Lovely trip to Paris and Picardy

We had a very nice visit from Rose, our friend from Denver, Colorado last week.  We drove to Paris to take Rose to a hotel near the airport for her flight home.  Before dropping her off, we spent 2 good days in Paris showing her some of the sights…..but no museums…that takes weeks!  We were lucky that the traffic was lighter on Sunday morning and were able to do much of the sightseeing by car.  By afternoon, the traffic was back to normal chaos so we rested and then took the Metro to La Défense and then to the Arc d'Triomphe.  We walked some of the Champs Elysée before heading back to the hotel but not before we could see the top of the tour Eiffel lighted up and sparkling in the beautiful evening sunset.  Paris was quite warm and nothing in air conditioned there, so it reminded us of why we don't travel in summer~!

After dropping Rose off, we headed to Picardy, north of Paris, and finally visited the American World War I Cemetery where we amazingly both have ancestors who are buried there!  A very moving experience and a beautifully kept cemetery!  We also visited the cities of Reims, Soissons, Beauvais, Pierrefonds, and many other tiny towns which all amazed us with their beauty!  We have seen so much of France thanks to friends who visit us!  What an amazing place and there is so much more to see!

Chateau Pierrefonds

Beautiful house near Parc Monceau

Chartres Cathedral

La Defense

Locked scooters for the younger set

Sacre Coeur

Notre Dame Cathedral

Shirley and Rose at Parc Monceau

Place de Vosges-Marais

Reims Cathedral

Shirley with grandpa Salassi's
brother Moise Salassi

Tom with 3rd cousin Zeno Pearce