Lille/Paris: The calm before the storm

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I spent 2 nights in Lille between Bonn and Paris and it was the perfect hiatus from busy travel. I stayed with the Leblons family, whom Robin stayed with while playing rugby in Lille a few years back. They are a very gracious family, taking me out to eat, cooking glorious French food and showing me the beautiful character of this very old, city in northern France. It was very relaxing which is just what I needed before the whirlwind "Tall girls tour" began (I'll explain later).

Vive La Paris!
So, by some fluke chance, Lindley and I arrived in our 2 star hotel within about 10 minutes of eachother. I climbed the stairs to our room to find her struggling with the key. It wasn't a "Hey, its great to see you", but a "I can't get this fu£$ing door open!" Ahh, too funny, nothing like a long journey to shorten your nerves! Somehow though, Lindley had lots of energy, so we put on our walking shoes to get our first taste of Paris. We saw Notre Dame and the Louvre. The next day though - I think we broke records. We saw the Bastille monument, Jim Morrison's grave, Monmarte, Sacre Coeur, Moulin Rouge, The Arc de Triumf, Centre Pompidou, the Champ Elysee and the grand finale - drinking wine at night, under the Eiffel tower. For our last day, we hit up Versaille. We found it overly crowded, and a bit over rated, except for the gardens which were beautiful and of course we didn't have to pay for that!!

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Photos

The Louvre
Although we didn't see the Mona Lisa (we cheaped out and didn't have enough time), the outside of the museum was still beautiful!

Wine under the Eiffel Tower
How Romantic (well not for us), we brought out the Vancouver Island class and busted out the brown paper bags and hotel issued plastic cups for this one!

Cart Wheels at Versaille??
The grass was just so beautiful I couldn't resist. The wine for lunch might have had something to do with it...