Thursday pm - 30,000 feet up - and heading toards France... Mary, Karen and Rita |
Debra and Trudy |
Carolyne |
Friday am - Dragging our suitcases through the airport |
The front of Hotel des Balcons - our home for the next 5 nights |
Mary and Deb at the hotel |
Rita's there, too. |
Rita and Cheryl (former employee who lives in Germany) |
Time to unpack |
Now, that's more comfortable |
Friday afternoon - Across the Seine River to our first sight |
The Cathedral of Notre-Dame ( west front entrance ) |
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The Portal of the Virgin |
Details of the facade |
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What I looked like during most of the trip |
Mimi, Cheryl, Karen and Rita taking a break |
The interior of the Cathedral |
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A model of Notre Dame hundreds of years ago |
The more familiar "rear" view of Notre Dame with its flying buttresses |
Back over another bridge to the hotel |
Friday dinner - Cheryl, Debra, Rita, Mary, Karen, Mimi, Carolyne, Trudy |
Saturday 7 a.m. - The streets were deserted as I searched alone for a restaurant for our breakfast |
Outside of Sainte-Chapelle |
Completed in 1248, it is considered to be the most beautiful church in Paris |
Some of the 50 foot tall stained glass windows |
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Debi finally found a car her size |
Built in the 1600's as a palace, the Louvre is the largest museum in the world |
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The Glass Pyramid entrance |
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Karen and Cheryl |
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The Grand Palace |
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The Arc de Triomphe - most of us walked the stairs to the observation deck on top! |
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The side of the Arc |
Taking a needed rest on our 4+ mile hike |
Our first glimps of the Eiffel Tower |
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The view from the first level |
The dome from Hotel des Invalides in the distance |
Looking down on the Parc du Champ de Mars |
The view from the top with the Sacre-Coeur in the distance |
Cheryl and Trudy |
Mary,Trudy, Carolyne, Karen, Rita and Cheryl |
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Maury - as usual with camera glued to his face |
Our stroll through the Parc du Champ de Mars |
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Walking through the Peace Monument |
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The Ecole Militaire lies at the foot of the Park |
Gilded in 1715, the Golden Dome of the Hotel des Invalides is visable over the rooftops |
A typical cafe |
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Saturday dinner at a traditional French Restaurant |
Carolyne and Debi |
A new day begins in the lobby of our hotel |
Sunday - A short stop at a bird market before heading out of Paris to Versailles |
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Approaching the entrance to Versailles |
Using over 30,000 workmen, in 1661, Louis XIV built the most extravagant palace in Europe |
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To The Glory of France |
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We began with a tour of some of the "private"areas of the palace |
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Debra, Carolyne, Cheryl and Rita looking on |
Rita and Karen |
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Leading up to the Opera, built in 1770 |
It used to take 3,000 candles to illuminate the "stunningly opulent" Opera |
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Examples of the gorgeous ceilings |
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One of the many "public" rooms |
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Karen, Deb, carolyne, Trudy and Cheryl in the Hall of Mirrors |
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A view from the Palace of the gardens, fountain pool, and rowing lake built below |
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Deb, Mary and Trudy looking out towards the gardens |
Carolyne calling home |
One of our trips on the RER and Metro |
After returning to Paris, we're off to the Museum d'Orsay |
Built in 1900 as a train station, the Orsay was converted in 1977 to a striking art museum |
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A small segment of the Louvre is visable from the observation deck of the Orsay |
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Rita capturing that perfect photo |
On the observation deck |
Sacre-Coeur in the distance |
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Mimi and Maury |
Hotel de Ville (City Hall) |
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Monday morning we walked through the Montmartre neighborhood |
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Debra and Rita check out the artwork while Mimi and Trudy watch |
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Enjoying the shops that line the streets in Montmartre |
Karen checks out Deb's "must have"hat |
Riding the finicular up/down the steep incline |
The Sacre-Coeur (Sacred Heart) |
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Debra, Rita, Trudy and Carolyne |
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Karen and Maury enjoying the view of the city below |
Heading towards the Marais, we stopped for lunch across from the Pomidou Centre |
The entrance to the Pompidou Centre |
Along the way from Montmartre to the Marais |
"Hi" from Mary and Debi |
A weathered shop window in the Marais section ( see the photographer in the reflection!) |
The Museum of France |
The Victor Hugo Museum |
Shops line the narrow streets of the Marais |
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Dinner at Marco Polo |
After dinner we took a nightime cruise along the Seine viewing "Paris - the City of Lights" |
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One of the many bridges that cross the river |
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The Obilisk at Place de Concorde |
Museum d'Orsay |
Many buildings and monuments are decorated with the Olympic colors |
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The towers of Notre-Dame |
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The Flying Buttresses of Notre-Dame |
All along the river, couples come to watch the boats sail by |
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The Orsay |
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The end of the cruise |
Mimi and Maury |
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Tuesday we went back to the Marais to the Museum Carnavalet |
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Karen, Rita, Mary, Debra, Trudy and Carolyne |
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An artisan restoring the gold-leaf woodwork |
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The Place des Vosges - Paris's oldest square |
From the St. Pete Times |