La Tour Eiffel

We were actually supposed to visit the tower the day before but we were so caught up with other dealings, it had to be postponed. We bought our tickets again, still worth it though, we were in a little tour group and our leader was a guy called Pepe who had actually moved to France fairly recently. He spoke around four languages, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and English. He told us about all the landmarks we could see at our current elevation and would point out the Pantheon and Napoleon’s resting place, one of which we would visit. We climbed all the way to the top and learned a lot of history including a weird room where wax figures such as Thomas Edison were displayed to recreate the famed time of the tower’s conception.

Panthéon (Jour Quatre)

We ended up choosing the Panthéon as the last place to visit before we left Paris. It was an enormous domed structure. The whole place had an eerie sort of vibe to it and seeing these resting places for names such as Victor Hugo, Voltaire, Zola, and Rousseau, including Marie Curie finally made it there in 1995 as the first woman. This is the final resting place of the best minds of France–I could feel it in the air as we walked through the space. So many ghosts, not really.

Père Lachaise

The French really like to honor the dead in their country. This entire cemetery is like a large gothic city with crypts above ground. My last day in Paris was spent visiting pretty much grave after grave and I started to get desensitized. If I had the time I’d like to live in Paris for a couple of years and make my way slowly across the city’s wonderful exhibitions. But, grateful to be here and see all of this for the first time, nevertheless.

Versailles

While staying there for far less than a day, we still have a fair amount to talk about here. Following my mom’s suggestion of visiting Versailles, we drove outside the city in a newly rented Suzuki compact hybrid. When we first parked across the street from the palace, I mistakenly thought one of the smaller guest quarters was Versailles…Only to turn around and see the golden gates of King Louis’ gigantic estate. Immediately and without hesitation I understood completely why the French Revolution happened. WOW. This was someplace to live. We took a partial tour and it was one of the most lavish displays of grandiosity I have ever witnessed in person. To think about the monarchy living like that in the 1700s while peasants were starving, it is certainly a recipe for disaster. Hard to believe, even now that this kind of gulf could exist between the have and have nots.

Le saviez-vous? (Did you know?)

The current population of Paris is 2.1 million people. And there are an estimated 300,000 dogs that also live in Paris! AND there are supposedly 7.5 million dogs in all of France. That is one dog per 7 people. A lot of woofin’ to go around.

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