Paris Day 2

15th September

We took part in an organised bus tour of Paris, which included a trip up the Eiffel Tower, today. Paris traffic is mayhem and Peter is busy studying the behaviour of the drivers in readiness for Wednesday when we take off on our own in a hire car. There are cars everywhere in Paris but the petrol stations are invisible, like the power lines, being underground. The worst intersection would have to be the roundabout at the Arc du Triomph, which we luckily will be able to avoid when we leave Paris!

The Palais Garnier is the famous Parisian 

Opera House made famous in the Gaston Leroux novel, Pahantom of the Opera.

This is an amazing photo because it contains 

no tourists! These gardens, of the Palais Royale, are set out around a central fountain and are smaller 

than the original gardens.

Originally the home of Cardinal Richellieu, 

the property was left to King Louis X111 when the Cardinal died. The square, in modern times, became a car park until an artist was commissioned to provide a sculpture to fill it up. He designed 280 striped pedestals of varying heights to occupy the space.

Cardinal Richellieu's home is now used for Government 

offices.

 Another gateway to the city of Paris is the 

Arc du Triomph du Carrousel. Built between 1806 and 1808, it is a triumphal arch celebrating Napoleon's victories of the year before.

The famous Notre Dame Cathedral is actually situated on one of three islands in the River Seine. The spires of this Gothic Cathedral have never 

been finished.

In the distance you can see the dome of the 

Pantheon. It resides in the Latin quarter of Paris and was originally a church, dedicated to Saint Genevieve. It is now a museum and is the final resting place if many famous figures - Voltaires and Marie Curie (the only woman to be buried here) are the names that I remember.

 Just a doorway to a house and luckily I photographed the 

name plate as the bus drove past or otherwise I'd not know why I snapped the photo. This is the home of Édouard Manet, a French painter. He was one of the first 19th-century artists to paint modern life.

 This church is the final resting place of Napoleon? Dying 

abroad, he was finally returned to France many years later. The rules of the time required bodies to be transported in 7 coffins. His nephew chose to place his uncle in an 8th coffin, and this is on display in the church today.

 A very good looking couple posing in front of the Eiffel 

Tower.

We were told that our tickets would provide access to level 2 of the tower but they actually gave us access to level 3, the highest point that the public can go to. 

The queues for the elevators from level 2 to 3 were daunting but we stuck it out and were rewarded with magnificent views on a day with blue skies and glorious sunshine. Paris is a very flat city and it was spread out before us in all its glory.

 Rather than taking the bus back to our hotel, 

we left the group and headed for the river where we took a one hour tour. The view from the river is very different and we really enjoyed seeing the city from this perspective.

 I'm pretty sure that this is the New Bridge of 

Paris. The original wooden structure had houses and shops built along its length. Many people drowned when it collapsed. The stone bridge that replaced it was referred to as the new bridge and the name stuck.

The fountains at the Trocadero.

 My artistic side coming out as we descended the Eiffle Tower.

The bridge of Tsar Alexander 111. Even though construction of the bridge only started in May 1897, the first stone was already laid by the Russian Tsar Nicolas II in October 1896. The bridge - which was to symbolize Russian-French friendship - was named after his father, Tsar Alexander III. The bridge is the prettiest of all bridges across the Seine and is quite low as it was not allowed to obstruct the view of the Champs Élysées.

An amazing night was had at the Moulin Rouge. Dinner was bulk catered and waiters madly served 900 people a 2 course meal between 7:00pm and 9:00 pm.  The meal was passable and e show was brilliant! In between the dancing and glorious costumes were performances by a brilliant juggler, 2 roller skaters who performed on a round platform with a diameter of 2 metres, a swimmer who danced under water with live pythons and a ventriloquist who used, among other puppets and live people, a live dog! He was fascinating, very entertaining and my favourite performance of the night.