In February 2019 I went on a trip to visit several European countries with Manny, a friend that I've known since the second grade. We landed in Paris and spent a few days exploring the city. Some of my favorite highlights was seeing the Eiffel Tower light up in the evening, being one of the first people into the Louvre one morning and rushing to find the Mona Lisa, and seeing Notre Dame just a couple of months before the tragic fire.
Our hotel had an incredible view of the Eiffel Tower, it looked great during the day, but looked even better at night.
The catacombs were by far the creepiest place we visited in Paris. It's estimated that these catacombs hold the bones of over SIX MILLION bodies. There are so many bones, stacked up to eye level, and in most places, it is not one layer deep, bones go back into the darkness as far as you can see.
The Basilique du Sacé-Cœur was another beautiful, lesser well known church we visited. The lines are shorter than Notre Dame, although still pretty crowded, and it has a great view of Paris. We were able to spot Notre Dame, the Army Museum, and the Louvre from up here.
The Army Museum was a really educational museum to visit, it showcases arms and armor all the way from medieval times through World War 2, it's cool to walk through and see the progression of weaponry. It's also home to the tomb of Napoleon.
One place in Paris that was a nice relief from the crowds of tourists was a cemetery that is probably unknown to most of them. This cemetery holds the remains of one of the men that helped in the founding of the United States of America, Marquis de Lafayette. He has an incredible story and I would encourage people to learn more about him, but in summary, he served as a General and advisor to Washington in the American Revolution, and he was also involved in the French Revolution. He is sometimes known as "The Hero of Two Worlds". Several people had left quarters (with the image of George Washington) on his grave, which seemed like a fitting tribute.
Versailles
On our fourth day in Paris, we took a trip out to the Palace of Versailles which was incredibly beautiful. There is a small restaurant just off of the tour route, where we stopped for lunch that was pretty expensive but had great pan au chocolat. I ended up having pan au chocolat for breakfast almost every morning I was in Europe, from some local restaurant or the hotel buffet. After lunch at the restaurant, we rented a golf cart and took an audio took around the palace grounds. It was a great way to quickly cover a lot of ground and learn some history so that we could make it back to our hotel in Paris in the evening.
Miscellaneous
These are just some random moments and cool photos I captured that don't really have a common theme.
Here is a random subway performer entertaining a crowd. I have no idea what the song is, or what they are singing, but I thought it was a fun and genuine moment on a busy subway platform.
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