We left LAX Monday at 6:30pm and started the long voyage to Paris. Flying out of LA at night is very pretty. Unfortunately, we flew over the whole US at night, so we could not enjoy the view of any other areas.
After getting some sleep on the plane, I was waken up at 3:30am Pacific time for breakfast. We were about two hours from landing and it was time to start trying to adjust to the time. It was raining in France as we came in, but through the clouds we did get a nice view of the countryside outside of Paris
Charles Du Gaulle airport is HUGE the most amazing thing about it to me was that the runways went over roads.
After a firghtful drive into the city we were at our hotel. It is an older building that has recently been upgraded. I think it is just adorable.
Our room has some not very US friendly art
Our view:
After settling in we took a walk in the area around our hotel. Our hotel is in the 9th district, near the Opera House
We went into this bakery and got a snack
A motorcycle (for your blog dad):
The music school connected to the Opera house
In the 1850s Napoleon III decided to improve the city. Prior to his reign the city was a squalid establishment, with tight sewage filled streets, decaying buildings, and a polluted river. It was very easy for riots to break out in the city. Angry Parisians would often dig up the cobblestone streets and erect barricades with them, blocking off whole parts of the city.
Napoleon decided to end all of this. He enlisted the genius of Haussmann to make the city livable. The large boulevards were carved out, the older buildings demolished in favor of the beautiful 6 story stone buildings, and the center of the city was moved from Notre Dame to the Opera Garnier. The city was fresh, clean, and easier to travel. It had more beauty, less disease, and unknown to its inhabitants, the wide boulevards would help ensure that riots would never again grip the city. Too wide to barricade, but wide enough for soldiers and cannons, it was a way to help ensure peace in the city.
This is the music school attached to the Opera house Haussmann built:
Muliplexe
Cold students
Windy weather
We found refuge in this church
Not exactly the best of weather
The church was nice, it was warm as well. I always feel wierd being a tourist in a place of worship. Here are people praying while I am taking photos
A Japanese style nativity in the middle of Paris
It was too rainy when we left the church, so we hopped on the subway and returned to the hotel
3 comments:
Glad to hear you made it safely, and thrilled by all the photos. You're really mastering the new camera. I put up a post urging my readers to stop by and take a look.
Lauren, you are traveling again, and sharing your experience with me/us. What a surprise! I truly felt I was there with you, and think that if I were living in your generation, I would be doing the same thing. I enjoyed traveling with you to Japan and now we will share Paris. I look forward to adventuring vicariously with you and even more to seeing yoou in early March when we will stop by on our way back fro Hawaii. From your Grandmother
Lauren, my friend Bookworm suggests this: If she can, she should make time for the Sainte-Chapelle, which may well be the most beautiful Gothic church -- or, indeed, any church -- I've ever seen. The lines are long, the church is fairly small, and you definitely want to go when there is good daylight but, boy, is it worth the effort.
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