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Jardin des Plantes, Versailles, student protesters, Paris streets

[Added 7/6/02] These are pictures from a 3-week trip to Europe in May, 2002.  These are some of my favorites.  Please take your time when viewing these pictures and leave me a comment or two if you could. You can also tell your friends about these pictures using the form in the previous index page.

The trip started in San Francisco with 5 friends hopping on a non-stop flight to Paris.  Upon arriving at Charles de Gaulle International Airport, we were tired but intrigued at the thought of finally arriving at Paris!  That's PARIS, not San Jose, not New York, but Paris, France!  The airport wasn't very impressive at all, with its tiny white-tiled floors and walls, reminescent of the Jerry Lewis era (60's) and the attempted futuristic look.  Pedestrian traffic within the terminals was unkempt to say the least but hey, this was going to be an adventure!  Only 1 of us had been to Europe before this trip so everything was new and interesting.

A white van driven by a tentative woman driver took us and another party of 3 into downtown Paris.  From the freeway, we saw a huge Ikea building close to the airport and then apartment buildings and then finally sky scrapers as we drove through Paris.  I thought some of the residential buildings, highways, and office buildings looked very much like those in the east coast cities of the US, e.g. Queens, Boston, Philadelphia.  Everything is measured in metrics in Paris (and all of Europe), so distances are shown in meters and km, and speeds in kph (kilometers per hour).  The most noticeable thing on the road was the number of small cars.  Relative to cars in the US, these would have to be classified as sub-sub-sub-sub-compact.  I for one was happy to see that, as it was clearly an attempt to cut down on fuel usage to reduce pollution and probably more importantly (economically) to reduce the cost of transportation.  Another factor which became apparent later on is that there were many narrow streets from mideval era and before. Obviously there's no way a car like a Camry or Accord could fit in those streets.

I'm writing too much so let me get to the pictures.  This first one here was taken on the first night that we were in Paris.  We had a few minutes before boarding a night city bus tour and so wandered the streets a bit and while waiting for others outside a small grocery shop, a cargo truck pulled to a stop in front of the store.  The driver and a single passenger were both ladies who were rather well dressed (contemporary dress, not formal).  The passenger got out and we could see she had on a pair of shoes with at least 4" heals!  Anyway, I digress.  On the side of the truck was a plastic see-through covering and behind the plastic was a layer of doll heads as you see in the picture.  From afar, it's unclear just what the skin-colored side of the truck was made of.   But up close, you can see the eys and nose and mouse of the little baby doll heads.  Scary or cute?  I've gotten comments supporting both, but I think you'll agree that it is very unique!
 

[5172]  Paris.  Doll heads fill the side of a see-through truck wall.

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The next day we visited a number of well-known sites in Paris, including the Notre Dame and the Luxembourg.  Less well-known is the Jardin des Plantes (Plants Garden) which you see a picture of next.  It is a beautiful garden, perhaps 500 meters deep and 200 meters wide, planted with poppies (as you see in the picture), tulips, roses, and many other varieties of flowers.  The building in the back houses zoology exhibits and to the right (not visible) of it were several greenhouses with tropical and other exotic plants.
 
 

[5206]  Paris.  Jardin des Plantes.

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I did not show a picture of Notre Dame in this set of pictures but the following picture was taken very close to it, along the river Seine.  In the following picture, you see souveigners displayed on one bank of the river and a typical Paris building on the other bank.

[5289]  Paris.  Shops along the river Seine, close to Notre Dame.

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As we strolled the Paris streets, we ran into students preparing to protest the presidential elections to be held the next day.  Here in this picture you can see the protest placard held by a young man and to his right are four young ladies, all listening to what he is saying.  They are not shy of the camera at all as you can see by the eye contact made by the young man.  This picture shows the typical Parisian youths, dress rather nicely though not overly fashioned, and half of them smoke.  Cigarettes are just not shunned in Paris or the other places we went in Europe.
 

[5304]  Paris.  Young students prepare to march in protest to Le Pen.

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In the next picture you see more protest signs and students preparing for the march.  I thought the girl in the center had a really interesting dressing style, with the jeans and shirt fitted under a pastel yellow dress.  I suppose, in a way, she IS a symbol of an aspect of democracy - freedom of DRESS!
 

[5315]  Paris.  More students preparing a protest against the elections.

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[5316]  Paris.  Funny traffic posts indicating no left turn and then 5 meters later, no right turn.

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[5354]  Paris.  Tourists and locals alike relax on the lawns of the Luxembourg.

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[5372]

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[5423]  Paris.  Actually, this is on the outskirts of Paris, in the Castle of Versailles.  One of the many grand halls in the chateau.

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[5440]  Paris.  Statue outside of the Versailles chateau. 

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[5453]  Paris.  The huge sprawl of the Versailles grounds seemed endless.  Nicely groomed, but endless!

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[5483]  Paris.  Versailles - one of the buildings of the Petit Trianon.

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[5484]  Paris.  Versailles - one of the buildings of the Petit Trianon.

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[5490]  Paris.  Versailles - the Hameau grounds.

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[5491]  Paris.  Versailles - the Hameau grounds.

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