Paris, France

Thursday, October 19th through Monday, October 23rd 2017

Mark had to attend some meetings just outside of Paris, so we decided to make a weekend trip.
My first time to Paris...Mark well he is the world traveler so he has been there before.

We got up early Thursday morning and walked to the Tram which took us to the train station. We took one train to Basel, had to change trains there for one to Paris. Once we got the Paris we walked to the subway station and took a train to Cergy, France. Then we walked to our hotel where we would stay the next 4 nights. Of course going home we did this in reverse. It was about 6-7 hours in total, with some lay over time in between connections.

Mark worked Thursday and Friday in Cergy. While he was at work I walked around a park/river area.

Saturday we took a the subway back into Paris. About 45 minutes. We spent about 12 hours there on Saturday.

First stop: Arc de Triomphe. Napoleon had this commissioned to commemorate his victory at the 1805 battle of Austerlitz. They also have the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier there.

Next stop on our site seeing tour. The Eiffel Tower. Built on the 100th anniversary of the French Revolution (and in the spirit of the Industrial Revolution), the tower was the centerpiece of a World Expo designed to simply show off what people could build in 1889. For decades it was the world's tallest structure, now it's the most visited monument.

Carousel by the Eiffel Tower...just for fun!

Pont Neuf and the Seine. This is Paris's oldest bridge. Built about 1600. The Seine goes through the center of Paris. The river is about 500 miles long.

Supreme Court building.

Place Dauphine. Just a cozy little neighborhood in the heart of Paris. On the far end is the French Supreme Court building.

Next stop: The Conciergerie. The Conciergerie was the gloomy prison famous as the last stop for 2,780 victims of the guillotine, including France's last queen, Marie-Antoinette. In 1789 the Revolution was coming to a head and she became the focus of the citizens disgust. They blamed her for plunging France into debt. A rumor spread that when she was told that the Parisians had no bread, she sneered " let them eat cake" (Cake was the brunt crusts of the bread oven). On October 16, 1793 she was beheaded.

Metropolitan - Metro Stop. This one is one of only a few survivors from 1900.

Next on our Historic Paris Walk, Place St. Michel. This was a gathering point for the city's mal-contents and misfits. Many riots and demonstrations took place here. Today whenever there's a student demonstration it starts here. Now it's a Left Bank's artsy, liberal, hippie, bohemian district of poets, philosophers, winos and neo-hippies. In the morning, it feels sleepy. The Latin Quarter stays up late and sleeps in.

St. Severin. This church took a century longer to build than building Notre-Dame. (unsure why)

Shakespeare and Company Bookstore. This bookstore is a reincarnation of the original shop from the 1920's. The Left Bank has been home to scholars, philosophers, and poets since medieval times.

Point Zero. Standing at the center of France, the point from which all distances are measured. It was also the center of Paris 2,300 years ago.

Notre-Dame. For centuries, the main figure in the Christian faith has been Mary, the mother of Jesus. Catholics petition her in times of trouble to gain comfort, and to ask her to convince God to be compassionate with them. This church is dedicated to "Our Lady" (Notre-Dame).

"Imagine the faith of the people who built this cathedral. They broke ground in 1163 with the hope that someday their great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandchildren might attend the dedication Mass, which finally took place two centuries later, in 1345. Imagine a tiny medieval community mustering the money and energy for construction. Master masons supervised, but the people did much of the grunt work themselves for free-hauling the huge stone from distant quarries, digging a 30 foot deep trench to lay the foundation, and treading like rats on a wheel designed to lift the stones up, one by one. This kind of backbreaking, arduous manual labor created the real hunchbacks of Notre-Dame.

Time for a break...espresso and crepes! I have never had a cup of coffee in my entire life but Mark has convinced me to try an espresso and now I'm hooked. Mark came back from Europe this summer totally addicted to this drink.

Cheese shop with our daughter in law Megan's name written all over it!

Place de la Bastille. This July Column is all that is on this spot from the square of the famous fortress that once stool on this square. The July Column was built to commemorate the revolution of 1830. Today the square remains a popular spot for demonstrations, and Bastille is remembered every July 14th on independence day, Bastille Day.

Hotel de Sully. During the reign of Henry IV this area became the hometown of the French aristocracy. The elegant courtyard separated the mansion from the noisy and very public street.

Behind the Hotel de Sully is a very exclusive square. Place des Vosges. There are nine pavilions (house) per side of the square. A community park in the middle. Henry IV built this centerpiece of the Marais in 1605 and called it Place Royale. As he'd hoped, it turned the Marais (one of the cities oldest neighborhoods) into Paris' most exclusive neighborhood. Victor Hugo the writer of Les Miserables lived in #6 from 1830-1848.

Hotel de Ville. Once a grand chateau is now a public building. Paris City Hall. This spot has been the center of city government since 1357.

Luxembourg Garden. Paris' most beautiful garden/park/recreation area. 60 acre garden is the property of the French Senate, which meets here in the Luxembourg Palace. Frances' secret service is "secretly" headquartered beneath the Luxembourg Garden.