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This was in the Quartier Latin and we found some flowers on the side of the road.
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I took this for my friend Alex's girlfriend Yael. Yael, thanks again for the excellent advice for
where to go in Paris! We loved the restaurant le Pere Claude (especially the tortellini!) and it
was actually walking distance from our hotel even.
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Natalia and her first view of Notre Dame Cathedral.
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Here are Natalia and I in front of Notre Dame Cathedral.
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The front of Notre Dame is always swarming with tourists, so we went to the back to see the
flying buttresses. More on Notre Dame here: LINK .
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Walking up to Montmartre. This was one of the busiest spots we were at during our trip.
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Natalia's dessert. Yes, I took photos of the entire dinner so that she remembers one of her favourite
dinners in Paris.
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Natalia and I walking back to our hotel after the cruise.
Versailles
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For our last day in Paris, we decided to head out to the Palace of Versailles. Here is Natalia
making a funny face at the entrance to the palace.
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Natalia outside the gold-gilded gates of the palace. We actually decided to skip the tour of the
palace since the line-ups were ridiculous and also since we were more interested in the gardens
anyway and the day was gorgeous. For more on the Palace, click HERE .
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We arrived in time for the water shows where the fountains are on and they have Baroque chamber
music playing in the background.
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Natalia and I by one of the more ostentatious fountains. Natalia had bought me the yellow jersey
since the Tour de France was finishing in Paris later in the afternoon.
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Natalia really liked some of the trees and the way that they were pruned.
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Natalia in one of the smaller sub-gardens.
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Natalia in front of one of our favourite fountains. This fountain has a group of horses
that are trying to break out from the water.
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Natalia and I decided to have a picnic on a row boat. Here I am enjoying a panini.
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Natalia in front of a sweet amphitheatre near the garden of Nymphs.
Tour de France
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So, by total chance, we wound up in Paris the day that the tour de France finished. Naturally,
we (translation me) REALLY wanted to see the riders, and especially to catch a glimpse of Lance
and his teammate (the eventual winner) Alberto Contador. Alberto was wearing the same yellow jersey
that I have on here as a way of saying he's cool like me. :) We took our places to watch the riders
come in right by the Jardin des Tuileries.
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Natalia was a really good sport and stood around with me for almost two hours waiting for the riders
to get into Paris.
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It was really sweet being this close to the cyclists as they whipped past us. It was tough to
imagine that they had already ridden like 3500 km at this point. More on the actual tour HERE .
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Me and some of the riders on their 2nd pass by us. Above the road, there were guys hanging out in
the gardens looking down on the riders too. It amazes me how much the whole country embraces this ride
and comes out to support it.
Video showing the speed and the density of the riders
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We went back to the Eiffel Tower since Natalia wanted to take a photo of our wedding M and M's.
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Natalia at the Eiffel Tower just before we headed to Belgium.
