Cruising the Chippewa

On a nice Sunday afternoon when Carrol and Terry were visiting, we cruised the Chippewa River on Dave Smith's pontoon boat. The weather was perfect, and we had a wonderful time.

Hannah and Ashlyn hung out at the front of the boat for most of the afternoon.

A group of boys (and one girl) were giving vent to their youthful urge to defy death by jumping offf this cliff into the river. Kyle couldn't resist joining them, but I wasn't fast enough with the camera to catch his dive.

Parisian Holiday

We were in Paris for the first couple of weeks of August. These pictures are not in chronological order--but they are in some kind of order. We've been posting them on and off since we got back.

Notre-Dame

Construction of Notre-Dame Cathedral began in 1163. We wondered what mediveal people thought and felt when they saw it for the first time. It had to be the biggest, most magnificant building they had ever seen.

Shakespeare and Company bookstore is just across the river from Notre Dame. This is one of the places where Hemingway and Fitzgerald hung out. It doesn't seem to have changed much since the 1920s.

Sacre-Coeur

Sacre-Coeur can be seen from just about anywhere in Paris. After looking at it for a week and a half, we visited it on one of our last days in Paris.

The Paris Metro

Because our Paris apartment was centrally located, we didn't use the Metro too much. But once we started using it, we liked it (mostly because we were a little sore from all of the walking that we did).

One thing you can do while you wait for a Metro train is to look down the dark tunnel and watch for it.

When the Metro comes into the platform area where you are waiting, you have to be ready. Some Metro lines require that passengers open the doors themselves.

Hannah is a natural at Metro riding.

Have you seen one of these?

Smart Cars are all over Paris. Sophie Neveu drives one in The Da Vinci Code. They are made by Daimler-Chrysler, and they get 60 mpg.

The Louvre

The Louvre is Paris' most famous art museum, and it is probably the most famous art museum in the world. We did the "Louvre light" tour, which means we looked at some of the most well-known pieces and strolled through many of the galleries. A thorough tour of the Louvre would take months.

The Louvre is unbeliveably large. Its size is difficult to capture with a camera.

The famous Louvre pyramid.

Overlooking one of the main stairways.

The Louvre's most famous painting.

Musee d'Orsay

We were disappointed that the Louvre has almost no impressionist painting, so we asked one of the Lovre guides where we could find it. He told us to check out the Orsay.

We took this picture of the Orsay from a tour boat on the Seine.

The Orsay used to be a train station. We tried to imagine what it was like when the giant main hall was filled with travelers and commuters rather than museum-goers.

The Orsay is full of interesting art, much of it impressionist painting. Rich particularly liked this one because it reminded him of the turkeys that harrass him when he gets the mail back home.

Centre Georges Pompidou

Lauren wanted to go to the Centre Pompidou as soon as we arrived in Paris. We could see it out our bedroom window. We tried to go several times early in our stay, but for one reason or another, we didn't spend time at the Centre Pompidou until later. The Centre Pompidou is Paris' modern art museum, and it is certainly an unusual place.

The outside of the building is extremely unconventional--some have said that it looks like the scaffolding was never taken down. The escalators run through glass tubes.

The square in front of the Pompidou is full of activity--performers, vendors, artists, and tourists.

View looking southwest from the Centre Pompidou.

View looking northeast from the Centre Pompidou. We saw the Sacre-Coeur Basilica from many locations in Paris. Sacre-Coeur is a prominent landmark because it is on a hill overlooking the entire city.

We call her the "fish lady," and she was one of our favorite paintings at the Pompidou.