Paris and Amsterdam- November 2009

On a river cruse tour of Amsterdam during our 10 hour layover here before continuing on to Paris. I loved looking at the old row houses and seeing the warehouse where Anne Frank and her family were in hiding during World War II and as well as going through the special collections at the Rijksmuseum.

Matt didn't want to waste any of our time in Paris once we got there, so even though were were exhausted after traveling for over 24 hours, we walked from our hotel to the Louvre just to see it all lit up at night.

Exploring Paris the next day was a blast. We loved walking in the streets and looking up at all of the old buildings! Matt said that he hated to ever look down at his feet because he didn't want to miss anything of this beautiful city. Here is a view of the Notre Dame Cathedral from the river. Since we walked "off the beaten path" most of the time, we saw few tourists and mostly locals going about their normal day.

I Spy.... Matt! Soaking in the beauty of Notre Dame.

Versailles Palace! The grounds of this palace are HUGE! We spent most of the morning walking through the tree lined paths and around the giant, man-made canal in the middle of it all. Beautiful even in the fall.

Matt above the gardens of Versailles. Windy and cold but beautiful! This is the view of only part of the expansive gardens and part of where we walked.

The Arc de Triomphe! We had to see this huge arch at the end of Champs Elysees after seeing it on TV during the Tour de France. The street itself is a lot longer than it looks and at the other end was a park with little booths set up on the side of the paths. We got some delicious crepes with warm chocolate to warm us up:)

After going to the top of the Eiffel Tower, we sat along the river bank away from the noise of the street, and enjoyed the beauty of Paris and the tower at night. Again, we were alone except for a few locals who were giving their dog a walk and it was just nice to enjoy the calm of a night in Paris.

In the main entrance of the Louvre after walking through its many hallways and rooms all day long. I never knew there could be so many paintings in one place! One of my favorite exhibits was the Egyptian areas where we saw several replicas of Egyptian engineering and statues, as well as all of the Roman and Greek statues. Matt's favorite part was seeing Caravaggio's paintings in person. This half of the trip was not a relaxing one but it was memorable.

Then we left Paris behind and traveled to the airport to catch our flight to see Matt's parents, Chuck and Liz, in Portugal.