Afternoon rain

Here is a look back at our place of residence as we set out this morning.I noticed that the restaurant on the ground floor of the building, Au Vieux Paris, describes itself on its sign as "Auberge depuis 1594". They are claiming to have been an inn since 1594. The ivy looks almost good enough for that claim to be true.

We walked over to the big stone church and today I had my good camera. As expected, I got much better pictures this time.This statue of the Virgin and Child stands against the southeast pillar of the transept. The 14th century statue is known to some as Notre Dame de Paris, Our Lady of Paris.The carved wooden choir stalls were commissioned by Louis XIV.We walked over to Place Maubert and looked around at the weekend marche.We spent most of the morning at the archeological crypt under the square in front of the church. There is some fascinating history down there almost none of which lends itself to a photo opportunity.

I discovered while reading stuff about the islands that the garden at Hotel Dieu (the hospital) are open to the public so on the way back we went in and took a look around.Jet lag is still somewhat of an issue so we were only going to go to the impressionist painting exhibition at Hotel de Ville, paintings on loan from Musee D'Orsay. Unfortunately it is Saturday and as we started out for the exhibit a fairly nasty rain squall erupted. As a result of these two factors we discovered that we would have to wait in a fairly lengthy line to gain admission to the paintings.

The time trial loomed as a planned activity for later on this afternoon and maybe a bit of a sit down until then would best serve our energy levels as we face probably a pretty long day tomorrow trying to see part of the final stage of the race. Besides, who wants to walk around in the rain?

But we did get out again later and boarded the Metro for what seems unimaginable, our first trip. We headed over to le Champs Elysee to scout out what we could about what tomorrow's scene will look like.

It looks like it will be crowded.

Today's stage is only a couple of hours over and already economic opportunities have appeared at the site of tomorrow's stage.The official boutique has set up shop in front of the Grand Palais. Probably no surprise here, but it has also set up at several other sites along the big wide street.

We walked back through the Tuileries where I witnessed for the first time the truly giant ferris wheel.Some former fellow travelers may recognize this spot. We had evening meal today at the Brasserie down on the corner below where we stayed last year.Closed circuit to Mrs. Smith: Which one do you like?You know what I mean.