Paris Part 2

The next day we visited Versailles (we just visited the city before this) and it was truly incredible. I loved the romantic and neo-classic art that decorated all the rooms, and the gardens were beautiful as well. Definitely a must if you are in the Paris region! The only problem was the immense crowds. For some reason there were hundreds of Japanese tourists there led by tour guides holding umbrellas and flags, and even a pooh bear on a stick. Where there are toursits, there are also gypsies. They would work the crowds asking "Do you speak English?" If you answer yes, they hold up a sign saying who knows what and then proceed to rob you of anything of value while you read it. I ended up losing a bracelet and a sweater. It's possible that they fell themselves, but very unlikely. Good thing I only brought cheap clothing and jewelry! Thursday we visited Sacre Coeur and Luxembourg Garden. The view from Montmarte, the hill were Sacre Coeur is located, is absolutely gorgeous. To get there you must pass through several congregations of street peddlers who are rather aggressive. There were one group of guys who were selling bracelet. They grab your wrist and tie one on so that you can't get it off, and then follow you until you pay them what they want. I was left unscathed because I gave them the evil eye and I know some choice words in French :) Another group sells minature Eiffel Tours on the steps up to the cathedral. We were looking at them and looked away for a split second because we noticed some policemen coming up behind us. In the time that it took us to look back, the peddlers had packed up all their ware in gym bags and were sprinting up the hull. Very impressive I have to say.



Friday I went to Paris alone because there was more that I wanted to see. I got out of the metro station and found myself in the middle of a huge mall. I walked around looking for the exit and literally was lost in the mall for 45 minutes. There would be signs for an exit, but it would just exit into another part of the mall and people that I asked would just point at the signs. Once I escaped I walked along the Seine and got to see all the sights like Notre Dame and les Invalides.