Amazing Trip to Paris to see the Cousins!

We risked life and limb and survived 3 lovely nights in Paris!  We went to meet up with cousins John from Denver, his sister Liz and her daughter from San Diego.  We had a wonderful time and walked more than ever!  We never saw the Metro and did it all by car and on foot (mostly on crutches)!   That was an adventure in itself!  

We had a fantastic hotel (Novotel Issy-les-Moulineaux) on the southwest side of Paris, out of the way of most of the traffic in the city.  The first evening we met the cousins for crepes in Montparnasse near their hotel.  

We spent one day seeing the outside of the Grand Palais, Petit Palais, then visiting the Mairie of Paris (Hotel de Ville) which included a hardware store for shopping for Tom, and the Carousel de Louvre where we ate lunch at the food court. The cousins explored Paris on their own by Metro and by foot.  

The following day we picked up the cousins in a town south of our hotel and drove to Versailles.  Versailles was beautifully renovated and sparkled again!  The crowds were horrible and there were several foot races taking place on the grounds so the Petit Train was cancelled and we walked almost 8 miles during the day!  Finally saw the Petite Trianon which we have always missed in visits before.  We were totally exhausted at the end of the day!  

On our way back to Brittany, we stopped in Le Mans which we had never visited before.  What a beautiful medieval city where we luckily missed the great car race the days before.  Photos below…(enlarge to see)..

Paris central and Carousel de Louvre

 

 

Versailles  - Palace and Trianon with Gardens

 

 

Le Mans Medieval City and enormous Cathedral