Paris

We're nearing the end of our trip, which is kind of sad. I've enjoyed recounting it. And Paris was a fun, fun place to visit. I went there 4 years ago and found it even more charming the 2nd time around, and can't wait for a 3rd visit.

Paris is so tourist friendly. The spaces are big, the crowds are controlled, the museum lines make sense and aren't ridiculously long. There are many many open spaces around and you can see major landmarks from many different vantage points. It's simply a lovely place to visit. It's also super easy to get around once you know the metro system and where you intend to go. I recommend getting a subway may with an overlay of the city so you'll know what stop to look for. There are even some fun interactive "machines" that tell you which line to take, which we found fun.

We arrived in Paris in the late afternoon with just enough time to get our hotel room keys, drop our luggage and leave for St. Chapelle. St. Chapelle is a gothic chapel built around the same time at Notre Dame with stained glass windows filling the walls all around. It is one of those amazing feats of historical architecture that today's architects and engineers still can't figure out. It was a beautiful quiet respective place. The picture of all the kids from our tour group was not posed. It was a natural picture of them enjoying the sight together.

After St. Chapelle we walked over to Notre Dame and walked through that cathedral while a mass was going on. It was much more crowded than the last time I'd been so I didn't get to take pictures. As we were leaving, however, one of our tour members took this picture of our family with Notre Dame in the background. I think it's the best one of the trip.

We had dinner with our friends at a local cafe and then headed to the Eiffel Tower. This was one of the high points of our time in Paris. Upon walking up to the tower for my second visit, I was amazed again at how big it is. We waited in line and went to the very top where it was ridiculously crowded. I urged us to go down to the 2nd observation level so that we could move around a little more and see the city layout better. We really enjoyed hanging out and looking around. I highly recommend visitors to Paris to go up the Eiffel Tower, even if the lines look daunting. You can really get an appreciation for how tall it is and understand the layout of the city even better from up high. I do think, however, that the 2nd observation level is high enough.

We left for our hotel just as it was getting dark and got to see the tower all lit up and that was really cool. WE couldn't walk 20 feet without having to turn around and look aagin at the sparkling lights. It was really quite fun.

The next morning we spent at the Louvre. We saw the Mona Lisa, the Venus de Milo and several other famous and important works of art. Few pictures were taken because it was never really clear if picture taking was allowed. We had lunch, did some shopping and then headed back to our hotel for the afternoon. David and I had to wash clothes and we all needed a little bit of rest.

That evening was our last dinner with our group. We had a wonderful menu, terrific wine, and lots of fun conversation. It was sad saying goodbye to all our new friends from the tour, but we exchanged contact information and promised to keep in touch.

The next morning we went to the Musee D'Orsay and looked around at the art in there. I found the architecture of the building to be quite interesting. It was once a train depot, so is long with sky lights. I loved the clocks that show through to the other side. You can go on the roof and get a beautiful view of the Louvre across the river.

From here we walked down the Champs Elysees. There were crowds of people everywhere in these bright pink shirts. They even blocked intersections and sidewalks at one point. We thought there might be a protest of some sort going on, but we soon discovered it was simply Parisians out to celebrate their winning rugby team.

We finally made our destination of the Arc d'Triomphe where we admired Napolean's foresight in straightening and widening streets and building monuments to himself. I think looking at traffic navigating some of the roundabouts in Paris is also quite amazing. We took the subway back to our hotel, grabbed our bags and headed to the train station where we were going to enjoy the last leg of our trip.

As I said, I really enjoyed Paris. It's such a wonderful city for visiting. It's pretty, there are lots of things to do for people of all ages, and the food as always is terrific. If you understand and follow the important rules of French etiquette, you get along fine with the locals and can really enjoy yourself. I know I'll be back to Paris and will discover more of her secrets and charms.