Our Trip to France - September 2001  Back to Home Page     

 
Paris  -  Chamonix  -  Notre Dame  -  Eric's

Eric was sent to France for a two week business trip in late September.  Since France has some of the most famous rock climbing areas in the world, we decided to go over one week early for a vacation.   

I had always heard that the French were rude, but we did not find that in our experience.  We did arrive exactly one week after the terrorist attack, so the general world attitude toward Americans was softened at that point.  We encountered lots of nice people, saw the beautiful countryside, and ate such wonderful food!  It was a very nice trip.

We spent a day in Paris, then we took a train to Chamonix.  This is a little ski town in the Alps, very close to Italy and Switzerland.  It is at the foot of Mount Blanc, the highest peak in the Alps.  We spent three days in Chamonix- rock climbing, hiking, and hanging with our new friends at the Hostel.  Then we took the train back and had one day together back in Paris before I flew home and Eric began work.
    

 An art museum - Musée d'Orsay - as seen from a park near our hotel.  

An arch just outside the Louvre. 
   
Both of these shots are of the Louvre from that same park.  
   

One more shot of the Louvre and the ugly glass pyramid.		   OK - Once again I display my juvenile sense of humor with this picture.  I saw this statue and thought, "I don't blame him, I'd cry too!" 
   
   
 I don't know the story on this sculpture, but I thought it was spooky.  This is one of the fountains in the middle of the Place de la Concorde.
   
 Here's a view of the Seine - city rivers are never all that pretty.  We came across a very neat car show at the Place Vendome. Cool!
   
 The column in the middle of the Place Vendome. Tour guide quote, "It's stone core is entwined in a sprial made from the bronze from 1200 cannons captured at the Battle of Austerlitz and is decorated with military scenes.  It is topped by a statue of Napoleon as Caesar." Neat building and fence.  They paint a lot of things gold there.  I think this may be part of the police headquarters, but I am not sure.
   
 Neat buildings, don't remember what they were.  
   

      

  

 I think both of these shots are of parts of the Louvre.  It's a very beautiful building. 
   
   

 
 Shots of the Eiffel Tower from around Place Vendome.

The Church of St. Mary Magdalen 
   
Shot of a typical Paris street
   
   
 

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