Tuesday July 30th Verdun To Paris

Verdun, France is the place where one of the major battles took place during the First World War between the Germans and French armies. It lasted 300 days and about 1,000,000 soldiers lost their lives.
We did a 1/2 hour tour of the Citadelle of Verdun. It was on a tram through the underground tunnels. There were no photos allowed.
We also took a drive to the Douaumont Ossuary, which is a memorial containing the remains of soldiers, both French and German, who died in the Battle of Verdun.

 Here is the largest single French military cemetery with over 16,000 graves from First World War. It was amazing to see ----- a real red rose bush was in front of each white cross.

God bless all soldiers.

We continued on our journey to Paris. We arrived at Charles De Gualle Airport to return our car rental and then headed for our apartment ....train, subway,walking. How do I describe my first impressions of Paris? Very busy, lots of people and lots of traffic.  A little over-whelming. Did I mention that there are round-abouts all over Europe. They look crazy to me but they sure keep the traffic flowing. And drivers are very mindful of crosswalks. We arrived at our apartment at 6:30 pm. It is a 1 bedroom, with  pull-out couch, small kitchen and a little garden/patio. So cute & cozy.

                                     Michael planning the strategy for the evening. The Paris adventure begins!

                                               Toasting Paris at dinner at "L'Arc" Restaurant

After dinner we walked over to see the L'Arc de Triomphe which is one of the most famous monuments in Paris, which honours those who fought and died for France in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. Beneath its vaults lies the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier from World War One. It is very large as you can see.

Tom & I standing in front of L'Arc de Triomphe, which is in a very busy traffic area. Behind us you can see some cars. Well there is a round- about here with 12 different ways of "escaping" off the round-about! Crazy when you see all these vehicles converging on one another ---- cars, buses, taxis, smart cars, scooters.....

Oh yes, there are also many, many people trying to get pictures at the same time. 

We took a subway to the Eiffel Tower. WHAT AN AMAZING STRUCTURE THIS IS! It's so hard to describe. I just had to keep looking up at it in awe. So beautiful. 

Sandy & Michael convinced us that we had to kiss in front of the Eiffel Tower. It was the thing to do.  

                                                                   So here we are.
                                                          However they didn't do likewise.

                                                             But I got this nice shot of them.

There were so many people around here. There is a huge "park"-- people were sitting on the grass --- like a big party. Some had food and drinks and everyone was taking pictures. There were guys selling bottles of wine and other drinks as well of little replicas of the Eiffel Tower. It was fun being there.

Here is Sandy & me sitting on the grass before dark. This grassy area went as far as you can see behind us.

As it got darker, the Tower became illuminated which gave it an orange glow. So pretty. Then about 10 pm twinkling white lights came on too. What a show! We heard a cork pop on a wine bottle. I guess this is what everyone was waiting for. 

This is a picture with the twinkling white lights.

Si belle! Si belle!

Bon soir!

I