July 16Happy to be back in Paris! This is our second visit to the city and we were looking forward to it. It was the first visit for Claude and Paulette.
We arrived in the afternoon, after a flight from Nice, so we didn't go very far that first day. Fortunately, our hotel was right in the middle of the city. We were just a couple of blocks from the river Seine, which cuts through the center of Paris. There are many bridges that cross it. This one connects to Ile de la Cité. There are 2 islands in the middle of Paris, the other is Ile St Louis.
Some of the interesting boats that you see on the Seine. Notice the stairway by the green car. There are many stairs like this that allow people to access the river from street level.
Claude and I checking out the river's edge. The entire river on both sides is covered by stone or pavement, no natural bank left, at least not within the city.
L'ile de la Cité has many historic buildings; one of the most famous is Notre Dame cathedral. It was built starting in 1163 and was completed in the 1240's. L'ile de la Cité was actually the original site of Paris, inhabited by a Gaulois tribe known as the Parisii, from at least 250BC.
This the back of the cathedral. 
This is one many statues that you would see all over Paris. This one is on L'ile de la Cité, and is of King Henry IV. He was the king that supported and financed Sieur de Mont and Samuel de Champlian in the 1604 settlement of Acadie. He was assassinated in the streets of Paris in 1610, by a religious fanatic. 
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