A Week in Paris

November 1st finally arrived, we boarded a train headed south for a journey that reached speeds of 305 km per hour - one connection, three stops and four hours later, we arrived in the capital city of France... Ah Paris! It would be easy to blog about each place we visited- I will just highlight a few of our favorites. I honestly think you could spend a year in Paris and still not see all there is to see.....

Paris is a thriving city, rich in its heritage with historical ties dating back to the 3rd century, everywhere you look there are monuments and incredible architecture that reminds you of just how much history has influenced this city.

We did as much as we could in seven days.....Up early in the morning sipping our cafe noir and discussing the days itinerary. The hop on hop off bus was a great way to circle the city, they had four different "lines" that toured the various districts or arrondissements as they are called. We purchased a two day pass and navigated only three of the lines. Lots of intersting tidbits of history if you listened to the audio portion - for instance during the Prussian-Franco war in the 1800's, the city was surrounded-its inhabitants being starved, a group of balloons were launched from the inside and many Parisians, courier pigeons, and dogs were lifted to safety............well most of them anyway, I won't share the fate of two of the balloons, suffice it to say Paris seems to have a bloody time of it!

We managed the metro quite nicely and even used tickets left from Kerry and Rit's visit! Only one mishap occured when we realized we were going in the wrong direction-we immediatly got off at the next stop- then accidently exited the station-we had to pay to get in-then to the other side to catch the subway going in our desired direction...........only to find it was the same car we had abandoned-we knew this because of the musicians on board belting out jazzy tunes...the subway obviously reached its end point and headed back- had it not been for the sax and clarinet player......we'd have never known~!

Everytime we visited a site we were reminded of the rich and important significance of whatever we were looking at......... In 1163 contruction began on Notre Dame Catherdral. There is a bronze marker near the cathedral that is known as point zero the very center of Paris and a place from where all distances were measured. Notre Dame is the most famous example of gothic architecture in the world, it is visited by 12 million people annually. It is also the inspiration of Victor Hugo's Hunchback of Notre Dame........there are four Catholic masses held each day and we were forturnate to be there during the midday mass. I loved all the statues both pagan and religous that adorn this church, I was facinated by the gargoyles. At this church I also was able to capture this angelic shadow, my favorite picture of the whole trip.

In the year 1200, the city began building a fortress around the city, this would later become a prison, then a palace and present day it is known as the Lourve.....we spent 7 hours, I repeat 7 hours in the this museum and didn't come close to visiting all the exhibitions. Naturally there was a crowd around the Mona Lisa......I got as close as I could for a view, I was amazed later that evening when I saw Terry had such a clear picture-he told me it was easy, he just followed the Japanese tour, he towered above them!

Of course no trip to Paris is complete without visiting its most famous monument (see what I mean?) the Eiffel tower........there was a celebratory light show on the hour to commemorate the 120th anniversay ......The night we went was a a blustery evening, the good news ....no lines at all, if felt as if we had the whole tower to ourselves........the bad news, sideways rain and wind at the top....BRRRRR. The view was incredible and the clouds and rain moved out while we were at the top. Interesting and perhaps appropriate that our best picture of the tower at night was when it was lit up with the colors of the French Flag.

Sante-Chappel is a beautiful gothic church surrounded by archs of stained glass, it was constucted in the 12th century and 70% of the glass is original. There are over 1,100 differents scenes depicted on 15 panels of glass, a magnificent sight at sunset.

Our favorite view above the city came from atop the Arch de Triomphe........WOW! From here you can see all 12 roads leading into or out of the city depending on your perspective. We counted over 500 steps to get to the top, after this this we went to Sacre Coeur which is the highest point in Paris, those two combined for a total of over 1,000 stairs climbed that day!

We fell exhausted into bed every evening, only to get up early and start over the next day touring and trying to absorb as much of the city as we could. It is expensive to eat out, we ventured to a cafe very near our rental for coffee and toast, ONE order of toast, two small coffees and a glass of fresh squeezed orange juice cost us $13.50. Another day we ducked into a bistro to escape the rain, Terry had a small portion of spaghetti bolognese and I ordered a bowl of soup, complete with a glass of wine each (small at that).....total $60.00. Terry reminded me that we were in Paris in a tented bistro along the Champs Eylsees....don't worry about the price he told me just sit back, sip your wine and enjoy yourself.

Good advice! What a wonderful way to spend our 15th wedding anniversary.

love and miss you all