Day 1 is hard

I actually got a little bit of sleep on the airplane but not enough to convince my body of anything other than the truth, I have missed a night's sleep.

We are trying to stay up. Boy, there are lots, I say LOTS of tourists on Ile de la Cite. We found the closest Monop and got a few supplies. On the way back I got a couple of shots of partially obscured iconic landmarks.Partially obscured iconic landmarks is a totally appropriate theme because we are both a bit more than partially obscured.

This one is the big church from one of those bridges.OK, it is Pont au Change.

Le Tour is coming on. No Phil, no Paul, no Bobke. It is unmistakably le Tour, though.

EDIT: We went back out after watching the end of the Tour. The most interesting thing I saw was an interview with the God of Thunder. I and most American fans of the Tour are usually impressed with the bilingual abilities displayed by Hushovd. Today I saw him interviewed on French television and while I cannot speak generally to the quality of his French I can say that he certainly looks and sounds comfortable in what we recognize as his at least third language.

While out we were looking for the location of a market reported by our neighbor to be available tomorrow nearby on the Rive Gauche. As long as we were going over there I decided to go looking for the location used for the time travel scenes from the new Woody Allen film.The steps that the main character's shallow spouse sits on while waiting briefly with him on the second time travel occasion turn out to be the side steps of Saint Etienne du Mont, the ancient church on the hill next to the Pantheon.

I have walked past that church three or four times but never previously gone in. Today we went inside. Amazing.The interior features a shrine to Sainte Genevieve among other astonishing art and artifacts. Amazing.

The church was built by Clovis. His remains (died 511) and the remains of his wife (died 512) are in the church. Outside the church stands next door to Lycee Henri IV, a school which includes within its structure the Tour of Clovis.The market location has been located, the market opens at 0700. With sleep patterns far from stable it seems likely that we will be at the market early enough to get first pickings.