Lights, Camera, Paris! (Meeting the Parents)

Paris is as beautiful as I remember it. The tourists outnumber the parisians but a good baguette or crossiant will make the dissapear.

The first day we rushed to Versailles and got in just as they stopped their daily morning strike. We saw so many rooms and gardens so elaborated decorated and furnished, it was really stunning and incredibly big (half of it was closed and it still took us a few hours). Everyone had a least a bedroom, two drawing rooms, and a guardroom; and my house could have fit into most of them. The garden were really pretty but we really enjoyed Marie-Antoinette's garden and village and farm which was less geometric as the rest of the parks. Unknowingly we carried on a family tradition (started by my grandparents) and took pictures in the temple of love. We were supposed to meet mom and dad that day but the Lourve was free from 6-10 so even if we had not seen all of Versailles by 5 we had to book it back to Paris. My parents were also in Versailles that day strolling the garden but we did not see them...

The Louvre in 4 hours is impossible so (even if some wings close at that point). There was modern dance shows on that day as well so we saw one of those. We saw the Mona Lisa, Venus di Milo, Napoleon III's appartments, and TONS of other stuff (sculptures, glassworks, bronze, tapistries, paintings big and small, sarcophogus covers, full doorways from churches).

The next day we went to meet my parents at a cafe while waiting for their appartment to be cleaned up. It was a little shocking to see them after 2 months of being away, but it was great and mom and dad were fun and talkative as usual. Dad has a great tan on! Dasha and I strolled the Eiffle tower and the Arch the triomphe and lazed in the Champs de Mars while mom and dad shopped and bought chocolates. We saw some veterans procession near the arc but did not know what the occasion was. We had rabbit and gnocchi for diner prepared by the parents and chatted until mom and dad went for a midnight stroll.

In paris we still need to see lots of stuff and we have two days to do that. After Paris we don't know what to do; Ireland was cut because we would require a car. Possibly northern france, denmark or spain. We'll keep you posted!