Wednesday, April 1, 2009

April in Paris

HAPPY POISSON D'AVRIL!!!!!

Instead of April Fool’s Day, French children celebrate today by gorging themselves on chocolate fish and trying to stick paper ones on the backs of their teachers. Too bad this year the day falls on a Wednesday when the kids are out of school. However, I did manage to catch a group of kids with their keepers running in the park today. The adults had paper fish necklaces on!! So cute- I didn’t quite get the fish in the picture, but it sure looks like both grown-up and kid were having fun.

In honor of the first day of April, I actually went outside today with naked legs- the first time I’ve done so since arriving in Europe three months ago. With all the sunshine out today, the whiteness of my gams was practically blinding. I think I almost caused more than one car accident because of it- seriously. And, what’s even more crazy, is the fact that I was one of the few women on the street showing any leg skin- almost everyone was still in black, brown, gray, or some such dull combination. I’ve been in Paris in the summer. I know that people wear color. I just wonder when it’s perfectly acceptable to do so.

Because I’ve never really experienced a traditional springtime (key word, “traditional”- as a diehard Floridian, I will never admit that we don’t have seasons), I’ve been quite enamored with all the things blooming and sprouting up around town. There are so many types of flowers and flowering shrubs that I’ve never seen! Lovely stuff—so much so I felt the need to take pictures. Here are some images of Springtime at the Jardin du Luxembourg. From flowers, to trees, to the kids sailing boats at the grand basin, I think I captured a good feeling of how wonderful it is to be out in the sun after such a long, gray winter.


4 comments:

  1. Great pictures! Did you look like a weird-o walking around in shorts taking pictures of kids you didn't know, though?

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  2. OMG! Give me some credit- first, no one with any class EVER wears shorts in Paris (unless you happen to be one of those cute girls who can pull off the shorts and black panty hose look); second, it wasn't more than 58 degrees, so I was wearing a wool skirt and hate to admit that I was still a little chilly. And, yes, I kept waiting for a crazed mother to come out of nowhere and beat me with her hand bag for stalking her kids. Luckily this didn't happen.

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  3. Such pretty pictures! So much for "April in Paris", right? Maybe you'll be able to show more leg by the end of April, I hope it gets warmer then! But you know it is raining and still in the 60s here...NO Florida spring this year for us!

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