Ornately decorated tomb of Napoleon. 

Seeing the amazing statutes by Rodin.

The former prison known as the Conciergerie.

Our visit to the Moulin Rouge.

The beautiful views of the Sacré-Cœur.

Back to your regularly scheduled blogging. From our visit to the Pantehon.

Palace of Versailles

A bit crazy in love with these pictures.  They turned out great since it was such a beautiful day in a beautiful location.

Versailles

Pictures from inside the Palace of Versailles.

City Views

Views from around Paris.  Many seen during our Red Bus Tour.

The Louvre

 

Paris at Night

Paris might be the most beautiful city I've ever seen when it is lit up at night.  Our view from the night cruise on the Seine was just breathtaking!

Eiffel Tower

I bought this paper specifically for these pages... So glad they turned out so cute!

Notre Dame

Lions and Tigers and Gargoyles, oh my!

Sainte-Chapelle

I'm still amazed by the stained glass windows at Sainte-Chapelle.  They were truly one of the most beautiful things we saw on our entire trip.

Arc de Triomphe

From our first morning and our trip to the Arc de Triomphe.

Back to the Scrapbooking

Loving how the pages from Europe are turning out!  This is the last page from the our first two days in Madrid.

Day 6 - Paris - Rodin & Napoleon

After the Conciergerie and a lunch of crepes on the square of Notre Dame we headed over to the Rodin museum.  They had a huge sculpture garden and then a house with many of Rodin's original works.

The work called The Gates of Hell actually contains the original version of the thinker above the door.  This version is much smaller than the onet we think of.

A larger than life sized version of The Thinker.

The Age of Bronze.

From the Rodin Museum we happened to be near L'Hôtel national des Invalides, the location of Napoleon's tomb.  This building can be seen from all over Paris with it's distinctive gold dome. 

 

The inside of the building that holds the tomb is one of the most grand resting places I have ever seen.  Here are two areas of the ceiling.

And the alter.

The vault for the casket is enormous and lavish... Huge, really HUGE!  Amazing to think that someone is so revered that he would get a burial such as this.

 

 

Time to say Au Revoir to Paris!

Day 6 - Paris - Conciergerie

While we were waiting in line for Sainte-Chapelle, we were waiting in front of the Conciergerie.  Not knowing what it was, we looked it up in our handy Lonely Planet book.  We learned it was originally a royal residence in the 6th century and lasted as such until the end of the 14th century.  In 1391 the building was converted to a prison that held both common prisoners and political prisoners.  At this time prisoners were put in cells based on the "rent" they could pay for them thus rich prisoners were able to afford single cells with enough room for a bed and a desk.  The prison's most famous prisoner was Marie-Antoinette.

 

 

This Chapel is where Marie Antoinette's cell was thought to be located.

The outside courtyard.

Moi!

Day 6 - Paris - Sacré-Cœur and Moulin Rouge

On our last day in Paris we wanted to try to see the last few things on our to see list.  We started off the morning taking the train up to the Sacré-Cœur, a church that sits on the top of a hill visible from most areas of Paris.  It is truly a stunning church.  Almost like a church meets the Taj Mahal.  No pictures were allowed inside.

 

 

I didn't get a picture from down below but I stole this picture from wikipedia.

The view from the Sacré-Cœur was amazing.

And from this zoomed in view you can see Notre Dame on the left and Sainte-Chapelle on the right.

From the Sacré-Cœur we headed down the hill towards the Moulin Rouge.  We didn't get a chance to see a show there but definitely wanted to see it.

 

 

Day 5 - Paris - Pantheon

After we returned from Versailles we went to the Musee d'Orsay.  The museum is situation in an old train station so the feel of it is neat compared to some of the others.  The museum has a vast collection of art from the 1850's to the present, beginning after the Louvre's collection ends.  It includes works from Degas, Monet, Manet, van Gogh, Toulouse-Lautrec, Seurat and Gauguin.  Sadly pictures weren't allowed inside.

After yet another art museum we decided to try to visit the Pantheon again after our first failed attempt!  The Pantheon was built as a church but now is a mausoleum containing the remains of distinguished French citizen including the Curie's, Voltaire, Rousseau, Victor Hugo, Emile Zola and Louis Braille. 

The ceiling.

The cupola.

Pendulum clock.

The inside.