Paris France

Up early for sightseeing around Paris with a local expert . We visited the Notre Dame Cathedral which is widely considered one of the finest examples of French Gothic architecture and among the largest and most well-known churches in the world. Gargoyles and chimeras adorn the outer gallery of the North Tower with its ribbed vaulting and spiral staircase, while the South Tower houses the belfry and Emmanuel, the great bourdon bell. We also saw the Opera House, the Academy of Literature, City Hall, Eiffel Gardens and Tower, Napoleon Monument, and the tunnel where Diana, Princess of Wales died. In the afternoon Ashley and I went to the Palace of Versailles. This majestic European castle is a perfectly preserved example of the reckless extravagance of the French monarchy, Louis XIV, the Sun King. The Hall of Mirrors is the largest room in the palace with seventeen mirror arches facing seventeen windows overlooking the Park, each arch contains 21 mirrors with a total of 357.

There are 1800 acres of manicured gardens to wonder through with terraced gardens and their fountains and statues. From here we met up with our group and Leo took us to Bohemian Paris, Montmatre. Montmartre is a 130 metre tall hill in the north of Paris. Montmartre is primarily known for the white-domed Basilica of the Sacré Cœur on its summit and as a nightclub district. The other, older, church on the hill is Saint Pierre de Montmartre, which claims to be the location at which the Jesuit order of priests was founded. Many artists had studios or worked around the community of Montmartre such as Salvador Dalí, Amedeo Modigliani, Claude Monet, Piet Mondrian, Pablo Picasso and Vincent van Gogh.