I arrived in Paris in the late afternoon of the 9th and meandered about vaguely looking for a place to stay. Unfortunately, the place was flooded with Irish in town for a big football (soccer) match and accomodations were scarce.
I did however find a place at the hostel Mije Titon (04 rue Titon).
The next day I met up with Bob and Lisa and spent the next two days touring the city with them and their friends. Although since most of us had been to Paris before we spent most of our time wandering the smaller streets rather than hitting the big attractions.
Notre Dame de Paris
Bob & Lisa
in the Tuileries (the gardens in front of the Louvre)
Looking towards the Arc de Triomphe along the Champs Elysees
A soccer match in front of Les Invalides
The building was originally built to house disabled veterans
it now houses Napoleon's mortal remains and museum.
Pantheon
This church was completed on the year of the French revolution and was to be a mausoleum
"to recieve the bodies of the great men who died in the period of french liberty".
In the crypt lie the mortal remains of: Mirabeau, Voltaire, Rousseau, Hugo and Zola, among others.
St. Eienne du Mont
Across from the Pantheon, it dates from the 16th century.
The Basilica of Sacre Coeur
Place du Tertre
This was once the main square of the village of Montmartre,
and is now filled with cafes, restaurants, artists and lots of tourists (like us).
A Japanese Gameshow?
On descending Montmartre we were confronted by this scene
of a japanese lass in what looks like a skimpy wedding dress singing and jiggling.
Our best guess was that this is for a Japanese gameshow (note the cameraman bottom right)
that challenges contestants (generally young, pretty ones) to perform such acts.
And that was it for Paris. Bob and Lisa headed off for Austria, and I headed back to Cologne.
Next:
Rothenburg ob der Tauber