An American in Paris

	An American in Paris

I took the Chunnel Train over to Paris from London. It takes about 3 hours to get from London to Paris with exactly 20 minutes of that being in the tunnel under the English Channel. The train cruises at 180 miles per hour but it doesn't seem like it when your on it. The cost was about $120 each way.

The official Paris Website

When I left London, I didn't have a hotel room in Paris, all of my inquires with the travel desks having produced exactly ZERO possibilities. I wasn't real hip on the idea of sleeping on the street so I called the travel agency back in the states and gave them the instruction "GET ME A ROOM!!!" The only room they could get me was in five star hotel....$480.00 a night....OUCH! But it beat sleeping on the street. Needless to say, I found a more reasonable room for the next several nights.

When I'm in a place like Paris, I love to get out and just walk the streets soaking the sights, sounds, and smells of the city in. I didn't take my camera with me that first night. I was tired and just wanted to go for a walk. The next morning I moved to my new hotel which was close to the Eiffel Tower. After a week of beautiful weather in Scotland, it decided to rain on me every day I was in Paris. Undeterred by mother nature, I headed out to explore the city. I was planning on visiting the Louvre this day. The Louvre is the largest museum in the world and houses such treasures as the Mona Lisa. You can literally spend several days walking through it.

One of the things that fascinates me about cities like Paris, is the amount of artwork you find as you wonder around. Most of this takes the form of sculpture; however, there are many beautiful fountains, monuments, parks, etc..

A fountain, As you can tell it was raining :(	A marble statue close to the previous fountain. I don't know what it is.	You can see the Notre Dame Cathedral in the distance	Some guys bowling. They took this very seriously and I saw several arguments erupt ;)


Beats me.	This is a statute of Joan of Arc. It was in the middle of a street.	A pretty light post.	Walking towards the Louvre I went through this beautiful park.


The Pyramid that marks the entrance to the Louvre Museum. The greatest museum in the world.	Some of the stone work at the Louvre.	The line to get into the Louvre. Notice the people in the background in the line. I skipped this! :)	The Eiffel Tower

That night I left the camera gear at the hotel and walked over to the Avenue des Champs-Élysées. This street is the main drag through Paris with hundreds of shops and restaurants. I found a great sidewalk pizza place and feasted on some great pizza and wine.

The next day I set out again determined to visit the Louvre. Louvre Museum Official Website. I didn't take a lot of pictures inside the museum, most of the time I was standing to open jawed to think about taking pictures. If you ever get to Paris, I can not recommend going to the Louvre enough. It is a stunning experience.

The ceiling in one of the rooms.	Ancient Greek Scuplture	The Mona Lisa Room. The picture is over there encased in a protective window. There were LOTS of people trying to get a look.

After I left the Louvre, I headed over to Notre Dame Cathedral

Awesome	From a distance	Look at the detail in the stonework.

Some more pictures from my stroll around town

A beautiful lamppost on a bridge.	The view from within the restaurant where I had lunch	The Bird Man	The French Parliment

I came across an old church while I was walking around. It was open so I went in and looked around. I couldn't find any information as to the age, but if I had to guess I would say several hundred years at least.

Outside the church, looking up at its bell tower.	A beautiful stained glass window	Some kind of monument inside the church	A blurry picture of one of the alcoves. There are OLD crosses at floor level.

Paris is famous for its sidewalk cafe's. They are everywhere. I think that very few people have jobs in Paris, they spend all their time sitting by the street, sipping wine, and watching the world go by. Doesn't sound to bad does it? What follows are various street scenes I took during my walk through the city.

Paris is known as the City of Light for good reason. The Eiffel tower is stunning at night.

Some other night time pictures of things

This fountain was right next to the Eiffel Tower. Every hour there is a light show.	Another picture of the fountain.	The Arc De Triomphe. This is surrounded by the biggest traffic jam in the world.	The arc is in the middle of a HUGE round-a-bout were the only rule appears to be go fast.

That's all, I hope you liked it ;)

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