Paris, France

I finally found some time to work on the blog for our Paris trip. There are a lot of photos here, which I hope you'll enjoy. Also, I wanted to address some concerns, you should be able to click on the photos and view them in full-size. If for some reason they don't open to reveal their full size, let me know. Thanks in advance!

Our first day on Saturday, July 7th
• Notre Dame de Paris
This was the first place we visited. Truly a marvel! I got shots from within, however the facade is more impressive. Here is Tom with his sister, Lori.

Below is the southern side of the Cathedral. You get a nice view of those famous flying buttresses. There's also a nice public garden on the East side of the Cathedral.

• Louvre
Since this was our first day, we didn't allocate enough time to visit the inside of the museum, since it takes a full day to do it justice. We just walked by, and I took some photos of the pyramids. Here's a nice shot of Tom and Lori again.
• Eiffel Tower
It was overcast all morning, however the sun came out, and the day really improved! I couldn't help taking this shot, I thought it would be both bizarre, and a new way of seeing the tower. I also took some video footage going up the elevator, which took over a minute to make the journey to the top. Tom couldn't bring himself to go to the top, but once his sister and I told him that the top in encased in glass, he regretted not going. Yet there is a staircase to a floor above the encased level which is only encased by wire fencing. Tom I'm sure would not be going up there.
Here's a cute shot of Lori on the second level of the Eiffel Tower. You have to take a second elevator to the very top, because of the change in angle of the tower.
Lori took this shot of me on the top most level of the Eiffel Tower.
Second Day, Sunday July 8th
• Palace of Versailles
We came here on Sunday, since the Palace is closed on Mondays. The wait here was absolutely unbelievable, which tells you how worth the wait was. The inside was fabulous, but again, I was more amazed with the gardens. Here are a bunch of photos of the gardens scattered throughout the grounds. No part of the gardens is left untouched with landscaping. Below is a map of the grounds, view the full size and get an idea of how long we were walking around. It started to rain of course once we took several hours to get outside after touring the palace itself. But we enjoyed ourselves nonetheless, how couldn't you!
Here is the garden to the left when you exit the back of the palace. Unfortunately, we didn't go down into that territory, because it would have taken forever to see everything.
Here's Tom and Lori in front of one the largest fountains in the gardens.
This is one of the many squares situated within the sides of the garden. It would be easy to lose track of time in these gardens, for they seem to go on forever. I highly recommend a visit.
Here is Tom and Lori again, on the steps facing the right of the rear exit of the palace into the gardens. In other words, it opposite of the photo below the map. If you look in the distance, you can see a stadium used for many venues, some I'm sure even we might have heard of.
Third day, Monday July 9th
• Disneyland Paris
Yes, we spared a day to visit one of the happiest places on earth. Below you can see Tom and Lori in front of a garden mimicking Mickey Mouses mugshot.Here is a shot of "Space Mountain Mission 2." For those of you who are roller coaster enthusiasts, it's far and away better than the one in Orlando. It makes the original feel like a kiddie ride.
Last day, Tuesday July 10th
• Arc de Triomphe
Unfortunately, we left our last day visit the Louvre, which was to our surprise closed on Tuesdays! We were distraught to say the least. But we made the best of it, and walked to the Arc de Triomphe via the Avenue des Champs-Elysées. The distance being exactly 2 miles from the Louvre pyramid to the Arc.Below is the tomb of the unknown soldier, under the Arc de Triomphe. Apparently, it is the first eternal flame ignited in Western Europe in 1920 since the Vestal Virgins was extinguished around 400 A.D. It is meant to be a memorial for all the unknown dead soldiers in both World Wars.

• Saint Sulpice
We had to visit this cathedral ever since we both read The DaVinci Code. It's far more of a humbled destination compared to Notre Dame. Far less tourists and visitors were here. There were also a lot of articles hanging on the wall next to where the "rose line" meets the wall of the cathedral. The articles addressed the sensationalism of the rose line in The DaVinci Code, the majority of which are damning the author, Dan Brown.
• Jardin du Luxembourg
Here are a couple shots of the Luxembourg gardens. Below is the fountain Marie de Médicis in the garden of Luxembourg.
Here is my favorite photo of the gardens. Check this link for some more fantastic photos: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luxembourg_Gardens

Arundel Castle

Admittedly it's been a while since I added a post. On Saturday, June 19, Tom and I visited Arundel Castle. Which is about midway between Portsmouth and Brighton. Below is a photo of me in front of the castle's facade on the trail connecting the castle's main entrance to the high street in Arundel. This castle is considered by many to be the most complete and one of the oldest castle's in all of England. If you want to know about the castle's history, copy and paste this URL into the address bar: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arundel_Castle
Below is the courtyard of Arundel Castle as seen from the castle wall leading up to the castle's keep, which housed the castle's armaments, food reserves and prison/dungeon. The day we visited we think there must've been some sort of wedding or fancy engagement taking place as there were many cars parked within the courtyard, not all seen from this vantage point.
Below is the view of the castle keep (or motte-and-bailey) from a bedroom window. Tom was a bit anxious walking up those steps. It's quite high off the ground, since you can't see how far below the ground finally levels off.
Here is the Arundel Cathedral, set apart from the castle, connected by the castle grounds. The Cathedral is surrounded by gardens and greenhouses. The Cathedral has a snippet here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arundel_Cathedral
I took many shots of the gardens between the cathedral and the castle. But this one is my favorite. I actually got four different shots of this. I'll have to make some time to do a painting of this.
This photo is of one of the many paths around the castle grounds. This one happens to be situated where the mote used to reside. We walked underneath the gate to one of the several entrances. Visitors aren't allowed to go onto that bridge (as is the case with certain areas of the castle), but you have a lot of freedom to explore the gardens and areas encompassing the castle. Here's Tom exhibiting symptoms of virtigo...I can't help but tease because the height of everything tends to overwhealm him!
This last photo is a rose garden near the entrance to the castle. It was nestled between a bunch of trees, and we almost missed it. The breeze was just right for carrying the rosy scent, not too strong to miss it, and not so still that you have to bury your face in the blossoms.