Paris, and such.

Happenings:


PARIS


..was amazing, to say the least.

I have to admit that I hated it at first.
I think it was the whole culture shock thing, crowd thing, busy city /foreign language thing. Also the fact that I'm the world's biggest scaredy cat thing. But by the second day, I set my insecurities aside, and fell in love.

Observations:

• The people either smelled really good or really bad. 
• They were impeccably fashionable and overall dapper in every way, which caused me to question the meaning of life.
• The scarves. THE SCARVES. There is something about a scarf that is so classy. (I feel the ultimate rite of passage for womanhood is being able to tie a scarf properly. Let's just say I am 59% woman.)
• I did not see one obese person. Not one. 
• Everyone and their dog had a bicycle/and or a dog. 

David had to stop me from stuffing this little gem into my purse. 

Thoughts:

When we got off the bus at The Louvre, I don't think I was expecting to leave quite so changed. 

Something about being in touching distance of things that are centuries old moves me to tears. Those ancient people are made real; tangible. They're not just stories you read about, leaving you with this insatiable hunger to understand, to know and experience all that they did. You somehow have to come to grips with the now and realize that they were just like you or me, that we're all a part of this immense circle of coming and living and seeing and being. 

                                                               The Great Recycler:

                                                      Even when we die, we're not dead. 

This is a Minoan pot. It's a lovely little squid.
(I find the Minoans incredibly fascinating)

Thanks to David's extensive knowledge of Art History, I learned that this was painted by Jacques-Louis David. He had been at art school in Paris at the time (17th century) and was receiving much doubt and criticism from his colleagues and professors regarding his artistic abilities. This was the painting from which he finally earned his respect as an artist.

And then of course, there's this gal. 

"The poetry of the earth is never dead."
-Keats

Sorry for the art tangent, it couldn't be helped.

We also saw the magical Notre Dame:

and the beautiful Luxembourg Gardens:

Napoleon's Tomb and the war museum:

It's quite small, oui?

The Eiffel Tower, of course!

                                                         Our grumpy, hungry pictures.

And last but not least, the Lover's Lock Bridge.

                                 

It was beautifully perfect.