice I caught it on camera til I posted the shot). Jackson hasn’t even noticed or he finds it normal which makes me question what’s happening at home. (have you seen this??)

Looking forward to continuing the next few days in relaxation.

So today was the day. We were going to make it to the Eiffel Tower today. Isn’t that the reason that everyone goes to Paris – to see the Eiffel Tower?

We started our day with a visit to the Catacombs. What a wield experience. The history around how the Catacombs came to be is wild enough, but the thought that if we don’t have a relationship with Jesus Christ, we really just end up a pile of bones. Wow did we see a lot of bones.

After traveling down deep into the underground of Paris, we found ourselves in tunnels that were far smaller than I would have liked to wander in. Ducking most of the way in dimly lit tunnels we were led to the area where the bodies had been put. I guess I should say piled. Check this out.

So after Jackson being too scared to go on the Pirates of the Caribean, we were a little worried about this adventure. He did note that he was scared, but only in the hallways. He was fine amongst all of these bones and skulls! Seriously, how does that make any sense?

Since Cindy wasn’t too interested in wandering underneath Paris with some skulls and bones, she stayed back at the apartment with Memphis. We met back at the appartment with lunch in hand. The afternoon allowed for some to go shopping and others (me and the boys) to sleep.

With some of us rested up, we were on route to the Arc de Triomphe. We wandered down the Champs Élysées road with the most famous stores lining it. We didn’t dare go into the original Louis Vuitton store as it had a line up down the street.

Not everyone was interested in climbing the 300 stairs at the Arc de Triomphe knowing that the Eiffel tower would be coming up. Lisa, her dad and I made the trek and what a view. The climb was worth it. Got a great view of the Eiffel Tower.

After grabbing a Quick burger, we met up with the rest of the family at the Effel Tower. Cindy and Dad ended up taking the elevator with the boys so that the rest of us could have the challenge of climbing all 650 stairs. It was actually a lot easier than I thought it was going to be. The views from each level were so spectacular. I was able to catch the sunset from the top of the tower.

After some miscommunication, we all met at the bottom to see the tower all lit up. Truly amazing.

As cool as it was to see the tower, we found out that we missed all of the excitement at the movie theatre across from our appartment. They had the screening of Men In Black 3 that Will Smith was there for. We would have been able to see him so easily.

Once getting back to the appartment and getting the boys to sleep, we had a quick family meeting as most were traveling home tomorrow. It was neat to hear of each person’s highlights.

Well, off to bed so we can travel to Nice by train tomorrow.

With our lunches packed, we transferred from the Metro to the RER and headed to Versailles for the day. We couldn’t have asked for more spectacular weather. The sun was hot and he sky was blue with not a cloud to be seen. This may have been the reason that a few got some burnt shoulders.

I definitely went to the palace with some misconceptions. Versailles, unlike any other place we’d been so far was really just a public park like we have Hawrelak park at home. Yes it did have a few palaces on the property and about 10 hectares of trees, parks and fountains. What a great day wandering through the parks and a couple of the palaces.

The main palace was impressive. The detail in the architecture was unbelievable. I must be a more simple guy, cause I found much of it to be overdone for my liking. It was still amazing what they were able to accomplish.

Our group made it back to the apartments in the evening, I think everyone was exhausted though. No one headed on to the town that in know of. I was pretty much the same for everyone, grab a bit of food and head for bed. Should be a fun day tomorrow – the catacombs and the Eiffel Tower!

The challenge for me is that I average my visits to a museum once every 4 or 5 years. The plan for today was to fill my quota for the next 20 years. Yes, that’s right, all in a single day.

We started the day at Napoleon’s tomb. What a place! We went attempted to go through the way history museum, but even though kids under 18 are free, they need a ticket. The rest of us had passes so we never had to wait in a ticket line. So after getting kicked out, we got Jackson a ticket and started again. It was cool watching Jackson go through the place. He was so interested and asking so many questions. He thought the knights were awesome.

What a tomb Napoleon had and what a building to go with it. We only went through a small portion of the halls. Kevin came back another day for a full day to go through the other various exhibits.

We made our way over to Rodin’s home. He was a famous sculptor. Our ever so cultured son was looking forward to seeing “the thinker”.

The family headed directly over to Musee d’Orsay. I have no photos or impressions of this museum. I know that the Monet paintings are here, maybe others, but with a tired baby who started crying, I was asked to leave. Not everyone can say they got kicked out of a museum. Maybe that’s my lifetime quota.

Our family had definitely been inside too many museums in a single day. After grabbing some lunch, we headed over to the Tuileries outside of the Louvre where Jackson got to ride on the carousel and play in the park with the other kids.

After heading back to the apartment with some dinner and letting the boys rest a bit, we met up with the rest of the family to see the Louvre. The big goal was to see the Mona Lisa. What a huge room and wall for such a small painting.

We spent the rest of the evening at the Louvre looking for a specific painting with a lady and her pearl earring that Tiffany really wanted to see. We never did see it as we found out that it actually is in a museum in Amsterdam.

I think I met my 20 year quota!

It wouldn’t make sense to come all the way to Paris and not see the many historic sites. Tuesday we started working our way through the itinerary. We began the day at the Concierge where all sorts of famous prisoners were stored during the French Revolution, including Marie Antoinette. Jackson behaved very well unless some of his older relatives led him astray. Here’s Granny and Jackson in the big fireplace after they got in trouble for testing the hall for its “Ka Ka” echo quality. Let’s just say the room passes the “Ka Ka” echo quality test.

We next waited in line at the Notre Dame to climb the stairs to the roof. Other than some public nudity by our son – again spurred on by an older relative (Tiffany), waiting in line wasnt too bad. Tiffany was apparently only having a conversation about underwear with him, when he decided to show her his boxers. Unfortunately, he ended up pulling everything down and showing his bare butt. What a kid, he had nothing to be ashamed of.

Jackson had been looking forward to seeing the gargoyles at the Notre Dame. He made the full hike to the top, including the bell tower without any assistance.

Here’s a photo of his favorite gargoyle.

We spent the rest of the day wandering through some of the old parts of Paris. We took a family photo on the Pont Neuf bridge then wandered down to this neat old bridge where people in love write their names on a lock as a symbol of their love and lock it to the bridge before throwing the key into the river. I got a cool photo. I haven’t done any edits on it yet, so I think it will turn out really sweet once done.

Another great day in Paris!