Catching up the past few days...

Several days to catch up, but I'll go heavy on pictures this time- hard to resist- and keep the commentary light.

We picked Gabby up at the airport- yay!

Right away we went on a Thames River Cruise, with commentary, from Westminster Pier to the Tower of London.

Then we hopped onto the Bus tour around the whole city to give Gabby an overview of London. We hopped off at Piccadilly Circus to buy theatre tickets for the evening.

Again, sorry for the sideways photos...
Les Miz was fabulous. We laughed, we cried,...

And the next morning we were up bright and early for our guided tour of Westminster Abbey- fascinating.

The girls in the cloisters.

And all of us in the cloister garden.

Back to the tube for our next tour, but first- Big Ben!

The Tower of London! The Beefeater who gave us the tour was hysterical. History we'll remember delivered with a growl and a punchline.

Go Girls!

On the lions of Trafalgar Square. The series of shots of the girls actually getting up there is quite funny....

And an evening with Phantom, powerful music.

Breakfast in Saint James Park with the pigeons and the morning sun.

Walking back to Buckingham Palace for the tour.

In Her Majesty's backyard after a very neat tour.

The girls are rocked to sleep on the Eurostar as we pass under the Channel on our way to Paris.

Bienvenue!

After settling into the hotel we take a walk around the block and find,...

So beautiful all lit up at night, the Eiffel Tower is right around the corner from our hotel!

This morning we set out in search of breakfast.

Our chocolate croissants and cafe' were a splendid way to begin our first full day in Paris.

We join a walking tour of the St. Germain de Pres area, beginning with Saint Sulpice.

Then the 11th century St. Germain des Pres herself.

On our little walking tour we met a gentleman from San Antonio who graduated from my High School's rival, Churchill. We asked him to take our picture anyway.

Tour over, we do our own touring of some of the shops in the back streets of the area, oo-la-la!

Crepes made by a Lebanese man who has family in Virginia and was quite friendly- in a nice way. Oh yum! We didn't realize a crepe could be so filling!

Wandering among the bookstalls on the left bank of the River Seine.

Notre Dame herself.

Rue de la Huchette, filled with cute shops and eateries.

We are tired, but not exhausted, after a leisurely day wandering about the streets of Paris. We also gave le Metro a try and found it not as frightening as we feared. Learning the London underground system helped a lot I'm guessing. Tomorrow we begin using out museum passes with a tour of Versailles- oo-la-la!