Tired but happy to get off the plane, we took an uneventful shuttle ride into Paris. After settling into our hotel on beautiful little Rue Cler, we walked over to the Eiffel Tower and then across the Seine along with thousands of other tourists from all over the world. The crowds were as happy as we were to be in Paris so it was just not a problem. Exhausted from being up for 36 hours straight, we enjoyed our picnic dinner of fresh baguette, delicious cheese, jamon de Espagna and a bottle of excellent Bordeux on a park bench sheltered from light showers by the overhanging branches of one of the hundreds of trees in the park. Parisians as well as tourists flock to the park for picnic dinners every summer evening and we felt right at home. The next day (today) we are on foot and have walked from Napoleons tomb, to the Arc de Triomph, to the gardens of the Louvre where we are writing this in the shade of an allee of trees. This is a beautiful park designed by the famous landscape architect to the kings André le Notre in 1664, and has wonderful gellato stands and crepe eateries along with ponds, rides for the kids, and plenty of benches and chairs in addition to the beautiful, well tended plantings everywhere.

We have not been able to check our voice mail yet as we get a "network busy" message every time we try. Not sure what is going on with that but we'll work on it.