PARIS - day 1

MY dream place.  Not Butch's and certainly not Alex's as he's allergic to cats, but HONESTLY I wanted to eat lunch here or at least have a tea here and pet the kitties!!! 

JUST LOOK at these beauties in the window (and the tabby right behind this one!!)

BUT it wasn't meant to be, the kids had spotted a place that they wanted to revisit, so we trekked over there to go and eat something.  We had eaten on the train, so we just had a little nibble of the chicken skewers that Liz got and Angela tried some of the soup that Alex had gotten.  It wasn't half bad and it was a good little destresser before we headed out.

I love this series of shots - the joy in her face that you don't get to see when you ask her to smile for a photo... love seeing these two together!!  They have such fun together

we decided to just "see" if we could get into the catacombs after the fact.  I had a tour arranged prior, but due to concerns about making it TO Paris on time and getting from the train station TO the Catacombs in time was such a huge concern that we opted to cancel that tour and just "wing it".  

Can you see them in the line?  Yeah, I can't either from this distance.  I cannot tell a lie.  I was NOT going to stand that long as it 1) causes bowel problems and 2) I'm just lazy... there is just no way !!  So I went to a bench in the park and parked my butt!  ha!  

 Oh, LOOK, there they are!!!!  Yeah, pretty far back.  The good news?  There is a bakery just across the street that sold Macaroons.... yeah, we got a variety of them!

They didn't get much further until they gave up and we headed over to the Louvre to look around before our tour.  Below at the entrance...

 There's a smile, but a slightly traumatized smile.  I did have some "issues" in there from all the walking and standing and I guess stress on my gutt.  BUT I lived.  That is the important thing.  I wandered the museum with Angela as Butch wandered off first, then Elizabeth and Alex wandered off... and Angela went yet  another way, so I chose to go with her.  We eventually caught up with Elizabeth and Alex... and decided to head out to see the Mona Lisa. 

She was in a different wing from where we started... so we checked out the map and noted that there were areas that we could "cross over" so... we were standing downstairs in a HUGE line waiting to get into that wing but the kids decided they would try to make it through another way.  Hum... I was doubtful, so I stayed where I was and told them I would hold a place in line if they weren't able to make it through... well, I was already IN the wing by the time they responded that they weren't able to get through... it was four floors to get there!!  The lines were HORRIBLE and long even though this was a night that the museum was "less busy" - good lord I would hate to see it BUSY!!!  Anyway, it was nice in that the only time we had to walk stairs was the first floor.  OK, easy enough.  Then it was a series of escalators to the top. 

 At the TOP now!!!

 But wait, you get to go through TWO more rooms full of paintings.  GREAT paintings and the one where Mona Lisa is in is actually quite interesting as it's the story of this queens (?) life... from birth, education, engagement, marriage, children...then through to the other side where it was her lifetime achievements.  Very impressive.

 These are all her paintings and the little white podium in the middle is where they have Mona Lisa right now.

 Don't get me wrong, but this is the look you get when you wait two hours to get to see her and she's TINY in comparison to what you see in the entire museum.  I get it, she's famous, but there were some AWESOME paintings in the museum that were quite impressive as well.

 

 No zoom... still not very close.. but close enough.  BUT you literally get two minutes before you are shuffled off and out the side.  Really???  All that time for such a short "glimpse" of her?  Hum... wonder when there is NO ONE in there to look at her?

Not very close, eh? 

 Waiting on the far side for Butcha and the girls to get there.

 Butch's turn to take his selfie with the woman.... he's in blue

 Proof we were there...

 Proof Angela was there as well... I didn't get a picture with Liz because by this time I had been on my feet for a good two hours and I was pretty well done and needed to make my way down to another area to sit and recoup a bit!

 Kids said I couldn't do a nighttime selfie... well, I will look a bit panic'd but I can do it!  LOL!

Dinner was another adventure... we wandered to ONE side of the Lourve - nothing but the river...
we went the other way and everyone was looking at each other and saying "well, that one looks good, but look over there.... " so I just said "it's THAT one," walked over, asked for a table for 5 outside, sat down and promptly ordered a wine.   Yep, I was done for the night for sure. 

I don't remember what on earth I ordered for dinner, but it's coming back to me about a steak of some sort that was super tasty along with a salad with artichokes that I shared with Angela because she wanted onion soup... so that and a half of a salad was what she wanted.  OK - works for me - then we ordered dessert!! 

 OUR waiter suggested Pavlova - OMG to die for!  Slight, but super tasty - Meringue with whipped cream, fruit.  WONDERFUL!

 We also got roasted Figs with ice cream

 AND Raspberry Cheesecake.  I'm sure we could have eaten five desserts, but it was a good sharing experience for all... we all got a taste of something in there!!

Then the next morning I discovered my ruined Macaroons... so sad!!!!

Day of Castles for Angela

Do you see a trend here?  Yep, when you have a single day and want to see some cool castles, Hohenzollern and Lichtenstein are the tops on the list.  They are both within easy reach and AWESOME places to go.  Butch and I decided to go on the tour with Angela today as it was cool and rainy outside AND it was the first time we have seen it in English.  Yep, we figured out most of it from the German one and reading the placards anyway.  It was still a good tour!

 oooh, I'm gonna tell, I snapped a few pictures BEFORE she told us no photos - I knew that order was coming... so snapped a few before she could tell us all it was a no-no!  ha!  Bad girl, I know!!

 Note that one of the ones in the middle is standing on TOP of what appears to be a lion!

 Having lunch in the rain - Angela chose the falafels.  I had wondered about those.  They were good!  I did get the Curry Wurst again as I told her that it was MUCH different than the one we had elsewhere (Heidelberg Castle) where they made it was a red hard wurst and here they make it with a soft white wurst.  I think that it's better here local :)

 Goats on the side of the hill below the castle for brush control.  I'm sure they were getting quite full on all the shrubbery!

 Not a clue!  ha!

Next up was a very last minute stop off for Lichtenstein castle.  We insisted Angela go into the grounds so she could get a good view of the castle as we were VERY close to closing time... but the person in the shop where you get tickets at the gate was very nice and telling us that she could take her time.  I wonder if there was a tour still in the castle, thus no need to rush.  They were going to be there a few more minutes regardless.