It's so French!

To backtrack (now that we have better computer access in Korea)...

Upon emerging from the Metro en route to our hotel in Paris, we were greeted by the Bastille memorial. As we walked toward our hotel on Charonne, I thought, 'Wow! This is so French!" If you've never been to Paris, you're likely thinking, 'Duh! Of course Paris is French!" But perhaps if you've been there you know what I mean. Most cities I've visited have a mix of old and new; classic and modern. It appeared to me during my brief encounter with Paris that even the new is modeled after the old, and it's beautiful and SO very French! Wrought iron balconies and flowering window boxes adorned every building, commercial and residential; cafes with little tables had every chair facing the street; stylish, hip people enjoyed coffee (and a cigarette), wine (and a cigarette), or beer (and a cigarette) while socializing and observing passerbyers. Paris was just as it is portrayed in film. I can't fully explain how Paris fulfilled every expectation of how France should look-- it was just so French!

I appreciated how France preserves its 'old.' We enjoyed, for example, the Musee d'Orsay, an art museum established in the great hall (and beyond) of an old train station. And how the Arc de Triomphe is preserved and functions as a roundabout at the end of the magnificent Champs-Élysées. And art is everywhere! Sculptures in parks (we enjoyed attempting to emulate the poses of Rodin's pieces) and gardens, and museums everywhere you look. It was so exciting!

We hit, as I mentioned, the Arc de Triomphe and the Musee d'Orsay. We also explored the Musee Rodin (The Thinker!!), Musee de l'Orangerie (Monet's Waterlillies!), Musee du Louvre (Mona Lisa kept staring at us), and the Eiffel Tower. We walked around and through the entire city, so you name a park or garden, and we visited it. For instance, we walked by and got a kick out of the funky eye sore that is the Pompidou and we later took a brief nap in Les Tuileries.

We had a lovely Shabbat dinner on Friday night at the home of our new Pardes friend- thank you Pascale! We also enjoyed spending time with Craig's friend David who flew to Paris from Nice (thank you, Madame Bloom!).

Our stopover in Paris was really lovely!