following the dream: Paris mark 2

Since our apartment on Ile Saint Louis is only five minutes walk from Notre Dame we decided that this should be our first port of call for our Sunday sight seeing. It was cold and drizzling as we queued for forty five minutes to get inside. As the queue gradually got shorter we realised that we were on the queue to go up hundreds of stairs to the top of the tower. We also found out that today it was free. So even though it hadn't been our original plan, we climbed to the top and mingled with the gargoyles and marvelled at the sights of Paris from above.

Here is Tom in the queue. He is the one in the red jacket.

It was heady stuff, sharing viewing space with these dudes.

I wasn't scared by these stone monsters. I think the one above seems more alarmed by me.

After our exciting free climb we walked through the Tuileries to Musee D'Orsay. We stopped to admire the flowers and statues. And of course, had to have the obligatory baguette for lunch. Next stop was to catch some art at the Musee D'Orsay.

The paintings and sculpture in Musee D'Orsay were wonderful but to me, it was the building that was the star. It is a remodelled railway station full of light and space.

These three were some of my favourites amongst the many.

You can look down on the Seine through one of the former railway station's huge clocks.

And then we walked home. We have been walking for hours every day. So every night we crawl up to our loft bedroom, making sure not to bump our heads on the low ceiling and fall into a deep sleep.

The next day we finally got inside Notre Dame. This time we only had to queue for fifteen minutes. Maybe the rain put off some of the less hardy tourists. We were frisked and searched as we went in. Every tourist spot in Paris is full of security guards whose jobs arei to make sure that nobody is carrying a bomb. There is still quite a lot of fear in Paris after the recent terrorist attacks. Everybody is on high alert.

Even though there are heaps of signs up that forbid photography. Everyone is snapping away furiously inside Notre Dame. I was no exception.

And in the afternoon we met up with Joel Stratte-McClure, the publisher of the Paris Metro, the magazine that Tom and Harry Stein set up with Craig Unger forty years ago. Joel was accompanied by the beautiful Liz Chapin. We caught a limo to the bookshop W H Smith where we met Stanley Hertzberg who had been the business manager for the Paris Metro all those years ago. Stanley had convinced the bookstore to set up a window display promoting the book of Paris Metro. This was a real coup for the Paris Metro group. Joel and Stanley are both sharp, amusing Americans. Their banter was quite contagious. I began to think I was in a Woody Allen movie that segued into an episode of the Muppets.

Stan invited us back to his apartment on Ile Sainte-Germain to have coffee with his wife Fatima. We ate macarons and chatted about the past. Fatima showed Liz and myself around the apartment and I praised a painting on the wall that had been created by Stan's first wife. Immediately Stan said I must have it. He said that he appreciated anyone who saw the beauty of her work. I was overwhelmed by his gesture. I am now the proud owner of a wonderful work of art and face the future problem of getting it safely back to Australia on our way through Spain, Italy, Finland and Hong Kong. A small problem for such a wonderful present.