France, home of the kiss and the fry.

Lindsay here, reporting from France on the third day of our trek (and we mean trek, Tommy thinks we have walked at least 200 kilometers). Our first stop was Chateau de Versailles.

It was so beautiful, I felt like it was out of a fairy tale and there should be princesses walking around in ball gowns. Everything from the golden gates at the entrance to the massive garden screamed extravagance. We thought P-Diddy was excessive but he has nothing on these kings and queens. The Chateau was so huge with a zillion rooms filled with tons of art and sculptures. A lot of the rooms had giant chandeliers and really ornately painted cielings.

The whole time the only thing we could say was "how the heck did someone build this place?". I just don't understand how such amazing buildings were built without modern technology. After touring the Chateau we ventured on to the gardens. As we strolled along listening to classical music I kept thinking this can't be for real, I can't believe I'm actually here. Everywhere we turned there was another path to walk down with another fountain to see. To top it all off, we had a beautiful warm sunny day.

Later in the day we walked around the town of Versailles. Everything was just so cute, it felt like we were in Disneyland or something. There were tons of little cafes and bakeries with huge window displays of stuff that looks too good to be real.

The next day we were off to Paris.

Paris was soooo much fun. We started the day riding the Metro, which if you know how much I like riding the Max in Portland...then this was so much better.

Our first sight in Paris was Notre Dame. Once again "How did someone build such an amazing building?", I think this is going to be a common question along our trip. Notre Dame was really unbelievable with huge stained glass windows, massive stonework everywhere, giant light fixtures, everything was just so gothic looking. I loved it.

After that we went to The Lourve. I loved the contrast of modern architecture against such old, ornate stone buildings.

The best part of the day had to be The Eiffel Tower. I've seen countless photos of it, but nothing compares to the real thing.

After a long day walking all over Paris exploring quaint side streets and freaking out about how beautiful everything is, we ended with lunch at an outside french restaurant. It was perfect.

We have Tommy to thank for these last three days of awesomeness. He has been the best tour guide here in Belgium and France. Not only is he handy to have around for the many times we need help translating, he's also a great photographer. We have really loved getting to spend time with Tommy and his whole family.

Bonne nuit,
Lindsay