June 8th, Monday

---

Bonjour! We arrived in Paris around noon, took the Metro to our hotel and were out on the streets by 2 pm. We were lucky that the Metro stop is right outside our hotel door. We headed to Notre Dame Cathedral on the Ile de la Cite. What an impressive work of architecture! After touring the cathedral and watching the Hare Krishnas dance in the square, we walked the Rive Gauche or the Right Bank. Then to the Latin Quarter and Rue St. Severin and it's church. A lot of restaurants/bars are located here probably because the University of Paris is nearby. Then on to the Blvd. St. Michel and the Sorbonne (originally a theological school) and Place St. Michel. St. Michel is a place where many protests have taken place from 1830 to 1968. We pass by St. Chapelle Church (it was closed) and the Conciergie (a prison during the French Revolution with 2780 victims of the guillotine). We wandered thru the Place Dauphine watching the young people playing boules (bocce) ball and drinking wine. And then to my favorite remembered place, the park on the end of the Ile de la Cite Square du Vert Galant, with it's great views of the Pont Neuf and a groups of people sitting on the grass drinking and talking. We went on to eat dinner in the Latin Quarter.

---