Paris trip

We had a great time at Paris. I'm posting some pictures but first I must explain my photography creed. I am not a professional photographer. I don't even consider myself an amateur photographer. Quite frankly, I really have no interest in photography. If I ever develop an interest perhaps I'll invest in a nice camera, take some classes, practice, etc. But the photography bug has not hit me and I expect that since it hasn't in nearly 40 years, I doubt it ever will.

I just want pictures to look at in the years to come and bring back special memories. If I (or you) want professional pictures than you can Google or buy a book about Paris and I'm sure you'll find some great pictures. So when I take pictures I believe in having people in those pictures to remember what we looked like at that time in our lives. I like seeing the changing hairstyles, clothing, and eyewear.

That being said, the main reason for this trip was that Todd had business meetings in Paris and it worked out that the kids were out of school for the week, a coworker offered to babysit, the cards fell into place and I was able to go with him. So while he was in meetings all day I explored the sites of Paris by myself. I went on the Paris L'Opentour bus. It's a hop on/hop off at various sites around the city. So I could pick and choose what I wanted to see, I could spend as much time as I wanted at certain places and catch another bus later. A fabulous way to get around a city by yourself when you don't know where anything is. And you can learn something along the way. On the bus they give you headphones and you plug them in and they give you the history of places in Paris as you are driving by those sites. This is what the buses looked like. This is a professional photo, not my own:
The night we arrived we took an airport bus to near our hotel then had to walk a bit the rest of the way. We stayed at the Hotel California. You can imagine what song was going through my mind the entire trip. These next two pictures were taken the night we arrived as we walked to the hotel. I am in front of the Arc de Triomphe and Todd is standing in the middle of Champs-Elysees Avenue. We are now getting to the self-portrait pictures as I was by myself and I had heard there were pickpockets and such around the sites. I was still a newbie and I didn't want to ask anyone to take my picture as I was afraid they would steal my camera. I know, where's the trust in complete strangers? It was at the Eiffel tower I learned not to admit I spoke English. I was approached by a lady asking "Speak English?" When I responded "yes" she showed me a written note explaining her dire circumstances and that she needed money to help her. After a few minutes and being approached by several ladies with this same MO, I learned to shake my head or I would be broke. This particular way of begging was frequent at several of the sites. So the English-speakers must be generous people because they weren't asking about any other languages.

These next two pictures are of me at the Eiffel Tower. This was the first place I hopped off the bus as I knew I couldn't just pass by this monument. After taking this first picture I bought some hot chocolate and sat underneath the Tower amazed that I was even here. I sat there and debated whether or not to take the "lift" (or elevator as us farm-people know it) or the stairs. I decided the exercise would do me good and give me a more "full" experience if I took the stairs. I paid my 4 euro and started climbing. The second picture is after I'd gone up a few flights and I'm up inside the Eiffel Tower. This is where the photography classes would have come in handy as I was only thinking about including the Tower in my picture and not about looking up my nose. Sorry!