Europe 2015: Day Five

Saturday, June 20, 2015 (Day 5)

London, England to Paris, France

Today we are up and at breakfast at 5:30 a.m.  We are on our way to France.  We are leaving from King's Cross Station but we have one special stop in the station before we board the Eurostar train to Paris.

I am not sure why but I failed to take any photos on the train or in the Chunnel.  I love to ride trains and maybe I was just enjoying myself too much.

Our first stop in Paris is the Notre Dame Cathedral.  This structure is famous for its exterior including the famous flying buttresses but I loved the statuary the most.

We did get inside after awhile and took a walking tour through the place.  

There was enough time for us to get lunch so we went in search of some eats.  

Lunch = Crepes!

Denice and I took a walk around the exterior of Notre Dame when we returned from lunch.  

There was a fashion shoot going on at the cathedral.  I did not take advantage of this since I felt like I was horning in on the guy's life work but now I regret not shooting a few more over the shoulder shots.  

The Flying Buttresses

Billy Ney had already decided to attend a concert this evening at the Sainte-Chapelle Cathedral.  It proved to be a gorgeous venue for a concert and the sound was excellent in the cathedral.  

During the day, Denice managed to order tickets for all five of us so we could attend the show.  There were two shows this day but when we managed to find the address for the show there was little indication that the door we were at was the correct spot.  We asked others who were there and everyone seemed satisfied as to the location.  When we were let in, we had to go through a metal detector which was an upsetting reminder that even though we were at the Cathedral to hear music others might have more evil intentions.

This photo is from gobuz.com

The concert tonight was by Paul Rouger and it was spectacular.  I cannot express how captivating the entire event was and the selection of music was outstanding as it roamed from Vivaldi's Four Seasons, Pachelbel's Canon in D to The Carnival of the Animals by Camille Saint-Saëns.  There was quite an ensemble of talented musicians performing tonight under the banner of Les Solistes Francais (The French Soloists).  

This YouTube video will give you some idea of what we saw as it features many of the principals we saw in our concert:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKWJmU8AH3Y

Our last image of the night as we returned to our hotel.