The pace of Paris is whatever you like...certainly it is like any big city...teeming with activity and traffic...we found the best way to get around was to walk. It's an easy walking city but if that's not for you there is always a bus or you can take the boat that runs up and down the Seine and stops frequently...hopping on and off as often as you like..or just staying on and enjoying the views and the ride...So we did both. We walked in the morning and I loved the energy of this city. If it started moving to fast..we just sat down and had a cappuccino and a French pastry...
Remember I told you on your last visit to Paris with me that spring was in full bloom. The tulips were busting out all over and I was so happy to see them all together in their stunning dress up blossoms. Perhaps they spread their petals in full bloom for the hungry, starved Americans who had not seen the tiniest promise of spring back home...you give me hope, that when I return to American, your tulips in arms, will greet me there.
In the afternoon we toured, with our group of 44 new friends, and the most wonderful tour director...to the Palace of Versailles. Such an incredibly impressive structure...and the history, so much history. We toured the gardens, unfortunately not in bloom and then we entered the building. Just amazing and with a local guide, we learned of it's history in these hallowed walls.
So many rooms but the one that most impressed me was the Hall of Mirrors..I really didn't do it justice. There were so many people in the room it was very hard to get a full shot..but I hope you get the idea. An important room. It is where the Treaty of Versailles, ending World War 1 , was signed in 1919. The reflections were amazing and such classy materials and glass...I visited this room twice...it felt like a gift to me.
One of the hallways we passed through going from room to room..I choose this photo because of the columns leading my eye right to the ceiling...the paintings through-out the Palace were amazing and you have to wonderful, when viewing something this magnificent, how it could possibly have been done...and the workmanship is of the highest caliber..I doubt we could find anything, with the magnitude of this beauty, being done today...and let's not forget all the gold...
After leaving the Palace it was back outside again to see what new was happening on the square...Lots of squares, lots of activity...and here was a young girl, gathering a crowd as she feed the little birds...it felt good to be in the sunshine again and move back into the 21st century...yes, comparing the very old to the very young, knowing that both have a place in our world is one of the gifts of travel...blue nail polish did not scare the birds away...as a matter of fact, I think they rather liked it...a tiny beacon to their food pantry on this day.
On our last night in Paris, I looked out the window of our room, and I saw this...each hour, every night, for five minutes, the Eiffel Tower is lit up with flashing lights...the top rotates sending out a beam of Light across this great city...it was the perfect ending to three full days in Paris...in the Spring. I stood there for many more minutes to soak it all in, even after the lights went dim again...
“If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast.”
― Ernest Hemingway, A Moveable Feast
“I've seen you, beauty, and you belong to me now, whoever you are waiting for and if I never see you again, I thought. You belong to me and all Paris belongs to me and I belong to this notebook and this pencil.”
― Ernest Hemingway