Merci

Well it was another great breakfast only this time French...but very much like the english. Only thing different was the marmelade and jams were home made. UM-um-um!!!! And while sitting there I felt 'strangely' at home, then I realized the walls were almost exactly the same as my entry leading into the kitchen. I didn't get pictures of it this morning, but you WILL have pics tomorrow to document this oddity!!!









After that it was off to the Arts et Metiers station of the Paris Metro to start our day. We decided to head to the Eiffel Tower first thing to hopefully beat some of the crowd. Well I guess everyone in the Arab world fleeing the Israeli-Hezbollah conflict, the Iraqi's fleeing "W", and the Indian's with all their high-tech jobs beat us to it.

When we exited the Metro station it was just a few steps before we were upon the plaza leading to the Tower. Typical Paris, the plaza was beautiful, lots of statues and fountains, very large, and yep right there at the end of the plaza was my second old merry go round for Europe. Let's see if we get one per city. Then on to the tower.





The line to get the tickets to wait in the line to get on the elevator (or lift) were an hour long. But we waited it out. It was worth the wait though because the view from the top was wonderful. You could see all of Paris, even if you didn't know what you were looking at!! The pictures they had around the second level describing what you were looking at were about 45 degrees off, but once you figure that out you can pick out a few things.

After a trip to the top and enduring the chilly breezes in my shorts and sandals, we again got in line to come back down. I finally had to leave one foot behind me to make sure I didn't get a 'red dot' on the back of my NEW shirt from the little fat Indian behind me that was PRESSING me to move on!!! ;-) Well we did make it back down in one piece.













Once on the ground I had to have a Glace, have been eyeing them for two days now, so glace in hand and tongue in motion we headed for the boat docks to take the cruise down the River Seine. We passed the bridge built from the stone of the Bastille, one built by (or for) King Henry in 1704, one was the "Lover's" bridge, well just a lot of French History. We also passed the replica of the flame Lady Liberty holds that represents the bond of friendship between France and America. The flame here is covered in gold. We also passsed one of three American Churchs built in Europe.


After the trip down the river and back we decided to hoof it to the Arc De Tromphe Etoile, quite a hike cause it was all uphill. It was an awe inspiring sight though. We eyed it for a few minutes then took off down Avenue des Champs Elysees, past some of the most expensive shopping known to man. Think I have a pic of the window in Louie Vitton's shop....





We strolled further and found a Heineken and a bench for a brief respite, then continued our walk past the Grand Palais. It is a beautiful glass topped building constructed for the 1904 (I think) World's Fair. Past that we were approaching the entry grounds to the Musee Du Louvre. The entry grounds alone would represent a huge work of art in any other city in the world, but here they only led to the Museum itself, the Louvre.


This is a HUGE building, the frontage on the River Seine itself over 700 meters long. They say to view every exhibit inside would take you 14 days. Just so happens today they were hosting an exhibit in honor of American artists. But by the time we did the Eiffle Tower, the cruise, the walk to the Arc and down the Champs Elysees it was already 5:30, so the actual tour of the Louvre will be our last act prior to leaving Paris for Berlin tomorrow.

We left the Louvre and headed back to the hotel stopping off to pick up a couple of Donner sandwichs and a few beers to bring back. Got back around 7:30 and that will be a day for us by the time we do the recap of the days activities and get things ready to go tomorrow.



You know, if you'd like to see any of these pictures full size all you have to do is click on the picture and it will open for you. Also for those of you 'clamouring' for MORE pics, you can visit John's blog at www.astroman76art.blogspot.com and see more there...almost daily. Keep you posted on the trip to the Louvre and the overnight ride to Berlin.