Day One: Sue's first time in Paris.  Despite being bleary-eyed, a cool, clear, and windy day let us have a beautiful chance to see Paris. The Louvre was 2 blocks away from the Hotel du Danube's left bank location.

The arches under the wings of the Louvre's gate that opens to the left bank.

We walked up the Champs-Elysees and were rewarded with a great view of the Arc and Paris traffic.

The mesmerizing spiral staircase to the top of the Arc.

Day Two: It dawns grey and rainy, a sign of things to come on the Barge trip in the Loire valley. We have time before we're picked up at the hotel to run out and hear Sunday mass in Notre Dame.

Looking happy and relaxed, Sue looks at home on top of the Arc.

As the afternoon wore on toward evening, we took the Metro to Montmartre to see the Sacre-Coeur basilica. We found dinner in a cool out-of-the-way place later: low key, but great food and wine (and the fun but inevitable Germans to dine with)!

The south side of Notre Dame, a flight of ancient gargoyles.

A radical shift: our last day on the trip. We had time before our afternoon flight to prowl the quiet, Sunday morning streets of Paris' left bank. We walked over to the Eiffel Tower, but we couldn't go up. The lines were too long because of French tourists around for All Saints Day.