Paris Adventures Continue

Day two
We had made arrangements to meet some friends of a friend. We told them we would walk to their apartment as we kept losing our hotel and couldn’t quite remember where it was. We walked the other way up the Seine, past Notre Dame and through the Louvre - turning at this really cool street - think part of the street was called the Avenue Des Champs Elysees.

In the middle of all the traffic was a beautiful monument, the Place De La Concorde. All of the statues had real gold leafing, perhaps that is why there were so many men walking around with machine guns. I was really surprised to see this as I didn’t think the French Policemen carried guns. 

We walked up the street and came upon an amazing shopping center, Galleries Lafayette - Coco, Channel - you name the high end brand and it was housed in this amazing building...

Vonny and Greg’s were incredibly generous, funny, smart and knowledgeable. It was joyous to be spending time with them!

Greg insisted on driving us around Paris - must to admit it was a gas. He was a crazy but skillful driver who would suddenly pull over in front of the Eiffel Tower or on the bridge near the Grand Palace and say “Get out, this is a great place to take a picture” Of course he was correct it was always a wonderful place to take a picture, even if we stopped the flow of traffic from all directions. Such fun.

Greg was a great driver and even more skillful at parking. The first time he parked his car he had all of 2” to spare, no joke. The next time he spotted a space behind a parked truck and was able to park by going across two lanes of traffic and backing up around the truck. Simply amazing.

They took us to see everything... ending with the Sacred Heart Church on top of Montmartre.... such a lovely village in the middle of Paris.

By the time we all remembered time again, the sun was setting and the day ending. Time... a tricky thing to master!

Day three

Gary and I decided to spend the day revisiting many of the places that Vonny and Greg had introduced us to - we took pictures of the Grand Palace, Petite Palace, Avenue Des Champs Elysees, a cute wedding couple who arrived in a Bently. It was a wonderful day of wondering in and out of monuments, eating and being part of the Parisian community. As it was Sunday, there were many streets closed off for walkers and bikers... we took advantage to stroll in the street, just enjoying life.

Later that night we invited Greg and Vonny to diner - again, time got away from us and before we all realized it the night had crept away. We said our goodbyes, glad to have had the opportunity to share our Paris experience with them.

Day four

Last day in Paris - sad to leave. It is so wonderful. But who thinks about tomorrow when you have today. Gary and I had saved the Louvre for today. A day of wondering throughout the museum. Oh my God - it was so overwhelming. The first thing we saw was the Mona Lisa - only a few people so we could see her very well. Then we went to see the Italian, French, painters... then the Egyptian exhibit... then some more impressionists, then the Dutch/Netherlands, then some Greek statues... then we felt ill, almost like a kid eating endless ice cream cones. Too much of a good thing... so we staggered out of the museum and into the fresh air - glad we saved the museum for the last day. We really enjoy the living architecture and people of the city - so that is how we spent the last afternoon and evening, again being part of the community.

Tomorrow we fly to Edinburgh, Scotland.