Paris on day two and three

I was going to post these images and give you a bunch of stories, but now I am in London and in full blown Olympic mode. We just spent the last two days getting the lay of the land in London and checking out the Main Press Center and many of the venues. So...in the interest in time, I am going to post photos from our last couple of days in Paris and then tomorrow get right to the behind the scenes images of London.

Here you go:

The gates at Versailles.

The castle of Versailles is really amazing, but my wife and I liked the gardens even better than the castle.

Yes, my wife Annette does indeed exist. Here we are in the gardens.

I saw this great group of trees and asked Annette to peek out from the middle of them.

Inside Versailles with the amazing paintings on the walls and ceilings.

In some areas of the castle, they have an interesting mixture of modern art thrown in with the traditional art.

Upon arriving back Paris later in the afternoon, we decided to head over to see Sacre Coeur in Montmartre. I remembered this place from my trip to Paris more than 20 years ago.

Behind the church, there are a ton of restaurants, cafes and street vendors.

We got back from dinner too late to catch the deep blue skies after sunset, but I still went out to get some photos of the Arc De Triumph at night.

The following day, we visited the church of Notre Dame. We wanted to climb the stairs to the top, but the wait was more than an hour, and I am way too impatient to do that. Next time!

The views inside the church are amazing.

We came across this bridge over the river Seine, which had padlocks covering both sides of the walkways. Each of these locks shows the love for someone else.

Always looking for cool foliage to photograph...

This guy was playing the bass on another one of the bridges and my wife and I were captivated by his music and expressions.

Then, completely unknowingly, we stumbled onto the Louvre. Funny thing is, we were going to grab a taxi to have them take us to the museum, but we were at the backside of the building without even knowing it. That would have been embarrassing!

The main attraction at the Louvre is of course, the Mona Lisa. I was more amazed at the throngs of people clamoring to get a picture of this iconic painting. At one point, I took a photo of the crowd, facing directly onto the group in front of the painting, and I was told by the security official that I could not take photos of the crowd. That is a first!

You have to look up too.

We left Paris one day before the end of the Tour De France. They were preparing all of the streets for the impending crowds. We were lucky enough to see some of the action along our walk.

Another view along the Champs Elysees, looking back at the Arc De Triumph.

Sunset at the Eiffel Tower. This time we ate dinner early enough so that I could get out and shoot images of the tower just after sunset.

One of my favorite images from the trip to Paris.

Another favorite...

Au revoir Paris! And now comes the Olympics!