Tag: Paris

France Odyssey: Seine River, Reims, & Paris Day 13 & 14

Sunday, October 15th, 2023

This morning we had a timed entrance ticket to visit Sainte-Chapelle. The sun was rising as we were walking toward the chapel.

There was a restaurant nearby so we had some breakfast before it was time for our entrance. We had a great breakfast at Brasserie Les Deux Palais.

Brasserie Les Deux Palais

It was a beautiful day with no clouds in the sky. Sainte Chapelle and the Palais de Justice were Part of the former royal palace. The Palais de Justice was a courthouse that contained the Court of Appeals. Sainte Chapelle was the Royal Chapel and was built in the middle of the 13th century and of the High Gothic architecture.

Sainte Chapelle
The Palais de Justice
Beautiful gate in front.

King Louis IX built this chapel to hold his sacred relics. He went on crusades and paid enormous prices. His chapel was specifically designed to follow his wishes. Louis IX was considered a saint during his lifetime and was canonized by the Catholic Church in 1297 and was Saint Louis.

The security checkpoint was backed up and we were a little delayed getting into Sainte Chapelle. It was worth the wait! Sainte Chapelle had two levels. The upper chapel housed the king’s most precious relics: the Crown of Thorns and a fragment of the True Cross. The Crown was a wreath of thorns that was supposedly placed on Jesus Christ at his crucifixion. The fragment of the True Cross which was made of wood of the cross on which Jesus Christ was crucified. The relics were no longer kept there.

Panoramic picture of the second level of Sainte Chapelle

We went up the spiral stairs to the second level first. It had 1,113 stained glass windows that depicted scenes from the Old and New Testament. It was gorgeous.

Facing west and almost 30 feet in width was the Rose of the Apocalypse which was rebuilt around 1485 under Charles VIII and consisted of 87 panels.

Rose of the Apocalypse

When we were finished admiring all of the beauty of the stained glass we then went to the lower chapel (first floor) was fro the royal palace staff. The ceiling was lower and it was much darker because there were fewer windows. The lower level was dedicated to the Virgin Mary and the area was divided into a nave and side aisles. The ceiling was filled with the fleur-de-lis pattern and had decorated columns.

In the apse was a statue of Saint Louis

There were 13th century original elements from Sainte Chapelle before the French Revolution destroyed them.

The scary gargoyles outside Sainte Chapelle were quite fun to see.

After Sainte Chapelle we walked to the Eiffel Tower to get tickets to go up the tower. We walked along the bank of the Seine River for most of the way. We passed many of the 240 bouquinistes (book sellers) who sell out of green boxes that house over 300,000 old books, journals, stamps and trading cards. In 1991 the bouquinistes of Paris became an UNESCO World Heritage site. These green boxes are located on both sides of the Seine.

It was a great day for a three mile walk to the Eiffel Tower entrance. Below were some of our sites on our walk!

We stopped for a drink at a small cafe on the way because we needed to use the restroom before going in the Eiffel Tower security entrance.

We stood in line to purchase our tickets for the Eiffel Tower and when we were almost to the ticket counter the sign for the tower summit changed from open to close. Three of our group had really wanted to go to the summit and it was a perfect day for it so they were disappointed. We found out later from our hotel clerk that they closed the summit due to the winds!

photo credit: Kathy

In a nearby neighborhood was an Italian restaurant that’s menu was 100% gluten free! The food was delicious. If you need to eat gluten free in Paris we would recommend Tasca Bio.

By the time we finished our meal we walked back to the Louvre mall entrance. We wanted to check out the Paris 2024 Olympic store. We looked around but didn’t find anything we had to have other than we purchased the Paris 2024 mascot (the Phryges) for our granddaughter. We stopped by the hotel to freshen up and since it was our last night in Paris we walked around the neighborhood from our hotel.

We passed the Church of Sainte Marie-Madeleine that was built in the style of a Greek temple and was finished in 1842.

Church of Sainte Marie-Madeleine

There were some interesting head busts by the artist Rero. One had Shift carved on it, one had low resolution and another had Error 404 carved on it.

Shift
Error 404
Low resolution

We eventually stopped at the Cafe Madeleine for wine and shared a charcuterie board. We toasted our great trip and great friends!

Monday, October 16th, 2023

Today we leave Paris for home. We have a late afternoon flight so the hotel gave us a late checkout. The six of us walked for breakfast at Ladurée Paris Royale restaurant. It had a quaint decor.

The hot chocolate was very rich and we enjoyed the gluten free Eugénie which was a shortbread cookie with a soft center and melted coating! Delicious!

Thick and rich Hot Chocolate
The Eugénies with various coatings.

After breakfast we said goodbye to our nephew who traveled with us for two weeks. He was staying in Paris for one more day before heading home. We went back to our hotel to pack our bags for flying home and wait for our ride to Charles de Gaulle airport. We said goodbye to the Hotel Du Continent.

Hotel Du Continent

Our driver showed up on when scheduled and our flights were on time! We arrived home close to midnight. It was a wonderful adventure in France but as always it was good to be home!

France Odyssey: Seine River, Reims, & Paris Day 12

Saturday, October 14th, 2023

This morning we had a timed entrance ticket to the Louvre Museum. We were lucky because our time was for when the museum opened.

The sun was rising over Paris as we left the hotel.
Emmanual Frémiet’s Joan of Arc Bronze statue from 1874

We walked to the Carrousel du Louvre entrance.

Carrousel Entrance

This was considered to underground entrance and we had no line to enter. There were stores as you walked to get to the Louvre entrance near the inverted pyramid. And of course it was another chance to do O-H-I-O for our Buckeyes who were playing later today.

Inverted Pyramid
O-H-I-O!

As soon as the Louvre opened we entered!

In we go with no line!

The Louvre first opened in 1793 with 537 paintings. Today the museum had almost 35,000 objects exhibited over 652,300 square feet. We’ve included a few of our favorites from our visit.

Looking up through the pyramid

The first place we went to visit was Mona Lisa! Three of the six of us had never been to the Louvre so they were so excited to see the infamous portrait by Leonardo da Vinci. He painted the oil painting on wood sometime between 1503 and 1519. We saw her in 2019 and our nephew saw her when he last visited Paris.

Mona Lisa

As we climbed the Daru staircase we had the Winged Victory of Samothrace, Nike all to ourselves. It had been on display at the Louvre since 1866. This ancient sculpture, 190 BCE, was found on the Greek island of Samothrace.

Nike, the Greek Goddess of Victory

The Venus de Milo was another very famous sculpture found on the Greek island of Milos (was Melos) in 1820. She was donated to the Louvre in 1821. Nobody was around when we visited her. We were very fortunate to be ahead of the crowds for her as well as Mona Lisa and the Goddess of Victory!

Venus de Milo

We walked through galleries and you can see with the picture on the left that it was advantageous to arrive when the museum opened. The picture on the right showed the crowds getting heavier.

Athena Parthenos, known was Minerva with a Necklace was a Roman copy from the 1st-2nd century AD. It was believed that the original was dedicated inside the Parthenon in Athens in 438 BC.

Athena Parthenos

We visited the Egyptian antiquities and saw the Grand Sphinx of Tanis from 2500 BC. It was carved from a single block of granite.

Sphinx of Tanis

Looking out from the second story window you could see the courtyard of the Louvre and also just how large this museum was!

When we left the Louvre the cloudless sky had now changed to rain clouds.

Rain Clouds over the Louvre!

Since it looked like rain we got tickets for the Hop-On Hop-Off bus to tour the areas of Paris that we might not have visited.

We passed the Eglise Saint-Germain l’Auxerrois which was located opposite the Louvre museum. The church has been on this site since the 5th century and rebuilt several times. Unfortunately it was most remembered for the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre on August 24, 1572. The church’s bell signaled the beginning of the killing of tens of thousands of Huguenots (French Protestants).

Eglise Saint-Germain l’Auxerrois

When we passed the Notre Dame Cathedral we could really see the construction of the rebuilding of the church from the devastating fire in 2019. There was still a lot of scaffolding.

Notre Dame Cathedral

The Arc de Triomphe was built between 1806-1836 and was located in the center of the Place Charles de Gaulle and at the western end of the Champs-Élysées. This triumphal arch was built in honor of those who fought for France. Located underneath the arch was the tomb of the unknown soldier.

Arc de Triomphe

Located at the other end of the Champs-Élysées was the Place de la Concorde. It was created in 1772 and originally known as an execution site during the French Revolution. The most notable guillotined here was Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette. It was redesigned and in 1836 the famous Luxor Obelisk(3,300 years old) was erected. Fountains were also added. When we saw it, the Rugby World Cup Village was set up. Throughout Paris, the police presence was heavy. We later learned that France was on their highest terrorist threat!

We stopped for a late lunch/early dinner at a Mexican restaurant called El Vecino Taqueria Saint-Honoré. A disc jockey was playing music while we ate our meals.

Disc Jockey
seating and kitchen area
Wall sculpture

Paris was doing a lot of construction and advertising for the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics.

The Louvre received a threat and it was evacuated and closed for the rest of the day!

Louvre closed and a heavy police presence

The clouds were eerie as we walked back to our hotel.

It was a busy day in Paris even with some rain mixed in during the day.

France Odyssey: Seine River, Reims, & Paris Day 11

Friday, October 13th, 2023

This morning we left Reims and the bus took us back to Paris. We said goodbye at the Charles De Gaulle airport to our other travelers who were heading home and the six of us met our Uber driver for a ride to the Hotel Du Continent in Paris. It was difficult to find a hotel room because the Rugby World Cup 2023 was going on while we were there.

Our Uber driver was great and got us to our hotel without any issues. Our rooms were ready at the hotel so we checked in and put our luggage in our rooms. Our room was definitely unique. The room was fine but we had to take stairs to the bathroom!

Door to our room.
Our room
The steps that lead down to the bathroom.
The bathroom
Steps heading back up to our room!
The lobby

After dropping off our luggage we headed over to the Musée D’Orsey in the center of Paris along the Seine. We had a timed-entrance ticket for 3:30 PM and it was after 3:00. The Musée D’Orsey housed the largest collection of impressionist and post-impressionist masterpieces. It was the second biggest museum in Paris. The building was the former Orsay railway station which was built for the Universal Exhibition of 1900.

Musée D’Orsey

The Musée D’Orsey housed art creations from 1848-1914 and the largest collection of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist masterpieces in the world. The main hall was once the train tracks and the platforms.

The museum had three enormous clocks. The gold clock near the entrance was stunning and you could see another scaled model of the Statue of Liberty from behind.

The other two clocks were made of steel-framed and glass. Because the clocks were glass we could see Paris through the clocks!

A couple of pictures of Paris from the museum.

A few of the most famous works that we saw:

Van Gogh’s Self Portrait
Van Gogh’s Starry Night Over the Rhone!
Vincent Van Gogh’s The Bedroom
Vincent Van Gogh’s Portrait of Dr. Gachet
Claude Monet’s Blue Water Lilies
Edgar Degas’ “Petite Danseuse de 14 Ans” (Small Dancer, Aged Fourteen)
Auguste Renoir’s Moulin de la Galette

Some of our other favorites are located in the following slide show. We took so many pictures that it was difficult to choose.

We had a little time before our timed entrance into the Orangerie Museum. The distance between the museums was about a five minute walk so we were looking for a restaurant on the way to grab some dinner. We found a small little restaurant, Nicole’s. Everyone had a very good meal before it was time to leave for the museum.

Dinner at Nicole’s

This was the Orangerie’s night where they stay open late. It was so nice because it wasn’t crowded at all.

The Musée de l’Orangerie or Orangerie Museum was a stone building that was built in 1852 and was originally an orangery. It was a winter shelter for the orange trees that lined the garden of the Tuilleries Palace.

The museum housed Claude Monet’s 8 decorative panels. He gave them to France as a symbol for peace in 1922. These huge water lily panels were installed in 1927, a few months after Monet’s death. They were a permanent exhibit.

Seeing Monet’s Water Lilies was a highlight here but we did see artwork by Picasso, Matisse, Cézanne, Rousseau and more!

Picasso
Cézanne
Renoir
Monet
Matisse
Utrillo
Rousseau

The museum had a display about the life of Paul Guillaume (1891-1934). He was an art dealer and collector. He wanted to collect enough art to create his own museum. Unfortunately he died at the age of 42 and his dream was never realized.

Paul Guillaume

After the museum we walked back toward our hotel. We passed the Rugby Village for the 2023 World Cup.

Closer to our hotel we stopped and watched the Eiffel Tower sparkle! We’ve experienced before but it was still magical! It was a great ending to our day!

France Odyssey: Seine River, Reims, & Paris Day 8

Tuesday, October 10th, 2023

This morning we are docked back in Paris! Our morning was spent with a city tour of Paris. Our first stop was the Eiffel Tower. It was built for the International Exposition of 1889. The tower stood 984 feet and was constructed of wrought iron.

Another stop was the Notre Dame Cathedral. Building began in the 12th century and it took 300 years to complete the cathedral. The upper part of the cathedral was severely damaged in a fire in April, 2019. We could only visit the outside of Notre Dame. It was planned for reopening in December, 2024.

Notre Dame with scaffolding

More sites of Paris that we passed on our morning tour.

Court of Cassation- Supreme court for civil and criminal cases
Musée d’Orsay
French National Assembly
Hotel de Ville- City Hall with Paris Olympic decorations.
Seine River

After our Paris city tour the rest of the day was on our own. We stopped at a cafe for something to drink.

Our next stop was the hill of Montmarte. We weren’t close so we took a subway to get close.

Entrance to the metro station
Riding the metro

The over 250 stairs awaited us to climb them to reach Sacré Coeur basilica.

Sacré Coeur was a popular tourist spot with over a million visitors every year! The Basilica du Sacré Coeur meant “sacred heart” in English. Its exterior was made from white limestone with a Roman-Byzantine style architecture. In front were two statues, one of Joan of Arc and the other of King Louis on horseback.

Basilica du Sacré Coeur

From here there were great panoramic views of Paris. It was a beautiful blue sky but the Paris skyline was hazy.

Behind the Sacré Coeur was the Place du Tertre we saw many artists ready to draw your portrait or caricature!

We ate lunch nearby at Chez Eugène on their terrace. We had a delicious lunch.

We spent some time walking the streets of Montmarte.

As we were walking around we came upon the two surviving windmills of the 30 that once were on Montmarte. The first one we saw was Le Moulin du Radet. It was built in 1717 and was originally used to ground flour and moved in 1924 and it now sits above a restaurant.

Le Moulin du Radet

Then we passed the Moulin de La Galette or Le Moulin Blute-Fin. This windmill was built in 1622 and was abandoned. You had to look through the trees to barely make out the windmill!

Le Moulin Blute-Fin or Moulin de Le Galette

We really enjoyed out walk around this area. From the historic windmills of Montmarte we then past the red windmill of Moulin Rouge, a caberet. This was another great spot for O-H-I-O!

On our walk back to the riverboat we saw the Eiffel Tower with the beautiful clear sky.

We walked along the Seine River and saw this bronze monument that was called “Monument des Martyrs Juifs du Velodrome d’Hiver”. It translation was “Monument to the Jewish Martyrs of the Winter Stadium”. It was dedicated to the memory of the 13,000+ Jews that were rounded up in Paris during WWII. At the bottom of the monument was enscribed “Let’s never forget”! Wise words to remember!

Monument des Martyrs Juifs du Velodrome d’Hiver

On a man-made island near the Grenelle Bridge in Paris we saw the quarter-scale version of the Statue of Liberty. It weighed 14 tons and stood 37 feet 9 inches tall. This was given to France in 1889 by US expats in Paris that celebrated the 100th anniversary of the French Revolution. On the base of the statue were two plaques, one with the date July 4, 1776 and the other with the date July 14, 1789.

Our city tour and the time to explore Paris on our own was invigorating and also tiring. We did a lot of walking today! This evening was our last night on the riverboat. Tomorrow we tour the Palace of Versailles.

France Odyssey: Seine River, Reims, & Paris Day 1 and 2

Tuesday, October 3rd, 2023 and Wednesday, October 4th, 2023

Tuesday afternoon we left for the airport. Five of us were traveling together and we were meeting our sixth traveler in Paris! Our flight left Columbus and we arrived at Washington Dulles for our overnight flight to Paris, France.

Ready for our flight from Washington Dulles to the Paris Charles de Gaulle.

We arrived in Paris, got our luggage, and the bus took us to the Amadeus Diamond, our riverboat for the week.

Amadeus Diamond

We left our luggage because the crew wasn’t ready for us to go to our rooms yet. We met our nephew here, our sixth traveler, and he took us to a riverboat cafe down the way so we could get something to drink and a snack while we waited to board the ship. We could see the Eiffel Tower in the distance.

During the evening’s cocktail hour, champagne was served for a Captain’s toast.

During dinner we noticed the Eiffel Tower was lit and sparkling! The video was taken with our iphone.

We celebrated one of our traveler’s birthday after our first dinner on the ship! The restaurant staff brought him a cake and sang to him! It was a great way to finish our first evening on the riverboat!

Happy birthday Jeff!
Clapping after singing Happy birthday!

We were so tired after getting little sleep on the plane we went to our stateroom not long after dinner!

Club Italy Vacation 2023 Day 16

Saturday, June 17, 2023

This morning was an early morning for us because we were heading home. ☹️

We were very fortunate that when the owners of Torraccia di Chiusi found out we had to leave before breakfast time, they set up food in the sitting room of the building where we stayed. It was very kind of them.

One of the young ladies, Karol, who served breakfast each morning left a note for us. She was from Peru but working at the villa. Her English was very limited but she communicated with us using her phone to translate. Her note meant the world to us.

After breakfast we packed our bags and headed for the Florence airport where we had to turn in the rental cars. Then we took an airport shuttle to board our plane that would take us from Florence to the Charles De Gaulle airport in Paris. Today was going to be a long day with three flights! (Florence, Italy ➡️ Paris, France, then Paris, France ➡️ Detroit, Michigan and from Detroit, Michigan ➡️ Columbus, Ohio)

Our shuttle ride to our plane that was in the background.

We changed planes in Paris for our second flight which would take us to the Detroit airport. We flew Air France. The boarding for Detroit went smoothly but we sat on the plane with no air conditioning or any air flow. After about half an hour the captain announced that the air wasn’t working (duh) and the mechanics would do a fix that wouldn’t work until the engines were started. We sat in misery for a very long time and it was the worst airline experience we’ve ever had.

We landed in Detroit, went through customs and then boarded our flight for Columbus. It was a long day but we made it home on time!

Our Italy adventures were many and new memories were made by all of us. Cheers to a great vacation!

Addio amici! (Goodbye friends!)

Band of Brothers Tour Day 5

Saturday, July 20th, 2019

Today we actually leave Paris and meet up with our Band of Brothers Tour! We had a 7:20 AM pick up to take us back to the airport to meet our tour guide, Catelyn. It was a quick ride to the airport, 40 minutes because traffic was light. We will be sitting here in the arrivals terminal until close to noon when the bus and our guide will be here.

IMG_6103
Our mode of transportation for the next 10 days!

We met Catelyn and our bus driver Gabe. Our luggage was loaded but 2 of our passengers were delayed so we will be waiting 1/2 hour more per the company agreements which isn’t a problem for us! The bus is air conditioned and the seats are comfortable. Waiting for us on the bus seats was a Beyond the Band of Brothers canvas bag filled with useful information and a paperback book filled with military information.

Our drive to Normandy is a little under 3 hours.  The highway signs were unique to us because they included a picture that coincided with the town.  We enjoyed seeing the different pictures for the signs!

We stopped at a rest area for a break and lunch. All 27 of us were back on the bus in time! Catelyn, our guide, was happy!

When we arrived at our hotel in Bayeux, we checked in.

IMG_6105
The roundabout in front of our hotel in Bayeux.

We organized our suitcases and walked into town to explore the town of Bayeux, France.  It is a quaint medieval town and the first town to be liberated in 1944!  As you walk around town you can see 17th and 18th century mansions and townhouses.

We were back for our 7:00 PM social with our group. The company provided a free drink. We all introduced ourselves and then had dinner together. It was after 9:00 when dinner was finished. We enjoyed getting to members of our group.

A nice feature of this tour is that all meals are inclusive and 1 beer/wine/mixed drink is included with lunch and the same is true at dinner!

Today was only 8,776 steps, 3.67 miles and 5 flights. We have certainly decreased since we are not exploring Paris. Having a bus to take us to sights will lessen our walking.

Band of Brothers Tour Day 4

Friday, July 19th, 2019

We did not set an alarm for this morning. Our first stop today was the Paris Opera House. We had a 1 1/2 hour guided tour and then we were free to continue exploring on our own! It was also called the Palais Garnier. It was built from 1861-1875.

Paris Opera House
Paris Opera House

The architect was Charles Garnier. It’s considered one of the most famous opera houses in the world. “The Phantom of the Opera” by Gaston Leroux’s novel written in 1910 and then the Weber musical in 1986 have helped to make it famous.

We went to the public park, Tuileries Garden, which is next to the Louvre. We sat in the shade on a bench for a short time. It was quite comfortable relaxing and watching all of the people.

Afterwards we had some lunch and then walked over to Place St.-Michel. It is a public square in the Latin Quarter. The Fountain Saint-Michel was constructed in 1855-1860 and 9 sculptors were involved. Unfortunately the fountain was dry!

We walked around the area and found a small place where milkshakes were their specialty and it was happy hour. You buy a shake, get one free. So we sat at an outside table and enjoyed our shakes.

We then started our walk to the Eiffel Tower. It was over 2 1/2 miles from where we were. We didn’t have to hurry because our tickets for the summit were for 8:00 PM. The weather was great and we had beautiful views of Paris and beyond!IMG_6031

The weather was perfect for our views of Paris and the surrounding area from the summit of the Tower and at the 13th story.

Montmartre in the distance
The shadow of the Eiffel Tower
The Arc de Triomphe
Notre Dame Cathedral
Paris Opera House

After we were finished exploring the tower, we found a small restaurant again using the Find Me Gluten Free app. It was great that the Eiffel Tower had free WIFI so we could locate a place to eat. The small restaurant was called Le Florimond. The staff was awesome and the food was delicious.

Le Florimond
The restaurant interior.
The large portion of gluten free bread they served me!
Our entrees.

On our walk back to the hotel, when we got close to the Place de la Concorde there was a lot of excitement! Cars, scooters, and motorcycles were honking their horns and wearing and waving Algerian flags to celebrate Algeria winning the Africa Cup of Nations! People were singing and chanting in mass. Fireworks were also going off.

Today was 26,384 steps, 11.13 miles and 11 flights!

Band of Brothers Tour Day 3

Thursday, July 18th

Our reservation ticket for the Louvre was to get us in at 9:00 AM. IMG_5895We were in line by 8:37 which was perfect because we were 10th in line. As soon as we went through security we went directly to see the Mona Lisa! No line! Yea! It was perfect.

Mona Lisa

We then went to visit all of the Egyptian Antiquities which took us a couple of hours. After visiting Egypt in March we were really interested in seeing more antiquities.  We took a lot of pictures and below are just a few!

We couldn’t get over how big the Louvre is! We went to see the Venus de Milo and the statues in the rooms around the main attraction.

IMG_5861
Venus de Milo

The Old Centaur
Artemis, goddess of the hunt

We were in the French paintings when we saw the works of art on our list and a whole lot more as we explored this amazing museum.

The Raft of the Medusa by Géricault
Liberty Leading the People by Delacroix

We exited after spending 6 hours straight! Our brains couldn’t absorb any more art today.

Our backs needed a break so we boarded the “hop on hop off” bus and rode until its first stop near the Basilica Sacré-Coeur in Montmartre.

Basilica Sacré-Coeur
View from Montmarte.
View from Montmarte.
View from Montmarte.

It was a lot of steps to get up to the Basilica. The views were awesome. Instead of hopping back on the bus, we walked back to our hotel. On our way we found the Paris Hard Rock Cafe.  We got a pin from there and had a drink! IMG_5922 After grabbing some water and resting for a short while, we walked to a French restaurant that offered gluten free items. The restaurant was called Le Saotico. We used the app Find Me Gluten Free to locate this place. The food was delicious and one of the owners served us and she has Celiacs also! Her name was Anna.

The menu board.
Our first course!

It was another beautiful day in Paris, but while we were at dinner there was a downpour. When we left at 10:00 PM it was sprinkling and our dinner lasted two hours, something that we aren’t used to having.

Today we had 9.89 miles, 23,449 steps and 33 flights!

Band of Brothers Tour Day 1 & Day 2

Tuesday, July 16th & Wednesday, July 17th

Our journey began around midday on Tuesday with a flight from Columbus to Minneapolis and then took off for Paris, France around 5 PM (est). We landed in Paris around 7:16 AM Paris time. By the time we went through customs, retrieved out luggage it was 8:15. Our driver was waiting to take us from the airport to our hotel for the next 3 days, the Melia. It is a nice boutique hotel and the location is perfect for us. When we finally arrived at the hotel is was after 10:00. We stored our luggage with the hotel and off we went exploring. The Paris Opera House isn’t far from our hotel, so we walked there to catch our hop on/hop off bus. These tour buses give a good overview of the highlights of the city.

We got off the bus for Norte Dame. On our way there we stopped and toured St. Chapelle. It is a royal chapel and it is located within the Palais de la Cité which was the residence of the Kings of France until the 14th century. The stain glass panes covering 15 windows are incredible and depict 1,113 scenes from the Old and New Testaments.

When we finished our tour, we walked all around Norte Dame. We could see remnants of the fire and where workers are reinforcing beams. The area is fenced off to visitors and guarded.

We jumped back on the bus to see the Arch de Triumph, the Eiffel Tower among other Paris highlights. When we returned to the stop where we started, we got off and grabbed some lunch/dinner and then walked back to our hotel to “officially” check in. It was nice to finally get a shower after 26 hours! We rested for about 40 minutes then walked to the Eiffel Tower. On our way to the Eiffel Tower we passed the Place de la Concorde. The city was still cleaning up after their big military parade on Bastille Day, July 14th, 2 days ago. We wanted to be at the Eiffel Tower by the time the lights came on! We enjoyed our time waiting for the lights! It was beautiful! We have to say it was also great people watching!

Even with riding the bus, we still walked 9.73 miles, 22,180 steps, and 7 flights!