For the second day of our free weekend, some of us decided to do something a little out of the ordinary. Nine of us left the security of England and headed over to Paris, France for the weekend.

We woke up at 4:00 in the morning so that our tour group could pick us up from the hotel and take us to the Eurostar station. I'm still a little baffled as to how we crossed the water into France, but we made it.

We started with a panoramic tour of France, snapping pictures of the Moulin Rogue, the Arc de Triomphe and various statues that are literally found at every turn. Because Paris built its more modern, suburban, and financial districts at the edge of the city, we were able to see the sites quickly and uninhibited by less historical landmarks.

Of course, one of the bigger highlights of the day was spending a few hours at the Eiffel Tower. Sure, they've got a replica in Las Vegas, but seeing the real thing was a treat. We got tickets to the second deck included in the tour, so we were able to see Paris stretched out for miles all around us.

From there, we headed out of the city for about 20 minutes so that we could visit the Palace of Versailles, home of ruler Louis XIV. The palace is enormous! And everything that is gold is not painted that color — it is real gold.

Louis XIV referred to himself as the sun god, and everything about Versailles reflects that view — his bedroom faced the sun so it would illuminate him every morning.

I must not have paid too much attention to our tour brochure because I thought we were just going to hop off the bus, take some pictures then hop back on. But to our group's total excitement, we got tickets not only to visit inside the palace, but also its gardens.

We got to tour the galleries of portraits, the King and Queen's apartments, and the beautiful Hall of Mirrors. Of note was the door that Marie Antoinette used to escape from her bedroom when a would-be assassin entered her room, and a portrait of Louis XIV that made it look like angels were painting his features.

But perhaps even more elegant than the palace were the gardens. There are dozens of fountains and pools everywhere. There's even a lake where you can go row-boating. Basically, Louis XIV became my real estate hero — when you need a tram to take people through your backyard, you definitely have made it.

The last really cool thing we got to see was a second, smaller Statue of Liberty. In France! I had totally forgotten this part of history, where the French architect had built another statute to stay in France, which faces toward its sister in New York City. So having a picture of the Eiffel Tower and a mini Lady Liberty in the same frame is pretty cool to see.

It's hard to believe that we crammed all of this into 16 hours, but we did it.

We came back to the hotel at around 10 p.m., totally exhausted, but also totally satisfied with our choice to take the trip. There's no way to tell whether or not we'll ever get back to Paris, so we sure took advantage of the time we had there. I know I couldn't have done it without this program in London cutting the distance, so I'm glad I used our free day to get to another world famous city.

Read more like this: All posts by Karen Louth Posts on touristy sites Out-of-town voyages Paris