I went to Paris a month ago and I'm finally getting around to putting up some pictures

Arc de Triumph

The catacombs: an interesting place to visit if walking through endless tunnels of bones doesn't bother you.

The Musee du Louvre or Louvre as we Americans say.

The Mona Lisa or as the French call her: La Jaconde

Notre Dame - It was actually about to be torn down and then Victor Hugo published The Hunchback of Notre Dame and the people of Paris demanded it be preserved and then renovated it. The famous gargoyles were then added because of the book. It is the most famous Gothic cathedral in France thanks to Victor.

If you stand in a long line and climb to the top of the cathedral, this is what you get to see. I'm sorry to have to be the one to tell you, but  this is not a gargoyle. It's a grotesque. A gargoyle is a fancy rain gutter and is so named because it makes a gargling noise when the water comes out of it. Now whenever you see a "gargoyle" you'll know it's really a grotesque.

This is a gargoyle. See the rain? Don't you feel smart now?

After standing in the freezing rain for 2 hours and climbing over 100 stairs, this was the best smile I could manage.

Eiffel Tour

Waiting to get inside the cathedral.

There's a bridge by Notre Dame covered in locks. Apparently if you and your significant other put a lock on the bridge, you will always stay together. I watched a little boy kick a bunch of the locks because he was bored. I wonder if the couples broke up after that.

Versailles before it opens

Someone's bed chamber. Can't remember who.

The courtyard

The magnificent gardens

Marie Antoinette built a little village to escape from the palaces at Versailles. It's quite charming.

The old mill

It feels a little like Fantasy land in Disneyland.

Victor Hugo's bedroom. His house is now a museum. He was a wealthy man, but became the spokesperson for the impoverished in Paris. His book Les Miserables showed how grim life was for the Parisians and it made him loved by his countrymen for bringing their wretched lives into the eye of the public. The people of Paris loved him long before his book became a play and recent film.

Victor Hugo