July 12 and 13

We awoke early (as always) and went to Notre Dame. We walked around outside and because the 850th (!) anniversary of the church is this year, there were grandstands set up in the front courtyard. In my humble opinion, these seats take away from the beauty and perspective of the facade of the front. It doesn't matter - we were all still very happy to view the stories of the Bible and be amazed by the Rose windows. From there, we went shopping at an epicerie for a picnic lunch. We were off to the Luxembourg gardens in the Latin quarter for a sunny afternoon lunch. This stunningly gorgeous garden is my old stomping ground - I walked this garden every day to and from class when I went to the Sorbonne and I never failed to appreciate its beauty. I felt so fortunate to do that walk every day. Elise (the 7 year old) rented a boat to push around in the pond with Zach, Brett, and Analisa ( their new friend from Hawaii) while Dave and I strolled and admired some of the exquisite sculptures and flowers. Wow. I could be happy for the rest of my life in this garden I think. I was sad to leave, but we had to return to pack for our cruise departure tomorrow. We organized our stuff and then headed out to Musee d'Orsay. We saw many impressionist paintings and were wowed by the setting in a huge brightly lit train station. We decided we needed an ice cream break so off we went to a cafe. We strolled over Concord bridge to Place de la Concorde. Just like Notre Dame, the area is full of grandstand construction in anticipation of the huge July 14 military parade down the champs élysées. We walked to the Madeleine - a church that resembles a Greek temple, grabbed some dinner, walked back to the hotel, an

Today we toured the Louvre. We were very lucky to be one of be first groups in so the crowds weren't too bad. We saw Venus de Milo, Winged victory, and the underwhelming Mona Lisa ( la Joconde ) in French. We saw masterpieces by Michaelangelo, Delacroix, Jericho, and countless others. We are now on the TGV ( train de grand vitesse) on our way to Lyon. The Tour de France finishes a leg of the race there right around the time we are arriving so we'll see how hat affects our timing to get to the cruise ! 

Il n'y avait pas de 'bouchon' so we made it to the ship in good time. 'Bouchon' means 'cork' or 'stopper' and is the word in French for traffic jam - makes sense. The ship is amazing - our room is quite spacious and Lyon at night is as beautiful as Paris dare I say. We are enjoying meeting and mingling with some of the other passengers. Tomorrow we will tour Lyon, maybe ride bikes, and play games.

I am having difficulty uploading pictures but will try again later.