Been there. Done that.

Dear Daughter and I have made all the plane connections, overcome jet lag, walked in a few circles, manoeuvred through the French transit system, bought a few things, seen some of the sights, tried to explain how Canadian coffee is made and shopped for groceries at the street markets, smelled the flowers in the wonderful gardens and the ocean spray, and stood at the back of hundreds of tourists studying the Mona Lisa! I was not prepared for how life changing this whole experience was.

There is a screen in the back of the seat that one faces and it had all kinds of updates on our journey. Nine hours from Calgary Airport (2 extra hours to get there) to Charles De Gaulle airport in Paris. Then a long taxi ride to our hotel. The taxi driver wasn't sure where we needed to go so DD used her handy dandy phone to show him. When we arrived he smiled and said, not Hotel Br I gthton but Hotel Br EE ton! It was the beginning of many new ways of speaking, thinking and trying to figure out France's traffic symbols.

The Hotel made our stay so wonderful. We were central to a lot of places and we overlooked the Jardin Des Tuileries which has the Musee Du Louvre on one end and we can see tLa Tour Eiffel from the other end. Distances were deceiving though and if I'd taken my fitbit I bet it would have exploded!!!

Paris is called the city of lights and the tower is well lit, sometimes in colours and I think on the hour it actually sparkles amazingly.

After flying through the night and arriving just after lunch we settled in and then decided a walk was in order. Misjudged the distance but arrived 'home' with a lovely snacky supper.

A multigrain bread, soft cheese and a delicious sausage. The water in Paris is wonderful.

Next morning we were off to Versailles. Pretty hard to relate to all that magnificence. This view is probably from the King's bedroom and looks down on the marble courtyard and out to the inner front gate. There is another cobblestone area with a less fancy gate, then another cobblestone area and the huge statue of Louis xiv on his horse. The palace is sort of U shaped with the king's apartments in the centre. It is apparently most important that he be at the centre of everything! There is an awful lot to see so we decided to save the grounds and the 'lesser' palaces for another day.

Next day was kinda rainy and we had a full slate of museums. Musee D'Orsay was my favourite. It is directly across from our hotel but on the other side of the river. It was a train station at one time. It also has a huge scale cut away model of the Paris Opera house which I was most desirous to see.

L'Orangerie is near the end of the Tuillier's Garden and is smaller. Monet's water lilies are housed there. The waterlilies you can find on the Internet so this is the view looking down the Tuillier's Garden's centre aisle and the museum is just outside the end gate and to the left.

We dropped off our museum souvenirs and took the metro down Ave. Des Champs- Elysee's. It was rainy and so we quickly found our way to a door. The guard asked if I was okay with stairs. Sure, all the time. A confined, tight spiral is not oh, sure! DD lost count at 200 steps and it is almost 300 steps. I made it. Heart pounding and legs like jelly! I think the arch lines up with other arches in the city and is the centre of a hub where traffic circles. The view from the top shows the pie shaped wedges of the main arteries in one section..

To finish off our day we joined the throngs to The Louvre. Once a palace but now a huge museum with 3 wings. We did two. The sizes of these paintings was mind boggling. There is a dizzying array of main galleries with smaller side rooms.

A short walk back to our hotel in the rain. Paris to me is watercolour effects, lights, and rain.

Next day we tackled the Palais Garnier, the Paris Opera House. This is the cut away model from D'Orsay. The artist Degas luved the opera and he was being featured so the model was part of his gallery.

There were some school tours so this is part of main staircase from an upper level, sans kiddoes! DD thought she'd like to slide the banister!

I think Versailles pales in comparison. This is a 'hallway'.

This long room is for snacks at intermission!

These are the entrances to the box seats and are named and the number of seats is also on the brass plate.

And the main room which was being made ready for the new opera starting the following week. The stage slopes slightly up towards the back which would be tricky for the dancers.

Then we studied the metro map so we could get over to the Ille de France which is where Paris began, on an island in the middle of the Seine. Side view of the restoration work on Notre Dame from the Left Bank. (I think. My sense of direction was severely challenged!)

Angelina's is a popular eatery and confectionery in Paris. We ate a few meals and the wait lines are long. We also scooped up a dessert or two to enjoy in our hotel room!

Friday the trains to Caen were on strike so we switched things up and to the metro and took advantage of the sunshine to tour Versailles's gardens.

A small train transports tourists down to the lower gardens of Versailles. One can rent a row boat to skim over one of the water features and there are themed gardens tucked in along the allees. On the way we passed a pasture for sheep.

The Grand Trianon was much more personal than the grand Versailles.

The stone work, gardens and scale were so much cozier! I could actually imagine some kind of family life happening and the king in his study working.

A short walk takes you over to Marie Antoinette's small palace (Petit Trianon) which is even more charming.

Laura likes tea and Marie Antoinette's own blend is available in a tea shop called Nina's and her wee shoe is also on display.

The chocolate shop she sought was tucked into openings between shops. I luv these inner courtyards that lead to shops or apartments.

And we finished the evening at the Louvre.

Somehow we disentangled ourselves from the sculpture maze and ended up on the top floor where we saw how Napoleon lived!

Our time is winding down so after a slow walk around the neighbourhood. In fact this was early Saturday morning and we passed a small shop with white coated bakers setting things into display cases. Returning almost 2 hours later we noticed an extremely long line up down the street as shoppers waited for these very bakers to let them in!

We then hurried off to St. Denis which has a cathedral with one tower as the second never quite got done.

A lot of French kings are entombed inside and Louis and Marie Antoinette joined them.

These cathedrals can be gloomy especially on overcast days. But they are being restored and the stonework cleaned which makes a huge difference. Stone carvers just do the most amazing work.

We headed back and as we emerged from the metro we encountered a street vendor selling hot crepes. Yum! Pigeons were seat mates!

We decide to tour Hotel Des Invalids. Its arch lines up with others and you can see the Tomb of Napoleon in the overhead photo.

This is all military stuff. We arrived just after a very fancy wedding. The cathedral within was all decked out in white flowers, roses and hydrangeas the size of volley balls! The guests were in classy outfits and uniforms.

Sunday we took a train to Chartres which has an especially lovely cathedral with amazing stain glass windows. Unfortunately it wasn't very sunny.

We had escargots at a lovely restaurant beside the cathedral. And then a rather nerve racking try to catch a train back to Paris.

But on our last day we got up before dawn and took a taxi to another train station to try our luck again. We were on our way to meet our tour guide who would guide us around Caen and Juno Beach.

He was familiar with the Ft. Garry Horse which was my Dad's regiment.