Friday, November 26, 2010

The Eiffel Tower


On our last day in Paris it was clear enough that we could go to the top of the Eiffel Tower, For the last two days Paris had fog and you could not see the top of the tower.

The tower is 1063 feet tall, it is the height of a 81 storey building and has 1665 stairs to the top


The yellow compartments is the elevator that takes you to the top, They are connected together, they can load both compartments at the same time.


The view of the city from the summit of the tower. It was an amazing site.

Well tomorrow bright and early we fly out of Paris to Amsterdam and then on to Calgary, it is going to be a very long day. I must say we are not looking forward to the flight home. This has been the most amazing trip, it definately was a trip of a lifetime. Bruce and I have seen so much over the past three weeks. We cannot wait to share our travels with you all. I hope you have enjoyed our blog, It was great to be able to show you some of what we have seen. I hope some day some of you will be able to experience what we have, it was amazing!!!
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Sights of Paris

Our hotel is three blocks past the Eiffel Tower. When we decided to walk to the Champs Elysees, the Louvre and Notre Dame, etc. we forgot you still have to walk home. 7 hours later we arrived at our beautiful little hotel room. I have never been so happy to see a bed in all my life, LOL!!










A barge going down the Seine River.












Yah our room, cannot wait to get my shoes off and have a beer.




It was not very big but they even managed to fit a chair in it. This a superior room would hate to see how big a regular room was.
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Notre Dame Catherdral


Some of the architecture throughout the Catherdral.









There were so many carvings and stained glass windows.

This is the side of Notre Dame. This church is huge.
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Sights of Paris


This is the oldest walking bridge in Paris











There are 200 independent booksellers in Paris, set up along the Seine River in little tin kiosks. The tradition extends back to the 16th Century. Some of them have books that are 100 years old.










One of the narrow sidestreets that we walked along.







Notre Dame Catherdral. This church is amazing. The architecture and the stained glass is absolutely beautiful. The church was started in 1163 and completed in 1250. They said they get about 13 million visitors a year.
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The Louvre Museum


One of our stops for the day was the Louvre Museum.









The glass pyramid is the newest part of the museum, It is now the entrance. this museum literally has thousand of paintings and statues
Everyone flocks to the Mona Lisa , as did we, it was actually the only painting we knew anything about.


There were so many paintings, alot of body parts showing, Bruce said, "uh they call it art we call it porn," that is when we knew we were out of our league.



Bruce not having a good time, he was very diappointed there was no Bobby Orr paintings in the place. We left shortly after this.


They said if you looked at every painting and statue in the facility, it would take you a week to go through the museum.
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Sights of Paris


We were so happy to see a McDonald's, finally an affordable meal!!!











The Arc de Triompe, one of the many beautiful monuments in Paris. They have a tunnel so you can get right up to the monument, a good thing because the traffic is so crazy in Paris you would put your life in danger trying to cross the street.












An eteranl flame burns in front of the Arc de Triomphe, It has only gone out once, a mexican man pee'd on the flame and put it out. His little prank resulted in him being arrested.
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Saturday, November 20, 2010

Champs Elysees Blvd












The Louis Vuitton Store was more bags, than you can imagine.















The famous Arc de Triomphe. It is at one end of the Champs Elysees Blvd. The Arc was commissioned by Napoleon in 1806.
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Champs Elysees


They are setting up an outdoor Chirstmas Market along the Champs Elysees, Venders rent these little huts that line the blvd on both sides. There has to be at least 100 or more and they are open from now until Christmas.












This is as little ride and display that they were setting up for the children









Walking down the Champs Elysees Blvd. This is the place to shop in Paris. There is alot of high end stores on the street as well as just a few name brand like Nike, etc.

It was quite early in the morning so the stores were just opening. We walked up one side and down the other, By the time we were heading back it was starting to get busy







Both sides of the street were lined with motorbikes, they have parking for the bikes because so many people ride them in Pasris
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Sights of Paris


The Seine River
Our Hotel was across the street from the Seine River, We took a river tour the second day we were in Paris, It was very interesting, they have a a head set you can listen to, you just pick your language and then you can follow along as you cruise.



If you follow the river it will take you to most of the important tourist attractions.






There are alot of people living in houseboats along the Seine River, Our guide said the rent is much cheaper than an apartment but there is at least a 5 year wait to get one.
One of the double decker open air tour buses
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Sights of Paris


A guy sitting out in the middle of the street playing his accordian, It sounded just like the movies











Every street corner seems to have a coffee shop or a pizza parlor.












Local artist selling their work. It is like an outdoor art gallery











Moulin Rouge
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Sights of Paris


One of the many beautiful churches in Paris, They do not believe in anything small, All the churches are enormous and the detailing is amazing.











Overlooking the City, It was quite cold and overcast today, alot of the city was fogged in.













Another view of the church












It is quite hilly in certain parts of Paris, they just build stairs from one street or level to another. Most of the streets are done in cobblestone
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