I'm still alive, and in Madrid

Sorry no photo, its late, dark, and I'm tired. I just arrived in Madrid, Spain tonight. Took quite some effort getting here (RER, airport, shuttle, metro...) You will love this, I went down to the nearest bar for a drink and a late dinner--did you know when you order a beer, they bring you a little plate of Tapas (appetizers)??? And with each additional beer, something new and tasty shows up? I thought it was a great deal. I'm in a nice hotel, only 49euro/night and my 3 beers and a dinner (3 rounds of appetizers) was less than 5euro. Spain is fabulous! I am near Calle Grand Villa, next to the city center, I have a balcony and a view of Plaza del Carmen.
Looking forward to morning so I can see!

Ferris Wheel

I couldnt resist-yesterday afternoon was very pretty and I took a ride on that giant ferris wheel shown in previous photos. I seemed to be eye-level with the Butte de Sacre Coeur.

The Orangerie

Yesterday I finally made it to the Orangerie Museum, it houses the large panels of waterlillies-the room was built for them. The museum is called l'Orangerie because it used to be sort of a green house to keep the orange trees from the Tuillerie Gardens in the winter.

Versailles

Yesterday I went to Versailles, the palace of the Louis (XIV+) Very beautiful, but I will need to come again in the summer to have a better time photographing the gardens. I could spend an entire day just wandering the gardens.

Montmartres

I went to Montmartres yesterday, home of the Sacre Coeur. I went on a walking tour with my guide book and found the former homes and studios of VanGogh, Renoir, Picasso and Toulous-LaTrec. It is a really cool area. My tour ended at the bottom of the "butte" at the Moulin Rouge...

The American Church

I went to church sunday, the American Church in Paris. It was the first American church on foreign soil. It has been in operation for 150 years. A couple of days before, I stopped in to check the hours for Sunday service and ran into a nice lady...turns out she is the interim Pastor's wife--they are from Ohio and she said they will live in Paris for one year and have an apartment upstairs with a wonderful view. I went to the coffee after the service and she introduced me to her son and daughters that are visiting for the week, Im going to meet up with them in about an hour...nice to talk to some Americans for a change.

Rue Cler