Tourisme

There is a new hotel going up in our neighborhood. Here is the sign. It is only advertising but finally I could not resist. Here, because I also love Paris, is the announcement of the 2011 opening of the new Mandarin Oriental.It rained last evening and today dawned looking a little iffy. The temperatures plummeted back into the actual average for this date. The 15-20 degree drop in Fahrenheit was actually very welcome.

But when we set out on some traditional tourism the clouds and wind made photography less than optimum. I took pictures anyway.

We have been looking at this thing from a distance since we arrived in Paris. Today my brother and I decided to go closer.For 13.10 Euros we were allowed onto the elevator to "le sommet". Invalides in the left foreground.Left foreground Place de la Concorde, next to the right the Tuileries, then the Louvre. Our apartment is about at the point where the left side extension of the Louvre begins, then a block over to the left. You can almost see us from here.Concorde upper right, Pont Alexandre, Grand Palais and Petit Palais.Arc d'Triomphe.The Statue of Liberty replica on an island in the river just downstream from the Tower.A typical riverside walkway.In the afternoon we went to the Musee D'Orsay. This is the clock left over from the building's origins as a train station now overlooking the main floor and the majority of the sculpture.But not overlooking the plaster version of "La Porte de l'Enfer" (the Gates of Hell) by Rodin. Later on this week we WILL be visiting the Musee Rodin and a photograph of the bronze version is almost certain to appear.