Birthday in Paris
15 Jan 2005
Printable Version
Taken January 12, 2005
Air France 307 — Atlanta, GA, USA
The beginning of Danae's "surprise" birthday getaway! :) We are headed to Paris, then on to Portugal!
Taken January 13, 2005
Notre Dame — Paris, France
One of the "big three" as Uncle Lloyd put it; Notre Dame is a famous architectural beauty. The stained glass windows aren't bad to look at either.
Taken January 13, 2005
Sainte Chapelle — Paris, France
We were happy to have listened to Uncle Tony's advice on visiting Sainte Chapelle! It was a beautiful old church with an amazing display of stained glass windows portraying all sorts of stories from the Bible.
Taken January 14, 2005
Musée du Louvre — Paris, France
Just a small, little museum where we spent a few hours looking at some old art. (This is number two of the "big three".) So, who thinks this place is insured? (And, how could you insure it??)
Taken January 14, 2005
Eiffel Tower — Paris, France
The last of the "big three", the amazing Eiffel Tower. One of the things that Danae liked was how it sparkled while we were there. Watch the Eiffel Tower sparkle. To see a live webcam of the tower: http://www.abcparislive.com/.
Taken January 14, 2005
Eiffel Tower — Paris, France
Unfortunately we didn't get to go to the top because it was closed for the season, but we did get a rare treat! We went ice skating on the First Level — something they haven't had since 1969. Watch Danae go, as she ice skates on the Eiffel Tower.
Taken January 14, 2005
Arc de Triomphe — Paris, France
Actually, before going to the Eiffel Tower, we made a quick stop at the Arc de Triomphe and walked down the Champs Elysée. We stopped briefly only to get some hot chocolate to warm up and then head over to the Eiffel Tower.
Taken January 15, 2005
Notre Dame — Paris, France
Our last morning in Paris, we went to a boulangerie and got some croissants, pan au chocolate, and a brioche for breakfast. We stopped and ate it in a park across from the Notre Dame before taking the train to Musée d'Orsay.
Taken January 15, 2005
Musée d'Orsay — Paris, France
Danae in front of a Van Gogh. (One of the few impressionistic painters she can stand.)
Taken January 15, 2005
Musée d'Orsay — Paris, France
Danae wanted a pic of Jerry in front of a picture too. Here's some pointillism for you to enjoy.
Taken January 15, 2005
Rue Saint Séverin — Paris, France
We walked down this street several times it was on our way from Notre Dame back to our hotel. We also had dinner on this street at the Le Bistrot 30 which can only faintly be seen in the background.
Taken January 15, 2005
Hotel du Commerce — Paris, France
We enjoyed our hotel, even though the floor wasn't very level and our room was at the top of 5 flights of these sort of stairs! We were glad to have at least a couple days between having to carry our luggage up and down the stairs!
We left on Danae's "surprise" birthday getaway this week! Danae turned the big 2-5!!! She's now a quarter century old! But of course, she was already wise beyond her years and beautiful beyond comparison! :) As many of you may know, the surprise wasn't for Danae, but for my sister Jennifer who was finishing her mission in Porto, Portugal (where I also served from August 1996-1998). She knew Mom & Dad Fails were going to pick her up, but didn't know that Danae & I were going to be with them.
As you can imagine and can see by our many pictures we had a glorious time in Paris — Danae's first visit to the famed city! We spent Thursday (the 13th) afternoon, all day Friday (the 14th) and Saturday morning (the 15th) site-seeing in Paris.
Thursday afternoon, we arrived in Paris. Danae was welcomed to the romantic city by a very talented accordian player on the train from the CDG airport into the city. Upon getting to Paris, we checked into the hotel, and then walked to Notre Dame, Sainte Chapelle and all around Isle de France. We tried to get a night view of the city from the top of the San Maritan, but it was closed for the season.
Early the next morning we walked from our hotel in the Latin Quarter up to the Bastille. From the Bastille we walked past the Hotelle de Ville and on to the Louvre. Yes, that is quite a bit of walking, but it was only a small portion of what we walked the rest of the day. We then zipped through the Louvre in about 6 hours. Of course that wasn't enough time to see everything, but Danae chose what she wanted to see and we saw it. We also got the audio commentary devices which was interesting to listen to as we enjoyed the seemingly infinite collection of art.
Saturday we woke up, packed, checked out, and headed straight for the Musée d'Orsay, another famous museum that houses art more modern than the Louvre. Danae really liked the Art Nouveau. Jerry of course liked all of the impressionism! :) After enjoying Musée d'Orsay it was back to our hotel to pick up our luggage and on to the airport for the next leg of our trip.
Love,
Jerry & Danae