Quai d'Orsay.  Never really knew where it was until this trip.  Left bank of the Seine.  Foreign affairs office.  About 600 yards west of the d'Orsay Museum.  A lot has happened there over the years.  One of these guys looked American.  Uniforms all look alike.  Maybe related to the Libya involvement, which was winding down.  And on down the road I finally saw the Palais Bourbon.  National Assembly.  Didn't take any pix.  Of the Quai d'Orsay I've read an amusing account of Churchill who flew in in May of 40, when the Germans were fast approaching, and he asked in English, and then in French, where there reserves were.  The response from the commander was there are none.  There are plaques on the exterior walls that commemorate those who died in 44, at the back end of the war.



St. Etienne du Mont.  Left Bank. These are students from the Lycee Henri IV (high school) across the street.  The Harvard of secondary schools in France.  It is a meritocracy. The site dates back to Clovis and St. Genevieve, who prayed way Attila.  There was a convent attached, that came down long ago.  Only a belfry remaining, in the courtyard of the school (beautiful -- http://lyc-henri4.scola.ac-paris.fr/lycee/index.html) that was built after the convent was torn down during the revolution.  Marat is buried in the little cemetary behind St. Etienne.  One of the great fiends of the revolution.  He was the journalist knifed by Charlotte Corday in the bathtub, made famous by the David painting.  A lady in the church told me his remains were across the street in the Pantheon, but there...I figured out they had moved them back to St. Etienne 160 years ago, but I didn't have the strength to return and contest, much lest ask for access to the tiny cemetary behind, .... and James was a mile away at our hotel, relaxing watching TV, so the clock was ticking  On the way back I passed a small antique store that specializes in early 20th century french furniture, of which, since mid 80s, I've coveted an advertisement from a magazine for a piece by Andre Groult. 



Louvre:  The crown with which Napoleon crowned himself, after lifting it from Pope Pius VII's hands.  Was it Charlemagne's crown?  May have been. David's great painting below.  The band of the crown look pretty 'fresh'.  Each broche must have a story.





Madame Recamier.  Did you know she died of cholera? 



Gare du Nord.  Hell of a train station.  When we came out of the metro, I made sure we took paths that would bring us up out in front of it, instead of in it.  James saw the facade and said 'that's a train station?"  The interior is impressive too, of course. We had breakfast across the street in a typical brasserie/cafe, and then headed to Beauvais.  The train in back is the train from Brussels, which we took a few days later.  TGV.  Very fast.  Must have been 200 mph.  Similar to the price. Too bad I didn't have time to show James the Gare de l'Est and Gare St. Lazarre.