i met up with alicia, annie, sage, nate, and noah at the montparnasse-bienvenue station. from there, we walked down boulevard du montparnasse, where we were able to see all the cafés were people like hemingway, fitzgerald, picasso, and others would hangout. that was pretty cool. it had me thinking about midnight in paris...i might just have to go to the hurlbut's and watch it again. definitely a good one.
from there we wandered down rue vavin. it was such a fun little street with boutiques, food, art, and at the end of the street, le jardin du luxembourg.
we made a detour to see the statue of alfred dreyfus, who was a jewish officer in the french army. he was convicted of treason in 1894 (falsely) and was finally pardoned after three trials. the dreyfus affair is still a touchy subject in france. this statue was originally intended to be placed at the école militaire, but was placed in the tuileries garden instead. later it was moved to this location. interesting story. it illustrates the pride of the french government, definitely.
we also made a detour and stopped at jean-paul hévin, one of the top chocolatiers in paris. and i was in heaven. seriously, this place is just gorgeous. i may have never been quite so happy as i was when i walked into that little chocolate shop. :)
after our stop at jean-paul hévin, we got to the jardin du luxembourg. i love this place. it was the perfect day; the sun was shining, the air was crisp, the leaves on all the trees were changing color, and there were still flowers in bloom. there are so many people who just spend their time in this garden (which is really more of a park - it's enormous). it's easily one of my favorite places in paris.
we got to see a mini statue of liberty, chestnut trees (one of the chestnuts fell on alicia's head...i may or may not have cried from laughing so hard), we saw statues, fountains, and p e o p l e. so many people, doing all kinds of things. my favorite people were the little old ladies and men, sitting in the chairs near the flowers or the fountains, just talking, reading, and soaking up the sun. what is your life, when you are free to spend your afternoon sitting in the jardin du luxembourg? i would very much like that to be my life, too.
the only bummer is that the orangerie wasn't open. ah, well. such is life.
in conclusion: i loved this place. i think i say that about every place i've been in paris, but seriously. if any of you readers (do people read this blog? haha) find yourselves in paris...go. don't ask any questions. just go. you will not be disappointed!
and don't forget to stop in jean-paul hévin. you won't be disappointed in that either.
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| the fancy little packets our chocolate came in |
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| sage, alicia, annie, nate, noah, me |
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| alicia, annie, sage, me. we're the cutest friends probably ever. |
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