Paris

I stayed in Paris for 5 days.

I had a good time seeing all of the sites around Paris but the maps you get a deceiving. The distances are much greater than they appear. You cannot walk all of Paris it is too big. I talked to some other tourists during my stay and they said the same thing. Some tried to walk from place to place as I did the first day and it takes forever.

I was able to take some good pictures but while setting up my camera for a timed shot, I accidentally knocked my camera case into the Seine River. Who knows where it is now.

Thanks to a great deal on hotwire.com, I stayed in the Paris Hilton-DeGaulle Airport for 2 nights. While in the hotel, I turned on the tv and all the French news stations were covering Paris Hilton going to jail or getting out or who cares. It was strange to be staying in the Paris Hilton and everything on tv was about Paris Hilton.

I was able to spend a day at the Louvre but only saw half. The size of the museum is incredible. You would need a week to see everything. I saw the Mona Lisa and other important works of art. The Mona Lisa was much smaller than I expected. It really is remarkable to see all of these sculptures and paintings that I’ve only seen in books and reproductions.

I took over 100 pictures while in Paris, so I have a lot to share with everyone. Some of my nights pictures are the best including the pyramid at the Louvre and the Arc de Triumph. I did not walk up the Eiffel Tower because the lines were huge. I talked to someone days before at the hostel and they said it took them over 4 hours to go through the line and take the elevators to the top and back down. I think I made the right choice but did walk through and ate lunch in the grass near the tower.

The 5 days in Paris were a lot of fun but extremely expensive. I would compare it to my trip to New York City maybe even more expensive. Even the Hostels were expensive. I’m glad I have 2 weeks in Italy already paid for.

I really like this picture, it took a couple of tries before a good one came out.

Inside the Louvre. I could not take pictures of the French and Italian paintings but I did manage a couple of good shots of other art.

Le Louvre at night.

Notre Dame