Things I have noticed about Paris

1. Most of the city parks do not allow dogs. Most city parks also keep their grassy areas behind tiny fences to keep people from walking, sitting or lounging on it. In all our time in Paris we only saw grass you could sit on at Versailles, at the Eiffel Tour and in front of Les Invalides despite passing at least 20 city parks.

2. I can see why the people of France revolted. Everywhere you go there is some palace or garden for nobility only. Most were built in the 1600s and no doubt contributed to bankrupting the monarchy. 

3. The green walk signs at crosswalks are more like an advisory as people will still try to mow you down. 

4. Brunch in Paris is from 11-4. More like an extended lunch. 

5. Historic markers in Paris typically involve buildings built before 1600 or are related to the French Revolution 

6. There is a cheese shop every few blocks but all seem to be closed when looking for one. 

7. People really do holiday in August. While not everyone skips town, a lot of fine restaurants and boutiques are closed for the next 4-6 weeks. 

8. One of the only US brand clothing shops I have seen while wandering is American Apparel... I sure do hope they don't think all Americans wear dayglow.

9. Restaurants always bring a basket of bread to the table but never butter. Starting to think I need to invent some kind of butter dish that fits in your purse.

10. Recycling has not yet caught on. 

11. The French love hazelnuts. Evidence: I bought brittle from the chocolate shop and it contained hazelnuts. I bought apricot bread from the boulangarie and it contained hazelnuts. The word for an espresso with a tiny bit of steamed milk is noisette which in French means hazelnut. Apparently noisette can also refer to many other (mostly French) things.

12. Many homeless people and "urban campers" have pet rabbits and guinea pigs instead of dogs. They are off leash and usually just chilling by a bowl of lettuce. They are the most well behaved rodents I have ever seen. Still weird. 

13. Security forces police or military always come in sets of three. We have seen rollerblade cops at the Louvre (set of three), French military patrolling around the Centre Pompidou with machine guns ( also 3) and regular police security. 

14. Smoking is its own course somewhere between the main plate and dessert. Perhaps it helps make room. 

15. Where there are lots of tourists...there will be lines. Walking down the Champs Élysées there was a line complete with velvet rope to get into both the Louis Vuitton and Paris Saint Germaine (local soccer team) store. 

16. Espresso is served at least twice a day in Paris but it is never very good. Everyone just drinks the espresso equivalent of Folgers. The only decent coffee we had was at Starbucks and Cafe Strada

17. No matter how cool Parisians seem to the rest of the world, 3 comic book shops and a model train shop prove they have a healthy population of Nerds! 

18. There is a word in French for library "Biblioteque". The word librarie means bookstore. We walked all over 9 or 10 neighborhoods in Paris and did not see one library. 

19. The museums do not have drinking fountains. 

20. Paris is an awesome city to walk around. Below is a highlight of random photos taken while strolling. 

Fountain at a church by Jardin Luxembourg 

American Breakfast Diner 

Sean pretended he ended WW2 in front of the Arc de Triumph 

One of many bridges

Another bridge (did I mention Paris has A LOT of bridges)

Old building 

Random street

Landscaping crew at the Louvre gardens

Panoramic photo of the Louvre 

A wall in a park in Le Marais

Me standing in front of the Rue Cuvier sign like a nerd. I mean the guy figured out the whole concept of extinction.

Sean standing next to a statue of L'Hopital like a nerd. Forget who L'Hopital is? Just think back to Calculus.

Well Paris has been great. On to Nice!