Paris and the ominous black door

But it was not a mistake at all; we had reached our apartment. We had found it on Vacation Rentals By Owner (VRBO), and the owner, Pascal Zytomirsky, is a great guy with some well located apartments. Ours is back behind the craziness of Rue De La Huchette, which is a bit like Fisherman's Wharf combined with old town Paris. In this picture, the Notre Dame gargoyle is about to "eat" the street.
Here's a shot of the typical night time scene on Rue De La Huchette. Our place (the black door) is right beyond the blue greek resturant on the left side of the street. Those are the Carlson Whites in the center of the frame.


Our building is likely 500+ years old. Thankfully, it is quiet back here except when the guy upstairs is giving dancing lessons, which, if we've heard correctly, sometimes turn into "dancing lessons" (wink). This is Paris, after all.

Since we arrived, we have had many croissant breakfasts, at €1.1 each, from the local boulangerie. We have also done some sight seeing:

July 8
The outside of Notre Dame cathdral (after getting settled)
Jenny twirls at Notre Dame



Annie and the Girls


July 9
Musee D' Orsay, to visit Monet, van Gogh, Matisse, Manet, Renoir, Pizarro, and our other Impressionist friends. We got particularly excited when we saw works we have in our "Go Fish For Art" card game.
van Gogh


Jen hams it up (surprising, no?)




Another van Gogh


Jenny took lots of pictures


Julia finds some art she can stand behind


July 10
Rollie's dad joined us. We saw the amazing stained glass at St. Chappelle,
St. Chappelle stained glass will amaze youand the inside of Notre Dame. We had hoped to climb the tower, but the line was too long.

July 11
Tried to climb Notre Dame, but line too long again, the Archeogical Crypt (ever wonder what Roman and pre-Roman ruins are under Notre Dame?), the Carnavalat Museum (includes 7000 year old canoes from before Paris was a city... or even a town), and the Pompidou Center for more modern art
Julia and Jenny endure the Pompidou... barely.


After an early dinner, we went to the Louvre late to see Venus de Milo, Mona Lisa,

Venus and the Girls

Mona and the girlsthe other five Da Vinci paintings and Napolean's apartments. Nice digs!
Napoleon's Dining Room Table


July 12
We took the amazing Paris Metro to the Rodin Museum,which Julia and Jenny found to be as dull watching Jello set. We did manage to get Julia to pose as The Thinker.
We then walked over and explored Napoleon's Tomb.
Little guy; BIG marble coffin.
That night we got all dressed up, hopped the Metro to the Opera Garnier, and watched the Paris Ballet perform a great show in an opulent theatre/opera house built in 1669 and since provided with a ceiling painted by Marc Chagall. Sometimes during the quieter moments, you could hear and even feel subway trains rumbling underneath.

July13
We left Dad in Paris and took the train out to Versailles. Once again, Rick Steves' advice saved us as we walked past the 200 yard long line for tickets, flashed our Paris Museum Passes, and walked right in. At Versailles, we toured the Chalet,

The Hall of Mirrors

Inside the chalet (aka "The Big House") at Versailles

Jenny tries out for a hard rock video at Versailles

The Girls get funky at Versailles
paid €12 to enter the gardens while the fountains were spraying to amplified music (it WAS impressive)ate lunch, Annie waited in two very long lines for woefully underwhelming women's toilets, ate gelato (priced half a euro per scoop differently 200 yards apart?), and toured the Grand Trianon, where the king would go to get away from the hectic life up at the "big" house. Feeling tired of walking and of being upset about inadequate restroom provisioning*, we caught the very end of the big fountain finale, and hoofed it to the train station for home.

*After our return to the States, Julia was reading a fictionalized account of Marie Antoinette's life, based on historic documents, titled The Royal Diaries, Marie Antoinette, Princess of Versailles, by Katherine Lasky. In it, she found this passage: "May 22, 1770. How shall I ever accustom myself to the stink of Versailles? It is unimaginable. They have not enough privies for all the people who mill about. There are upwards of six thousand people who have business here every day. There are five times as many nobles here as were ever at the Hofburg and not one third the privies. People relieve themselves in the corners of the corridors." Needless to say, Annie feels vindicated!