Scenes of Paris

It is high time I share some pictures of Paris, that most well-known city of Europe! I must honestly admit that until two months ago, I would never have thought that I would be visiting this city before my 70th year; but on March 22nd, I visited the amazing city with several of the other students. Fantastic!

We took an overnight train to Paris Friday night, arriving about 6:30 Saturday morning. By 7:30, with train reservations for the following days made (with great difficulty because of its being Easter weekend!!), we headed out into the city. We had a marvelous breakfast, our first taste of French food. Then we began our tour.


Our first view across the river Seine. In the back and to the right, you can see the Eiffel Tower!


Looking back across the river.


A happy group shot of the five of us girls. Poor Tim, the only male on the trip, was left to take the picture!

And here is Tim himself, in front of the Notre Dame. This was really Tim's trip; most of us had never conceived of going to France this semester, but it was Tim's greatest wish-- and we could not let him go by himself! :)

Inside the Notre Dame. Too bad I couldn't get a good shot of it.

Behind the Notre Dame and its gardens.

Spring in Paris!

A beautiful bridge across the Seine, and the Grand Palais, now a museum and observatory.

Parisian scupltures!

Les Invalides, a palace built for maimed soldiers by Louis XIV (I think).

The Eiffel Tower, during a stunning moment when the clouds broke and the sun was perfectly positioned.

Friends!

We waited in line for several hours to take the elevators to the top of the Tower. The sun didn't stay out much of the afternoon, so we spent a great deal of the time in line huddled together for warmth as we were pelted with rain or sleet. It made for good memories!

Sadly, my camera and I were still not getting along at this time. Thus I have no more pictures. But the rest of the weekend was wonderful:

We enjoyed a boat ride down the Seine later Saturday afternoon, then a charming dinner. We took a train 45 minutes outside of Paris to Reims, where we stayed in a remarkable hostel for the night.

The next day, because of the difficulty of getting train reservations, we had to get back to Paris by lunchtime, so did not get to enjoy Reims (though some day we'll have to go back!). I will say that it was difficult for all of us not to be in church on Easter morning. Indeed, the morning seemed particularly full of all that could distract us of what, to us, is most important to remember on Easter (and every day)-- and that made my mood a little blue for a while. But in a way, it was actually a good reminder...

By mid-afternoon we were at the Louvre, and spent several hours there observing just a tiny portion of the wealth of art and culture (and wealth!) housed there! It was completely breath-taking..... And really, I'm still a bit surprised that I've seen the Mona Lisa with my own eyes!!

That evening, after a delightful stroll through the gardens of the Louvre and a strange but delicious dinner experience, we retired to a lovely (and rather too expensive) hotel near the train station.

On Monday morning we boarded the train and enjoyed a pleasant ride back to Germany. Since Germans have the week after Easter off from school, our train was filled with excited children off for holiday adventures! We got back to Amberg Monday afternoon, exhausted, but sooooo excited about everything we'd just seen and done. :)