RESPITE IN PARIS

We took the Eurostar train under the English Channel to get from London to Paris, but somewhere along the way Carole picked up a sinus infection - erghh! Fortunately, we had drugs with us, and she picked the best time to get sick, as we had not yet made formal arrangements for interviews in Paris.



The Louvre



Still we had a great time exploring a bit of this wondrous city, from the Eiffel Tower to the Louvre. Actually, we visited the Louvre twice, first via the Metro and found ourselves in a delightful underground complex of shops and restaurants. But when we looked for the Mona Lisa, we found that we weren't in the Louvre at all, as it was closed! The second trip was more successful (by taxi) and the experience was far beyond our expectations.

Having mastered the Underground in London, the Paris Metro was a piece of cake. And once again, we fulfilled a lifelong dream of Dave's by visitng Roland Garros, the venue for the just completed French Open. Unfortunately, everything was shut down for cleaning up after the Open, but we did get to wander around the grounds and the museum a bit.

The weather was miserable, as Paris can be, but we didn't let that stop us from walking down the Avenue des Champs-Élysées to the Arc de Triomphe de l'Étoile with our umbrellas in the pouring down rain. When we were pretty much drenched and cold, we stopped in a lovely cafe for French Onion Soup and a glass of wine - pure delight!

Arc de Triomphe de l'Étoile

The respite was good, as the next stop is Norway, Carole's dream trip of a lifetime! We take with us visions of pastry shops, dancing in our heads!

Ahhh - Paris!