Paris, full of delights!!

Our time in Paris has been an exciting one, living in a vibrant quarter of the city, a city so full of beautiful things - architecture, painting, sculpture, and history.

Below Sacre Coeur Church in northern Paris

We have enjoyed many built highlights that the city offers, including churches at Sacre Coeur, Notre Dame, St Eustache, Ste. Marie Madeleine, L'eglise de Blanc Monteau and countless others.

The Louvre captured our imagination for a good portion of the day on Sunday. It is hard to believe there is so much creativity and art compiled in one place, and in such a magnificent and expansive home. This former fortress, constructed in 1190 by King Philippe-Auguste is such a piece of art in itself, with a fascinating and long history. We were pleased to see so many fabulous pieces, including the Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo and much of the ancient Egypt exhibit - Meagan's choice, which we all enjoyed. Visiting the medieval Louvre (the excavated foundation of the original fortress) was really interesting. With another 3 or 4 days we think we could cover most of the museum!

Walking the Ile de la Cite and the paths along the Seine of course was very nice with some street music thrown in for good measure. Even the Metro was musical, as we were treated to a tuba solo on the train between Chatelet and Tuilerie stations.

Today, cousins Alex and Scott joined us from Washington, D.C. Our visit in Paris with them will be a short one - and wet as it turns out. We did get to the top of the Eiffel Tour, saw the Ecole Militaire and the Grand Palais, and walked the Champs Elyesee to stand under the Arc de Triomphe. Like so many of the notable sights in Paris they are all the more special and maginficent in real life, and seen in person, in the context of the city.

After some more Paris time tomorrow we will begin the next leg of our jouney as we head south-west to Rochefort-en-Terre. We are looking forward to speeding along at over 300 km per hour on the TGV (train grand vitesse). Adieu until we write again!