Ah......Paris. The City of Lights, Eiffel Tower, Louvre Museum, Notre Dame Cathedral, Arc de Triomphe, Avenue des Champs-Élysées, Montmarte, etc. It needs no introduction. People used to say "All Roads Lead to Rome." Today, I think all European travel leads to Paris. To me every American must visit New York City and Washington, DC, at least once in their lifetime. Likewise, every international traveler must visit Paris at least once in their lifetime. Besides the monuments and history, you find excellent food and wine, interesting people, wonderful shopping if you have a lot of money, and an efficient metro system. The only drawback I find is not being able to speak and understand French. However, nowadays you find more and more French, especially the younger generation, speaking English. The other negative is that it is an expensive city. But, so is everywhere in western Europe.
We were very fortunate to have a place to stay in Paris. Our gracious hostess, Sophie, has a beautiful apartment in north Paris. She and her sister, Katherine, are old friends of Ralph. They even took us to a real French restaurant in Sophie's neighborhood. All I did was enjoy the food and wine because I didn't understand anything on the menu nor what was spoken between the waiter and the others. Ralph, by the way, speaks fluent French, because he studied at the University of Paris many years ago.
Unfortunately, Ralph was sick while we were on the way to Paris. So I walked around Paris most of the time by myself. Since I have been there many times, I am kind of familiar with the city center.
I enjoyed walking down the Champs Elysee from the Arc de Triomphe all the way to the Louvre Museum, then continue along the River Seine to the Notre Dame Cathedral. Then cross the street to the Latin Quarter to have a nice prix fixe French meal for 10 to 20 euros.
I've been to most of the interesting tourist places in Paris except Versailles. This time I made it a point to visit the palace. Versailles is about a 45-minute train ride to the suburbs of Paris. The ostentation, opulence, wastefulness, of this palace cannot be topped anywhere. Obviously, no expense is spared in building this palace. No wonder the French had a revolution to topple the monarchy in the late 18th century.
We were very fortunate to have a place to stay in Paris. Our gracious hostess, Sophie, has a beautiful apartment in north Paris. She and her sister, Katherine, are old friends of Ralph. They even took us to a real French restaurant in Sophie's neighborhood. All I did was enjoy the food and wine because I didn't understand anything on the menu nor what was spoken between the waiter and the others. Ralph, by the way, speaks fluent French, because he studied at the University of Paris many years ago.
Unfortunately, Ralph was sick while we were on the way to Paris. So I walked around Paris most of the time by myself. Since I have been there many times, I am kind of familiar with the city center.
I enjoyed walking down the Champs Elysee from the Arc de Triomphe all the way to the Louvre Museum, then continue along the River Seine to the Notre Dame Cathedral. Then cross the street to the Latin Quarter to have a nice prix fixe French meal for 10 to 20 euros.
I've been to most of the interesting tourist places in Paris except Versailles. This time I made it a point to visit the palace. Versailles is about a 45-minute train ride to the suburbs of Paris. The ostentation, opulence, wastefulness, of this palace cannot be topped anywhere. Obviously, no expense is spared in building this palace. No wonder the French had a revolution to topple the monarchy in the late 18th century.
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| The real Moulin Rouge on Boulevard de Clichy |
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| Sacre Couer Basilica on Montmarte |
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| Artists selling their works on Montmarte |
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| Macaroons are popular and expensive in Paris |
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| Crepes |
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| Snails or Escargot? |
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| River Seine, where many Paris landmarks are located on both sides |
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| A metro station |
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| One of the rooms at the Versailles Palace |
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| A Chinese couple taking their wedding pictures by the Eiffel Tower |
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