All of these pictures were taken by us of the original objects. WOW, what sites!!

Day 1
Just trying to recover...
We did not get to sleep at all on the plane... a woman that had no idea how to control her 2 year old sat in front of us. Constant jumping up and down and screaming kept us awake for the entire flight. Once we reached the hotel, we crashed.
We went out for a short walk later that afternoon. We went to the Lourve (closed) and stopped by a market to buy bread, cheese and bottled water for that night in the hotel room.

Day 2
Musee du Louvre - Notre-Dame - Musee d'Orsay
& MacDonalds
We have taken over 100 35mm pictures and 85 digital images today, we will add more and annotate them as we have time.


The Louvre

Mac Donalds - A little civilization!!

Notre-Dame

'Le Moulin de la Gallette', 1876 by Renoir at the Musee d'Orsay

Self Portrait by Van Gough at Musee d'Orsay

Whistler's Mother at Musee d'Orsay

The Mona Lisa (behind glass) at Musee du Louvre

The Venus de Milo at Musee du Louvre

Day 3
Versailles - drive by Eiffel Tower
We took about 50 35mm pictures and 70 digitals. Boy is it HOT... there is a heat wave here. You might know it!
This place is EXPENSIVE, bring lots of money... last night we spent over 300 Francs ($60) for two small plates (remember the Wendy's TV ad with Dave looking at the very small helpings on his plate at a French cafe?), two drinks, and we split a dessert. This was one of the cheap places!
But, where else can you see this kind of stuff!!


Eiffel Tower

Eiffel Tower

Versailles

The Gardens of Versailles

Louis XIV at Versailles

Hall of Mirrors at Versailles

Day 4
Opera National de Paris & Eiffel Tower
We took about 50 35mm pictures and 80 digitals so far.
After looking at these palaces and the Opera these last days, I have been amazed at what a Monarch can do with unlimited tax dollars. These rulers did not get it... they just kept spending money until the poeple finally got together and rebeled, usually with some dramatic results (Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette found out how serious the working class was!).
But politics aside, these places are so incredible!! Everytime you think you have seen opulance, you turn the corner to see even more opulance!!
I hope you get a flavor of the grandure from these pictures.
Later today we do the Eiffel Tower.....

Opera National de Paris.
This is for Antoinette, our daugther, but others may look.

HI!

Eiffel Tower

You do not realize how big this thing is until you stand under it!

Eiffel Tower at night

The last day in Paris
General picture taking.... leaving.
We really are ready to leave. The people have been very nice, we were able to communicate with everyone we tried to speak with. The most problem we had was with our cab drivers... you should at least know greetings, directions, and things like 'toilette'.
The most difficult part was the incredible heat wave that started when we got there and stopped on our last day. Most places have no air conditioning, including our room. This made the evenings real miserable until we asked for a fan. Even then it was just tolerable. Us old, fat, Americans cannot remember the last time we had to live like this!
We went out for our last few hours before the flight to try to capture some of the style of the city. We realized that we were so wrapped up in the museums, that we did not portray any of the city and people.... here is our offering.


"The Last Meal in Paris"

What was left....

A real Parisian sidewalk Cafe

looking back at the Opera district

A 'organ grinder'

with his cat and dog...no monkey

last ramp at Charles de Gaulle airport

Au revoir...

We are out of here, see you in Amsterdam!