So Where did we go today? Right . . .

We started off our first whole day in Paris with a coach tour with our local guide Jenny.We met her at the new opera house which, by the way, was designed by a Canadian architect. It is located at the site of the Bastille. Jenny called it one of the most famous buildings that does not exist. When the revolutionaries stormed the Bastille it was already falling down and housed about a dozen prisoners. We drove through the Marais which is now one of Paris' posh districts even though it used to be the marsh. We passed by the Hotel de Ville (City Hall for all the arrondissements of Paris), Notre Dame, the Palais du Justice, Opera Garnier, Boulevard St. Michel, Blvd. St. Germaine, the Pantheon, the Sorbonne, the Hotel Dieu (hospital), the Conciergerie ( the prison that held Marie Antoinette), the Place de la Concorde wher Marie and Louis lost their heads, the Orangerie (home of Monet's Water Lily series), the Musee D'Orsay, the Louvre, the Elysee Palace (home of the French president), the Petit Palais and the Grand Palais, the Arc de Triomphe, and more. We stopped in order to go through the the Hotel des Invalides - a former facility for retired army which is now a museum that houses military artifacts but is better known for it's golden dome and the five layer sarcophagus that contains Napoleon Bonaparte's remains.

We drove out of Paris by way of the Bois de Bolougne on our way to Versaille. It was the home of most of the French aristocracy and it's last royal occupants were Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI. While one group walked around the extensive ( what an understatement) gardens with it's numerous fountains, man-made lake and grand canal, the other group toured the palace. In the gardens, On one side of the Grand Canal is 'le petit hamault' a psuedo village constructed to keep Marie Antoinette amused. The tour of the palace was overwhelming. The opulence was unbelievable. Some outstanding features included the Hall of Mirrors where the Treaty of Versaille was sighned at the end of WWI. It's mirrors were the first to be produced in France and they reflected the light from dozens of enormous chandeliers. The other highlight was Marie Antoinette's bedroom which actually contains the original embroidered silk bedspread. Our guide informed us that in those days royal births were very public. I suppose this was to ensure the whole country knew the parentage of royal offspring.

We returned to Paris and stopped at the Trocadero to take photos of the Tour Eiffel. Of course we also had to take many group photos. Finally our driver Ali dropped us off near the Arc de Triomphe and the Champs Elysee and we had free time until dinner. The Swarovski store had crystals embedded in their stairs, the Sephora store was huge, the Gap store had cute Paris t-shirts, and the Mercedes Benz store was there. We met for dinner by the Disney store and afterwards walked down near the Seine to get a bateau mouche for a short cruise on the river. We continued our tour of the Parisienne Metro system and got back to the hotel around 10:30.

Tomorrow- Vimy Ridge and the Tour Eiffel.

Bon nuit!