“The first time I saw Paris . . .”

[As you may recall, our original plan, documented by reservations, was to take the high speed TGV train from Chalon-sur-Saone to Paris, a 200-mile trip in about an hour.  But a railroad strike “cancelled” our reservations.  Fortunately, some people had opted for extended travel with Viking Cruises and were taking buses to Paris.  They had empty seats.  We had a ride!!  Along the way, the landscape scenery was not unlike . . . home?]

[We made a pit stop along the way.  The Biddies saw a photo op.  🙂   ]

[OK, they made me do it too.  One dares not refuse a request from The Biddies!]

Auxerre

[This was also nice unplanned addition to the trip.  Those on the extended Viking Cruise had this planned stop about halfway to Paris . . . visit the small town of Auxerre and have a little lunch.]

[I think we decided Auxerre turned out to be worth the stop.]

[There was something magical, or unique, about this building.  We had a guide’s description which I’ve of course forgotten.  Something to the arrangement of the woodwork on the façade.]

[Cadet Roussel was a popular French song satirizing a bailiff who died here in 1807.  This plaque was in the street.]

[Here’s that house construction again?]

[But let’s take a walk through town.]

[September 4 is my birthday.  Who knew it was also the establishment date of the 3rd French Republic with the overthrow of the Bonaparte dynasty?]

[The requisite outsized church . . .]

[And its environs.]

[Hey, let’s take a photo!]

[Bert and Kathy decided . . . ]

[As long as they were there they may as well partake of the service.]

[I think this was taken because we had another “Etienne.”]

[Au revoir, church.]

[And then it was further into the fairyland town.  Yes, it was as cute as it looks.]

[City hall (but then you already know that).]

[Marie Noel (nee Marie Rouget), a/k/a, “The Warbler Auxerre,” a poet and writer.  I thought it was Mary Poppins?]

[Kept looking for the gingerbread house . . . ]

[This neighborhood seemed to be all about reading.  Reetz is big into such with the fine residents of Nashville, Indiana.]

[There’s the previously photographed reading couple on the right.]

[Where Keebler cookies are made?  Nah!]

[A garage hotel?]

[In-spiring!]

[Kay and Sharon chose a lunch table . . . soon to be accosted from the right by a Mike Scarborough (of Alexandria) wannabe coming in from the right.]

[Faux Mike then volunteers to take a table photo!  🙂  ]

[I think we had pizza here on the outdoor square.  Bill and company attempt divide the bill proportionally among the diners.  OK, who had the two beers?]

Paris

[And then it was on again . . . to Paree!  Our first sighting of the Eiffel Tower, crossing the Seine, all the indicators were that we were in the City of Lights.]

[And our first viewing of the Arch de Triomphe and the Champs Elysees.]

[If one viewing was good, how about two?]

[Or better yet, three!]

[Telephotoed . . . we would be here soon.]

[Still on the bus driving in, another shot of the Eiffel Tower.  Get used to it, it’s how you figure out where you are in the city.  The second of dozens of photos of this structure.]

[People on a bench and some sort of gold colored statuary?]

[What’s unique about this set, as we cross the river by bus, is that I got a different individual in each shot.  That takes a talent driven by having only one eye.]

[Our home for our six days in Paris.  I just stuck my camera out our room’s window here.  This would be the direction we would walk every morning, take a left at the corner, cross the street, have breakfast, and our subway stop for the day’s adventure was right there.]

[Looking out the window in the other direction, you can see a left turn street at the top of the photo.  Take that street two blocks on you’re on a mall overlooking the Eiffel Tower.]

[This is our room.  Reetz’s bed is on the far wall.  Just like co-ed dorms, with now co-ed rooms!  🙂   ]

[Makes being three to a room more comfortable!  🙂    ]

[You may remember the one on the left is the one the boat captain bought for us all at St. Etienne des Sorts.]

[There’s that metallic spire again.  We’re actually walking away from it here as our first destination was a couple blocks past our subway stop to . . .]

[The Musee de l’Armee (Army Museum) . . . not really to see it as a museum, but it was the place to go to get our museum and subway passes (see bottom of this page) for when our sightseeing really began the next morning.]

[The Eiffel Tower (which can be spotted from almost everywhere) from the grounds of the Army Museum.]

[Statue of a no doubt important personage on the museum grounds and . . . the Eiffel Tower.]

[The once (and future) moat?]

[Ahhh, a Paris café!  🙂   ]

[Home again around dinner time . . . which we unbelievably got used to occurring about 10:00 pm every night.  That’s past our usual bedtime!  It just seemed to work out that way as after a day of touristing, we’d come back to the hotel, clean-up, and then go out again for dinner.  Plus, Paris is really far north so it stays light till really late.]

[You may recognize this . . . ]

[Before dinner, we decided to check out this mall, with its view, about three blocks from our hotel.  People seem to gather here about this time of day and stay until it’s dark enough for the lighting.]

[The other end of the mall . . . appears to be a building of some sort.]

[Reetz establishes perspective.  She still appears to be in good spirits, sans luggage (it wasn’t at the hotel, as we were lead to think it might be).]

[An Eiffel Tower selfie?  Possibly a first for a denizen of beautiful Lake Darling?]

[I think you can tell these are kids on ponies.]

[Looking back as we begin our hike to the Tower.]

[There will be dozens more photos of the Tower in this blog.  It’s an international icon, and landmark, and provides interesting contrasts from day to day, with different lighting and shot from different angles.  This series was from our first evening in town, just strolling down the mall its direction . . .]

[Well, I enjoyed that!  🙂    ]

[We continued on past to the river, hoping to locate where to catch the train for Versailles in a couple of days.]

[Map study abounds as the supervisor finds a photo op in the background.]

[The super thinks it may be down there?]

[And now we’ve discovered a footbridge.]

[The Seine.]

[The Tower and the Seine.]

[The Tower and us.]

[Fellow tourists on a boat – we never did do this (for another time?)]

[Not the Tower.]

[Roy Campanella’s?]

[Our first night dining on the streets of Paris.  This was on Rue Cler, a famed restaurant row street just a few blocks from our hotel.]

[Don’t recall what we had . . . was too busy just taking in the excitement around us.  Once the World Cup began, this street was really hopping!  🙂   ]

[Reetz and the super have a common fear of starving to death before breakfast.  They stopped at a small pastry shop on the way home for provisions!  How do you say Eclair in French?  Oy!  🙂   ]

[The key to the rest of the week in Paris – our museum passes and subway tickets!  🙂  ]

Don’t just stand there with your Eiffel Tower smile. Tell me you love me, and tell me in French.
  ~ Jarod Kintz

Up next:  Paris, day 2.