We're loving Paris! I think it might be my favourite city so far. People are very friendly and we've chatted with lots of tourists from all over the world. A young fellow from Tasmania befriended us and we went to the Eiffel Tower together last night. He was happy to find some friendly English speaking people, he said. Yesterday morning I struck out on my own, looking for a postal outlet. On the way back a nice (rich-looking) Parisian tried to pick me up. We had a nice chat. Ira didn't believe it was possible - he said he was probably just trying to pick my pockets!
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| A gargoyle on top of Notre Dame |
Yesterday morning we walked up the tower of Notre Dame. What fabulous views from the top. I loved all of the gargoyles. It took about an hour to get through the line-up but it and the 400 steps were definitely worth it. That is the longest line-up we've had in 6 weeks so that's not bad at all. We notice that the crowds seem to be getting thicker since about Rome and that's probably attributable to the fact that it's getting closer to summer.
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| Sue in front of Notre Dame Cathedral |
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| The view from the top |
After a nice dinner over by Luxemborg Gardens, we finally made it to the Eiffel Tower (with our
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| The Eiffel Tower |
Tasmanian friend Andrew). The top was closed and we were only able to take the lift up the 2nd level but that still afforded a lovely view of the city. When we got down there was a light show on the tower which was quite spectacular to see. It's got a real magical quality to it.
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| The hall of mirrors in Chateau Versailles |
Today we took the train out to the Palace of Versailles and spent the day there. We messed up and took the wrong train so had to backtrack about 8 stops and try again. We really seem to be getting mixed up in Paris with our directions. I figure it might be because we're just tired. Ira is usually bang-on with his map reading but in Paris he's had us walking around in circles quite a bit. The palace was nice but seemed just more of the same opulence that we have seen so much of already. It was quite beautiful, and packed with people of course. We ended up going through it twice because we snuck in a side door to try and locate the hall of mirrors and then turned around to go out the door we came in and the guard told us we had to go back in. So we trudged through the cattle line of people for a second time but managed to see some things that we missed the first time around. It seemed like today was the day of reruns!
The grounds and gardens of Versailles are magnificent. It was a nice, sunny day (for a change) and it was lovely to stroll through the gardens. There are a couple of small palaces and a little hamlet that Marie Antionette commissioned which added to the magic. All told we spent about 5 hours there. We managed to get the right train back so we're back on track.
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| The view from our apartment window - Rue de St. Germaine |
Ira is going to get up and listen to the game @ 2:00 a.m. so tomorrow will be a sleep-in day. Not many of those left, sadly.
There are a lot of homeless people on the streets here. There is a woman with her dog about a half-block from our apartment and she has been kneeling face to the ground in the middle of the sidewalk for almost the entire time we've been here. That can't be good for the body! They allow the homeless to sleep in the subways here. Last night when we came back around midnight there must have been at least 10 people we saw bunked down in the subways for the night. It's very noisy for them but at least it's warm and dry. We haven't seen many policemen here, just the odd military officer walking around with his machine gun, like at the palace today.
I'll try and post tomorrow night. If not, I'll talk to you in person soon. Take care.
Sue
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