Strasbourg, Black Forest & Lake Konstanz

Here are some pictures of the day we headed from France to Germany.

We started the day in Strasbourg, France. It was a beautiful city, but we didn't get to do much because it was closed (since apparently the day after Easter is a national holiday). Strasbourg is on my list of places I'd like to go back to (on a non-national holiday). These pictures were taken in an area of town called "Little France" (I believe).

And these were taken in Baden-Baden, where we visited the thermal baths. I don't have any pictures of those (not much room in a swimsuit for my camera), but here is a link to one. This was in the shopping district, which we didn't do any of, because it was a national holiday. Noticing a trend about this day of the trip? We were lucky the thermal baths were open...

Some shots of the Black Forest as we were driving:

This shot was taken on our way into the Lake Konstanz area. Those are the Swiss Alps in the background. Gorgeous, isn't it?

This is a shot of the city of Konstanz along the waterfront:

And the lake itself:


The areas of Germany that we visited this day were gorgeous -- I wish that we had more time available to cover this area, as I would have been happy to drive around just looking at the scenery for a week!!!

Paris - Day 3

Day three of our Paris adventure was spent almost entirely at Versailles. It was probably my favorite stop in Paris, though I was disappointed with the gardens. Not that the gardens weren't beautiful, but there actually wasn't a lot blooming. There were massive areas that looked like they had been cleared for annuals to go in, but they weren't in yet.


The view from the back steps:


The view of the back steps:

The hedge "walls' reminded me of Harry Potter and the Tri-Wizard tournament!

One little corner of the gardens that we found in bloom. I could have stayed here for hours (if I had a good book and it wasn't raining)!

The one lonely fountain we found running:

It seems I am fascinated with the ceilings:

Hannah & I in the (very busy) hall of mirrors! It was almost impossible to get this shot, because people kept walking in front of Jeremy!

My self-portrait from the hall of mirrors! Note that I was trying to listen to the audio guide (not my cell) while I was taking the picture!

This cute guy let me take his picture:

This cool little dude was on the wall:

A picture of the gardens from the inside:

And the very sparkly gates at the entry (along with the horrible grey sky in the background):

Paris - Day 2

These are not in the right order, because I'm too darn lazy to edit my post. How sad is that?

These were at the Concierge. As was usual in Paris, the building was beautiful. I loved the great big open hall, which is where several very large fireplaces (like the one Hannah & I are standing in) were located.

Notre Dame was our favorite stop of the day. The church was beautiful inside and out. It was actually raining and I was trying really hard to get a picture of the water pouring out of the gargoyles mouth in the picture below. I gave up, though, because I didn't want my camera getting too wet!

The inside was gorgeous, but very dark:

The cool iron work on the exterior doors:

This particular carving amused me. I like the depiction of the devil pushing down on the scale. The people on the side of the devil are jumping into a cauldron (which you cannot see in the picture), while the people on the other side are gazing to heaven. The building was covered in interesting and often amusing (well, amusing to me, anyway) carvings.

The bald guy in front of me thought this was a cool shot, too. It was taken at the Louvre.

Jeremy in front of the cool pyramids at the Louvre.

The ceiling of a window alcove at the Louvre that I thought was pretty. I liked the architecture more than the art, honestly!

And, last but not least, Jeremy & Hannah giving a big thumbs up in front of the big thumb at La Defense. I have absolutely no clue what the meaning is behind the thumb. I suppose I could google it, but I don't care enough to take the time at this point.

Paris - Day 1

Here are just a few of the pictures from day 1 in Paris!

The Seine river bank on Ile De La Cite.

And our obligatory Eiffel Tower Pictures!

Just a cool picture of the bank system along the Seine. The entire riverfront was finished in this stone work, with drives and steps and lovely little walks!

France had the best baked goods!

This was just a cool gate along the Champs-Elysees.

Champagne Pictures

Here are some of our pictures from the day we spent driving the Champagne route!

The area was very pretty. I have a lot of pictures similar to this -- little towns nestled into rolling hills surrounded by vineyards!

The vineyards would have been beautiful in a month or so!

This is the inside of the caves at the Champagne winery that we went through.

The very cool exterior of the winery. The tile work was gorgeous!

I had to take this picture for Lucy! The town was nothing more than a few dilapidated houses...

And this castle (can't remember what it was called) was not open for tourists when we drove by (one of the hazards of traveling to Europe outside of the main tourist season)!