Jardin du Luxembourg, Musee d'Orsay, Tour Eiffel

This is Paris velib station that we passed this morning. There are lots of these. You can get a card to rent a bike. This station was almost empty but the stations are all over and you see people riding the bikes all the time. They are a common form of transportation.

We walked through the Jardin du Luxembourg but it wasn't windy today. Last night it was really windy and rainy though. The storm woke us up at 4am.

More of the Garden.

Next was the Musee d'Orsay. Today was a holiday for France but the Museum wasn't too crowded. We saw lots of Manet, Monet, Cezanne, Renoir, van Gogh, and some others. We want to come back and spend some more time here.

Musee d'Orsay from the outside.

We walked down to the St Chapelle church on Ile de la Cite. This church is just a few blocks from Notre Dame and is supposed to house relics of Christ. The stained glass windows on the inside just blow you away. They each represent a story from the bible. Each square is a story and each bank of windows is a whole chapter.

The light was shifting in the sky because there were a few clouds. As the sun poped out from the clouds outside it would brighten up the windows inside and you could hear the ooos and aahs from the people inside. It was magnificent.

This is the outside of the church. There are some evil looking gargoils at the top.

This is the ministry of justice next to the church.

Those are "hershey kisses" trees.

Below is a mini gas station.

Finally, the Eiffel Tower





At the sun sets it turns blue.

After dark they turn on the sparkles for the first five minutes of each hour.

You can see the sparkels on the video...

After watching the sparkles we jumped on the subway but not before being drenched by a sudden downpour. The subway was totally full. We didn't think we could get on but our friend Mary showed us how to push our way through. It was jam-packed bodies inside. To get out you say "Pardon" which means "I'm going to push you now" at least that's what it means during rush-hour on the subway. :) Being so close to everybody helped dry our clothes faster though!

We went out do dinner and got some yummy steaks. Afterwards the owner asked where we were from. When we said "Les Etats Unis" he immediatley wanted to know what we thought of Obama! Magnifique!