PARIS - OCT 2008

Hi everyone, I will be posting pictures of our Paris trip that we started on October 6th. The first photo is taken at Logan where we me two of our friends that live here in Falmouth who were leaving from Paris to go on a river cruise to Nice, France. We were planning on meeting them on our 2nd day in Paris to tour around. They are Gerry & Ann Hart. Gerry is sitting behind Maureen with the orange baseball cap and Ann is sitting across from him. The other people were going on the cruise with Ann & Gerry and are not from Falmouth. Next picture is the front of Notre Dame cathedral which is located on the Ile de la Cite a small island on the river Seine. The picture shows the main entrance to the cathedral (west). Construction on Notre Dame started in 1163 and finished in 14th century. The cathedral is 115 feet high and hold up to 9000 people. 3rd picture is the east end (back) of Nortre Dame which opens into the gardens. Next is one of the many stained glass windows of the cathedral. Most of them are on the north and south sides of the church. The last photo is a look at the many gargoyles on the cathedral. More pictures will follow later.

BASILIQUE DU SACRE-COEUR



The Basilique du Sacre-Coeur (Sacred Heart Church) was started in 1875 and finished in 1915. It is built of travertine stone which exudes calcite keeping the building white. It is located north of Paris and is the highest point of the city - Montmarte. We took the Metro from our hotel and arrived 15 minutes later. This area also has many local artist displaying their work:










The above pictures are in Montmartre Village just around the corner from Sacre-Coeur. We are working our way down the hill to Moulin Rouge. There are many outside markets in the Montmartre Village. I was really excited about the fish market.




We finally arrived at Moulin Rouge which is located down the hill from Montmartre Village. Moulin Rouge was built in 1889 and is located near the red light district. It is well known for the can-can dance and also for the 2001 film "Moulin Rouge" starring Nicole Kidman.

After touring around in the Montmartre area and Mouling Rouge we took the Metro to Pont Neuf and had a wonderful dinner at a cafe near the bridge, the name of the cafe slips my memory. After dinner we boarded the river cruise boat and cruised down the Seine to the Effiel tower which was illuminated in blue lights and then cruised up the river beyond Notre Dame. It is easy to see why they call Paris the "City of Lights" The river cruise is operated by "Veddets Cruise Line" at Pont Neuf bridge. The cruise is about an hour in duration and around 15 Euros.

After departing our friends at the river, Maureen and I walked backed to our hotel which is about 1.2 miles from the bridge. We stopped at Cafe Delmas which is on Mouffetard Street in the Latin Quarter. The picture shows the outside cafe and this was taken around 10:30 in the evening on a week night, but it seem like it was in the middle to a weekend day by the number of people drinking, eating and walking around. The following day (Thursday - Oct 09) we took the high speed train to Giverny - Monet's home. Pictures will follow.

The above picture was taken in front of Monet's home in Giverny. We arrived in the morning after taking the high speed train from Paris. Giverny is about 45 miles northwest of Paris and with the train traveling at 90-100 mph we were there in about 30 minutes. The train stopped in Vernon and we took the bus to Giverny which is about 2 miles from Vernon. The following picture is Monet's home. The upper window on the far right was his bedroom and below on first floor was his studio.

The following picture was taken from the front entrance of house and looking down towards the garden and the pond beyond. It was a warm day and the color of the flowers were vibrant.

The following photo shows one of the many small gardens on his property. Many of them have flowers of just one color.

The above two pictures are of the pond where Monet painted many pictures of Water Lilies at different times of the day to capture the light on the pond. I am not sure the age of the boat, but it sure made the picture on the Lily pond and bridge next to it. One of Monet's painting of Water Lilies (Nympheas) sold for $32,670,000.

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The above picture is of Monet taken in Giverny. Monet died December 5, 1924 at age 86 of lung cancer and buried in the Giverny cemetery.

The above pictures are in Giverny and shows the typical homes in that area, it is a beautiful area and understandable why he choose to live there. More pictures to follow later.