Swiss Missives: Paris, France Part 1: Touristy Stuff

Over the long Easter weekend (one of the benefits of working for a Catholic organization is getting both Good Friday and Easter Monday off), I finally made my way to Paris to see Maggie and Bouba. While there’s no doubt that I was in France, it’s also true that Paris has its own vibe. I had a really good time and even managed to communicate with Bouba reasonably well despite my limited French and his limited English. It was also good to see Dana Schrum again as well as Maggie’s friend Tess.

In an effort to get as much of the touristy stuff out of the way as possible while Maggie worked on Friday, I took a free walking tour (yes, from the same group used in London, Edinburgh and Amsterdam). We would also end up doing the same in Montmartre on Saturday evening.

The weather was strange over the weekend. Fortunately, there was a lot of beautiful blue sky. Unfortunately, there were random wind and hail storms that whipped up just about every day. You’d think I was in Ohio or something. So if my pictures look schizophrenic, that’s why.

Here’s the tourist special:

St. Michael’s Fountain

Garden at the end of Ile-de-la-Cité

place where the guardians of the French language exercise their real ultimate power (which mostly entails wearing powdered wigs and debating whether an iPod is masculine or feminine, from what I gather)

Jardin Tuileries

The Egyptian obelisk at Place de Concorde

Fountain at Place de Concorde

Petit Palais

Arc de Triomphe

More of the same

Me at the Eiffel Tower

From a distance, I thought the scale of the tower was pretty unimpressive against the skyline (kind of like the Statue of Liberty). However, when you’re actually under the thing, it’s quite magnificent.