Paris: the City of Lights! In all her glory, Paris is truly a beautiful city!

Paris- trust us, she is more beautiful than words can express.  Paris is filled with art, stained glass, beautiful, massive buildings, large boulevards, great food, iconic images, and beautiful people. She is a very large and crowded city, but these things do not change the one over-whelming fact of her beauty and how you feel when you are under her spell. So many people have visited her, often many times.  But each time, she brings you even more and different joy!

 Rich and I at the Eiffle Tower

Selfie under the Eiffle Tower

 The Hotel d'Ville (city hall)

 Hotel d'Ville at night!

 

 A bit of detail to the Hotel d'Ville.  No amount of detail is too much for Paris!

 Selfie at the stained glass window of St. Chappele- the greatest number of stained glass windows you can possibly imagine!

 Sacre Coer- in the Montmarte district

 Sacre Coer at night

 Bridges are a work of art by themselves!

 Churches have everything!

 Luxembourg Gardens!

 Musee d'Orsay- a train station turned into the most amazing art museum 

 Monet!

Van Gogh!

 The inside view of the old train stations massive clocks!

 Sunset on the Seine!

 St. Johns Belfrie

 Rich at the glass pyriamid at the Louvre

 2 statues in the Tulliere Gardens

 Garden view of the Louvre

 The Eiffel Tower....at night!

 The Eiffel Tower cafe: who is that person I caught in freeze-motion?

And even more beautiful stained glass!

Versaille!

Just the thought!  Versaille brings to mind "let them eat cake"; a series of beheadings; the end of royal France...for a while; and the excess of royalty.  We must be grateful it was not burned to the ground!  Another place to visit in your life- at least once!  You will be amazed at the grandeur, the art, the excess, the grounds, the beauty.  Every other palace in Europe wanted to copy it, and few measure up.

 Rich in the main courtyard.  Seriously- this place is massive!

 The kings chapel

 

 Typical ceiling- seriously!  Theceilings are all works of art- as are the walls and floors

 The world famous Hall of Mirrors- it is all it is thought to be!  Magnificent!

 Hall of Mirrors

 Rich in the Hall of Mirrors

 Typical room

 Exterior detail

 Exterior detail

 Battle painting.  The French have HUGE paintings of their battles.  Here we have Napolean over-seeing his troops.

 Napolean and Josephine being crowned emporer and empress

 The Hall of Battles- gigantic room filled with gigantic paintings of battles.

The grounds are really a giant park.  We bicycled the park then rowed the lake!

 Grounds view

 Statuary

 Gargoyle? LOL!  Rich on the lake with Versaille in the background

 Me relaxing in the boat as Rich rows (we did take turns)

 Me in the gardens

The formal gardens!

Notre Dame!

Notre Dame Cathedral!  Just the name evokes memories of the Hunchback and the countless movies he is in!  And don't forget the Gargoyles!  Begun in the 1100's, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Notre_Dame_de_Paris), Notre Dame evolved over the centuries it took to build.  Truly, this is a monument EVERYONE MUST visit just once!  It is magnificent!  Beautiful on the inside, but AWESOME on the outside!  Inside, beautiful stained glass- but very dark.  I found it impossible to take a decent photo on the inside to share with you.

 Rich with Notre Dame in the background.  The Cathedral is on the river, so it is very dramatic!

 Example of stained glass

 The Rose Window!

 Me behind the Cathedral- it is beautiful from all angles!

 Notre Dame from the the river- with Rich and I

 Night-time in the city of lights!

And now for Gargoyles!!!!

 2 Gargoyles in one photo:-)

 There is the other Gargoyle again!

And a selfie at the top of the Cathedral.  When you go, be sure to climb to the top!  Awesome views of Paris.