Versailles

Because of the brief thunderstorm, a lot of visitors left Versailles early, giving us the time to view the gardens with few crowds. We even made it to Marie-Antoinette's hamlet, which was virtually empty, and all the way in the farthest corner of the estate. We felt really lucky to be able to see it. You can see one of the buildings in the top left of the header photo above. We also got to see the desk where the Treaty of Versailles was signed, which ended World War I.

Sculpture

In many of the museums we visited, including the Louvre and the Rodin Museum, there were so many outstanding sculptures, with higher quality than anything we'd seen before - in the US or on our other travels. You can even see a "veiled" marble statue in the photo at the top of the page, which we saw at the Louvre. Even apartment buildings had fine sculptures on their exteriors - see the center photo above.

The Eiffel Tower

The Eiffel Tower looked amazing at night, and every hour a sparkling light show would take place on the tower. Because it's so much taller than the rest of Paris, we saw the light show from so many different places, and it never got old. On our Rick Steves cruise on the Seine, our boat passed right below the Eiffel Tower, fully illuminated.

Place des Vosges

This was a city square, completely enclosed by elegant apartment buildings all built in the same style, with a beautiful landscaped square in the middle.