Premières photos de Paris

So far, one major sight per day. Our first day we went to the Arc de Triomphe. Lots of platforms and seating were set up around the big traffic circle (Place Charles de Galle) for Monday's holiday: VE Day, a good time to be an American in France! The seating made it very easy to enjoy watching the traffic navigate the circle. The crowd would grunt and groan everytime there were crazy drivers darting in and out of the traffic. Makes me glad we're not driving.

Despite the Parisian reputation, everybody has been very friendly to us- plenty of smiles on our Metro rides. Of course, it helps to have a super-cute baby with you. I'm getting good at talking about Jasper in French. Oui, il est un garçon. Il a quatre mois. Il a fatigué . . .

Today it was the Eiffel Tower. Much more impressive in person. I've got plenty of photos of the tower. The overcast day gave way to a beautiful "puffy white cloud" day. Ahhh, spring in Paris!

Jasper makes it hard to eat at a restaurant so we've been eating "A emporter". The neighborhood we're staying in is full of families, a variety of restaurants, and many of the typical French shops. We've eaten Italian, Chinese, and Indian food for dinner so far. It's very interesting to taste the difference of the French version. In particular, the cheese in the Italian food was significantly better than what we get at home. Eating "to go" is working out since most restaurants are small and, despite a non-smoking-in-restaurants law, smoking in and out of restaurants is typical. We ate at the restaurant the first night, but it rained last night and Jasper was tired tonight.

By the way, as I write this, Jasper just figured out how to roll from his belly to his back! (He started back to belly last week.) Growin' fast!

Love to all, Jim (Gretel & Jasper)