Drive from Paris to Normandy/Bayeux- Friday, May 20th

The boys left us Friday morning to pick up a car for us to drive to Normandy and then on to Switzerland. We did a little shopping and packed us all up.

Getting the car was a long process. (I would not suggest it).When they were asked if they wanted to upgrade to something bigger (thinking a SUV) they accepted and finished their business. Then they were brought to their upgrade which ended up being a 9 passenger GIANT van! Not wanting to spend any more time at the dealership they took it. Ed took the liberty of driving.

Ryan did the navigating.

Zero space issues...

^ Not sure you can tell, but there are no markings on the road out of Paris. People just drive wherever they like, or that's how it seemed. Some areas were marked, but not this one. What we thought was 2 lanes, then seemed like 3....crazy! Glad I wasn't driving!

Maren and I gladly sat in the back and let the men get us to our destination. The drive was somewhat long.

We stopped in Caen for lunch. Against my approval- we ate at McDonalds!!! Across the country and we eat at McD's?? Lazy americans and their fast food... Oh well.

^Silly but I thought it was interesting to see how different all the restrooms, flushing mechanisms, garbage facilities and signs are in different countries.

At least the food looked a little different...

It tasted a little different and was good.

But it was American good. :)

^Ed posing with our giant Mercedes van.

The drive was beautiful!! We saw a pastry shop so naturally we stopped in for a try. ;) Each time we struggled to pronounce the pastry names in French.

The Linzer (my pastry) was delicious!!

^More beautiful countryside.

More pictures of more pastries. We didn't skimp on our selections. ;)

I think eclaires were my favorite, but most everything tasted almost as good.

^ There was even pastry dispensing machines. No candy bars.

^MMMM!

^Another shot of the Linzer. I think I only had a few bites when I realized Ed had finished it quick. At least he felt bad. :)

^Macaroons. We were told to try them. Not my favorite and quite pricey in comparison to all the other delicious selections.

Can you tell we LOVED the pastries!! :) More eclaires...

Paris, France- Day 3-May 19th

Day 3 in Paris we split with Layton's and headed to Versailles for the day. We heard it was a favorite and didn't want to miss out. So we took a train about an hour to Versailles.

It was indeed unique and beautiful. Gold everywhere.

What was more neat was how busy and ornate the decor was inside.

So much to look at!

Hadn't seen anything like it.

Floors were cool.

Railings...

Hallways...

Tapestries...

Super neat.

Windows...

The beautiful miles of gardens...

Yummy food...

...and the best company in a beautiful place on a beautiful day. :)

After our train ride home we went strait to Sainte Chapelle. Much smaller than I expected, lots of security,

...but very beautiful stained glass inside.

^ And neat floors. ;)

After Sainte Chapelle we had a gelato stop:

And then took the metro to Sacre Coeur. We got off one stop early and walked through some sketchy town, but the building was majestic and beautiful!

I even found some cute shoes for 10 euros on our way out of town.

Then for dinner we met up with Laytons at a place across from our hotel.

Once again food was delicious.

Also right next to our hotel we spotted a laundromat.

So that night, we did some much needed laundry.

To the best of our ability. Not knowing a lick of french we managed, but a load of laundry took over an hour...

and we learned later when the lights went out, that shortly after the machines would stop working. ;) My laundry got about half dry. Laytons hung theirs up to dry in the hotel due to the misunderstanding. :) Good times!