(This entry is a work in progress...)
My goodness, where to start. As you may have read earlier, I was in Paris last weekend to see the city and meet my second cousin Peter, who played a bunch of shows in France last week (his music is really great -- peterbradleyadams.com). I have to admit that I was not exactly looking to spend time in Paris this year--as with London, I figured I'll have other opportunities to get there someday and I should spend my time and money seeing other places. But when the prospect of seeing family aligned with a European airline's big sale, I decided to go for it.
To prepare for my trip, I emailed my dear Winston friends Catherine and Allison. They've both spent significant time in the city and we have the same tastes in basically everything (TV shows, wine, and other things that matter), so I figured they would steer me in the right direction. Armed with some printed emails and my best pashmina scarf, I left the Flow House at 4:45 AM in a Mercedes taxi that would get me to my early flight. (Aside: several taxi drivers in Austria drive fairly new Mercedes cars; apparently they must pay an emissions tax each year, and the low tax associated with Mercedes vehicles offsets the higher cost of the car!). I will not tell you about the 140km/hr speeds at which my driver drove for no apparent reason, nor will I mention the poor strung out gentleman who tried to join me in the cab at a stop light. I got to the airport just fine, and my flight was quick and easy.
...By now, you've probably skipped down to the pictures.
I arrived in Paris by 9AM, and headed straight to a great little place that does walking tours of the city. The next three hours were spent walking all around with my guide (my age, from St. Louis) and a young couple from New Zealand.
"Look at me! I'm a tourist!"Though it felt a little cheesy stopping at the big places to take pictures and hear stories, I felt totally oriented by lunch and really enjoyed getting to know the other three folks.
As you can see from the pictures, the weather was absolutely beautiful. It stayed this way (sunny and upper 60s) for the entirety of my three days in Paris.
I could go on and on in my slightly flowery prose about what I did and how it smelled and how I felt, but I think I'll give you a more condensed version of my favorite things and moments in Paris:
- Nutella and banana crepes. I must thank Catherine Davis Hornaday for introducing me to my new favorite food. Ohh, I could eat one right now.
- Realizing that I had nutella all over my face about an hour after eating my third banana and nutella crepe. Can't trust the French to tell you these things.
- Musee de l'Orangerie -- home to an incredible display of Monet's waterlilly paintings (he did over 300 of them all in all, inspired by a pond and garden he created on his property in Giverny). Monet created eight paintings for two oval-shaped rooms in the museum...a sort of panoramic 360 degree view in each room. The bigger paintings are up to 17 meters wide. To learn more, click here.
- Oh, the Luxembourg Gardens. I've got to go to bed, but I will write more about this place tomorrow.
- Tara Jarmon's store on the Champs Elysees. No harm in trying on dresses without the slightest intention of buying, right?
- Peter's concerts, obviously...
