Anniversary in Paris- Days 4 and 5

Well we are two tired Trusty's!! It has been an incredibly long two days for us. Lets start off with Wednesday. We decided to start using the 4 day Museum Pass that we had purchased since most of the museums seemed to be done with the strike. We started with the Catacombs (not on the pass but a definite must-do). I was super excited about this one but after starting off on the trek, I got a little scared. Not of all of the macabre, but of being underground in such a small space for so long. Here you can see how I was feeling as we started out.

This was the widest and most open part of the path. It was 1.47 miles worth of paths, 130 steps down and 83 up (these were tight spiral stairs and seriously hell).

Ben got scared (okay, not really).

A bunch of bones, and what looks like a sacrificial bowl.

Once we reentered the world of the living (not to mention fresh air and light), we headed a tad north to the Pantheon. Unlike the Roman Pantheon (which is one of my favorite buildings, despite not seeing it in person yet), this was more of a French Renaissance inspired version of the Pantheon. Still very pretty!

A short, crowded Metro ride later we were at the Rodin Museum. He was the sculptor who did "The Thinker". Here is a smaller version in the gift shop.....oh and a slightly smaller replica. The similarities are uncanny!

Across the street from this is the National Military Museum which contains the tomb of Napoleon.

Such a large sarcophagus for such a small man.

At this point we planned on taking the Metro to our next stop but started walking and kept going (we will get to our total mileage at the end of this day). We walked along the famed Champs-Elysees.

We ended at the Arc de Triomphe. Like the Eiffel Tower, it is huge and grand in person. So we finally get underneath it and are done taking pictures of the outside, and we see the door where you enter to go up and it is closed. There is a sign saying that it is closed due to the strike. We are little bummed but figure, we got to go to the top of the Eiffel Tower, which is higher, so this is no big deal.

We are getting ready to leave and all of a sudden the door opens and they tear the sign down. So we rush to the door, show them our passes and begin climbing the stairs. Remember the 83 spiral stairs at the catacombs we did this morning.........well this was 200!!!!!! It was worth it though because here is a great shot of Monmartre and Sacre Coeur (where we were the previous day).

We then walked down the 200 stairs and back to the opposite end of the avenue to the Louvre. We stopped for some dinner and then went into the Louvre to poke around for an hour. It is only open two nights a week and it was so cool. It felt like being at a sleepover with a bunch of strangers.

Not sure if anyone has ever heard of this little known artist Leonardo Da Vinci, but this is some chick he painted named Lisa.

And the "Venus De Milo".

So after all of the walking, we can accurately account for 6 miles that we walked, not including all of the stairs and other times where we retraced our steps and walking through the Metro stations.

So starting off Thursday, we were already pretty exhausted and sore. We got up and hunted down a patisserie to find some stuff to bring back with us and breakfast. Then we headed out to the suburbs to look at this adorable little hunting lodge known as Versailles.

The Hall of Mirrors.....well and us.

Isn't is cute!?!? Please, this place was obnoxious, ostentatious, gaudy but so awesome.

This was the little hamlet that Marie Antoinette built because she wanted the experience of the simpler country lifestyle within the confines of her palace. It actually was cute.

Looking back towards the house from the gardens.

So between the day o'stairs the day before and walking all over of this small country of an estate, I have two toes that are about to fall off. While we are sad to have to start winding our trip down, we are looking forward to resting when we get home.