The Last Europe Post...Paris

Paris is gorgeous. It has all the history, all the mystique, and all the traffic you can imagine. We took of early from Bechhofen and headed across the German/French countryside, taking course through the Champagne region of France. We arrived at our hotel (Holiday Inn) in Bougival, a Western suburb of Paris. We got the kids ready and headed out in search of Paris. We hiked along the Le Parc Naturel Urbain in Rueil-Malmaison. After about 2mi we hopped on the underground and took a "bullet train" to the heart of Paris. We grabbed Lunch/supper at the Hippopotamus Hippo Club before we began our epic night in Paris. The journey to the bathroom of the Hippo Club was something else. 3 flights of stairs below street level and you enter a hallway that resembles the Catacombs of Paris...really cold and really cool...
We began by walking towards The Louvre we had some neat view of Saint Eustache, Saint-Germain, and countless other attractions. The Louvre was breathtaking in size and architecture. We took in all we could of the former Palace and upgrades such as the giant glass pyramid. Heading out of The Louvre we got to see the Obélisque de Louxor, as well as La Grande Roue ferris wheel. We walked along the Seine River to Pont Neuf, the oldest bridge in Paris (1578!), and across to Notre Dame, which is also pretty old; 1160! We really with the Crypte Archéologique would have been open!
We walked a little bit further and caught another underground train this time to the Parc du Champs de Mars and the
Eiffel Tower! The grandness of the tower was pretty impressive, more-so than I was expecting. The trinket peddlers were a little annoying, but eventually we learned to ignore them. Debora did manage to get the boys a helicopter to play with...:) We crossed over to the Trocadéro, through the Palais de Chaillot, before heading North to the most amazing roundabout I've ever seen...Place de l'Étoile. 12 roads converge on the Arc de Triomphe! An amazing site. We walked under the Place de l'Étoile to check out the Arc de Triomphe. It was an awesome structure and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier was very cool to see as well.
After an exhausting 6 hour hike around BEAUTIFUL Paris at night we hopped on a rail to La Défense then catching a bus back to our hotel. What a night! But it wasn't over yet. Mara and I wanted to do a run, and even though it was 1am, Holly looked after Rohan and we took off into Bougival. We ran a long a really cool, and all uphill, street past another Notre Dame...very cool views of the valley to the North. We ran back a street called Rue de la Croix aux Vents that was INSANELY steep and icy...lots of fun at 2am. Actually, it was fun since we were on vacation in Paris! :)
The next morning, Dan & Holly took Rohan while Mara and I went on a walk (the other direction this time). After walking the rain for a while, we finally found a somewhat ghetto coffee/lotto cafe called Bar Brasserie Les Ecus. We were really wanting to find a nice area to walk, but really didn't find much. Then the adventuresome Mara took a turn down a cool street and we found one of the coolest Farmer's Market we've ever seen (and we've seen a lot!). It was centered around the Paroisse Saint-Pierre Saint-Paul church and had dozens of tents and tons of vendors. We found a great cheese tent and picked up some Camembert to bring back to Germany. We also found a brownie for Thomas since it was his 3rd birthday that day! It took us forever to get a toy from another cake put on his cupcake (language barrier), but we finally got the little red axe. After everyone got moving we headed South to the Château de Versailles. First we ate at an awesome crepe place called (ironically) La Place Creperie. The Palace at Versailles was absolutely stunning in its immense size. Seriously cannot convey the grandeur, inside or out, effectively, you just have to see it. The painting, the statues, the rooms...everything was done bigger than anything else in the world. Just amazing. Because of the fog we couldn't get a taste of the immense 3 sq miles of gardens behind the Palace (there are 2 other palaces back there too!!!). The grounds should be on the list of modern wonder.
The drive home was a little interesting...:) We got off the highway at the worst possible spot...Champs-Élysées...at rush hour (4:30)...with no way out. We drive right at the Arc de Triomphe de l'Étoile, and our drivers, Mara & Josh, can say they've conquered the 12 road Place de l'Étoile! Unfortunately the only "easy way out" was to traverse Paris, driving along the Seine River for about 2 hours to reach the other side of Paris. Made for a long trip home, but wouldn't have traded the trip for anything!