Patrick was sent to Paris for work November 6-8, 2005, and Wendy joined him afterwards for a brief vacation.  This was at the height of the riots by Muslim youths in the Parisian suburbs, but in the center of the city, there was little evidence of the turmoil that was unfolding just a few miles away, except for the occasional busload of gendarmerie parked on the Champs-Elysees.  Since Patrick was working during the daytime, the photos here were mostly taken at night.

You'll find a lot of photos of Notre Dame.  Built over a period of nearly 200 years beginning in the mid-1100s, the cathedral is majestic inside and out, and it's hard to imagine that during the French Revolution it was converted to a "Temple of Reason," vandalized, and used to store food.  Victor Hugo's The Hunchback of Notre Dame stirred popular feelings for the old church and led to a major renovation in the mid-19th century, when, for example, the central spire was added.

We also made a day trip to Chartres to see the magnificent cathedral there.

Paris Photographs