Photos

The city of Angers, France:

Please, whatever you do, do not mispronounce this town as "On-jhay!" The correct Americanized pronunciation is "Angers," as in, "Butchering their culture angers the French." They love this there, really.

A public park in Angers, and lots of fountains:

And they drive really small cars:

The Castle at Angers

The Chateau d'Angers (pronounced, like all French words, without any consonants) is actually a big tourist attraction in France. It was one of the largest and most important French castles of the Middle Ages. It sits strategically on a hilltop in the center of Angers, overlooking the town and the river that runs through it. Impressive gardens fill the former moat as well as the courtyard on top of the castle, and a cathredal is located in the courtyard. A 14th century tapestry of the Book of Revelation's apocalypse, the largest tapestry in the world, is on display inside the cathedral.

Paris

Luckily, Paris didn't feel too strange (even though they misspelled Metropolitan in this sign); you still had McDonald's, of course. Adding to the comforts of home are lots of movies that were out three months ago here (with posters emphasizing the directors over the actors), lots of "Pokemon" toys, and the fact that every store in France plays their background music in English - although it always seemed to be either the Beatles, Christmas carols, or bad '80s soft rock that reminded me of being at the dentist. No sports utility vehicles yet, though. I managed to snap some photos, shown below, before the statues and monuments lying around every street corner in Paris disappear completely.

La Place de la Concorde
Our hotel was right near this traffic nightmare, allegedly the place where the concorde was invented:

The famous obelisk, as well as a large and impressive statue of Joan of Arc (located, like many monuments in Paris, just on some street corner somewhere):

Scenes of and from the Arc de Triumphe:

Scenes of and from the Eiffel Tower
(sorry about that night quality some of the pictures have):

Sacre Coeur

(It's beautiful inside, too, but I didn't feel right taking pictures with all the singing and praying people around):

In our hotel, the Hotel Burgundy:

This picturesque church was right next to the hotel:

And finally, some pictures of the real Paris they don't want you to see:

Louvrific

Few people know this, but the Louvre is actually one of the largest royal palaces ever to be turned into an art museum and decorated with a giant glass pyramid. Perhaps the largest. Along with the pictures below, I took a lot of great shots of artwork that just plum didn't develop at all.

Alison thought it was funny that this naked guy was riding a turtle. If you think about it, it is kind of funny. The turtle's naked, too.

I liked this sketch below of The Raft of the Medusa more than the finished piece.

I was surprised at how small Verneer's Lacemaker was - about 8" by 10".

That masterwork of Romanticism, Liberty Leading the People and a Guy Dressed as Abraham Lincoln, below.

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