Oh what a night

Late December back in '63
What a very special time for me . . . Love that song

Here are pictures from when we went on a boat ride on the Seine at sunset.

This is Henry IV, the father of Louis XIII, who built Pont Neuf.

This is what most of riverside Paris looks like.

These are the heads of Pont Neuf. There are like 300 or so and each is different. Pont Neuf is the oldest bridge in Paris, despite its misleading name which means New Bridge.

I'm on a boat . . . with my most favorite travel-buddy Meghan.

I think this is Pont des Arts, the original lock bridge, I think.

Another bridge

My homeboy TJ, from the back.

The statues of Pont Alexandre III and the Eiffel Tower.

Pont Alexandre III

This is the flame that represents the French/American alliance, with part of Sacre Coeur in the background. My dumb camera was too slow to get it all.

As the sun was setting, the sunlight was so golden, and it just hit everything on top of the trees. So pretty!

My favorite bridge. You know it as Pont Alexandre III

I think this is the American church of Paris.

Le Grand Palais

A statue on Pont Alexandre III

I didn't meant to get a pic of her, but this is our guide. I don't remember her name but she was pretty cool. She would say everything in French then in English, which was almost perfect. I was pretty proud of myself because I understood most of her French. She spoke very slowly, which helped.

Sunsets in Paris, and the rest of France for that matter, don't necessarily mean that it will get dark soon. In Paris, it like never got dark, and in eastern France it got dark at like 2 or  in the morning. I really wanted to see the stars but the only time I remembered to look up was the last night I was there and I had to go to bed early. I definitely wasn't expecting long days. I guess France is further north, like in latitude, but it's no different than like New York. Right?

This is the smallest house in Paris.

Pont Neuf

Notre Dame and Le Petit Pont, which is the smallest bridge in Paris. Our guide said be careful, it has already collapsed like thirteen times.

The setting sun, in French, coucher du soleil, literally meaning the sun putting itself to bed.

Musee d'Orsay, L'Opera and more

The outside of Musee d'Orsay

Sacre Coeur from the Musee d'Orsay clock

There were some street performers outside. The guy with the clarinet was really jammin' out.

Musee d'Orsay

This is a statue of my homeboy TJ, who just happens to be one of my favorite presidents.

This was some statue that we saw. It was very tall and very detailed.

This whole plaza was built for the Sun King, Louis XIV, as you can see by the sun king logo on the fence things by the windows.

This is the hotel Ritz which is famous because Lady Diana was leaving that hotel when she had her fatal car crash. Did I post the picture of the tunnel and the flame? If not here they are.

The flame is an exact replica of the flame on the French Statue of Liberty and represents the alliance between the French and the Americans. It sits right on top of the tunnel where Diana was killed so most people think it is a memorial for her.

This is the tunnel where Lady Diana was killed. 

Sorry for the bad quality, we were in a tour bus moving very fast.

I thought this blackish marble doorway was pretty cool.

This was a cool display outside of a pointe shoe store. You can see the pointe shoes on the shelves in the background. There were a lot of music-related shops around here because the Opera is just down the street.

This is the Opera house.

This was Meghan's and my lunch. It's funny, it was a cheese sandwich, called Comté. I didn't realize till I looked at the menu I kept after I returned that it had Comté cheese which is from the region Franche-Comté that I was in the during the second two weeks. I guess it's famous all over France.

This was the cool sweet shop I went into. It had cookies, chocolates and lots of other goodies. This is also where the first French person told me I spoke French well. Yay!

I thought this lamp outside the opera was pretty cool.

The Opera building was super cool and had lots of awesome architecture. I love that in the circles that the angels are holding, there is another kind of rock that almost looks like opals.

We went to the top of the Galerie Lafayette to see that part of the city. The Opera house has the green roof. 

We went here after we visited the perfume museum. It is operated by and a part of the Fragonard perfume company which is one of the oldest perfume companies in the world. 

I learned that perfume is only perfume if it is like 25% essence. It also must be kept in metal or porcelain containers or it will go bad and lose its scent. Authentic perfume will never come in a clear container and is very expensive. Cologne is 10-15% essence and can be kept in clear containers. So if you buy some cheap Justin Beiber perfume at the store, it's not really perfume. It's cologne or Eau de Toilette, literally meaning toilet water. LOL. 

I bought .5 oz of perfume. It's called Juste un Baiser, which means Just a Kiss. It's very fruity and fun.

This is the ceiling of the Galerie Lafayette. It's funny. We took a bunch of escalators to the top and then back down. We didn't even stop to see all the cool stuff inside. I did insist on getting a pic of the ceiling though.

This was a musician outside the Opera house. I took a pic of him 'cause he was really good and might be famous one day. He also kinda looked like Rob Schneider.

This was a church we visited. It was called St Madeleine, but on the outside it said "Magdalenae" so I think Madeleine is our equivalent of Mary Magdalene, which is cool that I'm posting this now, because her feast day as a saint if July 22. (I don't know that off the top of my head. I saw that when I looked up how to spell her name.)