I finally got to see a very small bit of Europe, and it's all Johnny's fault!  *laughing*  Johnny and I had been emailing for over half a year after he found my website.  We both wanted to see Paris, and so we decided to share the trip.  My trip began a day earlier and ended a day later than Johnny's, because I had to travel MUCH farther.  But we had four GLORIOUS days exploring Paris.

He did so much research online that we had an itinerary that could have filled an entire week, rather than the four days we had.  Still, we saw most of the sights on our list, and we still had a little time to relax and breathe.

Our first stop was the Montparnarsse Tower, which was only about three blocks from our hotel.  We went to the top, and I got my first view of the Eiffel Tower, which brought tears to my eyes.  I guess Paris didn't seem real until that moment.

Montparnarsse is the second tallest building in Paris, second only to the Eiffel Tower.  It was a great place to get an initial view of Paris.

The Trocadero (above) sits across the river from the Eiffel Tower, and it is a great place to view the Tower.  Each night at 11:00, the Tower starts a fifteen minute show of blinking lights.  It is amazing to watch, but it doesn't really photograph well.

Click on the picture to the right to view a video of part of the light show.  Then you can use your Back Button to return to this page.  (The video plays only a few seconds, but you can click on the "play" button to watch it repeat.)

We were at the Trocadero four of our five nights to watch the show.  It is the only thing that we repeated during our stay.  Our second visit wasn't on the schedule at all, but Johnny, unbeknownst to me, figured a way we could get there for the last five minutes of the show.  It was such a thoughtful gesture on his part, since he knew I enjoyed the show the first time.  After that, we put it on our schedule as the way to end each day.

Our visit to the Louvre Museum was the first thing we did one morning.  I guess we picked the perfect day for it.  It was raining when we arrived just before the Museum opened, and there were very few people waiting in the line.  We got through security, got our tickets and were looking at the exhibits less than seven minutes after the Museum opened.

Of course, our first stop was the Mona Lisa, so that we could see it before the crowds arrived.  We stayed in the Museum less than four hours, and we were both exhausted by that time.  My favorite parts were the sculptures and the Napolean Apartments (left).

Johnny's itinerary was so well planned and organized that we would ride the Metro to some spot in the city, walk around for a few hours looking at things he had picked out to view, and then catch the Metro back to the hotel.  Everything on each of his lists were very close to each other.

We saw more things than I would have thought possible to fit into four days.  It was so great, so many interesting and pretty things, so many wonderful memories.  Thanks again, Johnny.

We spent more time in the Sainte Chapelle Chapel than most places other than the Towers.  We might not have stayed so long there, but we had a bit of a set back.  This was the only time I saw Johnny sad during the entire trip.  He checked the settings on his camera and discovered that it was set to a very low resolution.  That meant that all those photos were not going to be very good.  I was able to check his camera card on my Palm handheld computer and find that only two pictures were bad.  The rest were all good.  We were both so very relieved.

This chapel's second story is entirely stained glass.  During the bombing in World War II, many buildings in the area were devestated, but only one small pane was broken on this church.

Another area we explored was the Place Concorde and Champs Elysees.  Since this was mostly after dark, I have few photos of that walk.  But it sure was a pretty area and an enjoyable walk.

Johnny and I ate out only two times.  The first was for crepes (below).  We both had chocolate crepes.  They were delicious.  The other time was for dessert one night.  I had Creme Bruelle, my all time favorite dessert.  Johnny had Profiteraoles, three cream puff type cakcs filled with ice cream and smothered in chocolate sauce.  The rest of the time we bought food at a small supermarket around the corner from the hotel and either ate in the room or carried the food with us on our treks.