Day One, Paris, March 2014

Here we go!!!

 Joseph and I travel to Paris, France..

Tampa, FL to Cleveland, OH, to Paris, France. We flew over Normandy, France on our descent. We must have been at about 15K feet. The invasion beaches were illuminated by morning sun.  Amazing what our troops did on the 6th of June, 1944. Seventy years ago..

Charles De Gaulle airport was huge. The taxi, from landing to the gate, lasted 15 minutes. No stopping, continual movement for 15 minutes. Wow..

Caught this old Concorde on the way out of the airport. A 30 minute bus ride to the hotel just outside of La Defense, a modern neighborhood on the outskirts of Paris.

After a quick stop at the hotel, we walked to the central area of La Defense, an area populated by many modern skyscrapers. 

Joseph was taking it all in..

The Grand Arche, (Tete Defense) La Defense, is large enough to encompass the cathedral of Notre Dame...

It lies on a direct axis of the Arc de Triomphe..

Parkour in the park after lunch..

Funky architecture..

A quick metro ride (subway) to the Tour Eiffel..

We waked from the Metro along the river Seine. Many river barges ply the waters, filled with sightseers...

A view to enjoy...

Quite the schlepp up the tower, but the views were awesome...

Here are a few kids playing on the base of the tower...

A macro shot of the concrete base. Check out the detail...

A Lomo-ish edit of the elevator going to the top...

A black and white of the River Seine..

Musee de L'Armee. I take a visit here later..

The Grand Palais musee in Paris...

The Trocodero, Palais de Caillot, with La Defense in the background...

Here are the Tampa and St. Louis groups on our tour...

Check the bald dude in the red shirt in the back row...

Metro...

Good ole Ben Franklin hung out in Paris, near the Trocodero in 1776, as a statesman, ladies' man, and all around celebrity. He lived in Paris for 7 years. He signed the treaty of Paris, which ended the hostilities between Great Britain and the Colonies...

Day one concluded with dinner with our group leader, and a well deserved rest at the hotel Kyriad...

Please scroll below to find the link to day 2...