What the crèpe is going on in Paris?!?

"Millions of Peaches...Peaches for Me"

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Gretchen found some jarred peaches at the grocery store in Paris that she really liked. As she didn't have a fork handy, she just drank them out of the jar. I'm going to be in trouble for posting this picture.

Careful Translating...

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This call box is down in one of the Metro stations in Paris. Translated, it says "To call the 'chef' of the station." I thought maybe I could get a nice meal catered to us while Gretchen and I waited for the next train, but it turns out "chef" is translated as "chief." I always thought "chef" was a French word for cook...

Luxor Obelisk

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Here we are, just northwest of the Jardin de Tuileries in Paris. Behind me you can see the Eiffel Tower and an ancient Egyptian obelisk. The obelisk is about 3,200 years old. This place marks the spot where many of the French aristocracy (including Marie Antoinette) were guillotined during the French Revolution.

L'Orangerie

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Gretchen is a big Monet fan. We went to the Musee de l'Orangerie, where there are two rooms that are dedicated to Monet's waterlilly paintings. The paintings are enormous and displayed 360 degrees around the room. This photo only shows about 1/4 - 1/3 of this particular painting.

Monet

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Here's another photo of Gretchen in one of the Monet rooms. Notice the curvature of the wall--like I said, the paintings surround you in these two rooms.

More Monet

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Gretchen didn't want me to put up this many Monet pictures, but I think they were really neat.

Museum to Ourselves

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This photo makes it look like we had the museum to ourselves. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case. But, as far as VIP treatment goes, Gretchen did get in free because she's a teacher! :)

Gretchen and Waterlillies

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Did you know that Monet painted a picture of Gretchen? Last Monet picture, I promise.

Mansions

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You know, you see these enormous buildings in Paris that were originally built as mansions for extremely wealthy families. And then you look at Versailles. It really isn't hard to understand how the French Revolution got started when you imagine how many people were suffering while a few lived like this.

Lights

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These extremely ornate lamp posts that decorate this part of Paris look, in my opinion, like cactuses by my sister's old house in Tucson.

Paris Opera House

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This is the Opera Garnier in Paris. Inside is where the Phantom of the Opera is alleged to have lived. Underneath this opera house there is a huge man-made lake, just like in the play.

Grand Ol' Opry

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This is the inside of the Grand Opera House in Paris. I guess you could call this Paris' version of Nashville's Grand Ol' Opry. About the same scale...

The Opera House

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This is the grand salon in the Paris Opera House where the wealthy people would mingle during intermissions. WOW!

Mosaic Floor

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The mosaic floor of the Opera Garnier in Paris was amazing, in and of itself. This is not a shabby building at all. This floor is composed of millions of little stone tiles that span the entire building. It's absolutely amazing.

Us at the Opera

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The only way to get me to an opera house was for Gretchen to promise me that there wouldn't be an opera performance when we went. The building was amazing! I suppose that if I got to dress up in a nice tux and go to the opera with Gretchen dressed up in an elegant evening gown, I'd probably go...but I think that now they only do ballet peformances here. I went to one ballet once.

The Galeries Lafayette

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This is the famous Galeries Lafayette department store in Paris. It is lit up for Christmas. This store is seven stories high and has a separate men's building. It sells just about anything you can imagine. My sister-in-law, Heidi, walked out of here without realizing that a little Christmas ornament thing had gotten entangled with one of the drawstrings on her jacket. I never thought she'd be a shoplifter. ;) She promptly returned it to the store.