Paris - July 5th and 6th

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Our flight Toronto-Paris (via Air France) was very enjoyable. Definitely a cut above Air Canada. We sat on the upper deck of a 747 - nice ! From the airport Charles de Gaulle we took a taxi to downtown Paris and arrived at our hotel at 9 am ( 3am Toronto time !) . We were jet lagged, so slept a lot the first day. After we slept off the jet lag, we took a taxi to Centre Pompidou. From there we walked to Notre Dame Church then though the “Latin Quarter”. We visited the Ukrainian Catholic Church which is on the corner of Boul St Germain and Rue des Peres. The church seems very old, there are beautiful icons inside and a plaque to Symon Petluira who lived in Paris until he was assassinated in 1926. There is also a cute little park beside the church with a statue of Taras Shevchenko.
On Sunday, we visited the Musse D’Orsay - probably the largest collection of Impressionite art in the world - amazing ! Then we went ot the Opera Garnier completed in 1875 and probably a model for all the 19th century opera houses around the world.
I also rented a car for our 19 day trip around France. We reserved a station wagon type car from Europcar (last year we had a Passat station wagon). Last year when the temperature hit 40deg c for 1 week, the car air conditioning was a life saver !. I picked up the car at La Gare du Nord, not too far from our hotel.
Tomorrow we will drive to Nornandy (Bayuex). At our hotel, there are 18 people from New Brunswick. They gave some tips for our upcoming visits to Normandy and Provence.

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Photos

View from Our hotel Balcony
View from Our hotel Balcony

Family near Notre Dame church
Family near Notre Dame church

Opera Garnier outside
Just 10 mins walk from our hotel

Opera Garnier inside
Grand staircase made of white Carrara marble

Latin Quarter
Latin quarter

Pompidou Center
Pompidou Center

Musee D'Orsay
Largest collection of Impressionist Art in the world