I just went online to see if I could find out if Notre Dame and Sainte-Chapelle are open today, and alas, they are not. But in the process I found a lovely website. You can go here and click on the photos and read about the famous France monuments. If you enter "Paris" in the top grey box on the upper right, the map will switch to just the Paris monuments. Lovely music, too!
We are going to rent Velibs - bicycles. There are racks of grey bicycles here and there, and you rent them by the half hour. You return them at the next stand within 30 minutes and take another. It's one euro for a day pass, and then the first 30 minutes from any station is free. They charge your credit card an additional euro for each half hour you go over before checking the bike back in. An ingenious system really.
So, we'll peddle around the closed city. Tis okay. Another excuse for a new sort of adventure.
A few catch up photos from Day One:
This is quite near our apartment. The Church of the Dome is attached to Invalides - the Army Museum and former Veterans Hospital. Inside this dome is Napoleon's tomb.
The entrance to the Louvre as seen from the bus. This pyramid is a relatively new addition, and was quite controversial in its architecture. I think we'll spend more time at the Louvre on Monday.
L'Arc du Triomphe, again from the bus. All four front panels are being refurbished. If you look closely you will see that they screened the work areas but reproduced the sculpting on the screens.
On Thursday I took the photo below, and I believe it will affirm what I wrote earlier - driving in Paris appears to be terrifying.
And I'll end with a fountain. Everywhere you look there is beauty in this old city.
Now that my first cup of coffee is in me, it's time to get ready for the day. Our landlord emailed me that the maid is coming today. Ha. Gotta love that.
A bientot. Talk to you later!
No comments:
Post a Comment