Sept 6 Omaha Beach and the American Cemetary

Sept 5 - Les Villes d' Arromanches and Port Mulberry

Mulberry Harbor at Arromanches.  You can still remnants of the old outer harbor caissons ( B) used as breakwater.   (C) is part of the floating docks or roadways used to unload cargo.  (A) is one of the many German gun emplacements that had to captured before the docks could be built.  A similar harbor was built at Omaha Beach, but was mostly destroyed in a storm, three weeks after D-Day

A few weeks after D-Day

 

Sept. 4 Pick up the car, Monet's Garden, Honfleur

We had to take a shuttle back to Charles DeGalle Airport.  ( This is a realllllllllly big airport, so make sure you have your walking shoes on, a map and lots of time to make a connection)  Rick drove and I navigated.  If it wasn't for my GPS, we would have still been going around in circles.  We drove to Vernon, and Monet's Garden.  It was full, but didn't seem to crowded, if you weren't a landscape photographer. 

Rick and Pam

The harbor in Honfleur

Sept 3 Sacre Coeur and Arc de Trumph

Today was souvenir day.  The ladies bought and the boys carried. 

Trying to figure out which one should be carrying bags now.

One of the street bazaars on the way to our next sight-seeing spot.

Funicular train to get you up the hill.  Very nice when your legs are ready for a rest

Sacre Coeur Church.   A very beautiful cathedral and pretty busy for a Wednesday.

Find Rick and Pam

View from the stairs at Sacre Coeur Church.

We walked about 25 minutes from our apartment up the Champs Elysees to the Arc de Trumph.  The road goes around the monument in a gigantic round about.  I can attest that French drivers are not timid and motorcyclist are not faint of heart.  I was standing in a crosswalk island about 4 feet wide, but I needed the picture.

View from the top of the Arc de Trumph, looking down the Champ Elysees.

Looking at Sacre Coeure Church.

Effie Tower from the Arc de Trumph

Sept. 2 Museums, strolling and dinner

Pam and Nancy went to the Petit Palais and Rick and I went to the science museum .  Both across the street from our apartment.   

 

Palais de la Découverte is a fine example of a "hands on" science museum.  You could have a great experience as a child or adult.  It was enormous and floor plan that moved smoothly from one area to the next.

The Petit Palais .  The ladies raved about the medieval and Renaissance paintings, sculpture, furniture, glassware and dishes.

 

Yes, old Ben Franklin loved Paris and I guess the French loved him.

Look at the wood carving as part of the cabinet.

This is a small part of a cast iron banister rail the was on a very large and elaborate spiral staircase.

Well, I wonder what she is trying to say in this painting.  The painting is about 5 feet long.

 

We decided that we enjoyed our respective museums.

 We are getting pretty good on the metro (subway lines) to cut down on our walking and lengthen the time to spend in a neighborhood or museum.  We are still walking 5 to 8 miles a day.  Earlier in the week, we had a high of 14 miles and were averaging 10 miles a day.

 

We waited for the restaurant to open, sitting on a bench on the Seine River watching all of the tour boats motoring up river.  It was nice to just sit.. One of the hardest things to do went you have so many sites you can go to, is to sit still and watch the world move in front of you.

We decided on dinner the Maris district.  We arrived at 6:00 PM and discovered the restaurant did not open until 7:30. ** A note about dining in Europe.   Most people don't start diner until after 8:00 and it  is a long, unhurried social event.

 

One of many the wines we enjoyed throughout our trip.

 

 

September 1 - Louvre and the Marine Museum

Today the girls and boys went separate ways.  Nancy and Pam went to the Louvre while Rick and I went to the Maritime Museum at the Trocadero. The girls enjoyed seeing master artist works and avoided the tourist crowds.  Afterwards, they shopped and made their way back to the apartment.

View of the Louvre taken through the glass pyramid at the entrance of the museum

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The maritime museum was very interesting for Rick and I.  Gadget people thrive in this atmosphere.  The models were made by master craftsmen, going back to the 1500's.  Rick is a model builder and found some scaled plans for a rare steam powered side-wheeler. 

Napoleon's barge

One of the larger models.

Sorry for the blurry picture.  The light was very low, no tripod and no flash.  The detail was amazing.

For dinner, we walked to the Rue Cler neighborhood and ate at The Petit Cler restaurant. 

August 31 - St. Sulpice, Bastille, Luxenburg Garden, River Cruise down the Seine

We started our day attending church at St. Sulpice.  It is a grand cathedral a very big pipe organ.  They have a short organ concert after the Sunday service.  It was a wonderful sound that easily filled the space. 

This is the location of the Bastille prison.  It was torn down in the 1830 French revolution.  It is  a monument and a large rotary (traffic circle).  A caravan of cars and motorcycles staged a moving protest while we were there. 

Starting the river cruise on the Seine with our friends. 

The people on shore view the spectators on the boat and we do likewise.  You see two groups on shore.  The farthest group was Salsa dancing and the nearest group was ballroom dancing.

One of our high school classmates suggested we have a hot chocolate on the banks of the Seine.  These two cups are for you Glenda.  Granted, ice cream for the four of us followed the picture.

We are ranging from 9.5 to 14 miles a day walking (most days, about 11 miles)  Lots of sights to see.