Campanile - Paris St Denis Quai St-Denis

September 6-8, 2008 It all started with, "Paris for the weekend?" With several days left on our EuRail passes, we felt a definite need to get our money's worth before they expire. We got up early on Saturday and caught an 8:45AM train from Rouen to Paris, and 70 minutes later, we had arrived. With a map and a compass, we walked from St. Lazare, along the Seine, to the Eiffel Tower. We meandered the quiet streets, spying the Eiffel Tower from several distances, and felt a ...

... I arrived, and decided to be brave and seek a table right there on the square and do some people watching. Normally I would be afraid to do this. Its very expensive and I would have to deal with the sometimes nasty waiters. Okay, I'm gonna try. A friendly waiter greeted me and handed me a menu..great. THEN he said, ah no, if you want EAT you cannot sit there, that is just for drinking. (They want to make sure that their ...

Die Busse is gereed voor die stasie en ons is uiteindelik oppad na Disneyland. Die koor verdien hierdie ruskans terdeë en daar is 'n opgewondenheid waarmee ons moelik gaan huishou. Baie gou is ons ingeboek en deel die groep in twee die Disneylanders en die Parysenaars. Die 30 parysenaars vertrek na om 10:00 met die RER na Parys terwyl die res van die groep in die Park deurbring. Ons begin die Parys toer by die Notre Dame en stap hiervandaan deur die strate ...

... This is one of the toniest neighborhoods in the city. I just like wandering. I turn onto Avenue Rapp just across from number 29. I had never seen this street before, and #29 is a total anomaly to the standard mansard roofed buildings. #29 was built in 1901 by architect l'Avirotte, and features a bust of his wife above the door. This is a classic art nouveau façade, with organic, asymmetrical features. Some art historians call it erotic, but I don't quite see that. But then ...

... the way I chose was the shape of the bottle. While drinking it a few months later I was rewarded with delicious champagne so my method works for me. It's probably obvious by now. I enjoyed the trip through Epernay more than I enjoyed Paris. We gave France five days which is only enough time to know I want more time there to discover Paris at my leisure. The next time I go I will stay awhile and really get to know the City of Lights.

... are huge wall sized works of art. The colors are incredible, and very calming for me at least. I may drop back and am thinking perhaps even this week to enjoy them. I was oustanded that they allowed the public to take photographs. I took a few shots and will just let them speak for themselves. What a fabulous treat this was to be able ...

L'ile Maurice et l'ile de la Réunion, dernières escales dans ce tour du monde qui nous a fait tant rire, pleurer et rêver... Pendant 9 mois, le monde a été notre terrain de jeu. On espère vous revoir très bientôt pour repartager tous ces moments avec vous, avant qu'une autre aventure ne nous enlève...

... that it's cool to have braces in elementary school haha. When we finally got to the top it was dusk. It's a good thing I'm not afraid of heights because the tower is a LOT taller than it seems. They turned on the tower's lights as we were leaving, so we took some more pictures of it from the Trocadero before heading home. We were pretty exhausted so we stayed in for the night and hung out with Fabrice - chatting and exchanging music from our iPods so now I have a ridiculous ...

... about the painting. In my humble opinion, the Mona Lisa is, without a doubt, the most overrated piece of art ever created. Even several paintings made during the same era were better both in the artistic and creative sense, but unfortunately they went under the radar, which is unfortunate. The Mona Lisa is the Roberto Luongo of paintings. Like Roberto Luongo, the Mona Lisa painting has many flaws and is completely overrated, and ...

... around 275 steps I think) and the view was pretty spectacular, with the Eiffel Tower, the Seine, and the rest of Paris in full view. The Arch is in the middle of a round-a-bout (a major round-a-bout), and the Champs-Elysees is one of the major roads leading to the Arch. I took stroll down the Chams which seems to be a major high end shopping street, and the people-watching there was great. After the Arch, I took the metro to the Trocadero which is the ...