Wow, What a Day!!

What an amazing day!


After spending our Monday afternoon seeing many parts of Paris from the river level, today was the day to experience Paris from the street level. It was a perfect morning, partly cloudy, 75 degrees with a light breeze, when we boarded the “Hop On, Hop Off Big Bus.”

Before I go into the details, I have to say that yesterday, I liked this city.  

Today, I must confess: 

I LOVE PARIS!!! 

It is an amazing city built up from the banks of the Seine.

Traveling on the surface, seeing some of these most famous and most historical sights (sites?), I was truly caught up in a sense of thinking about the many events that transpired here and seeing where they happened. I’m not going into the detail I did yesterday as I’m sure that most of my gentle readers are more interested in seeing the photos, rather than my long-winded descriptions.  So: 

Le Cathedral de Notre Dame under construction
after the devastating fire. 

A view upriver from one of the ponts.

The Phantom of the Opera is here, inside your mind,
and at Le Opera Garnier

Les Invalides, historical military hospital and museum, 
and the site of Napolean’s tomb. 
 

A view East to the Tour Eiffel from the Esplanade across the Seine. 

OK, you know this one. 

Used book stalls along the Seine, really cool. 
You’ve seen them in almost any movie about Paris.  


The Arc de Triumph at the end of the beautiful 
and trendy Champs Elyseé. 

The Egyptian obelisk at the Place de la Concord marks the spot 
of Marie Antoinette’s execution by guillotine, along with 3000 others, 
at the time of the French Revolution. Its twin is in Cairo.

The famous glass pyramid outside the Louvre Museum, 
the home of the Mona Lisa. 

 
Some of the food choices at a local boulangerie, most have readable labels, 
so I won’t elaborate This is the kind of place where most locals grab a bite 
to eat or even a full meal.   Prices are very reasonable. 
And the smells are intoxicating.
Can I bring you something?








Touring Paris on a Segway

So the crowning touch for today, after seeing all those great spots from the bus, was to take the Fat Tire Paris Segway Tour. We had a terrific guide, Matt (from Rockford, Illinois via U of W in Madison).

Matt (pictured below in front of Les Invalides) knows his way around Paris and really knows his French history. Everyone on the tour had a great time. It was my second Segway Tour (San Antonio was number one) so I was comfy on it right from the git-go  We saw many of the same sites that we had seen on my morning bus tour, and Matt added even more perspective to some of the stories, especially the ones from the French Revolution period. A great time was had by the entire group.





That’s it for Tuesday. Time to crash. I’m not going to continue to send texts each day, so if you’re interested in following along, mark the page and keep checking for new posts every day or two. 

If not, I get it, so no worries. There will be no quizzes.

Tomorrow the plan is to see the Impressionist collection at Musee d’Orsay, the stained glass windows at the chapel at St. Chapelle, followed by an afternoon walking tour of the neighborhood of Montmartre, an area of many artists with views of the city from on high.

Au revoir, A Bientôt. 

Jay

NEXT: Last Tango in Paris

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