Exquisite

Paris is certainly that and more. I have to admit that I do not feel nearly as at home here as I did in Italy, especially Rome. But Paris is utterly remarkable. It is a very large city and more than 2 million people call it home. It is stunning. There are so many places just to be. There are huge parks and plazas and squares. It is just as beautiful as you imagine it to be.

Notre Dame is a marvel. There are signs reminding people to observe silence out of respect for the Catholic worship taking place, but it is just too hard not to gasp in awe and comment on the wonder of it all. I took a picture of one of the confessionals. This was a first, it is in a glass room. When I first saw it, I thought it was to protect the penitent's privacy. Later, I figured it was necessary to allow penitent and priest to even hear each other. The building is being restored in phases. It was great to be there.

One could lose oneself in the Louvre museum for days. It only cost 8 euro and 50 cents and kids under 18 are free. We split up once inside. The girls looked at French painting before being caught up in a rock concert style shoving match at the Mona Lisa. Seanviewed Mesopotamiann art and also got to the most famous work. Betsy, Dave and I took in French sculpture, Egyptian and Iranian treasures and then made our way to the Italian works and the smiling lady. The Louvre is a treasure for the whole world.

We walked through the streets on the Isle of St. Louise and had a nice lunch at a little place called Pauls. Ordering was very difficult. Our number overwhelmed them. Our English confused them. Our order worried them because they had run out of the fromage necessary for the sandwiches we wanted. What we really wanted were thesandwichess we saw in the case. We were prepared to pay more for them so we could sit down, but this proved difficult to communicate. In the end, it all worked out and I shocked them with a nice tip which they simply do not expect and are not at all used to. Our waitress even applauded Selina'sFrench.

The Paris metro is a model of efficiency. We bought week long passes and used the metro exclusively after our one bus ride from the train station.

I hope I sent emails inviting everyone to view the pictures. If not, these links should work. If they don't show up as links, maybe you can copy them into your browser window.

Rome http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/ghostranch/album?.dir=/cd8f&.src=ph&.tok=phoabcDBkSGpOul4

Paris
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/ghostranch/album?.dir=/43f6&.src=ph&.tok=phhbbcDBdBpfmBu0

Peace.