Paris portion of our French Adventure

Paris - Day 1
   Sadly our cruise ended this morning but the good news is our Avalon vacation isn't over yet.    We booked a package that included 2 nights in Paris after the cruise.   Since it is all one package we will have the wonderful Avalon service even while off the ship.   Last night we were told when to have our luggage ready and the color tags we needed to put on our bags.  After some breakfast in the dining room we boarded a shuttle to the train station while our bags were transported by car so they will take a bit longer but we won't have to lug them around so that is nice.    It was a quick ride to the train station where our Avalon cruise director, Barbara, is joining us and lead us to our train and we were all seated together for the 3 hour ride to Paris.   It went by pretty quick and we were met at the train station by our bus that took us to the Paris hotel that would be our home for the next 2 nights.   We were very close to the Paris Opera House which is a nice central location.   Our lunch and dinner are not included in this part of the package so while we were waiting for the official check in time of 3 pm we went off and found some lunch nearby.   We were able to get into our room after lunch so we took a short break before going out to explore Paris on our own.   We headed towards the river and walked around the outside of the Louvre and then headed up the river towards Notre Dame.  We couldn't resist walking across Pont de Arts, which used to be the love locks bridge but all the locks have been removed.   I think we heard there were over 13 tons of locks that removed so that was a lot of extra weight for a bridge that really seemed to be barely standing without all that.   It was a great spot to enjoy sunset though.  When we got to Notre Dame it was getting late and you cannot get close as it is all gated off and guarded.  
  Paris - Day 2 
 Breakfast is included with our stay so we started with that before meeting the group for our included city tour.   We are a small group of just 18 which is nice.   Our included tour was a bus tour around the city with a stop at the Pantheon.   At first I thought it was really odd that they would include the Pantheon on a Paris tour but when we got there I realized why.   We went all the way up to the roof of the Pantheon which gave us a spectacular 360 view of Paris.  Definitely worth a visit!   We also drove by all of the other main sights and our driver did a great job of going slow enough for us all to get the photos we wanted.   Our tour ended just before lunch.   Avalon also offered a Paris foodie tour that was an optional excursion.   Some of our group chose to do that so they were off on that as soon as we got back to the hotel.   Food is not my thing so we opted to find our own tour for the afternoon and went off to Versailles.  I chose a small group tour through Project Expedition so we were picked up directly from our hotel and went in van with just 6 other people and after dropped off right at our hotel.   Our driver was also our guide through Versailles and she was wonderful, even with how crowded the palace was inside.   She guided us through each room and pointed out a lot of interesting things.  After walking through inside we had some free time in the gardens.   I would have liked more time in the gardens and I could see why our guide said you really need 2 days to see Versailles.   I guess next time we will just go and explore the gardens which we also learned is free to do.  This was our last night stay in the city of Paris but we our vacation still isn't over yet as we head to Disneyland Paris in the morning.   How could I go all the way to Paris and not go to Disneyland!