Its Spring in Paris!

The flowers are blooming, the leaves are budding and the barges have come back to the Seine. Just thought we should mention this because New Jersey had a bit of snow last week and the weather hovers barely above freezing.

Of course it never really got that cold here, we heard it had something to do with the Gulf Stream.  Paris had two or three inches of snow one day in December that shut the airports down for days, but since those few weeks of freezing weather it has been warmer. This does NOT mean we aren't happy for the arrival of Spring. Winter in Paris seemed to consist of three or four months of cloudy skies and an intermittent drizzle. Therefore the past few weeks of coatless weather has been greatly appreciated.

Rumor is this Spring is unusually early even for Paris, so we can chalk this up to global warming (sorry to all of you who are still routing for global cooling) This is one side effect we don't mind, but I'm sure we'll change our minds when Summer rolls around. Stay tuned for that report.

Nice: 'You Pay For The Weather'

 That is what a local we spoke with said. On our trip to Nice and the south of France with Dave's brother and sister-in-law we only had one dry day so we really saved! We took the train down and were lucky to get tickets that seated us around a good sized table and get a few games of Settlers in on our way down.

Check out those waves

Overlooking Monaco

Dave and Mary in Monaco

 The Saturday was stormy but rain held off during the day. We got off the train to Monaco one stop early and walked the remainder along the coast. It was a very nice walk with some spectacular waves. We wandered around Monaco until the skies opened up and returned to Nice in time to run into the French tradition of not serving dinner until 8.

The next day it rained all day so we took part in the traditional French rainy day activities, visted an expo and went bowling!

Mary admiring the view in St Paul de Vence

Glamour shot on quaint staircase

Monday we had nicer weather for our trip to the medieval fortified village of St Paul de Vence (which is not the same as the town of Vence!)  The village was very charming and now seems to be the home to a large number of artists and trending toward Disney-ification.

Mont St. Michel

Mont St. Michel

This picture I stole but you get a much better idea of how the Mont is situated

 Mont Saint Michel is a giant slab of granite dropped into a bay in Normandy. For centuries it was only accessible by land via a land bridge that appeared at low tide giving it a seclusion and strategic location ideal for both religious and military purposes. Thus starting in 708 it has been inhabited by religious orders, until the French revolution and was fortified throughout the middle ages. We got to visit it this weekend with some of our new friends from Paris.

Unlike so many other historic sites this one feels largely intact. We wandered up the mountain past the quaint homes (though nearly all are shops, restaurants and hotels) and then into the cathedral complex itself. It is a huge warren of buildings and as you go through you slip through different layers of construction. The 19th century decorations, late medieval additions, to the 10th and 11th century foundations. The buildings are all built right into the mountain so each layer is built situated on top of the others.

After our day in Mt St. Michel we spent the night in the old fortified town of Avranches were we visited the gardens and the Manuscript Museum. The Manuscript Museum, which is built into the remains of the old city walls, was interesting describing the process of making and preserving the books. Mt St. Michel was a center of manuscripts through out the medieval times and the center has some of its best on display for visitors.  A very good trip!

Mary and the Mont

Mary in the cloisters

Dave looks out on the bay

Dave and Mary prepare to cross the drawbridge into St. Michel

Decoration remaining on the city wall of Avranches

Enjoying the Le Jardin Des Plants in Avranches

Goodbye