April in Paris in July

The cool weather continues in Paris. It's more like April than July. This afternoon we were caught in a downpour and had to take shelter under a row of trees next to the Seine. But the sun also had brief periods of bright sunshine.

We visited Notre Dame again today. It's so close that we can slip in there early in the a.m. before the hordes arrive. Gino included a great bunch of interior photos on his blog. I'm posting this photo of the statue of Charlemagne which stands just outside the church on the grounds.

We went to the farmer's market on the Left Bank straight away. They were selling a lot of delicious looking French farm goods, including this array of fruits and veggies. I bought some dark purple grapes, and was tempted by the strawberries and various cheeses. The grapes were quite tasty.

After a lengthy break for lunch and to watch Cadel Evans win the Tour de France's penultimate stage, a time trial, and thus the whole event, we went out in search of celebrating Aussies. We walked along the Champs Elysees, checking out the preparations for the final stage tomorrow, which spends eight laps around that street. We didn't see any obvious Aussie celebration, but there were a lot of stands set up for spectators. As we walked down the Champs, I encountered a statue of one of France's heroes of WWII - Charles de Gaulle. He's one of the few people depicted in statues who lived during my lifetime.

On the way back to our Paris abode, we walked through the Tuileries, a familiar area from my last visit here. This is me in front of one of the Maillot statues very near the Louvre. By this time the sun was shining and we were close to our previous apartment from last year.

It was a nice day and prelude to our attempt tomorrow to catch a glimpse of the last stage of the Tour de France.