I'm going to try and update daily to chronical our trip to France.  A lot will depend on the itineraries, how many photos I end up taking and needing to sort through, and the ever questionable internet access.  At least for today though, I can start off with the best of intentions.

We took off on a direct flight from Pittsburgh to Paris last night (August 14).  I'm happy to report that our flight was totally uneventful, if a little late leaving (but right on time arrival).  Unfortunately, ours must have been the last international flight arriving in Paris this morning and our wait to clear passport control was well over an hour. But, our luggage was waiting for us, we breezed through customs (I don't even think the folks there looked at us!) and we got a cab into the city. Today is a holiday in France, so traffic was very light (for Paris) and we were in the city in no time.

After checking into our hotel we set off to re-familiarize ourselves with a city that was almost a second home to us when we lived in Belgium; we must have visited there 13-14 times in two years and have always felt so comfortable with everything here.

First stop, lunch at a great little bistro we've been to several times before and had a wonderful meal, and the best bread we've tasted in 10 years!  No one bakes better bread than the French - it just melts in your mouth.

Revitalized, we picked out a route in a fabulous little tour book we have:  Paris Walks.  We love to do walking tours and the maps and explanations of the route are some of the best we've ever used.  We had an older version when we lived here, and picked up the newest version before this trip.

To be honest, we didn't finish this one today - after 2-3 hours of walking around we had it - it had been a long couple of days - and headed back to the room for a rest.  I'm putting this together now, but we'll probably be going back out in another hour or two for dinner and to enjoy Paris after dark.  I may just need to take both my camera AND tripod for that!

A few photos from today are below.  All of the edited photos can be found in the "Our Travels - Paris" section of my web site

Above: Jardin Tuileries. This is a big, beautiful green space in the middle of Paris.  Fountains, gardens, green expanses, meticulously sculpted trees and hedges dot the landscape.  It's a favorite of both Parisians and visitors. Today, they had a large festival going on with bands, a carnival and many other activities.

One of the fun thing for kids to do is "sail" boats in the large fountains in the park.  I don't know if this little boy, left, is from Pittsburgh or not, but his boat was flying the Jolly Roger!!

Below, standing on the quai watching the boats pass by the Musee d'Orsay