Paris

Visit to Paris!!

Our bus was a 22 seater and there were only 16 of us so it was not crowded and people could move around to take lots of pictures. I took 183, but the young lady across from me passed 500 photos. The driver was named Jean Phillip and the guide was named Justin. Both were French speakers but the guide had a fairly good command of the English language and he was very helpful.

We began the day in a deep fog. The fog was like pea soup and so we did not get to view the Normandy countryside.

Fortunately it was sunny and very nice out by the time we arrived in the city. Our first stop was at a view point where we could see a lot of the city including the Eiffel tower. The marble base and the amazing view was a perfect way to begin this grand day. This was a 15 minute photo op.

Next stop was the actual Eiffel tower. I had never imagined that I would stand at the base . It is so much taller than I imagined it to be. We took photos from every angle. I even bought myself a red and black scarf to mark the visit. We spent a half hour  here and then we piled back on the bus.

We were given a jaw dropping drive around this most beautiful  city. Our heads needed to be on a swivel because everywhere you looked there was another famous building or street. We saw the Louvre, Notre Dame Cathedral, the Champ de Elysees, the Arc de Triomphe, the petit Palais, the Grand Palais, the presidential palace, the Obelisque, the hotel de ville, the Place de la Concorde, the opera house and the list goes on and on. We even saw the bridge with all of the locks. All during this time our guide was telling us about the history of the buildings we were passing.

The driver did a wonderful job of travelling the city to allow all of us to take many pictures.

The architecture was truly amazing and so grand. For some reason I was surprised at how clean the city was. We did see some litter but I was expecting it to be much worse.

I think every store that ever there was has a branch on this boulevard, even McDonalds and Starbucks. There were sidewalk cafes and souvenir kiosks on every block as well

Then we were stopped at the Place de la Concorde and allowed to have 3 hours to do our own  thing. I had always wanted to stroll the Champs Elysees on a sunny afternoon and so that is what we did. We bought ice cream and sat on a park bench and watched the people go by. We strolled from the Obelisque almost all of the way to the Arc de Triomphe, taking in all of the sights and taking photos as we went.

Soon it was time to return to the bus. Our dream day was almost over.

On the return trip the driver continued to point out sites we had missed because of the fog in the morning. The country side was beautiful with many small farms and some large grain and hay fields as well. Cattle and sheep grazing made it hard to believe that just 2 short hours ago we were in the middle of a metropolis .

To illustrate the day I am going to insert a variety of photos but not all of the 183 that I took or the over 100 that Ken took.