Quick Index:
Paris, Day 1
Paris, Day 2
Paris, Day 3
Chartre
Chambord
Loches
Chenonceau
Tours
Amboise
France Trip, August 2012
Wednesday, August 15
Our plane landed at 8:30 a.m. We took a taxi to our hotel in Paris (Hotel de Chaplain) but couldn't check in yet, so we left our luggage at the front desk and set out to find the nearest Metro stop. We rode the Metro to the Eiffel Tower in hopes of getting an early ticket to ride the elevator up. But those tickets were already sold out. So Pat and I rested on a park bench while Chris and Mike climbed the stairs to the second platform level.
Chris, Mike & Pat by the Eiffel Tower
A footbridge over the Seine after we left the Eiffel Tower
It was still too early to check into our hotel, so we took a convulated series of Metro trains and buses to get to Notre Dame. We got lost twice. Finally we emerged a couple of blocks from the cathedral. The basilica was crowded and full of people, as it was Ascension Day and a service was going on.
Mike & Chris from the footbridge as we approached Notre Dame
Pat & Brenda in front of Notre Dame
Tourists roamed the exterior corridors as a
service was conducted in the cathedral
Thousands of padlocks decorated the fence on a bridge leading away from Notre
Dame. In this photo you can see the flying buttresses outside the cathedral.
A good view of Notre Dame from across the River Seine.