Four days in Paris September 22, 2017 Four fantastic days in Paris... after which our feet were ready to fall off! View fullsize Enjoying freshly-baked breakfast on the early-morning TGV back to Paris. View fullsize Back safely at Gare de Lyon. Paris, here we come! View fullsize Our modest room at Le Meridien Etoile. View fullsize Nice in-room treat for us. Privileges expiring soon! View fullsize First stop - and the one nearest our hotel. The famous Arc de Triomphe. View fullsize Detailing under the arc. View fullsize The first of many staircases we'd climb. Second, if you include the cathedral in Geneva. View fullsize The Champs-Elysee and all its trees. View fullsize Storm clouds over La Defense. View fullsize The Gehry-designed Louis Vuitton museum, in Bois de Boulogne. View fullsize Great view of Montmartre from up here. View fullsize And of course, Paris's most famous Tour. View fullsize These street dancers have attracted quite a crowd. View fullsize Crazy tourists standing in the middle of the Champs-Elysee, vying for a straight-on shot of the Arc. View fullsize Practically twins. View fullsize Our first visit to a Parisian Boulangerie & Patisserie. View fullsize Piping hot panini! View fullsize Driverless trains on the Metro's No 1 line! View fullsize Next stop: Centre Pompidou! View fullsize Have the colors faded over time? View fullsize This little girl learns about city wildlife in the plaza out front. View fullsize Getting ready to go inside! (Or is it outside?) View fullsize Someone's excited! He studied this building in undergrad. View fullsize Up we go! View fullsize With our museum passes, we gained admission to the permanent collections. View fullsize Great views from the many outdoor terraces. View fullsize Looking north-west. View fullsize And looking south-west. Long shadows already! View fullsize Still can't believe he's at the Centre Pompidou. View fullsize Dramatic lighting. View fullsize The neighborhood around Les Halles. View fullsize They've done a major renovation, ongoing since 2010. Looks good. View fullsize Eye-catching homeware store. View fullsize Girls playing on a giant head. View fullsize Stumbled onto the Bank of France. View fullsize Small Parisien sois. View fullsize The ornate interior of Galerie Vivienne. View fullsize Artistic wall artwork. View fullsize The Tour Eiffel during it's hourly evening twinkle! View fullsize Struggling to figure out the low-light selfie. View fullsize Already counting down to 2024. View fullsize Dinner at a veggie-friendly* restaurant. View fullsize The Arc at night. View fullsize Blending in at the Jardin des Tuileries. View fullsize It's definitely fall, and it's definitely wet. View fullsize Blending in with the trees? View fullsize Our destination for this wet morning: Musee d'Orsay! View fullsize Seems like all bridges have been turned into bridges of love. View fullsize Already a long queue to enter! Good thing we have our trusty Museum Passes. View fullsize These ladies have lots of patience, and don't seem to mind the rain. View fullsize Inside the former train station. View fullsize This piece must've taken inspiration from the one on the wall in Trat! View fullsize Creative framing! View fullsize One of the museum's famous clocks. View fullsize View north. Looks like it's clearing up. View fullsize One of my favorite museum interiors! View fullsize The museum's watch-rhino. View fullsize Yikes! The queue for those *with tickets* has spilled across the street and around the corner. Glad we got there early! View fullsize Next up: Montmartre. Here, Abbesses station is the deepest in the Paris Metro, at 36m below ground. The station features one of only two original glass-covered Guimard entrances left in Paris! View fullsize The sois of Montmartre. View fullsize A harpist entertains the crowds on the steps of Sacre Coeur. View fullsize Sacre-bleu! It's Sacre Coeur. View fullsize Looking nice and green down below. View fullsize Sacre Coeur up close. View fullsize A really good street band got the crowds energized. View fullsize Inside the basilica. View fullsize The dome and stained-glass windows. View fullsize Heading up our next set of stairs. View fullsize Great views from up here. Yet another vantage point. View fullsize What a clear day it turned out to be. View fullsize I spy *LOTS* of chimneys! View fullsize At least Santa shoudn't have a problem accessing Parisian homes. View fullsize This street leading up to Sacre-Coeur must be one of the most touristy in Paris! View fullsize Even the 'do not enter' signs are artistic. View fullsize We stumbled upon the fabric district. View fullsize Really? Can't not try this, then! View fullsize Lunch time! We could tell this must've been the best baguette 5 years ago. View fullsize The Mur d'Amour, another attraction in Montmartre. View fullsize Interesting street art! View fullsize I like punny graffiti. View fullsize Aah! The cutest little delivery truck. View fullsize Continuing through the hilly sois of Montmartre, on a Lonely Planet-recommended walking tour. View fullsize Cute little cafe. View fullsize One of the two remaining windmills in the Montmartre area. View fullsize Nice building facade - now a hotel. View fullsize More Montmartre sois. View fullsize Yes, I could live in this neighborhood! View fullsize Dancing with Le Passe-Muraille. View fullsize Another picturesque neighborhood shot. View fullsize Did you know there's a vineyard in the middle of Montmartre? Le Clos Montmartre. View fullsize It's the only wine-producing vineyard in Paris. View fullsize Almost back at Sacre-Coeur. View fullsize Quick stop at the Musée de Montmartre, because our passes included it. View fullsize A beautiful property of historic significance. View fullsize Yes, I could live here, too. View fullsize What a great neighborhood. You'd have good calves if you lived here, too! View fullsize The bustling Place du Tertre, on the top of the hill. View fullsize The neighborhood's best, home-made ice cream. View fullsize I spy a cat! View fullsize Back in the posh part of town, stopping by the store that I run with Elle. View fullsize The ornate interior of Galleries Lafayette. View fullsize We're not here for the shopping - but rather, for the rooftop view. View fullsize Another unique view - this one of the back of Palais Garnier. View fullsize And the famous opera house from the ground. View fullsize Quick coffee break at the Nespresso store. The capsules are much cheaper here than in Thailand. View fullsize L'église de la Madeleine - built in Greek style! View fullsize Place de la Concorde. View fullsize And the famous Grand Palais. View fullsize The Petit Palais across the street is still pretty grand. View fullsize Traffic and a beautiful backdrop on the Champs-Elysee. View fullsize Nice sky! View fullsize Just for kicks, we climbed the Arc again at night, to check out the view. View fullsize The main streets are still bustling down below. View fullsize Another day, another adventure! First up: Sainte-Chapelle. View fullsize 15 stained glass windows tell the story of mankind. As per the church, anyway. View fullsize The Rose Window depicts St. John's version of the Apocalypse. View fullsize The structure of the stained glass is different on each of the 15 windows. View fullsize The walls are also very ornate, but are over-shadowed by the windows. View fullsize Next stairs -- I mean, next stop: the home of the Hunchback. View fullsize Inside of Notre Dame is not as spectacular, when you come from Sainte-Chapelle! View fullsize One of the famous Rose Windows. View fullsize And the pipe organ. View fullsize Another several stairs later, a nice view of Ile de la Cite. View fullsize Inside the bell tower. The Hunchback was no where to be seen :( View fullsize A hungry gargoyle! View fullsize The predecessor to the pelican. View fullsize Is that a hot air balloon? View fullsize Looking south, toward the Latin Quarter and the Pantheon. View fullsize Clearest shot of the Pompidou yet! View fullsize These gargoyles are pretty expressive! View fullsize Looking east, past Ile St. Louis. View fullsize A plaza full of photo-takers. View fullsize High above Paris! View fullsize Our Lady, from behind. View fullsize Selfie in Square Jean XXIII. View fullsize This view can only be Paris. View fullsize Street musicians taking advantage of the great day. View fullsize Also a great day for tourists on boats. View fullsize Du fromage pour toi? View fullsize A fancy-pants cookie shop on Ile Saint-Louis. View fullsize And the famous Berthillon. It's never too early for an ice cream on a scooter. View fullsize More patisseries! View fullsize Color-on-grey. View fullsize These bateau-bus tourists got lucky today! View fullsize Next stop: l'Institut du Monde Arabe. View fullsize Good day to practice some rappelling. View fullsize Unclear if the shutter-like windows still work - but they're cool nonetheless. View fullsize My favorite secret vantage point in Paris. View fullsize The view ain't too shabby! View fullsize It's finally lunch time! More paninis! View fullsize Lunch in the Latin Quarter. View fullsize His vocabulary word! He spotted his one vocabulary word! View fullsize The Pantheon! Let's go climb it! View fullsize It now functions as functions as a secular mausoleum containing the remains of distinguished French citizens. View fullsize In the center of the Pantheon is a giant pendulum, which showcases the rotation of the earth. View fullsize Heading up to the dome - with a nice interior pit-stop. View fullsize The dome! View fullsize Another very Parisian view. View fullsize Final shot of Montparnasse before it receives its face-lift? View fullsize Le Quartier Latin. View fullsize Another unique vantage point - this one, exceptionally spacious and clean. I like it! View fullsize Final stop for the day: Le Musee du Louvre. View fullsize Another stop on the architecture-enthusiast's tour. View fullsize Pit stop - for our legs. View fullsize Inside I.M. Pei's pyramid. View fullsize Spiral stairs, glass pyramids - very cutting-edge for the mid-80s. View fullsize Michelangelo's The Dying Slave. View fullsize The famous Room 77 in the Denon Wing, filled with "masterpieces from French romanticism". View fullsize Guess who this small crowd is gathered to see! View fullsize That postage stamp over there on the wall! View fullsize We did it! We got somewhat close. View fullsize A modern-day artist, patiently practicing his craft. And somehow tuning out all the tourists! View fullsize How meta. We found both the Great Sphinx of Tanis... and a painting of it in the Louvre. View fullsize Likewise: the room housing the Crown of Louis XV, and a painting showing the same. View fullsize Straight-on shot of the Pyramids. View fullsize The inverted pyramid was completed almost a decade after the outdoor pyramids: in 1993. View fullsize A much-deserved dinner at a Lebanese bistro. View fullsize Lots of traffic over Paris this Thursday morning. View fullsize Place de la Bastille. Or is it, Place de Samsung? View fullsize It's Thursday - so Marche Bastille is on in full force. View fullsize Too many kinds of mushrooms. View fullsize Leeks! And all sorts of fall colors. View fullsize Oysters from Normandie? View fullsize A small tower of fresh baguettes. View fullsize So many colors! View fullsize Muffins! Muffins are a thing now in Paris! View fullsize Some olives with your market purchases? View fullsize Nearby, the local pigeons enjoy the morning bath. View fullsize The picturesque Canal Saint Martin. View fullsize Almost-perfect reflections on the water. View fullsize Transitioning to fall foliage along the canal. View fullsize Some gnarly meta street art. View fullsize This mural is cute, too. View fullsize Exploring the streets of Le Marais. View fullsize Evidence of a bike-friendly city. View fullsize Entering the Jewish sub-district. View fullsize Yiddish patisserie & boulangerie. View fullsize Du pain! View fullsize Look how many small cars fit abreast a narrow one-way street. View fullsize Our final lunch in Paris: another French sandwich. View fullsize Our destination for lunch: the Coulée verte René-Dumont, a disused elevated railway line, since converted into a public park. View fullsize It was inaugurated in 1993 - long before the High Line! View fullsize A nice mix of greenery and seating. View fullsize It offers a great view into people's apartments that you wouldn't get otherwise. A modern building! View fullsize More spying. View fullsize These look like apartments you might see in north Cambridge (MA). View fullsize A perfect spot for our picnic lunch. View fullsize Last but not least, our final museum for the trip: Musee Rodin. View fullsize Je pense, donc je suis. View fullsize The Kiss... just not in marble. View fullsize Many older visitors admire the Age of Bronze. View fullsize One of the Burghers of Calais. View fullsize Pierre de Wissant. View fullsize The not-so-modest Monument to James McNeill Whistler. View fullsize Stopping in the garden for some ice cream before heading off. View fullsize Quick pass by Les Invalides on our way to the Tour. View fullsize Another picture-perfect cafe setting. View fullsize Aha! The tower we came to see. View fullsize What's this rusty old structure called? View fullsize The names are legible from this side. View fullsize Our two favorite cities magically come together. View fullsize The Last Supper at this cute little vegetarian restaurant. View fullsize Tasty French (?) fare. View fullsize I think we found the Khao San Road of Paris. View fullsize One last monument before heading to the airport: la Grande Arche de la Defense. View fullsize Photo in lens. View fullsize After four solid days of stair-climbing, it's time to give our feet a rest and return to reality... in style!
