Deep in the heart of Paris: The traditional arrival pose group mug shot

Well begun

Ev and Francis arrived without incident and even with luggage --pretty much on time and not much worse for the wear but a little too tired for a night out on the town.

The next night was our first dinner out town at our favorite hole-in-the-wall French provincial restaurant run by the singing brothers who claim to know no English. Afterwards we walked the 50 yards to St. Roche church (patron saint of dogs!) only to find a free concert. The performers were an orchestra/choir from Spain:

Versailles

The next day we were up and off the land of the sun king -- Versailles. Francis took what he claimed was his first subway ride of his life. (The Paris subway system is only 13 years older than he is.) Here he is lurking in the shadows on line C on the way to the Chateau:

Upon arriving at the station, we stopped to buy some sandwiches so we could have a picnic on the grounds. Here's the duo shortly after. Look for breadcrumbs:

Then we walked around to the front to start our tour:

Here's another view showing Louie on his steed with a more sweeping view of this immense chateau:

Mirror images

We viewed most of the king's inside but skipped some of the French battle museum. Here's a bit of Francis in the hall of mirrors:

He's on the right, the one in blue, not in gold. If you look closely, you will see Ev and Pietrina in Red.

Here's another one showing the paparazzi in the guard's room -- a large room next to the King's suite where guests would have to pass through the king's bodyguards (metal detectors were in short supply then):

Note the earphones as this gentleman's every move is controlled by Aliens. (Explains a lot, doesn't it!)

Here's another view of this guard shack with a roller blader listening to rap music through earphones:

Steppin' Down

Finally, here's a shot of one of the most simple parts of the ornate wing. This leads from the elaborate King's quarters down to the more simple rooms on the ground floor used by the dauphins while they waited for the king to die so they themselves could be king. (Louis XIV who built the place got the last laugh on most of them as he was succeeded by his great-grandson. (Will Francis have to wait that long to get a dentist?)

We called a cab but one never came so we took the bus to the local subway and found our way home. Real transit people.

Burnin'

Later in the week, we were joined by our old friend Wally Burns (Dick was his best man 33 years ago) and his daughter Heather who is studying in Paris for the summer:

Walks

Francis is getting daily more interested in evening walks to improve the length of his sleep bouts (noon, one day). Thursday night we jogged down to the Seine:

Previous nights we had seen the twinkling of the Eifell tower -- a Year 2000 treat which happens after dark for the first 10 minutes of each hour until 1AM. We walked back through the smaller triumphant arch that Napolean built (this one got finished in his lifetime):

This one is called the Arch of the Carousel as the horses paraded around in circles when the king still lived here. You can see Francis in front of this. Here's a closer shot:

This weekend we are off to Normandy so expect many pictures soon.

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