Some views of the Louvre and the Sacré Cœur from the roof of the Musée d'Orsay on a hot and hazy day (the best thing about the museum as far as I am concerned).



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The upper chapel of the Sainte Chapelle… |
Viollet-le-Duc in action at the Musée d'Orsay. |
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No comment.
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Bill and Milad decided to go and have a beer,
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while Dawn, Joe and I climbed the dome of the Sacré Coeur. |
A minidome from the large dome.
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We even found graffiti on the carvings in the dome.
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At the Luxembourg garden, the Queen Statues now have a pointed reminder to the pigeons to roost elsewhere.
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Movable art in the Luxembourg garden.
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Joe on the Metro.
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Saturday the waterworks were playing at Versailles,
it was cold and sunny, so we spent the entire day in the castles and gardens. |
Milad in a blur of pedagogical frenzy.
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Topiaries in the upper garden.
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The Bernini horses of the sun with the fountains on; this is how they really are supposed to look.
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Dawn and Joe on the way to Marie-Antoinette's Hermitage.
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At the Hermitage: a small house with flowers growing in the thatch on the roof.
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In Marie-Antoinette's farmette, one of the diminutive animals: a minipig.
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Leaving the English garden and on our way to the Trianons.
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A plaster decoration in the Petit Trianon.
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Napoleon (actually in the Versailles palace).
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But here is Napoleon's desk at the Grand Trianon.
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Back at the large palace, we visited the king's bedroom and the private chambers. Here, the Dauphin's library, one of the most delightful rooms in the palace.
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And an astounding (and enormous: six feet high) globe, with the political boundaries on the outer globe and the geological relief on the inner.
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In the king's bedroom: the embossed sun symbol on the inner ceiling of the window looking out over the Cour d'Honneur.
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The upper window in the king's bedroom.
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One of his window louvers.
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A patient Milad waiting for us to finish touristing. |
A last view from the king's window looking towards Paris. We thought this picture looked like a painting, but it's the late afternoon sun. |

And fixing her shoe along the way to the Hameau de la Reine at Versailles.


Joe inspecting his pictures while Dawn patiently awaits the completion of the operation at a café at the Place des Vosges.





We finally had our first sunny and warm day. The crowd was out on the Champ de Mars, and while I was taking pictures of nice bush arrangements, Babette was playing with her new video camera (filming mostly French bulldogs running around).



Our trip to Cambridge was an adventure: strikes at the Paris airport meant a one hour flight took 5 hours. We then had to take the bus from Heathrow to Cambridge (not an exciting ride, I assure you). We arrived barely 10 minutes before the scheduled dinner time. Babette's lecture went very well. We stayed in the Gonville room and below are some views. The last picture has Babette awaiting our taxi.





We got in yesterday after some delays. The weather was rather wild: sunshine, rain and hail. Paris in May. We managed to make our quick run to our favorite spots in the quartier: Charles Traiteur for a roasted chicken and some sausage, Poujauran for bread and Cantin for cheese.
Today, we bought some herbs for the windows...

