Weekend in Paris

The cheese farm is about 3 hours from Paris, which is manageable if you have a long weekend. Gabe and I worked it out so we could take a Thursday and Friday off and met up with Gabe's brother-in-law's sister, who was kind enough to take us to as many spots in Paris as we could go in four days.

While we visited many other places besides the ones shown in the pictures below, hopefully this gives a reasonable summary.

The Eiffel Tower is big, and some would say ugly (at least during the day), but it is also rather impressive and a required visit for tourists like ourselves. Gabe and I waited in line to go the top; and while the day was a little hazy, it was perfect weather for flying paper airplanes.

Gabe and I had heard about the Champs-Elysees, which is reputedly the most beautiful street in the world, with exclusive retail spots and incredibly high real estate values. Before we made it to the actually beautiful tree-lined promenading part, we found the McDonald's, which we agreed (and many Parisians with us) was the perfect break between browsing the latest from Louis Vuitton and picking out a new Mercedes-Benz.

The obligatory picture proving I saw the Mona Lisa.

Gabe and I trying to look cool with a wonderful view of Paris behind us.

It just so happened we were in Paris for a big semi-final match between France and England in the Rugby World Cup. They installed some massive screens on the lawn in front of the Eiffel Tower and ten of thousands showed up to watch. I recall a particularly subdued ride back home on the Metro that night.
On our last day, we drove out to Versailles. The weather was outstanding, so we didn't go inside at all and spent our time strolling through the unending gardens. It was the perfect place for a picnic.