Europe 2016 - PARIS, France, May 27 - June 1

With heartfelt thanks to our travel agent, Sally Watkins in Austin  ( http://www.sallywatkins.com ), and the folks at AMX Travel, we had a lovely trip to Paris, Luzern, and London in late May and early June.

We flew from Dulles to Charles de Gaulle on May 27-28.  Since you're flying overnight, the best advice for fighting jet lag is just to keep on going until bedtime in Paris.  We were having so much fun, it wasn't hard.

We stayed in the Montmartre district in Paris (the 18th arrondissement) just because we never had.  It's the high mountain overlooking all of Paris and known for it's artist and bohemian character.  Also, it's appears to be in transition from rather sleazy to yuppy outpost.

Our hotel.

After lunch at the Le Chat Noir cafe, next door to the hotel but not part of it, we spent the afternoon exploring the district.  Here are some images of our walk.

Where we were headed.  Never made it into the cathedral.

One of the many markets on the way to the top.

Nothing was flat on this walk.

Beautiful gardens everywhere.

One of the many views from the top.

We stumbled upon a museum on the history of Montmartre. One of our travel mantras is never pass up a history museum.  This one was very interesting even if small.  In the lovely garden behind the museum we saw a young boy's birthday party in progress.  Even in France parents serve pizza to a bunch of young boys.  The adults had (don't be surprised) wine.

Our hotel was just a block away from the Moulin Rouge, so of course we had to go.  Had a great time - good food and a non-stop show that lasted 2 hours.  It was vaudeville meets Las Vegas with lots of hunky male and topless female dancers.  All gorgeous.

Only shot I got before the show and the waiter telling me "Pas de photos autorisees, Madame."  Ops.

No problem getting an exterior shot.

Oh well, not everything can be French in France.  This was across the street from the Moulin Rouge.  No, we didn't try it.

For our 1st full day in Paris we took our trusted guide book by Rick Steve and followed his historic walking tour.  Here are some of the things we saw.

The tour began at Notre Dame.

Pope John Paul

A bread  festival was underway in front of the   cathedral.

Our next stop was at the 

Here are some of the wonderful artifacts on display.

This museum sits on the original 2000 year old site of Paris.

Next we went to the 

This is a very moving memorial to all those who were taken out of Paris during the Nazi occupation.
  

This is the garden on top of the underground memorial.

Next we crossed the Seine over to the Left Bank using the helpful street signs.

This is the famous English book store where Hemingway and the other expat writers hung out.

The woman who opened this shop published Tropic of Cancer when Henry Miller couldn't find any English or American publishers who would print it.

Seemed fitting that we saw this couple in the park across the street from the book store.  Tellement Francais.

Windows in Saint Chapelle

After seeing  Saint Chapelle, we had dinner at Les Deux Palais.

We started our 3rd day by finding out the hard way that the Musee de D'Orsay was closed.  At least the the walk along the way was interesting.

Apparently the well-dressed Frenchman will be wearing really bright colors this year.  This was one of many colorful windows seen along our walk between the subway station and the museum.

Plan B was the Lourve - not a good idea. The rain drove hundreds into the museum.  Lines were long, rooms were crowded, and after a few hours claustrophobia set in.  On to a late lunch and the Pompadour Centre.  

It was fun to see the restaurant in the Centre because it's an important scene in the Expat by Chris Pavrone, one of my favorite spy novelists.  We didn't eat there - reservations required also most of the table were on the roof in the rain.

There is a terrific modern art museum inside the Pompadour Centre. 

The sculpture garden seen from the roof of the Pompadour Centre

The rains continued and the flooding began.  We managed to enjoy seeing many sites but from the inside of a Hop On - Hop Off bus.

Arc de Triomphe 

The Carousel near the Lourve

Traffic circle at Arc de Triomphe.   Amazing to watch how drivers and motorcyclists navigate what appears to be total chaos.

We treated ourselves to a lovely lunch in the cafe at the Grand Hotel.

We weren't ready to try the sweetbreads, but what we had was excellent.

The French love our Thomas Jefferson.

At 1 point this gentleman trying to get to 1 of the River Seine restaurants lost his footing and had to grab the planter box with the tree seen behind him in this photo.  Later a water patrol boat came by to check on him.  He was probably the owner or 1 of the employees trying to save the restaurant.

This shows the walkway that runs by the river was completely under water.  The following day neighborhoods near the river were evacuated, including the Lourve and Musee d'Orsay.

We were scheduled to take the train the next day to Switzerland and went to bed with the knowledge that the rains were to continue and the rail workers union might go on strike.