Relais Akena de Savigny Savigny-le-Temple

After a long-expected deluge of rain Monday evening, the skies broke in the morning on Tuesday. It has remained extraordinarily beautiful since. Le mois de Mai a Paris, quoi! Encore plus de raison to get out and walk the lovely streets of Paris. We really put in some kilometers on Monday, particularly on the return from Musee Cluny. It was an excellent opportunity to describe many of the monuments in the context of Parisian history. We had a chance to ...

... three hours as we walk and window shop. Sam has been patiently waiting for hot chocolate or ice cream since we found Angelina's closed, so we find a little cafe and stop in for some snacks, Mimi's treat! Sam and I share an order of Goose Rillettes, Janice goes All-American with a cheeseburger, and Mimi ordered a pear-ice-cream thing and Sam gets a banana split (which we all take a couple of bites out of). My mood improves a bit so that I'm at least tolerable ...

... high priced drinks on the first level head all the way back down and grabbed some pizza on the way back to the hostel. Night Time Adventure I had a brilliant idea of hiring some bikes for our trip to see the Eifful tower at night. We were a bit late after trying to figure out how the bike renting machine worked and so we perhaps didn`t observe all the rules of the ...

... pastries, either way it was success. I then decided that I wanted to walk the streets aimlessly for an hour, some people would say I was lost others would say I way just taking in the culture. I WOULD SAY I WAS LOST!!!!! I stood at the corner of the street with my arms crossed and I guess I looked a little confused because this girl that was going for a jog stopped and asked if I was lost. The girl of my dreams, not because she was cute, but because she had a map!!! I ...

... de 8 (1 normand, 2 jeunes du colorado, et 3 autres personnes qui sont rentrées plus tard et qui dormaient encore le lendemain matin. Le jeudi, visite de la défense, champ elysées, notre dame, ect... Petite anecdote, je suis arrivé a l'arrière de l'elysée au moment de la sortie du président. J'ai vu nicolas et carla! J'ai même ...

What a lovely change to leave the gray, frozen tundra of home to arrive at the beginning of a Parisian spring. Pansies dot parkways, trees are bursting with yellow-green buds and the sun, the glorious sun, has been out for three days in a row, with no sign of it abating. Parisians are walking around with their coats open, taking time to stroll or sit in a park appreciating the sun, all with smiles on their faces. We're back in Paris after only a few month's hiatus ...

... containing the anonymous bones of 6,000 Parisians who had, until the revolution in 1785, been buried in real cemeteries. In order to relieve congestion in the existing cemeteries and improve sanitary conditions, the Government of Paris decided to move the bones of these unfortunate thousands to the miles of underground tunnels from limestone quarries no longer being used. It is cool and damp as you descend into the tunnels, and the self-guided ...

... a fan of heights, we didn't bother with going up the Grande Arche. Sitting on a park bench in the esplanade and enjoying the sun burning down on our faces was pure pleasure. As a one-time visit, it was worth it to see the artwork and what Paris deems somewhat of a planned city. If you're going, it's best to get out at the terminus (The Grande Arche), since one must continually walk down groups of stairs down the kilometer-long esplanade.

Ah, Gay Pari.... So, Rachel and I decided to jet over to Paris in the Concord, sip a little wine on the Seine and view the Surrender Monkeys in their natural habitat. Kind of like being on safari again but much more expensive. No, really, it was the Concord, see! Holy **** this place is expensive! Talk about hemoraging money! Damn Euro! Bloody Pound! We haaatess them we hates ...

... reserved for the Night's outfit, not some colorful Converse All Stars and some really cute hoodies. **By the way, for the record, jeans the way I like them are incredibly difficult to find in Paris. While in Ireland and London I noticed they were available, but shopping was not on my mind, especially since I didn't want to buy anything else to carry ;) This has inspired me to pack almost nothing on the next trip and buy as I go. No more shopping in Paris unless it's necessary-I ...