Friday, April 22. 2011

Here we are at the end of another week.  This has been a full week with lots of miles and many sites taken in.

We started our day a little late...no internet available so we were off as soon as we had our breakfast here at the hotel.  We took some different streets than our usual hurried route up Rue de Seine and came upon the Institute of France from another angle.

There is something to catch the eye everywhere you look.  Vespas are popular here and we have seen and photographed pink, blue, white, and yellow bikes.

We wandered along the Seine heading east towards Notre Dame and the river view captured our attention.

I never tire of walking around this church...haven't been inside at all this trip because of the excessively long lines of people wanting the inside view but I am happy with the outside.

As I passed the cathedral this time I photographed the church doors more closely.

There is so much detail there.  Extraordinary work.

We passed Notre Dame and walked through Ile de la Cite where I was delighted to catch this darling little car.  I have always loved these Ugly Ducklings and here was my chance to give it some time.

It was pretty old but still had great details.

The little sun roof was open so I just held my camera pointed down and got a pretty good shot of the interior.

Isn't that just the sweetest little car you ever saw?

We headed back west now and tried to see Saint Chappelle but the line was just too long to be of any interest to either of us.  We poked about but could find no other approach to the church so let that go off the list.

I did get a photo of the impressive gates to the back entrance to the Court of Justice.

A great number of police vans were lined up outside the police station next door...

We then headed north to Rue Saint Honore heading west on our mission for the day.  We came upon the back side of a church that is not on the map but we were impressed with the roof line.

Time to have lunch so we stopped at the Cafe de la Comedie where we had a simple lunch of a chicken panini with salad.

And a sweet waiter...

Next church to encounter...have I mentioned the numbers of churches in this town?  Well, the next church was St. Roch.  Nice, sturdy, ordinary in fact, type of church and when we went inside there were two or three worshipers there with the story of Christ's death being delivered over the loudspeakers...like it was pre-recorded.

At last, after some serious window licking (I have been told on good authority that is what the French call window shopping), on Rue Saint Honore, we came to Place de Vendome, our destination for today.

We wandered around the square for some time taking in the sites and of course we had to take a picture of the Ritz Hotel.  After talking with Shelby and Kim yesterday on Skype I had to see this famous
Hotel.   It is all very lovely and chic.

We wandered down Rue de Castiglione taking in all the lovely shops and items of interest.

Thinking we would find a cool spot to sit under the trees in the Tuileries Gardens we were somewhat disappointed to find the place very crowded (surprise, surprise).

Finally we found a chair by the boat pond.  I got the chair and Gail sat on the edge of the pond.

We sat and watched the children float their boats for a while...

The Tuileries Gardens are at the west end of The Louvre so got my Louvre architecture fix, yet again.

We crossed Pont Royal and were back on the Left Bank.  There was evidence that painters were about by the tools and paints sitting out along the bridge.

As we came down Rue de Seine buying our supper at the patisserie and grocery store on the way to the hotel we wanted you to see one example of close parking in this city.  How they get out I do not know.

And they are that tight at each end too!!!  If you followed our wanderings today on a map you will see that we put in nearly 5 miles, yet again.  The walking is easy here...

As it is Good Friday the streets are overflowing with people anxious to have a holiday.  We will have to shut our windows tonight if we are going to get to sleep.  On Friday and Saturday nights the street noise goes long into the night.

Wishing you all a Happy Easter and a blessed Sabbath rest.  I am most thankful for you all and for internet that works...I have tried to send blogs all week but when I go to upload photos things go kakootska!!!  So I am happy to send this to you now...the photos are unedited and unpolished but they come with Love!