Day 3: Palace of Versailles, All That Is Gold

Today we took an early morning train to the Château de Versailles, an UNESCO’s World Heritage site. It is one of the most beautiful achievements of 18th-century French art. The site began as Louis XIII’s hunting lodge before his son Louis XIV transformed and expanded it, moving the court and government of France to Versailles in 1682.

Although we got there before opening there were already several people in line waiting to get in and after an hour we were in taking in all the beauty found there. The Hall of Mirrors, where the Versailles Peace Treaty of 1919 was signed was breathtaking. This was the treaty that ended WWI.

After we finished up visiting the Palace we rented a gold cart and drove around the gardens for almost 2 hours. There were hundreds of acres of landscaped grounds. We also visited Marie Antoinette’s hamlet on the “back forty”. With all the gold we saw today Janice said that Versailles must be a little bit like what Heaven will look like.

After finding some lunch in town we were back on the train for the30 minute ride to Paris. We got off the train at the Eiffel Tower and had another jaw dropping minute when Janice and Wayne saw the tower for the first time. I am having internet issues in Paris and we have a really early start tomorrow to visit the D-Day beaches so I will catch up on the photos in a few days.

Day 2: A Taste of Paris

The guys had their first “Full English” breakfast and the girls had eggs benedict. A full English consists of sausage, streaky bacon, eggs, mushrooms, fried potatoes, and, at this restaurant foot long toast. After checking out we were on the 10:25 Eurostar train to Paris. We sped under the English Channel at over 100 MPH and arrived in Paris a little over 2 hours later.

view from hotel balcony

ver 2 hours later.

London Hotel Megaro

breakfast at hotel

London's Kings Cross train station

 After checking into our hotel in the heart of the Latin Quarter we had lunch at the pastry shop downstairs. Janice, Wayne and Tim had ham and cheese on a baguette and I had a ham and cheese crepe. Janice tried the crepe and will be having her own in the next day or two. We walked to the nearby Sainte Chapelle which was built by Saint Louis to house THE Crown of Thorns. It was absolutely breathtaking! The upper chapel has 15 windows about 50 feet tall each with 1113 scenes from the Old Testament and the Passion of Christ depicted. Dinner tonight was at Le Petit Chatelet where the closing scene of “Midnight in Paris” was filmed. Appetizers: tomatoes with fresh buffalo mozzarella and pesto drizzled with olive oil Escargot in cream sauce with puff pastry topping that everyone went wild over—even Wayne! Entrees: Janice and Joy: duck with pistachios Wayne: Chicken in cream sauce Tim: filet de beef in pepper sauce All come with a unique vegetable side: a tall stack of au gratin potatoes with steamed vegetables as the bottom layer. We’re on a roll now, so why stop now??? Desserts that were passed around the table were crème Brule, tiramisu, and the other good stuff—menu was all in French and can’t remember all—a pastry stuffed with a huge scoop of ice cream smothered in chocolate and almonds sprinkled on top. We all agreed this was one of the best meals ever! We were all stunned at how well Wayne liked all the new stuff he tried tonight and I am quite sure he even surprised himself. Although we were all stuffed, we took a quick stroll over to see Notre Dame since we were so close before retiring for the night. All in all, a good food day even though we didn’t get to the croissants, but there is always tomorrow and we will make up for missing them today.

Day 1: Arrival in London

After our customary family farewell meal at Cracker Barrel, we were off to the airport and on our way.  First flight took us to Atlanta then another on to London for a one night stay.  We had a good flight although Janice and Wayne did not get much sleep.   Janice enjoyed the scenery from above as we flew over Ireland just before reaching the UK.   After a car service to our hotel we had a quick bite in the hotel restaurant then decided to just walk around some.  Our hotel is at Kings Cross train station therefore a lot of busses running so we just picked one and rode a double decker to Trafalgar Square and hung out for a while.  Since we were close to the river we walked on down and saw Big Ben, House of Parliament and Westminster Abbey.  Picked a pub dinner and back to hotel wore out.

I asked Janice and Wayne their impressions on London and their first day.

Wayne: “More than we could ever imagine….unbelievable architecture.”

Janice: “Awesome and overwhelmed.  Buildings were beyond belief.”

Cracker Barell on way to airport

Outside beautiful train station

10 Downing Street

London Eye on River Thames

Westminster Abbey

Big Ben

Pre-departure bad news

It is with great sadness that I make this post to the blog.  Tim’s sister, Teresa, had to have an unexpected emergency surgery today to remove part of her big toe due to infection.  Her doctor says she absolutely cannot travel and the surgery could not be delayed until we returned for fear of losing her whole foot. 

She was in his office 2 weeks ago and he thought her toe would be ok but made a follow-up appointment for yesterday afternoon--just 3 days before departure, to make sure it was doing ok--it wasn't. He had to do surgery right away--today-- the next day!  We are all saddened by this happening and she will be missed very much on our trip!

This was on the heels of her house being badly damaged in the heavy rain last week with lots of flood damage. Repairs have started and she was hoping to come home from our trip to a newly remodeled house.   Right now, 80% of her household goods are stored in a "pod" in her yard! 

 I would like to request everyone please pray for her full recovery and quick repairs to her house!

2013 Paris - London - Scotland

We are just a few weeks away from  our 2013 big trip! We depart on Sunday, July 28 and return August 15.  It has been in the planning phase since last summer when we invited Tim’s mom and stepdad to go somewhere with us.  After Scotland was selected it snowballed from there—no need to waste a plane ticket on just Scotland!  We will be visiting Paris with side trips to Versailles and Normandy for a D-Day tour, London to attend a performance of “Wicked” and a trip to Stonehenge, then on to Liverpool for a Beatles tour with the fabulous Jackie Spencer, a few days in the Scottish Highlands where we will ride the Jacobite “Harry Potter” Steam Train and visit Loch Ness for monster hunting with our travels ending in Edinburgh to attend the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo.  Quite a whirlwind tour over three weeks with lots of train rides.

Anyone that has followed our past blogs knows Tim always calls his mom from the unique places we have visited.  We are so thrilled to have her and Wayne along for our adventures this time.  Tim’s sister, Teresa, will also be with us on her first trip outside the USA.  We are sure to have a great time. 

Check back for our travel blog post starting on July 29 or 30^th