On our first full day in Paris, Saturday, 12/26, we got a bit carried away. After walking from our hotel, about a mile from the tower, we started on a circle of about 8 miles, taking us to the Hotel des Invalides (shown later), the Arch de Triumph, back to the tower and back to our hotel.

Tour Eiffel (Eiffel Tower). This is to show just how massive the tower really is. Construction began in April of 1888 and was completed in May of 1889. It was to be temporary.

By the way, all times shown are in Mountain Standard Time (MST). So, you need to add 8 hours to what is shown in the EXIF info to arrive at Paris time.

Other visitors actually thought we knew what we were doing.

Monument with the word Peace written in most, if not all, languages.

Typical Parisian street. (Might be Kleber Ave.) on the way to the Champs-Elysees.

Hotel des Invalides (a hospital and retirement home for war veterans built by Louis XIV in 1676); includes a chapel, the tombs of Napoleon and Napoleon II and the Musée de l'Armée (war museum).

Tomb of Napoleon II (Napoleon's son).

The chapel.

The rotunda above Napoleon's sarcophagus.

Model of the area.

Napoleon's sarcophagus.

Entrance to Napoleon's tomb.

Area above the Tomb.

WWI tank in the Musée de l'Armé.

Model of USS Enterprise.

A display honoring the US involvement in WWII. There was more to it than this, of course.

Crossing over the Seine River.

Champs-Elysees looking toward the Arche de Triumph.

How I knew the correct spelling :O)

Louis Voitton
(This one's for you, Candi!)

Arche de Triumph!
No less than 12 streets radiate from this intersection.

Parking in Paris.

That's why they're called "bumpers", eh, mon ami?

This is nothing - we saw where the bumpers were touching on both ends. Later in the week, Babs watched a guy parking by nudging the cars in front and behind him.

Full circle - back to the Eiffel Tower, but seen from the opposite (north) side).

Street dancers.

The Dome des Invalides, where we were earlier in the day, left of center.

Skating rink below us.

The first day there, it was chilly - about 42F. Warmed up throughout the week to about 55F.

In the evening.

Eiffel Tower at night.

The shimmering white lights are off at this point.

Lights come on every hour on the hour (from 6pm to midnight) and stay on for 5 minutes.

View of Eiffel Tower from across the street from our hotel, approx. 1 mile from the tower.

Our hotel (entrance under the green sign).

Typical rowhouse.

Paris Métropolitain (the "Metro" subway)
We were treated to a puppet show on the train.

Rue de Rivoli (Rivoli St). Behind us and to the left is the Louvre.

Rivoli St in the opposite direction.

Area adjacent to the Louvre.

Main entrance to the Louvre. We'll be back to the Louvre on the 30th. This was a dry run to learn the subway system and get to our tour bus this evening.

Dinner at the Eiffel Tower.

A little physchedelic?

Moulin Rouge (no cameras allowed).

Arriving at Notre Dame the next morning.

Overlooking the Seine River.

Hotel De Ville

Place de la Bastille
The Bastille was torn down and the bricks were used to build a bridge.

From here we went down some of the side streets looking for a place to have a snack.

Here's what we found - typical sidestreet.

St. Sulpice - at Henner's suggestion. Beautiful inside; not much different than Notre Dame.

Major renovation going on.

The next morning, 12/29, took the RER "C" train to the Chateau de Versailles at Versallles-Rive Gauche.

The line in the forground was to get your tickets. The line in the background was to get in once you got your tickets. 2 hours to get the tickets; 45 minutes to get in. Then, another line for the audio, which we bypassed.

Gardens at Chateau Versailles.

Louis de Bourbon.

Enormous paintings, to say the least. And this is not the Louvre yet!

3 languages - French, English and Spanish

Hall of Mirrors - what we really came for.

The Hall of Battles.

Barbara at the Siege of Yorktown. :O)

Siege of Yorktown.

Self portrait :O) The imperfections in the glass were evident everywhere. Window panes had noticeable waves to them, as though poured and cooled too quickly. Oh, by the way, there were signs everywhere prohibiting photographs - but no one paid any attention.

Statue of Charlemagne!

Leaving the Chateau.

Must be beautiful in the spring.

Statue of King Louis XIV.

Leaving Versailles - a hotel adjacent to the train station.

Bright and early the next morning at the entrance to the Louvre, beneath the pyramid.

Mona Lisa - as close as we could get. There is an unseen rope, just in front of us.

Mona Lisa from a distance to give you some perspective. Not at all what we imagined.

"The return of Marcus Sextus".

See next photo for the caption of above painting.

I'll let you translate it. :O)

I'm guessing Leonidas at Thermopylae

Roped off area, exhibits currently in development.

Venus de Milo

Egyptian antiquities exhibit.

Chambre des Ancetres

Another monument of sorts opposite the entrance to the Louvre, seen as we left.

Following the morning at the Louvre, we returned to the Eiffel Tower hoping we could get up to one of the higher levels for some views. The lines were long and we had enough of lines at that point. So, we decided to eat - always a good idea. Feyrouz - a Lebanese restaurant in Paris, not far from our hotel, located at 8, rue de Lourmel, a block from Blvd de Grenelle.

One last walk along the Seine.

They don't just "build" a bridge - it's a work of art. (Or, at least they didn't back when this was built.)

Our local train station.

Our local train station, from the south end. A few steps later, the local supermarket.

The local supermarche (supermarket) we're we shopped for dinner each evening before returning to our hotel room. They apparently wanted to discourage the use of shopping carts since they charged a Euro for their use. Instead, you used a basket. You also paid 0.72Euro for each shopping bag, if you did not bring your own. (1 Euro = $1.50 USD at the time). Ah, well - C'est la vie!