Tim doesn't sleep well in a non-horizontal position, but he tries his best.
We landed at Charles de Gaulle airport at 7am with little sleep and took the commuter rail to near our hotel; we had a long, foggy day ahead of us
Typical Paris street in the 18th: shops at street level, apartments above
Snagged this delicious goat cheese from the Batignolles organic market; slices of this inserted into baguette = magic
Yes, this is actually a department store -- Galleries Lafayette.
Mass commercialism in a beautiful space.
The Opera: this is where the Phantom did his thing. Yes, there really is a lake under this building.
Our first view of the Pyramid at the Louvre; it's pretty sweet.
Paris has these roofed pedestrian streets called passages.
Went for a nice walk along the Canal St. Martin, checked out the locks and the dozens of homeless people's red tents lining the canal
Tim's favorite neighborhood: Montmartre. Hilly (like San Francisco?)
We returned to the Louvre, this time to go inside
The bane of Jess' existence: loud teenage Italian and/or Spanish tour groups in museums
4-shot panoramic in Louvre
The Louvre building is more impressive than the art therein somtimes!
Matisse ceiling is a bit out of place, but beautiful
We shared a crepe mixte (ham and cheese) and one with nutella; yum
Heading up to the main part of Sainte Chapelle
Sainte Chapelle's walls are nearly all stained glass.
The interior is fairly small and narrow. The rose window depicts the story of the Apocalypse.
We found a bench here by the Pont Neuf and lay out in the sun along the Seine
Notre Dame
A cute group of French kids on a school field trip (pick me a winner!)
Outside of Notre Dame, the flying buttresses in action
We sought out the Jewish neighborhood where we had the best falafel sandwich ever
Incredibly, Jess found space for flower-shaped ice cream after the falafel. Have you ever seen a happier person?
We had some nice sits and reads in parks
Rogue sculpture at the Rodin museum
The Thinker, thinking “where are my pants?”
Beautiful grounds at the Rodin museum
Gold of the Dome Church at Les Invalides, plus Thinker, plus Eiffel Tower
We enjoyed a haul from Boulangerie Poilane while watching cute French kids.
Basking in the warm sun
Heading into the sewer museum
One of the highlights of the trip, though disgustingly smelly
You can see the grate floor suspended over a six-foot-wide channel of flowing sewage. Only the French would allow this health hazard
Toilets in the sewer museum?
We had a great sit here, at the foot of the Eiffel Tower, and played with two cute little dogs
Who knew it was built in 1887? Not Tim!
Incredible lemon / ginger / honey beverages, Jess' hot, Tim's cold, with cake at cafe Les Deux Abeilles
Tim's pear clafoutis and Jess' gateau au chocolat et aux aumades. Mmm.
New Musee du quai Branly, houses “primitive” art
The bike facilities were fantastic; see here a bike lane elevated from the roadway and not against parked cars
Rochambeau himself throwing something unidentifyable (it certainly isn't rock, paper, or scissors)
The door knockers and handles were all amazing (and often in the middle of the doors, strange).
Arc de Triomphe
In France, people in the traffic circle yield to people entering. It's funny to watch.
No elevator to the top of the Arc
We stayed at the Arc for a while, wrote postcards, and watched the sun set
The Eiffel Tower sparkles for the first 10 minutes of every hour
View toward La Defense
Our home for 8 days. It was great.
Tim found this cool bridge on his journey to the velodrome in Bois de Vincennes
Cemetery near the velodrome
The cat who oversaw the cemetery
Large lemons at the musee de l'art modern de la ville de Paris (the city's free, amazing modern art museum)
Monet's waterlilies in their intended home at l'Orangerie
Hands down one of the most beautiful spaces Jess has ever been in
Scary sculpture in the Tuileries
Flower shop in another covered passage
Beautiful and functional calculator at the Musee des arts et metiers, one of Jess' favorites for the collection of amazing tools and inventions
They have Foucault's pendulum there! Actually swinging! (It shows that the Earth rotates.)
Tim found a brewpub where we had a sampler of the beers brewed there and an Alsatian pizza (flammekuche).
Winged Victory a bit more impressive without the hordes
The Louvre has invited contemporary artists to “comment” on works by adding their own pieces in a new exhibition.
He's listening to the other sculptures...
Park out in the 12th at the start of the Promenade Plantee, a garden walk along an old viaduct
He's made of recyled cans and bottles and lives in the Jardin des Plantes.
Flowering trees were already out there!
Back of the Senat in the Jardin du Luxembourg
Jardin du Luxembourg
Tasty olives and pickled garlic at Da Rosa cantine-epicerie (garlic was so good we took home a jar!)
Eglise St Etienne du Mont, Jess' favorite
Whimsical metro station at place du Palais Royal
Tim's trip to La Defense; very cool
It's a straight line from La Grande Arche (in La Defense) through the Arc to the Pyramid at the Louvre; the Grande Arch is slighly off perpendicular to make it look bigger
Tim gave it a thumbs up too.
Cute albino seeing eye dog on the metro on the way back from La Defense
There are more carousels in Paris than you thought there were in the whole world
Resting inside the Pompidou, the modern art museum, before exploring its collection. All pipes and support structures are visible and color-coded so you know what they do
Yet another delicious Parisian pastry from Laduree, home to some amazing macarons
Marcel Duchamp's “roue de bicyclette”
Street performers ruled outside the Pompidou
View from our hotel window
A parade of little children with their parents came by
The kids were dressed all kinds of fruits and vegetables (and some as flower pots!)
Many bikes had front (and rear) hub drum brakes. Almost all bikes had rear racks and tire generators for their front and rear lights
Our food was, in general, bon. Especially the bread and pastry.
