And back to Paris

MONDAY, AUGUST 6, 2012
Throughout our time in France, I had wanted to have a French breakfast.  I don't know if that's actually a real thing or just something for the tourists, but I wanted one.  We had some time for relaxing on our last morning in Marseille, so we decided to go for it.

 Then we packed up and headed for the train station.

 On the way there, we caught sight of Marseille's Arc de Triomphe.

It is an 8 hour drive from Marseille to Paris.  This high speed train got us there in 3.  So awesome!

Gorgeous French countryside whizzing by 

We got settled into our quaint little hotel in Paris.  The room was small and was 2 twin beds pushed lengthwise up against the walls with a bookshelf or something in between them, but it was relatively comfortable, and it was very close to the Eiffel Tower.  

View down onto the street from the hotel room

Naturally, we saved our trip up the Eiffel Tower for when Sam could join us, so we walked over there that night.  At night, every hour on the hour, a bunch of sparkly twinkle lights come on for a few minutes.  We snapped a few pictures while we waited for the sparkles.

 After we watched the sparkles, we headed toward the tower.

Then we headed up.  The very top was already filled to capacity and it was not too long until the tower closed, so we just went up to the middle level.  It was actually a perfect view... high enough to get a great view of things, but not so high that you can't even make out what things are.  Of course, we had a night time view, so not all of the pictures turned out stellar.  But it sure was awesome.

Arc de Triomphe

People on the ground below

The tower sparkled again while we were up there.  Baby is hiding under her nursing cover to stay warm.  She slept through the whole thing.

Looking down the Champ de Mars toward the Tour Montparnasse, that tall building that we went up on our earlier time in Paris

We tried to get one of all of us

This was a sign in the elevator.  We thought the picture was just so sad.

Mechanisms for raising and lowering the elevators

When we got down, we waited for the twinkle lights one more time.  It was midnight, which meant that it was now our 5 year anniversary.  It was pretty awesome to spend the first moments of that special occasion standing under the Eiffel Tower.

In a Mediterranean paradise

SUNDAY, AUGUST 5, 2012

Our first order of business for the day was one of those bus tours where you can sit up on top of the bus.  It covered a lot of the same area as our little tourist train tour, but was more comprehensive, plus it's always fun to see stuff from up high like that.

The tour started in basically the same place as the tourist train

View of the basilica from the Vieux Port

Construction around the port.  

Theatre

We got a closer view of the fort used to protect the harbor

We again drove down that street along the Mediterranean Sea and took in the breathtaking view.

Chateau d'If

Seriously, check out how beautiful the water is

Lots of people were out enjoying the beaches and gorgeous weather

So cute

Bus tour

Love this

At one point in the tour, we drove around this replica of Michaelangelo's David.

Another view of Notre Dame de la Garde

Cool street from atop the bus

We hopped off the tour bus to check out the Marseille Cathedral.  Looking back, I know that we were so travel weary by this point.  We had a little spat about the best way to walk to the cathedral, instigated by yours truly, of course.  Seems so darn petty now.  Seemed so serious at the time.  Ha ha.  But we eventually did make it there.

A little later in the day, we caught a boat out to the island of If to explore the Chateau d'If.  It's the prison in the Count of Monte Cristo.  It seems like it'd be terrible enough to be imprisoned there, but add to it that it looks out on a gorgeous city graced by amazing weather.  You'd really be aware what you are missing out on.

Wedding ring tan lines

The island of If is just one island in the Frioul Archipelago.  We caught a boat over to one of the other islands just to check it out.  We took another little tourist train for a quick ride.

People beaching it up on the island

A view of Chateau d'If from the island

Again, we wrapped up the day relaxing and watching Olympics.  We got this lovely, delicious looking pastry.  And then we took a bite and realized that it had coffee in it so we couldn't eat it. :(