Paris, Versailles and a flat tire

Darrel and I just got back home from Paris.  We took the train there on Friday to meet up with our friends Bill and Eugene from Toronto, who were there to celebrate Eugene's birthday. 

Dan, Darrel, Eugene and Bill

 


The Seine at night...a little blurry
(I tried to take it without the flash)







Dinner at Chez Julien

 On Saturday, we all went to Versailles and took a tour of the Palace.  Bill had arranged for us to be picked up at our hotel and be driven out to Versailles, which is about 30mins outside of Paris.  As Darrel says....you can really see why there was a revolution in France because the Palace was so opulent.  The pictures really don't do it justice..

Courtyard in front of the Palace

Palace from the back

  

Let them eat cake

Us with the Fountain Gardens in background...the fountains did turn on eventually,
but we we're in the Palace at the time

The Chapel in the Palace

Entering the Hall of Mirrors (this is where the King would
meet his guests and do his best to intimidate them)

The King's Chair in the Hall of Mirrors

The back of the King's Chair

Now, about that flat tire...

Our tour guide Thomas was driving down the Champs Elysees on his way to our hotel, and had spotted 2 20-something muscle boys trying to cross the street.  Like every forward, aggressive and self-respecting Frenchman he proceeded to pull up next to them (they were in the median in the middle of the road...see the picture below), wave at them and give them some choice words in french (no, none of us understood what he said...but probably got the jest of it).  Now, instead of stopping the van while all of this going on...he instead watches the 2 boys rather than the road, and proceeds to run over the median....first with the front tire, and then the rear tire.  After the jarring we had in the van, we could hear the hissing of the air escaping from the tire.  Luckily for Thomas...only 1 of the tires were blown and not more damage.  Unlucky for us...we had to walk back to our hotel and had a really good laugh. 

We're just bummed that I didn't get a picture of Thomas, the van with the blown tire on the side of the road, nor the 2 muscle boys.

For those of you who have never been to Paris, I found a picture on the web of the Champs Elysees. 
In the foreground, is an example of one of the medians that Thomas ran over.