Good morning…or afternoon depending on when or rather from where you are reading! Day 3 started with a bit of a drag as we awoke and felt very tired here at the start of the day. But, we breakfasted on the top of our hotel here in Riems and were greeted by the beautiful cathedral!

We started our day with about a 2-hour drive to Paris where we have plans to see the Notre Dame cathedral, the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe.

It was great to see the cathedral back to its former glory after the fire that nearly destroyed it over 6 years ago. There were so many visitors to the site that we had no chance of getting inside. But it was amazing from the outside and so truly iconic.

My favorite part of the site visit though was the amazing statue of Charlemagne. The artist had a vision of beauty when they formed the statue. I could feel the Frankish ferocity from the face of the Emperor.

We also stopped by the Louvre but unfortunately there had been a robbery there that very morning. Supposedly, some thieves disguised as construction workers broke in and stole priceless jewelry previously owned by Napoleon and his wife Josephine. There were police and detectives all over the grounds and it had been closed to the public. I swear that we have a plausible alibi as we had purchased berets and were viewing nearby statues. I swear it wasn’t us!

And yes I realize we are not wearing the berets appropriately but we are trailblazing our own fashion sense. Vive la France!

On the way to the Arc de Triomphe, we came across the Luxor Obelisks which had been gifted by Egypt to France in the 1830’s. These 2 obelisks are over 3,000 years old and were quite amazing to behold.

We then arrived at the Arc de Triomphe and were not disappointed by its beauty. The arc was commissioned to honor those who had fought and died during the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars and was very interesting.

There was a lot of great detailed reliefs of battle on the face of the structure and it was just very impressive.

But the central focus is the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and we learned that this soldier was connected to 7 other soldiers buried at the National Cemetery that we visited the other day. the eternal flame was a nice touch here and it was very somber.

We next visited the Eiffel Tower but didn’t have the time to go to the top. It was a great site though and I’m very glad we were able to make it there.

We then met up with designer Morgane Gouyon-Rety at the Palace at Versailles. We walked the gardens, seeing the many fountains and sculptures and also got to chat with her about her new design Hubris from GMT Games as well as Pendragon. She also talked about a planned expansion that she is working on for Hubris. She did spill the beans a bit on her next game set during the Successors Wars after the Death of Alexander the Great.

We also got a great history lesson on the Palace and its beginnings under King Louis the XIVth.

Alexander and I also were up to a bit of mischief while on the grounds as we purchased knock off and inauthentic Phrygian Caps to honor the pursuit of Liberty. Vive le Révolution!

I wish that we would have reached out to Fred Serval as well and I’m sure he could have met up with us. Sorry Fred! Our fault.

After our visit here we made the 2 hour drive to our overnight stay in Bayeaux. Tomorrow, we are visiting Sainte-Mère-Église, Omaha Beach and Pointe du Hoc.

-Grant