Paris I

Annie decided to drive in to Paris with us, and stayed at the Hotel Chopin for a night. The first day, we visited Notre Dame, Ste. Chappelle, actually climbed the Arc de Triomphe and the Louvre. We at dinner at a wonderful restaurant that is in the basement of the train station at Les Invalides. Afterwards, we took a driving tour of Paris by Night, and saw how the Eiffel tower is lighted at night. Starting at 11, the turn on lights every hour on the hour for about 15 minutes. First, it flashes with silver lights, then goes to a solid, sapphire blue. It's absolutely gorgeous! The second day, despite extremely tired legs, we visited Napoleon's tomb, and also went to the Rodin museum. Napoleon's tomb is fantastic! The building is ornately decorated inside with marble and gold. The tomb itself is probably a 30 ft. marble construction. At the Rodin museum, we saw The Thinker, among other famous sculptures. Near the end of the day, Dad and I made a trek up the hill of Montmartre to see the Sacre Coeur Basilica. It sits on the top of the hill, and is a brilliant white. Unfortunately, you are not allowed to take pictures inside, but all the decoration is mosaic artwork. In the dome above the altar, there is a huge mosaic of Christ with his arms out. Again, lots of gold. That night, Annie left and returned to her parent's house, and Dad and I needed to take a nap to recover.