First Day

Beautiful! Paris is always magnificent, but especially under a sunny sky, and that is exactly what I had yesterday. This glorious weather is expected to continue through the weekend at least. The only problem this presents is that one doesn't want to spend too much of one's days indoors. I tried to balance indoors and outdoors. I started at the Forum des Halles, where I picked up my ticket for the Louvre at FNAC Spectacle. Of course, I couldn't just leave this massive bookstore without browsing! An hour later... Here is a photo from the Forum:

My ultimate goal for the day was the Orangerie, so I headed in that direction but never got there. Instead I spent some time in the church of Saint-Eustache, previously the parish church of the market of Les Halles (the vendors were moved to Rungis in 1969).

Here are just a few of the many photos I took at this magnificent church:

Colbert is buried here:

There's some wonderful stained glass:

I marveled at the grace of the stonework:

The organ is imposing:

And the painted columns and ceilings are beautiful:

And here is a representation of the removal of the vendors to Rungis:

Oops! I just noticed that my second day in Paris is getting away from me, so this post will have to be continued...