July 13-15: A Miscellany of Photos

Our days in Paris began to get comfortable.  I got a little lazy with taking photos.



 One day I forgot to bring my camera.  Another day I brought my camera, but left the SD card inside my external hard drive at Olivia's flat.  One day I simply did not want to juggle said camera, said toddler and whatever else we were carrying that day.

So I took fewer photos and took in more of the city.

We wandered around the city...

...hit some of the must-sees such as the pretty Musee quai du Branly...

Their green "wallpaper" reminded me of the mystical watersheds I saw when in Tennessee.  A fine sprinkling of water fell on us.  So refreshing, so moist.

Whenever Levi napped, we stopped to drink mint tea and espresso at a cafe or found a pretty garden to sit and rest until he woke up again.  This park was a cool respite from the slowly heating up city.

(Photo Credit: Douglas Ridloff)

While hanging out in this park for a couple hours, Levi made friends with a couple girls and shared toys with them in the sandpit.  The parents struck up a conversation with us.  This is my second time in Paris.  I still insist that the people here are friendly and warm, not snooty at all.  I think we New Yorkers share the same affliction--New Yorkers are actually quite friendly and will stop and give you directions, unlike the stereotype that we will not give you a minute of our time.

(Photo Credit: Douglas Ridloff)

We went to the beautiful Grande Mosquee du Paris with Olivia and then visited the zoo in the neighboring Jardin du Plantes.  That day the sun got to me and I struggled to stay energetic.  Having Olivia with us was so helpful--she touted him through the zoo, helping him peer through fences to see the animals better.  Levi was very comfortable with Olivia--we suspected he wanted a break from his wonderful parents.  The next night Levi had his date night with Olivia while we had ours.  

We had salad, bread and merguez with Ronit and Benjamin and their adorable 22-month old son, Noaz just outside of Paris at their flat.  Five years ago we met them while traveling through Israel and argued about the merits of American Sign Language as opposed to French Sign Language.  It was surreal seeing them again, both parties now plus one, only three months apart.  They were getting ready to go to Thailand for three weeks, so we swapped travel advice, complaints and marvels.  Over cheese and fruit we argued about why American Sign Language involves so much fingerspelling.

After a few easy days in Paris, we packed up our littlest suitcase and flew to the south of France.