Steph and I took the Eurostar from St. Pancras to Paris. The check in was a little hectic, but we made it through just in time for the boarding to start. We weren’t able to sit next to each other based on booking separately and the train having last minute seating shuffles, but we were close. Steph was stuck with a family of two young kids and a sick mom. I was in a seat next to a quiet older woman. We grabbed some food in the ‘dining’ car, which didn’t have seating or cooked food, just a snack bar. However, the snack bar was very well stocked and not crazy prices. I really enjoyed the travel, and it was way more convenient than flying.
We got in and headed to drop our bags off at the hotel before walking to the Tomb of Napoleon and the military history museum. We went through the sections on the French resistance during WWII, the section on the Royal arms and armor, the suits of armor, and the Napoleonic sections. We walked through a few more parks before heading back to the hotel. We grabbed dinner and a glass of wine at a local bar before calling it a night.
Saturday we started with l’Orangerie, which was not my favorite kinds of art. We followed that with Musee d’Orsay, which I really like. I’d been there once before, and it was as great as I remembered it being. I like the building and even though they had some of the same artists as l’Orangerie, I think the works displayed in Musee d’Orsay were ones I liked more. For example the Monets shown in Musee d’Orsay were the studies of light, like Le Pie, and the waterlily paintings were the ones with the other interesting features, like the famous bridge. I just think the artworks and format were better at Musee d’Orsay. We went through pretty much the entire museum, then grabbed a drink by the river. We headed to the Champs-Élysées and walked through the parks and saw some crazy fashion. I think the military boot style is a silly one. We headed up to Sacré-Cœur area for dinner and looked out over the city for a bit before heading back to the hotel.
Sunday we headed out of Paris to Versailles. It was easier to get there and back than I remember it being previously. I skipped the palace as it was looking packed and I’d been through it before. I decided to spend some extra time in the gardens and relax a bit. When Steph joined me we walked out to the Grand Canal and had lunch under some trees nearby it. Then we walked over to the Grand Trianon and Petit Trianon. The gardens are massive in land area, and in vegetation. The hedge walls went up to 20ft in the air in some sections. Everything was also meticulously maintained. We walked for many hours through the gardens, including the quaint village. Steph made the perfect comment that it felt like a Disney resort park with how it was laid out perfectly to be visually stunning while not really being of any substance.










































Monday Steph and I had a lovely breakfast at the cute cafe with all the teddy bears. Then we took a short walk along the river. We then headed into the Louve. We first went to the Denon wing, then made our way to the Sully wing, finishing in the Richelieu wing. We didn’t see everything, but we saw quite a bit. We headed straight to the train station afterwards and were there with plenty of time to spare.