PARIS continued

Wednesday August 8th

PARIS, FRANCE

Today we decided to check out more sites of Paris!  Our adventures at the Eiffel Tower the night before sparked so much excitement in us to see the rest of Paris!  Who knows, we might even see the Eiffel Tower again!  Today's adventure was definitely full of walking and taking in the French Culture.  

Watching the Olympics in the Streets of Paris (not as busy as it would be in Vancouver…but at least there weren't any riots!)

The Seine River plus Paris' beach (very clever idea!)  We finally found summer in Europe!  The first day that we did not have to bring a sweater or rain jacket around with us!  27 degrees, hot and sunny!

First major tourist stop, Notre Dame

Such detail on the church...they used all of the sculptures to tell the story of Jesus, the apostles and the saints

Love the stain glass. We found out that the church is 850 years old!!  So to put it into perspective, it was built in 1162! Now thats old!

After Notre Dame, we walk along the beach of Paris

Second major tourist stop is heading to the Louvre (just checking out the exterior today)

The Louvre...the glass pyramids designed by the architect I.M. Pei

It's so important to sit back and take in the excitement of the atmosphere

The contrast between the old buildings surrounding the glass triangular pyramid is so great.

We saw everyone doing this in London with the Shard and here in Paris with the Louvre, so Jenna decided that she would to (more in a mocking sense)

Steve chilling in the green space with his new friend

A monument we came across...really impressive imprinted hieroglyphics the whole way up the tower

Arc de Triomphe in the distance with the busy streets of Paris...Next Stop, Champs-Elysees and the Arc de Triomphe

We came across a Mercedes Benz car show...not too shabby

THE ARC!

We were amazed at how grand it was.  Such a massive structure.  No one crosses the traffic circle that surrounds the Arc, where 12 streets converge.  They have walkways underneath the road to take a closer look.

:D

We have been having such a great day in Paris!  So much to see and so many people.  We are getting super hungry at this point, so we go to a grocery store, get some food and decide to have a picnic in front of the Eiffel Tower (cause you have to see it in the day time too!)

GORGEOUS!

Today we approach the Eiffel Tower from the opposite side.  Whether it is lit up in the evening or standing strong in the light of day, the tower just has so much presence.  Just take a look at how the trees around it look so tiny, and yet they are big and old trees!

Wine, Bread and the Eiffel Tower…how much more Parisian can you get!!

 Our Picnic

They would fire these water missiles a few times throughout the day. 

Very pleased that wine is cheaper than water.  In Canada you would never walk into a corner store, purchase a bottle of red wine for $3, have the store owner uncork it for you, walk it down the street to drink in the park with 2000 other people! Vive Paris!

We stayed until it got dark and the lights went on the tower and lit up the sky.  They light up the tower and it flickers all glittering for a little while!

As we were leaving there was a movie being filmed…romantic scene at the eiffel tower!  No actors that we knew…probably because it was a french film!

Thursday August 9th

Musee Du Louvre - Today we endure our 5 hour tour of the Louvre!  So much to see, learn and think about.

 Jenna before we go in!

A few works that stood out to us

Jenna's first time seeing the Mona Lisa!

A few neat egyptian pieces - wish we could understand what they were saying!

                         Jenna enjoying the grandness of the space                     Steve's contemplating the heavens

A covered Greek courtyard of sculptures...can you see Steven?

Jenna hangin with Jesus

After the Musee du Louvre we went out for our nice Paris Dinner in the Saint Germain area.

Steve has been talking about Steak Tatar ever since I met him, and he finally has had a chance to have it again!  A French delicacy, which is raw meat! yum! He wanted to make sure that they would give him enough so he ordered the XL...there is enough meat there to last him a week!

YUM!

Jenna's jump into the French cuisine was more in the dessert area…the Macaroons!  They are everywhere and the French love them!  They are different flavours macaroons…pretty good!

When it got dark we strolled over to the Louvre to see it all lit up!  So gorgeous!

Dancing in the Louv Light!

Friday August 10th

Today ended up being a rest day! Hung out in the hotel, watched the Olympics and did some laundry!  We did go out for crepes for lunch.  It took us way longer to find these crepes that we saw EVERYWHERE the day before.  But on our journey for crepes we came across the Cite of Science and Industry, which was actually very modern.  We were quite impressed, but unfortunately did not have out camera on us, since the battery was charging and we were on a 'short' walk to find crepes, lol.

We found a model of the Cite of Science and Industry, to give you an idea of what it was like!

Saturday August 11th

Today is our last day in Paris, France.  Sad to leave because Paris really does have SO much to offer, but also excited to continue on our journey and explore more of Europe!  Our next stop is Bordeaux, France, which is the wine country of France!  It will be interesting to compare to the wine country in the Okanagan!  

We had a late train reservation, so spent the day at the Musee De La Cite De L'Architecture & Du Patrimoine.

The Museum was just outside the Eiffel tower…so we had a crepe at the Eiffel Tower before enduring the museum!

Musee De La Cite De L'Architecture & Du Patrimoine

Such detailed models of the Notre Dame, plus a biblical scene carved out of Limestone…imagine trying to carve that our of one giant piece of stone?

Introducing wood as a building material

Urban Planning

City made up of LEGO!!

We went to a Transportation Exposition that goes through the evolution of human transportation…next family vehicle?!?!

Paris was such a wonderful city to explore. Some of the little things that stood out to us weren't captured in pictures, but include all of the talented busking, people playing music, throughout the streets, metro stations and even on the metro train itself!  The restaurant culture is 90% on the sidewalk, tables cramped together and all facing towards the street, nothing like Canada at all!  The people smoke like chimneys...we think we inhaled a couple of packs of smoke a day, from young people to old, smoking is alive and well in Paris.  The people were polite but insistent, they love their way of life and have a take it or leave it attitude!! Ahh the French!

Architectural Highlight in Paris, France

Structure:  Eiffel Tower

Engineer: Gustave Eiffel

Architect: Stephen Sauvestre

We saw so much in Paris, but this structure awed us the most!

NEXT STOP:  Bordeaux, France