Hotel Victor Masse Paris

... buried), the Musee D’Orly (where the impressionist paintings are), Notre Dame Cathedral, La Conciergerie, Concorde Place, the Champs Elysees, Paris Opera, La Place Vendome, L’ Hotel de Ville, the bridge of sighs (one of the 37 bridges over the River Seine).

Eiffel Tower

So we finally made it to one of the most photographed places on earth. The sight of the tower did make me say 'wow’ as it huge and it does ...

... and then onto Gare de Lyon train station where I would later take the train to Lyon (funnily enough), then I ditched my bags and headed for the street. I had my first bungled conversation in franglais with a Parisienne at the bike hire stand and followed her recommendation to check out a 'real Parisian market' nearby; at Place d'Aligre. On the way I saw my first aqueduct, hooray! (stay tuned for more ...

... here, very green and vibrant. Went past a lot of cute little villages with churches in the middle. We got to Paris and started walking to our hostel...unfortunately we were walking the wrong way (most of you know I'm awful with directions and maps) so we agreed Abby would be doing the navigating from now on. I can already tell I adore this city, everything is beautiful, the streets are all pretty, trees and parks everywhere, cafes, bistroes, etc ...

... was starting to clear out. I'd say only about 1/3 of the tables were still occupied at this time, maybe 1/4. A gentleman dressed like the chef wandered through the dining room, spoke to one table, and then went to speak with the Maître d', who was stationed very near to us. At this same time, the server was at our table and dropped a spoon in my lap, and I laughed and said to her, "I saw NOTHING," and she laughed ...

... At the beginning the ride takes off like a rocket and never slows up. It's mostly dark and I can only compare it to Space mountain, but with Aerosmith Blasting "Love in an Elevator" over the loudspeakers. I didn't hear much of the music over my screaming. The studios didn't have as many of the "fast pass" rides so we had to concede to not riding a couple of them. We did ride the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror though, which is a series of free fall drops about 250 feet ...

... then walked home in time to beat lock out (no partying until 6am for me that night!) but since it had stopped raining, it was quite nice again. The day itself had been miserable- I was going to walk around the Latin Quarter but the rain was so miserable I decided to go to the Musee D'Orangerie (Monets waterlillies) but there was a queue out the door to get in, so bailed on that, then had lunch at a really cool little French cafe on a side street that only had a menu in ...

... and within a second, had taken her wallet and disappeared through the next gate. It happened in literally seconds! As much as we tried, reporting the incident at the station was impossible due to the language differences. We had to make our way to the hotel and then go to the police station to make a report. The Police did a great job and were able to handle the language differences nicely. Luckily, there were only 2 credit cards, a drivers license, and ...

Well, we are in Paris now. Nat got her job, a great job. She is a Commercial Assistant for this wine export company. She will be exporting wine to India, and she is the first employee of this company called Avino Exports. So she will be helping this gal build her wine export business, sweet job. Not to mention that her office is on the Champs Elysees, right next to the Arc de ...

... guide. As the day was drawing to a close, we decided to visit one more sight covered by our museum pass and that was the Sewer Tour of Paris!! It was actually quite interesting and fun, not to mention quite cool below the streets. But this is definitely not a job wanted by either of us! To cap off Paris, we decided to have another picnic and bottle of wine on the lawns below the Eiffel Tower. Wednesday morning, we were off to Coventry, England!! Au Revoir!! - Jeremy and Suzanne

... 18th Century when it was used as a prison for Revolutionary figures before their inevitable executions by guillotine. The most famous prisoner of all was Marie-Antionette, the Archduchess of Austria and Queen of France. The history books seem to paint her as either a woman who lived a flagrant life of gross excess in an era of extreme poverty for the masses, or as a scapegoat of the nobles’ resistance to bring about tax relief and whose husband, King Louis XVI, couldn’ ...