J`taime being on vacation

Bonjour from Paris!  This does not happen every day that I have a chance to make a blog entry from Paris, so I am taking advantage of being at our lovely friend Stella's house and having access to the internet.  

(I just read that prior sentence and please excuse my English.  My brain is still actively setting up sentences in German, so the order of my clauses might be catastrophic).  

So.  More than one week and 768 photos into our European adventure, I am wondering what to share with you from our trip thus far, and really?  The only thing that seems worth our time is to share with you a few favorite photos from today.  Welcome to life as we know it, in Paris, France on this gorgeous early autumn day. 

Today at Jardin du Luxembourg, it seemed like nearly the entire city of Paris was present, enjoying the bright sun and the lounge chairs circled around the ponds.  The children had the pond full of remote controlled boats that zipped across the water, bending low in the strong wind.  Here are two boys intercepting their boat on the side of the pond, where they turned it around with their sticks and pushed her off towards the opposite shore.

Stella, me and Marcos.  Stella is from Switzerland, and we have been penpals since the sixth grade (which for the record was back before the internet, when people used pens and paper to communicate internationally).  We had never actually met in person until Marcos and I arrived at her doorstep two nights ago, but it was one of those great meetings where you feel like you can cut to the meat of the friendship because the milk has already been covered.  I hope that she also felt a quick connection to us!  She has been such an angel in having us in her cute Parisian apartment and sharing her space and time.  We try to be good guests, but inevitably staying here is one of those times when we leave thinking, "Wow.  What could we ever really do to repay her for her kindness?".

At the suggestion of Marcos' sister Belle and a friend of hers, we hunted down the renowned Cafe Angelina.  It is famous for its desserts and uber intense hot chocolate.  Marcos and I ordered one of each to fully experience the joy, and our eating had slowed down to snail's pace near the end because our blood was running thick with a chocolate that could knock your pants off.  Wow.

Here is one of the waiters, telling me to hurry and take the picture so that he could ferry the goods off to another table of expectant patrons.  

Marcos takes on the hot chocolate.  Pleased?  Quite!

Stella and I on our way back home.  She was such a good sport to endure our photo taking and the spontaneous outbursts of, "Wow.  Can you believe we're in Paris?"

In general, Marcos and I have spent hours and hours every day of this trip walking around and exploring big cities. Here we are kissing at dusk on a bridge over the Seine.  Below is Notre Dame at sunset.  The sky was particularly beautiful this evening...