Paris Photos Are Now Up!

It took a few days, but the Paris photos (with accompanying commentary) have now been posted. As I mentioned before, it was a memorable trip, and a wonderful city. I don't think we'll ever get bored with Paris. There were plenty of highlights, but a few stand out, to wit:

- The Claude Monet Exhibit at the Grand Palais (hurry, it closes on January 24) was an exhaustive collection of the seminal impressionist painter's art, and showed his works the way they were meant to be-- a series of paintings side-by side. His "impressions" of the same subject (mountain, seascape, building, etc.) from different times of the day, times of year, weather conditions and so forth have all been sold and have gone the way of the 4 winds, so to bring it all back under one roof-- works from the NY Met were next to works from the Melbourne Australia art museum, which were next to paintings from Budapest-- this exhibit required amazing coordination and cooperation from all major institutions, and it was a treat to see. The downside? Er, we did not buy tickets in advance, which meant standing outside in a line for 2+ hours. In 33 degree temps and howling wind. Not one but two people in front of us fainted(?!) while in line.

- This was very much a mix-and-match vacation, which gave us an incredible amount of freedom. So instead of running all over the city pell-mell on a rigid schedule, we worked off of a broad list of sights, shops, and restaurants that piqued our interests. If we didn't go to a certain place, well, we'd go there on another day or another visit. The list itself was compiled from multiple sources-- friends, co-workers, books and blogs-- and was full of insider-type tips. Going forward, this may well be the way we do things on our next vacation, wherever that may be. Special mention and credit goes to the excellent Keeping The Bear-Garden In The Background blog, written by an American expat student living in Paris-- more than a few of the places we visited were a direct result of this entertaining and extremely well-written example of the blogging arts-- it's so good, I've included a permanent link to it on the right hand of this page.

- What's all this talk about rude French people? In all my visits to Paris (and other parts of France as well), I have yet to see this attitude-- and the one time I -did- see it, it was clearly provoked, and the guy on the receiving end had it coming. Unlike the very direct Germans, all the Parisians we came into contact with (and remember, we went to non-touristy places) were unfailingly polite, and said the French versions of "please," "thank you," and "excuse me" far more than my fellow Nurembergers would in identical situations. Maybe we've just been extremely lucky in this realm, but that is my observation.

- I'll agree that the international terminals of Paris' Charles de Gaulle airport are amongst the most comically inefficient torture chambers in all of travel-dom. Imagine our surprise by going intra-Europe and touching down in the new Terminal 2G-- we were out of the airport and on our train to downtown Paris in about 20 minutes (check in for the return trip took far less time). The hopeful news for international connections is that the Paris Airport Authority was taking surveys of terminal 2G passengers, and looks to be implementing lessons learned from its newer, efficient, and comfortable terminals. Fingers crossed-- it's only a matter of time before we use this airport as a connector.

- Finally, a shout-out to my bride, the lovely B. Beyond taking awesome photographs per usual, she did so much more-- she has a much better grasp on the French language, and is equal parts GPS, Sherpa guide, homing pigeon and swashbuckler in one beautiful package. I'm extremely lucky to have someone like this as both my travel-- and life partner.

You can access the photos through the link on the right side of the page, or simply by clicking HERE. The Blue Melon photo site now includes a "slideshow" feature that allows you to set the timer (look for a triangle inside a circle on the upper right hand of the page). Would you believe I included a picture of camera-shy me in there? Head on over, take a look, and feel free to leave comments.