Citadines Apart''Hotel La Defense Courbevoie

... the castle:












Later we hit Star Tours. Same exact ride as Florida, only in French. To sound like a broken record, it is very strange to here C-3PO speaking French. You have to turn your head sideways to view the video.














Here is a shot from the exit area of the ride. Very cool!












We ...

... I headed over to Notre Dame again to just sit and soak it up - my second favourite building in Paris. I then spent the afternoon wandering along the banks of the Seine checking out the little market stalls and then got an RER train out to Jardin de Plantis (the Garden of Plants) . Was amazing and beuatiful and I wish I had more time to wander and soak it all up! Back to the Sacre Cour for more wine on the steps as the sun goes down and then to another little restaurant ...

... her head chopped off. Paris is full of historical buildings. The Musee de Orsay. A dream come true for me. It houses some of the greatest works of the 19th century, Sisley, Degas, Manet, Renoir, Monet, Van Gogh, and more! Another must-see on my list, La Maison du Chocolat, the ultimate ...

... from a snooty store clerk at the fromagerie after picking up a piece of brie to check the price. Aside from her though, the service staff in the city were were much friendlier than expected. I suppose Leanne's French language skills helped to elicit slightly better treatment than your average North American tourist. I must return again soon - a day was not nearly enough!

... selection - Debra and I sat on barber's chairs! the weirdest part was that when Debra tried to go to the bathroom, she came bolting back up the stairs only after half a minute, and pleaded me to go with her. I know that girls tend to go to the bathroom together, but was this really necessary?? nonetheless, I went to fulfill my socially-constructed female duties... and once I turned to corner to enter the bathroom, I was met with a MOST unpleasant surprise - it really gave me a ...

... dead that Sam and I were giving our speeches on, only because their tomb is being repaired. So in front of scaffolding in front of stone we told about the infamous couple who fell in love, and stayed in love though separated by time, space and the world at large. Roses and letters were scattered all over the ground. Erin, Rob, Allison, Bobby and I had been here before and found Jim Morrison. Erin climbed under the gate that was locked around his grave ...

Lots of walking today but we started at Notre Dame in line for two hours waiting for the tower tour. About 400 steps worth. Mom snuck in the exit and bypassed the line to the main cathedral while I waited with my 5 Euro espresso in line freezing. Did I tell you that I am actually COLD now in Paris? Apparently, the Middle East took all of the heat this summer and didn't leave any for Paris. I am ...

... to us and intimated that they might contain a bomb! So Maria and I went across the street and observed people approaching the entrance and getting turned away by the police. Several people reacted to this by running away at a furious pace. I mused that they must have feared getting blown up, but we soon figured out that the station had not been shut down as we had assumed, but rather people ...

... tower we continued walking and had a look at the Louvre gardens and the much publicised and controversial glass pyramid at its entrance. From there we wandered on to the see the Notre Dame Cathedral. No hunchback here but we did sit down for Mass (Megan's first since her Catholic High School days) and had a look at the many paintings and stained glass windows. After a very long day walking around we had planned to have a picnic dinner ...

... one could light in his memory. I lit a total of six but pretended that I thought they were free. I later felt guilty and resolved to attend six Masses in atonement. Once outside we hastened to a nearby WC. I am proud to say that I was the only male tourist game to use the urinals. This was not surprising as they were separated from the queue of females by a rather revealing waist high wall. I couldn't help noticing that a number of ladies joined the queue for a ...