On Day 8 we left the north of France and headed back to Paris where we would stay for two nights. From Bayeux we traveled about two and a half hours to Giverny where Claude Monet's house was. We were be meeting up with our favorite local tour guide Antoine at Monet's house.
Claude Monet's Japanese Garden.
It was overcast when we got to the gardens, but quickly the sun started breaking through.
Beautiful lily pads.
Monet also had a beautiful English garden.
Claude Monet lived in this house from 1883-1926.
This is the view Monet had from his house...beautiful!
There were various art exhibits in different rooms through out the palace.
The Chapel.
The ceiling of the chapel.
The murals were on the ceilings and the walls.
The Hall of Mirrors
Antoine our local tour guide.
Dinner time!
Gold was everywhere.
During our visit at Monet's house Antoine negotiated with his contacts to get us tickets to tour the Palace of Versailles (which more importantly meant we didn't have to wait in 2+ hour lines for tickets). Touring Versailles on our way back into Paris was ideal. We were going to do it the next day while others went to the Tour de France, but going with the entire group was perfect. We grabbed a quick lunch on our way out of Giverny and headed to the Palace of Versailles.
WOW!
When the palace was built, Versailles was a country village. Today, however, it is a suburb of Paris just 15 miles southwest of the French capital. The court of Versailles was the center of political power in France from 1682, when Louis XIV moved from Paris, until the royal family was forced to return to the capital in October 1789 after the beginning of the French Revolution. Versailles is therefore famous not only as a building, but as a symbol of the system of absolute monarchy of the Ancient Regime.
The gardens.
The detail in everything is amazing and beautiful.
Louis XIV
Marie Antoinette and her children.
We were so thankfully to Antoine for getting us in to tour Versailles. The crowds were crazy inside the palace. It was like trying to view the Mona Lisa, but everywhere you went in the palace it was so crowded. We were also so thankfully that we didn't have to wait in line for tickets. I am so glad we went on this day, rather than the next day. Versailles is over the top beautiful and I am so glad we visited it.
From Versailles we traveled into Paris and were dropped off at the Marriott hotel. We had to say good bye to our bus driver Oliver, we would miss him and would definitely miss how nice he was because our next bus driver wasn't so friendly.
The Marriott hotel was like a hotel you would find in the US. Besides the comfortable bed (the best of all the hotels we were at), each floor had a crushed ice machine, which was so awesome.
We had dinner at Mollard, which is a famous restaurant in Paris. It opened in 1867. Our dinner was traditional French cuisine.
After another long dinner we made our way back to the hotel. Tim and Trent needed to get a good night sleep because the next day they were heading to see the last day of the Tour de France.
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