Locks of Love

While we were in Paris, we saw two different bridges that were covered in locks (one by the Louvre and one by Notre Dame). I had read about this on a blog before we left for our trip (find it here and more on it here) and thought it was sweet. It's a tradition for lovers to write their names or initials on the padlock, fasten it to the bridge, and throw the keys in the river to declare their love. Pretty corny... but also pretty awesome! Of course I wanted to do it.

It wasn't until our last day in Paris after we got back from Versailles that we found a lock along the Seine at one of the Bouquinistes (Parisian booksellers), engraved our names and attached it to the Pont de l'Archeveche near Notre Dame. We put our names and the date on the front, our wedding anniversary and dating anniversary on the back, and Kane along the bottom. We filled that thing up!

We share a spot right next to Carlye and Dameon. :)

In true Kane fashion, we were giving a little smooch as we dropped the keys in to the Seine, only to hear a big "thunk." We look down and the keys had landed on the edge of the bridge. Cue big boat coming towards us and as we use our umbrella to try and push the keys in to the river before the boat reached the bridge. Go us! The things we do for everlasting love... :)

Now our love will be in Paris forever! (Or at least until they take all the locks down again...) :)

Paris: Day 5 Part II - Versailles

Part two coming at you like a herd of blood thirsty zombies! Like I said, Versailles was so huge I had to break it in to two posts. We probably could have spent an entire day in the gardens!

We started outside the Orangerie and walked around taking in the beautiful fountains, flowers, and statues. Everything was so nicely groomed and in it's right place. It was amazing to think of how much man power it takes each year to keep that garden looking so perfect.

The Orangerie - where King Louis kept all his orange trees.

I really wish the fountains were on... but still cool nonetheless.

The Fountain of Apollo.

We kept walking through the gardens until we got down to this smaller more "quaint" palace called the Trianon. Marie Antoinette had this "modest" (ha!) palace built to get away and escape from palace life. This "little" palace was not little at all. A dwarf compared to the main palace, maybe but still huge by my standards.

I loved seeing all the different rooms. In the Trianon, there was an exhibit going on displaying vintage and couture dresses and outfits by fancy designers like Vivienne Westwood and Christian Dior. They wouldn't let us take pictures though...

The temple of love.

One of my favorite places in Versailles was The Hamlet. Marie Antoinette's little farm village. It was so quaint and cute with thatched roof houses and bright flowers. I loved it!

The only other bummer about Versailles (besides the massive amounts of herd-like people) was that the train station was shut down on our way home. The guy at the train station motioned for us to just walk around the block to solve the problem so we followed the crowd. Little did we know that we would be walking a couple miles to the next train station! We eventually made it home but it was quite the adventure!

Paris: Day 5 Part I - Versailles

Here we are. Our last day in Paris. I had to split it in to two parts because Versailles is freaking huge. We'll do the inside this time and the outside/gardens next time. Deal?

We got up and went to catch the train to Versailles (about a half hour outside the city). But, the train was down at our stop, so they told us to walk down a block to catch a bus to another station and then get on the train there. Oh, European public transportation.

We got to Versailles about 10am and the line was already super long, but it moved pretty fast (see how it wraps around below?). The gates were covered in gold and the palace looked huge from the outside.

Yep. There we are. In our sweatshirts. Not looking like tourists at all.

Once inside, they had free English audio guides (thank goodness). We got to learn all about Louis XIV, XV, and XVI and of course, Marie Antoinette. Did you know that Louis XIV was King for over 70 years; so long that his grandson succeeded him as King, Louis XV?

This is the main chapel. So pretty but we weren't allowed inside.

Louis the XIV and his daughter? maid? who knows...

The view of the gardens from inside.

A cool painting of the whole layout of Versailles. When I say Versailles was huge, that is an understatement!

Here's the view walking through all the different state apartments in the palace. The bad part was that you kind of felt like a herd of animals walking through. There were so many people! So. Many. People. And I don't do well with crowds. It was wall to wall people and very slow moving, but we made it through.

I loved all the different colored wallpapers. It was more like fabric on the walls. I really liked this room with the green velvet-y wallpaper and the fancy desk and chair.

Next up was the King's chambers (none of our pictures really turned out in there) and then the War Room. The War Room was at the end of the row of state apartments at the corner of the palace. It was one of Zach's favorite spots and had this crazy statue.

My favorite part of the palace was the Hall of Mirrors. It was breathtaking. The ceiling was completely painted and everything was lined with gold. Hanging from the ceiling were probably a dozen beautiful chandeliers. The room was at the back of the palace and had an amazing view out on to the gardens lined with huge floor to ceiling windows. On the opposite wall were huge mirrors that mirrored the windows. Whoa. Pun intended. I can only imagine what it would be like to attend a fancy ball in this room! SO AMAZING. The pictures don't do it justice.

On the other side of the Hall of Mirrors (the other corner of the palace) was the Peace Room. Louis or Napoleon or someone must have wanted to soften up the palace after making the War Room. Next was my second favorite room, the Queen's bed chamber. It was fabulous. Lots of gold and floral. And of course you have to have feathers on your ginormous canopy bed.

The famous painting of The Coronation of Napoleon as Emperor. It must have taken up an entire wall of one of the rooms.

Here's the view from the outside... more on that (and the never-ending gardens) next time!