Et maintenant, pour la partie heureuse.

So the happy touring began the very next morning right after our eggs and croissants.  We took the train into downtown Paris and went straight to Notre Dame.  Surreal is a word that I would use to describe most of what we saw in Paris.  I don't know how many years I have spent hearing about these places, but to be there was just unreal.  The only notes kept from my college days, aside from pertinent ones from my major, were from my art history classes.  I enjoyed them.  I loved them.  I can't throw away the notebooks because I want to devour every last bit of information and feeling and never forget one piece of it.

This place is incredible.  The years spent building it, the detail, the mass amounts of detail.  The time period in which it was constructed, I can't even imagine the building process back then.  The artistry, the talent, the vision.  Simply incredible.  Walking around the city reminded me how young our own country is.  America is a baby compared to these countries.

So amazing.

After touring the cathedral we grabbed a sandwich from one of the many many many vendors on the street...I couldn't even decide what to get because everything is sooo delicious!! Fresh sandwiches, crepes, I could have eaten every hour and never gotten sick of it.

Next, we meandered our way through the streets, over the Seine and to the Louvre.  Again, standing there and staring at that glass pyramid was just surreal.  I truly love art and art history with a passion so standing in the line to go in had me just giddy with anticipation. 

You cannot believe the size of this place.  It was the palace of most royals until 1682 when Louis the XVI and Marie Antoinette decided to downsize to Versailles (sooo sad I didn't see Versailles.)  Do you know how long it would take to get someone for a phonecall in this place?  You could literally spend days and days walking the halls and corridors.  And the art is just stacked up the walls...there is so much.  Incredible.

There were a lot of people.  And we did a tremendous amount of walking.  I think we were there for about three hours and didn't even scratch the surface.

But naturally I had my priority pieces...the "must see's".
First on my list was my favorite sculpture of all time.  It moves me.
And the way they have it displayed was perfection.

Winged Victory of Samothrace.  I remembered that it had something to do with the sea, the prow of a ship or something.  But I found it pleasantly coincidental (now considering my husband's line of work) to read part of it's description: "The sanctuary on Samothrace was dedicated to the Cabeiri gods, who were invoked to protect seafarers from shipwreck and ensure success in battle."  I knew there was something else drawing me to this piece.

Breathtaking.  I wanted to take it home with me.  Or better yet, I wanted to curl up at it's base and never leave.

And of course we couldn't pass up the opportunity to visit this little lady.  We did get closer pictures of it, but you already know what it looks like.  We found the crowd around her much more interesting.  Seriously, I saw the Mona Lisa.  Amazing.

I didn't eat nearly enough chocolate crepes.  Not. nearly. enough.

After the Louvre we met up with some other couples from the boat and got a bite to eat.  Can I tell you how much I love the way they eat? Not just the food but the pace of life is just different.  You sit at a restaraunt, outside on the street and visit for hours.  The food takes forever to come out but you just don't care.  There is no one impatiently looking around for the waiter, trying to make a movie or shovel food.  Laid back, relaxed, enjoying the moment.  And the food, my heavens, just heavenly.
We started walking towards the Eiffel Tower which we had been seeing little peeks of here and there all morning.  The skies got darker and we got wetter and wetter but we finally made it.  And although there was a constant drizzle we waited in line to go up anyway.  It was getting so late that we only went to the first level, still 20 stories up.  We took the stairs because the line to the top was so long and Clark and I had to catch the subway before it stopped running back to the airport hotel.  But we went and we saw it and we went up in it and we were amazed at where we were.

I mean, really, the Eiffel Tower.

I made Clark stay one more morning in Paris so we could see a couple more things.  Plus, I had to go back to the Eiffel Tower during the day so we could get some proper "oohing" and "ahhing" in.

We had a lot of pictures taken from arms length last week.  And lots of kissing.

Clark really wanted to see the Arc de Triomphe...I couldn't convince him to give me a more "triumphant" pose.  Again, the detail was incredible.  We found it funny though that Napolean commissioned the arc's construction to celebrate his strength and success in battle, but construction was halted when he, um, lost.  It was finished however, in time for his funeral procession to pass underneath.  It still stands as a symbol of France's strength, success and beauty.  It is truly lovely and a sight to behold.

This is Clark being a tourist.

This is me being a tourist.

We ate this for days and I could have continued eating it for days.  Simple, delicious, fresh sandwiches and a little Orangina to wash it all down.

On that second morning in Paris we tried really hard to tour the Musee d'Orsay where they house the impressionist/post impressionist art.  We were on a tight schedule to make a train that afternoon so we didn't have time to stand in the line.  I am really sad we didn't get to do this, but we at least walked by.  The train ride was enjoyable in and of itself.  The countryside in France was so gorgeous.  I could live there (where is the nearest Target?)

The next day, we traveled again by train to Marseilles.  Marseilles was lovely from afar but I have to admit, not my favorite place.  Very smelly, lots of seedy looking people, not super nice.  But it was still chock full of historical splendor and European brilliance.  One of our main objectives in going was to tour the island of Chateau d'If, the famous prison of Edmond Dantes in Dumas' well know Count of Monte Cristo.  All the tours were booked for the rest of the day so we weren't able to actually go out, but we were able to see the island quite well from the vantage point atop Marseilles at the Notre Dame de la Garde cathedral that sits way up on a hill in the city.

Since we only had a few hours to kill in Marseille, and not a lot of knowledge about what to do, I made Clark take a little touristy train thing that took us around to some different historical sites in the city.

Then we had to stop into a fancy hotel for an icy cold Orangina.

Chateau d'If from afar.

A view of the city and coast from the cathedral.

The next day or two kept the guys busy at work for the most part of the day.  So another wife and I walked as far as we could back in Toulon.  We made our way to the beaches at Le Mourillon.  Aahh, the Mediterranean.  So clear and blue.  I just wanted to jump in.  Shall I take a moment to say that there are a lot of boobies in France? Everywhere.  No, I don't think I will....so you might not want to click on this picture....it could be like a topless Where's Waldo.  Apparently Americans are far too modest.

We at least had to put our feet in.  Had we anticipated walking all the way to the beach that day we would have worn our suits.  We'll just have to go back again sometime.

Our last night in Toulon, Clark and I found ourselves at a restaurant right on the beach.  The food, again, was amazing and the view was unbelievable.  I had fresh salmon and ratatouille. That water is as blue as it looks in the picture.

In Toulon there is a long waterfront boardwalk, filled from end to end with restaurants and cafe's.  There are boats and yachts parked all along, with lights down in the water that show just how blue it is...like pool water.

The last day without the guys, us ladies took a tram up the side of Mount Faron in Toulon.  So gorgeous.  Have I said that already?

These are the two ladies that I spent most of my time with when not with the guys.  Danielle and Jesse were perfect company.  Two model Navy wives: strong, smart, kind, supportive, adventurous, capable and fun.  Thanks for keeping me company while our guys were busy at work!

And finally home again...to a clean house and happy children.  They loved being with Grandma so much that one of them may or may not have told me to go back to France.  Aahh, the joys of home.  I missed these girls and look forward to the soon future when I will have both the Man, and my Girls all to myself in one place.