Jan 2007

Let's leave the city today, shall we? Ok.
We're taking an early train out of the city to the town of Chartres. The train ride from Paris to Chartres lasts for about an hour.

The main sight is the Cathedrale Notre Dame de Chartres. Entry into the cathedral is free, but if you wish to climb the stairs up to the New Bell Tower (Clocher Neuf), it'll make you spend some of your energy...it's high, about 112 meters!! We'll spend some time walking around Chartres. We'll look at some old buildings...that's always fun, isn't it?

After lunch, we'll take a train back to Paris, but we'll stop in Versailles on the way. We'll take in the awesome palace, the Chateau de Versailles. We'll spend an hour or so going through the palace and the gardens.

Then we'll relax and check out the surrounding town of Versailles. Let's eat dinner and then take a train back to Paris.

Bonjour! Bon matin!

We'll head up to Montmartre and see the lovely Sacre Coeur basilica first. We'll walk around and see many places that your camera will just love. The last stop of this 2 hour walk will be the Moulin Rouge.

For lunch, we'll head over to Rue Cler for a little shopping and eating.

From there, we'll go visit the military museum, Les Invalides. We'll see where Napoleon is entombed as well as a great World War 2 museum.

Afterwards, we'll go to the Rodin Museum, where you can see lots of great sculptures, such as "The Thinker."

This evening we'll have a little free time to get your souvenirs as we walk around and soak up the French atmosphere.

We'll begin another busy day at a very busy museum: The Louvre. There will be lots to see here, so we'll spend a couple hours inside.. just long enough for you to start feeling bored.

We'll grab a cheap lunch in the underground shopping mall, the Carrousel du Louvre.

When we're full, rested, and ready to go, we'll head out to see Historic Paris. It'll be a 4 hour walk in the afternoon, but it's not too long--only 3 miles (5 km). It will take so long because we'll want to spend quality time looking at some of the churches and medieval buildings.

We start with the Notre-Dame Cathedral. Flying buttresses and gargoyles! Fun!

Walk, walk.. to the Deportation Memorial where we will remember the French Jews who were persecuted and even killed by the Nazis in France during World War 2.

We'll cross the river and check out part of the Left Bank. You'll see venders selling old books, walk through an old section of Paris, passby the Sorbonne (part of the University of Paris), and end up at Sainte-Chapelle Cathedral--famous for its awesome stained glass windows.

The last big place of the day will be the Conciergerie, which was the famous prison during the French Revolution that held the people who were waiting to be taken to the Place de la Concorde to.. umm.. lose some height. Marie Antoinette was a guest here.

We'll continue on to the Pont Neuf, the oldest standing bridge in Paris. And then we'll take our Seine River tour by boat. Vedettes du Pont Neuf
Whew. I'm tired. Bonne nuit.

Warning! Busy day! Warning!

First, we wake up nice and early in our lovely, inexpensive hotel. We'll be staying here:

Hotel AlHambra

We eat our little French breakfast and then take le Metro to the Charles de Gaulle-Etoile stop where we'll see the Arc de Triomphe.

We'll then start walking down the lovely Champs Elysees, the most famous avenue in Paris. This is Paris big-time: cafes, nice sidewalks, and lots of shopping (careful, it's pretty expensive).

We'll walk down the whole stretch. Yup. How far is it? It's a 3 mile walk (5 km)! Fun! Don't worry, we'll be taking our time, stopping now and then to look, take pictures, and eat.

Towards the end of Champs-Elysees, we'll take special notice of the Place de la Concorde. It was the popular place during the French Revolution -- over 2,700 people had their heads chopped off in the guillotine right here! Sounds like fun, but don't lose your head.

Oh, what next? The Jardin des Tuileries, or the Tuileries Garden. It's right next to the Place de la Concorde. We'll spend a little time here; maybe grab something to drink or eat at a cafe before crossing a bridge and going to...

The Musee d'Orsay, or the Orsay Museum. We'll look at the lovely Impressionist art by famous artists like Manet, Monet, and Renoir. Other artists are Van Gogh and Cezanne...but who are they? Ha!

In the late afternoon, we'll take a little time to do some shopping just down the road from the Orsay. Let's check out Le Bon Marche, Paris' oldest department store, and then walk down the rue de Sevres for some authentic Parisian boutiques. Please be careful and polite. Enter a boutique with a "Bonjour monsieur/madame." And don't handle any of the goods.

For dinner, we'll eat in the area. We can get stuff from the department store for a picnic in the park, or eat at a local cafe. We'll end our busy day with ride up the Eiffel Tower. How touristy is that! Yeah!

Fin. What a long day...

Again, depending on availability, this day we will tour the Tower of London, which houses the Crown Jewels of the United Kingdom. Nextdoor, we will see the Tower Bridge (often confused with London Bridge, which is actually the next bridge over). Not far from there is Shakespeare's Globe Theater, which you will recognize from your English literature classes. Later this evening, we will ride the Channel Tunnel to our next country...

Depending on weekend vs Monday availability, today we plan to visit Buckingham Palace, Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament, the National Gallery, and Covent Garden before a play in the evening. Check back for more details.

The order of events may vary due to availability, but some highlights of this day are likely to include St. Pauls Cathedral, Westminister Abbey, feeding pigions in Trafalgar Square, and St. Martins in the Fields. We could get a snack at the cafe in the crypt. How creepy is that? If there is time, we may walk through some of the city parks and have traditional English tea. Stay tuned for final details.

Yaaaaaawn. Good morning, troopers. Our airplane lands in London on Friday morning at 5:45am. We'll get our luggage, pass through customs, and head out to our "base of operations," Newbold College.
After breakfast and a brief tour of our residence, we'll head off to Stonehenge. Next we will tour Salisbury Cathedral. Depending on transportation arrangemments, we may be able to squeeze Windsor Castle into this day. Check back later for final details.