La Belle Paris

Bonjour from Paris! We made it to our apartment last night after our flight from Oslo. We made some friends that I hope we'll continue to correspond with on the tour, as I have mentioned, so it was a bit sad to say goodbye. Our flight was uneventful, thank goodness and we landed at Orly just fine. Paris was cloudy and a bit rainy then but by noon today the sun had come out and things were looking up! Our apartment has a living/dining area, a reasonable size kitchen, bathroom and bath. We have 3 sets of French doors with windows that open onto small balconies, one in the bedroom and two in the living area. We're on the fourth floor. We met a young woman who lives on the second floor. She and her mother helped us last night with a couple of lock issues. We took them flowers today to thank them. We also stocked up on some food and paper basics, tried to orient ourselves with some maps of the city, and then walked the several blocks to the Seine and Notre Dame. It was wonderful! Today one could go into the church for free, which we did, and it was just as beautiful as we remembered it to be. We had dinner at a small cafe (Cafe Panis) just across the Seine from Notre Dame. We plan to eat most breakfasts and lunches using food from the apartment and eat dinners out. We don't have a schedule yet of when we'll do what. We do want to get out of town to Chartes and to Versailles - we haven't seen either before. We'd also like to get to Normandy but we're not sure how to do that. Maybe join a tour somehow. Next Tuesday we'll fly to Seattle and then come back the following Monday, so we have 4 days before we leave and then about 2 weeks after we get back. I have posted a some of the photos that I downloaded from my camera from Norway and Finland. The moon photo was one I took on an evening walk in a small town from the ship Polarys. It's not all that unusual but it was just soooo beautiful! The picture of houses by the water was taken in Trondheim, I believe. I think that was my favorite city. It has a university and is hilly with lovely views; it just had a nice "feel" to it to me. The last picture was taken in the narrowest part of Trollfjord. It was misty and so the blues and greens are muted, but it was an amazing place! So narrow! We kept guessing about where the captain was going to go next because there didn't seem to be any way to turn! I hope is well with everyone at home. Au revoir pour maintenant!