Europe 2010 - Day 13 - Paris

Had one full day in Paris, so we walked all over. First, we crossed the bridge in front of Les Invalides to the Right Bank...

Funny little FedEx delivery bike...

This facade was being torn down...

Went to see Les Halles, where the city's great open-air market used to be. St-Eustache church, on the edge of the market plaza, has a sculpture depicting the night vendors moved everything from Les Halles to the market's current location in Rungis...

This window was sponsored by the union of charcutiers (cured-meat producers), and shows scenes of ham and sausage production...

And, sort of random: a Keith Haring triptych...

Then over to E.Dehillerin, a great kitchen goods shop...

After lunch of street pizza, we wandered past some art galleries...

Heading back toward the Left Bank, we passed the Hotel de Ville...

Some nifty brickwork here...

Passed a HUGE crowd waiting to enter Notre Dame cathedral. Glad we'd seen it on a previous visit...

Shakespeare and Company indie English-language bookshop (cheeky photo -- didn't actually go inside)...

A beautiful twisted column in the Church of Saint-Séverin...

Unfortunately, a mediocre dinner. :(  So no photos of that. But we finished the evening, and the trip, with a street crepe and a stroll to the Eiffel Tower...

Europe 2010 - Day 12 - Chieming (DE) to Paris (FR)

Had to say goodbye to friends for an afternoon of travel.

Munich airport: Dave's in the zone, designing sets...

We stayed at Hotel Muguet on Rue Chevert in Paris. Beautiful place.

A copper water fountain near the elevator...

The pretty vanity in the bathroom...

All of the wood in the room matched: wardrobe, headboard, door and window trim, desk. Here's the painted detail on the headboard...

Went for dinner at Pasco, just down the street. Ordered the evening's prix fixe before Shan remembered that agneau means lamb. Dave liked it more than Shan. The starter was amazing, though: hard-boiled eggs breaded lightly, then deep-fried and served in a yum fashion. Dessert was called Chocolate Surprise. See those little round chocolate bits? They're pop rocks. SURPRISE!

The tables has cool slots in them for the tableclothes...

Shan's dinner view: the dome of Les Invalides...

Dave's view: shelves o' lights...

View from our balcony...

Europe 2010 - Day 8 - Les Eyzies (FR) to Chieming (DE)

Lots of traveling today, so we took few photos. Most interesting: in this rock shelter were discovered the first remains classified as Cro-Magnon. It was 500m from our B&B in Les Eyzies...

Then we were off to Chieming, a small town on Chiemsee in Bavaria, to spend Easter weekend with great friends Björn, Jenny, and Isabel!

Europe 2010 - Day 7 - Side Trip: Rocamadour

For this trip, we opted for a GPS unit in the rental car. And just for getting us out of Paris in rain and traffic, it was worth it. But sometimes? We got extra adventure...

Driving no man's land...

Where are we? I don't know. Next to this heap of wood?

That's our Fiat 500. Great car, by the way.

Our off-roading did bring us to this cool stone building, for which we totally trespassed to get a closer look...

Back on the "road." Finally...Rocamadour!

Since Rocamadour is built on a cliff, the thing to do is go to the top of the chateau and walk out on this ledge and...wait, why am I doing this?...

Oh, right, to look down...

And Shan's out of there. But Dave's brave...

A stone gutter on the roof...

The real reason people come to Rocamadour is it's on one of the pilgrimage trails to Santiago de Compostela, so the thing to do is actually the hillside stations of the cross...

...which lead to all kinds of chapels below. One of them has a very famous black madonna, seen in the center of this photo, against the blue background. A beautiful chapel with stars painted behind the altar, and a lot of ship/navigation references. This is a very naughty photo, as taking it was technically forbidden...

Two more angles on the church...

And more great door detail...

While walking out of town, a backward glance...

Nifty succulent plant on this lane...

On our way back to the B&B, a shot of one of the many walnut orchards in the region...

...and a moody vineyard...

...and another house in the rock...