Not looking all that bad for no sleep and no luggage, Jon and Martha have arrived!

Martha and Jon -- Day one in Paris

Martha and Jon slept well shortly after the picture above was taken and awoke to a rainy day in Paris. After Paul and Dick took a quick bike ride to Montmarte, several of the pack went to St. Roch Church in an attempt to catch the first service. Unfortunately the mass had been replaced by one later in the day for Easter but Jon returned after breakfast to hear the organ and see the later service.

After Paul and Cindy headed for the Centre Georges Pompidou, the rest of us started off for the Louvre, taking the shortcut through the galleries of the Palais Royal to dodge the storm. Here's a picture of the pack there:

We found the Louvre closed for Easter and so headed for the heart of medieval Paris, Ile de Cite. After they emerged from their first Paris subway ride on line #1 (celebrating 100 years in service this year,) Jon and Martha stopped off in the right bank Church of St-Gervais-St-Protais:

A flamboyant start

Above is a picture of them looking up at the famous organ, oldest in Paris, in this 17^th century Flamboyant Gothic basilica.

And here's the organ they saw, built in 1601 and enlarged in the eighteenth century. Eight generations of the Couperin family held the position of organ master including the composer of the ditty you are hearing now:

Ile de la Cite

After leaving the church, they stopped to pose in front of the island. You can see Notre Dame's roof and towers appearing over the buildings in this picture:

Martha is smiling because she just found out that KLM was finally going to give her back her luggage.

Notre Dame

Then it was on to the Cathedral (which was closed for a few hours during the day but will reopen for evening mass). Here's two photos of the two in front of the freshly scrubbed Cathedral west facade:

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