France - Paris Our Arrival

We loved the circular staircase in the hotel. This was the first of many to come on our 2 week trip. The little person looking up is Karen at the bottom of the staircase.

We arrived in Paris the day before our tour began. It was so exciting for us to get our first glimpse of the Eiffel Tower.

A Good Place For Dinner - We discovered LaVarangue restaurant, with it's bright red store front on rue Augereau. Owner/chef Philippe greeted us as we entered with a friendly "Hello". When we told him we were starting a Rick Steves tour the following day he proudly pointed to the Rick Steves pictures he had on display in the front window. After dinner he took the time to sit and talk with us about the sights in Paris (even coaching us with some French pronunciations). Before we left, Philippe invited us into the kitchen to take a picture with him.

The Eiffel Tower - What an incredible structure. It was built as the entrance arch for the World's Fair of 1889. We learned that it was very unpopular with the locals of the time and was almost torn down in 1892.

(Thank goodness that didn't happen.)

Neighborhood Living - As we explored more side streets after dinner we found ourselves on a street called Rue-Cler.

Cobblestones paved the way and the street was lined with an abundance of colorful shops and cafés filled with people enjoying life.

The flower shops had the most colorful and beautiful arrangements -the displays overflowed onto the sidewalks. You don't see large supermarkets in Paris - the beauty of this neighborhood is the quaint specialty shops filled with fresh fruits, vegetables, meats, cheese, wine and pastries. Oh! and let's not forget the bread. Bread was everywhere. We learned local people have to shop daily because there homes have small refrigerators