Our first real day in Paris begins with breakfast at the hotel. It's sort of brunch set up with self-service fruit, juice, rolls, toast, yogurt and an omelette station near two coffee/cappucino machines. The room is hot and people are impatient. The vibe is not relaxing. The food is OK.

After breakfast me meet in the lobby with other Viking cruisers for a walking tour of Le Marais the Jewish/Bohemian quarter of the city. There are enough of us to divide into two groups, each with its own guide. Our guide is Isabelle. She rounds us up with some no nonsense instructions and we are given Metro tickets and radio receivers tuned to the frequency of Isabelle's tranmitter unit. The receivers are easy to wear... they hang around your necks on a rope... and the earpiece is very comfortable. Once turned on, we can hear her commentary easily without needing to crowd around her or for her to speak louder than normal to be heard. We head off to the Metro station about 50 yards from the hotel's front door. Isabelle shows us how to put the Metro ticket in the reader and retrieve it. Everyone does as they are told and we are off, headed to Le Marais. Next stop... the Bastille Metro station on the 8 line, where our walk begins.

Slide show of scenes from our walk of Le Marais. You can stop the show with your mouse.

Isabelle is very well informed, speaks beautiful English with a delightful accent and has a great sense of humor. She takes us through Le Marais with insightful commentary, stopping here and there to point out historic spots, residences, churches, shops and to recommend that we try the macaroons during our cruise. "They are nothing like what you call macaroons in the States," she says. We try them in Rouen and she is absolutely right.

Le Marais is a delight. The main focus of the walk is our visit to Hôtel de Sully with its decorative architecture, beautiful gardens and the park within what was the Place Royale - now the Place des Vosges. Our two hour walk is over before we know it and we have seen a neighborhood that is steeped in history and is also vibrant with life, shops, restaurants and cafes. Buildings and streets date back to the 1500s and are too narrow for modern traffic. The horrors of WWII are written in Hebrew and English on the door frames of the Jewish homes and shops. Street signs speak of political and social injustices and heros of the quarter. The past comes to life when the stories of the streets are told and peel back the city's veneer of life today. Thoroughly modern and centuries old too. It is a wonderful thing to taste and savor. But not for too long. Our walk ends at the Hôtel de Ville or City Hall. Isabelle tells us about the building with its walls marked by bullets shot during the liberation of Paris. She bids us farewell pointing us in the direction of Notre Dame and the Metro entrances.

Paris, Day Two (continued)