GUIDED TOUR OF PARIS

My morning started early as I left at 9 am to meet my new Camimo friend Debbie from Maine at Notre Dame Cathedrale for a day of touring Paris.  She has not seen too much and asked if I'd join her for a day of exploring.  Jim planned to do some of his own by going to visit the Gobelins Tapestry Musee and other places.  He's also looking for places to get stamps for his Camino book.

Arrived early and walked straight into the cathedrale as there were no lines.  Found that they had a stamp at the audio guide desk and they were happy to add it to my camino book.  Jim arrived soon after and got his book stamped also.  Then we toured the cathedrale to see the new improvements since we were last inside.  There is a beautiful holy water font inside the front doors and on each side there is an engraving in different languages about welcoming travelers. 

Debbie got caught in traffic caused by a broken water main and didn't arrive until 11 o'clock.   At 10 am the bells started to toll and continued steady for half an hour.  It was commerating something  but I never discovered what. 

When Debbie arrived we walked from the Cite Metro station towards the Louvre museum as I pointed out the famous sites along the way.

Inspected the walking bridge that has been damaged by the love locks..
Once they complete the repairs no one will be able to add new locks on the bridge railing. 

From there we entered into the Louvre buildings.  Stopped for photos at the large glass pyramid and then walked through to rue de Rivoli to enter into the Louvre Carousel shopping mall which is also an underground entrance to the Museum. 

From there we walked down the center of the Tuilleries Gardens to the Concorde and the egyptian obelisk where we caught the metro for our  visit to Montmartre.   There we visited all of the sites after riding the funiculaire up the hill. Started to rain while we were there but it didn't last long.  Ate a  delicious lunch while we watched the artists.

Walked all the way down to Place Clichy to see the old windmills and the Moulin Rouge.  From there we took the Metro to the Opera House and walked to the Galleries Lafayette to visit the stained glass dome and then the roof for fabulous views of Paris.

Soon it was after four and we said goodbye.  I headed home and Debbie stayed to shop.  Plans were made for dinner tomorrow night.  A great day showing a new friend my favorite city.

Jim and I shared the bottle of champagne tonight that was a gift from our landlord.  Nice addition to our simple dinner that we cooked in our apartment.  It's raining outside right now.