The best way to start a tour of London is from the "London Eye", an oversized "Ferris Wheel" that takes thirty minutes to rotate.  From here, Big Ben doesn't look so big.

We enjoyed seeing the obligatory tourist sites such as the Tower Bridge, Big Ben and Parliament...

and London shopping ain't too shabby.

But our favorite part of London was staying in the quiet neighborhood of Notting Hill.  This is a picture of Sara looking through our hotel window.

Along the same street was a separate boys and girls school.  We saw them going to school in the morning.  Sara was intrigued by their school uniforms.

After touring Parliament, we saw a large crowd close by Westminster Abbey.  We were told they were filming the Da Vinci Code.  If you look closely, you can see Tom Hanks.

Upon arriving in Paris, we headed up the Eiffel Tower to get an overall view of Paris.

And here is Notre Dame.  Can you see the hunchback?

Art was the theme in Paris.  Here is Sara in the Louvre observing their controversial pyramid entrance in its courtyard.

Our favorite museums were the Louvre and the d'Orsay.  Here are samples of famous paintings (and sculpture) we saw.

We weren't allowed to photograph Mona.

The modern art is displayed in the Pompidou museum.  Notice it's inside out structure.

The likes of Picasso are displayed here.  Below is a picture of the place where he lived along with an enlightened impression of one of his models.

Paris surprised us with its large parks throughout the city including this one with natural caves and waterfalls.

Their science museum was very extensive.  So I guess France isn't just about art?

Their business center, La Defense is well removed from the tourist and museum centers.  It was very massive and demonstrated that Paris is an economic center as well as a center for tourism and the arts.

Paris was once ruled from Rome.  An ancient arena was unearthed and partially restored.  The playground these children use frequently was once the site of gladiator fights.

The French, and even more so the tourists are enchanted with the Cabarets in Paris.  But as Sara demonstrates, after all is said and done, all love eventually leads to the same conclusion.

Last Fall, Sara and I visited Egypt.  Here's a picture we took of the temple of Luxor which shows a solitary obelisk on one side of its entrance. It's apparent by the empty base that another obelisk stood on the other side.  That obelisk was given to France in 1829 as a gift and now sits in a plaza in central Paris called Place de la Concorde.  You see it here with another more famous yet much newer 'tower' in the background.