Stopped on the Pont Neuf to watch the Eiffel Tower light show and got distracted by this:

Visited Notre-Dame de Paris again, and this time climber to the top of the bell tower. Tiny claustrophobic winding staircases that go on forever, both up AND down. Visited the Louvre again.

view from atop Notre-Dame de Paris

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Is this a pattern, an obsession, a SIGN?

Spent another day among the dead at Cimetière du Montparnasse in the 14th. Met many luminaries, who quietly aquiesced to our attention. They even allowed photos! Celebrity paparazzi at its finest. Ended the day at the Jardin du Luxembourg. After dinner enjoyed the light show at dusk curtsey of the Eiffel Tower.

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The main thing we did today was visit Père-Lachaise cemetery . Among the guest there we found were: Eidth Piaf, Jim Morrision, Chopin, Collete, Molière. As usual, ate great food, and walked a ton.

I’m getting a tan, who knew that an essential item for Paris is sunscreen.

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We met an American ex-pat named Robert who took us on a walking tour of the Latin Quarter, which includes the Sorbonne. Glorious day, sunny and warm, and too many sights to catalogue here. Had a long and lovely lunch at Kitchen Ter(re) and ended up at Le Bon Marché.

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The first night we went out, that is after dark, was to a small night club nearby called BAISER SALÉ. Listened to very nice Jazz, and got home late.

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Today we spent wanding around, 1st the Champs-Élysées, then the general area around Hôtel National des Invalides. Had no agenda, motive or direction. A very good day.

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Another day of museum crawling, with little or no photographs.

First went to the Musée d’Orsay, which is huge and spraling, though not as big as the Louvre. Then went to the much smaller Musée Rodin, which is surrounded by a beautiful garden that contains many sculptures.

Lunch in the garden of Rodin

Gates of Hell ala Dante

Did not take too many photos today as I spent most of the day at the Louvre. Though photos are allowed, somehow I did not feel the need or want the distraction of running about with my camera.

The museum was immensly crowded, especially around the star attraction; the Mona Lisa. The crowd was intense next to this small painting, with hundreds pressing in on each other to get close. Everyone seemed to have a camera or cell phone stuck out like an appendage, leading me further to disdain my own camera.

I would stnad in front of a painting, and people would thrust a camera directly in front of my eyes to snap a picture of what I was looking at, and then scurry off to the next painting. A feeding frenzy of the visual. No one seemed to be looking at the art works.

Anyway, once the Mona Lisa was behind me, I was able to spend the rest of the day enjoying the acres of artworks the Louvre had to offer.

enchanteur!

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The great thing about traveling the way we do is mixing the monumental with the intimate. Though I love seeing the great sights of the great cities, it the local color that seems to be the thing I remember the most. Shopping for dinner in the street market, and talking to the vendors is alsways some of the best times. But of course, the Champs-Élysées is pretty memorable too.

Oh, and we went to the Picasso Museum too, which was partly closed due to a strike. ç’est la vie

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