2010 Paris

From Day 3 of our trip, we took the TGV from London to Paris. It had been around 14 years since I first took the Chunnel Train between the two cities. The London station, St. Pancras (Saint Pancreas, as I like to call it), was a new station, quite sophisticated, much like a new airport, complete with shops, eateries, and comfy gates. From leaving the station and arriving on the French soil, it took only 1 hour, although it took a little bit longer to get into Paris. Immediately, the sights and smells of Paris came flooding back.

Paris cafes, bistros, brasseries & bars - seen everywhere. For the price of an espresso, you can sit all day and watch the world go by. Sometimes it feels that long before you can flag the waiter's attention to get the bill, too.

Wow, what knockers! Walking around the Left Bank area, we found these ginormous doors and had to take a corny picture of me. Don't I look like a Leprechaun?

The Metro - the way to get around. Like London, the subway is the fast, cheap, and easy way to get around Paris. Combine that and the railroad lines and buses, public transportation here is very efficient.

During non-peak hours, it's easy to find seating. But during rush hours, it can be packed.. watch out for your toes - mine got squashed twice today!

L'Hotel de Ville -- no, that's not a hotel... that's Paris' city hall. Quite grand and it never fails to impress me when I see it. That's a poster of Charles de Gaulle on the front, commemorating 70 years since he rallied the French in a broadcast to fight Nazi Germany in WW2.

The Seine River at sunset. It's been cool, cloudy, and occasionally rainy this week. Strange for June in Paris. In previous trips to Paris in the summer, I've sweated in 90+ degrees with high humidity. The sky finally opened up after a brief shower, and we got this great sunset, just from the Ile de la Cite, the island in the middle of the Seine, at the Notre Dame Cathedral.

It was a rainy day at the Pompidou Center, the modern art museum with the edgy industrial exterior.

These tubes actually housed the escalators and walkways to the different floors.

View from inside one of the tubes.

Here's a view from the Pompidou Center across Paris. You can see the Eiffel Tower on the left, and La Defense towards the right in the distance.

I guess she wasn't into the art!

Sea of chairs at a bistro outside the Pompidou Center.