Spring Break Highlights, Part 3

Paris

This photo sums up Paris in many ways.

I, like many others before me, fell in love with Paris.  The city's blend of beautiful architecture and gardens made it a wonderful place to be a flaneur.  I managed to strike a balance between enjoying the cultural offerings and just exploring the city, but still did the primarily tourist route and will have to go back someday to see even more.

Highlights:

* Seeing some of the city's famous art, including the Lady and the Unicorn tapestries, (amazingly detailed,) Monet's Water Lilies, (masterful blend of strokes and colors to create atmosphere,) and the Mona Lisa.

* Guess the tourist game.  One downside of Paris being so touristy is that you often have to wait in long lines to see anything.  While waiting I managed to entertain myself by trying to guess where all of the tourists were from.

View from the Musee D'Orsay, including the line to get in.

* Exploring the city.  I did a lot of walking and when I think about it, I was never in a place that wasn't interesting in some way.

Montmatre

* Eiffel Tower and Pont Neuf by night.

* Food.  From the boulangeries and patisseries I had some delicious bread and croissants, and a scrumptious raspberry tart and pistachio apricot tart.  I also enjoyed crepes, a quiche, an eggplant sandwich and cheese. In general, one thing I liked about France was the variety of shops, including the bakeries, butchers, book shops, cheese shops, etc.  Plus the many markets!

This tart looks weird, but tastes amazing.

* Springtime gardens.  Spring was returning to the city, and I spent much time resting my legs in one of the many gardens of the city, where were often full of green and tulips.

near Chatelet