An afternoon in Paris

After a few hours at the Louvre, we set off to explore more of this amazing city. We ended up at the Arc de Triomphe. The idea for the Arc was created by Napolean I. He wanted to build a monument in honor of the Great Armee. The names of the generals of the Armee are engraved on the walls of the Arc. 

There are a lot of fine details etched into the Arc. 

Our museum pass allowed us free entry to climb to the top of the Arc. 

There are a ton of stairs to get to the top but this climb felt easier than the duomo in Florence. Maybe because our legs were stronger from all the stairs in Cinque Terre?

The view from the top is amazing! And the sun was shining through the clouds on the Eiffel Tower just right. The city looks gorgeous from the top of the arc. All the cars and people look like tiny ants. 

Getting our group shot in. 

I love the way the Eiffel Tower is shining in  the background. 

We were pretty cold and tired at this point so we set out to find some food. 

We ended up at a warm restaurant where I had some amazing French Onion soup. 

Super Nel and I were feeling pretty run down. 

We found a pharmacy and stopped in to replenish our supplies of expectorant, day quill type meds and cough syrup. Pedro had to get some as well. At this point I've been to a pharmacy in 6 different countries. 

Later that evening Josef, Pedro, Shane, Bree and Dana went out to see the Eiffel Tower up close. 

Even though they came back frozen into popscicles they said the tower looked beautiful at night all lit up. 

We went to bed anticipating an early wakeup call for our daytrip to Versailles. I've been wanting to visit Versailles since I was in high school. I remember reading about the gardens and not being able to picture anything so grand. I couldn't wait to explore the chateau and the gardens.