Traveling abroad - Paris in review

The quintessential symbol of Paris is Le Tour Eiffel, of course.

Here are Vaughn, Galloway, Simic and Yates posing in front of the entrance to Versailles.

Here's a selfie I took after I finished walking around the Louvre for a couple of hours.

One of my kiddos took this shot of me on the river cruise as we passed by the Eiffel Tower.

Here's a selfie on the river cruise with the younger students in the background.

And here are the older kids on that same river cruise.

Another shot of the young'uns.

Even the gates in front of Versailles are amazingly beautiful. Basic rule in Paris - if it looks like gold, then it probably is (even if it's just gold-plated, that's still impressive).

Here we are on the bus acting silly - selfie with me in the front and Potter and Edmunds in the background. I believe this is when they first started sharing their music with me thanks to their earbud splitter. :)

Here's another shot of the outside entrance to Versailles.

Yeah, I took a selfie with the gardens of Versailles in the background.

This trip I spent most of my time wandering around the gardens of the Palace of Versailles. Since I'd seen it several times before and the interior was super crowded, the gardens were a definite respite to that.

Of course, we had to take a few shots of the interior of the palace. Here are Morris, Morris, and Bristow in the Hall of Mirrors.

They were sweet enough to take a shot of me in the Hall of Mirrors too.

Here are several shots of the interior. The marble inlays and goldwork are breathtaking as are the murals and tapestries.

We stopped at Les Invalides  for a quick lookaround and lunch nearby (Napolean's tomb, I believe) - here are Bolton and Helton posing in front of it.

Before our cruise down the Seine, Yates tried to feed some finches outside Notre Dame.

Widener, Settle, and I posed in front of Notre Dame. Unfortunately, it was closed at this time, so we didn't get to go inside. (Our tour director was really unsatisfactory about planning activities and negotiating logistics like this, but there's not a lot you can do about that while you're on the tour itself.)

Here are Jones and Bristow in front of Notre Dame.

Selfie shot with the infamous triangle dome outside the Louvre.

Check out the lovely sunset pics we took as we traveled down the Seine by boat on our river cruise.

 Dunn, Key, Hiltner, and Penn on the river cruise

Higdon on the river cruise - acting his normally silly self

My lunch outside Les Invalides - yummy pizza in Paris, hahaha.



Manley posing as we passed the Eiffel Tower

Manley, Higdon, Johnson, and Kessler posing on the river cruise

Here I am with the graduated seniors on the river cruise - Otis, Potter, Edmunds, Warner, Vaughn, and Bolton with me in the front.

Kessler and Dunn on the river cruise

Key, myself, and Penn on the river cruise

Our younger kids on the river cruise with the British schoolgirls who they befriended joining us in the back - those little girls were an absolute riot!

More scenic shots...

 An overview shot as we waited for crepes in the Latin Quarter one evening

Potter, Widener, and Galloway prepare to do battle with their baguettes in the Latin Quarter.

A few shots inside the Louvre, here's a shot of  the section on a medieval walled town

A shot of the famous Venus de Milo inside the Louvre

And a couple of outside shots of the museum

More scenes from the Latin Quarter - it's a happening place at night for sure.

There are so many things that we didn't get to see in Paris, primarily due to the poor organization by our tour guide. We did see some amazing things of course, but the list of what we missed is too long. I can't wait to return to Paris and spend some time there alone. I think I'd like to try to live abroad there in a few summers. I might be able to swing it for a month or so one summer...that's on my bucket list.

Au revoir for now, Paris. Je t'aime le cite d'amour. (Yeah, I really need to work on my French first...)