Paris vacation - first days

Dear Reader, I again find myself blessfully and blissfully on vacation in Paris.  The first two days have been spent organically, wandering around the city and reacquainting myself with different charming nooks.

I spent a fair part of the afternoon wandering around the Luxembourg gardens after a delicious lunch at one of my favorite restaurants that I come to again and again; Chez Fernand on the Rue Christine.

I particularly loved these stone urns planted with simple geraniums in the gardens. Also not to be missed is the Chagall exhibit at the nearby Musee Luxembourg.

A walk past the wonderful Invalides convinced me I need to visit inside sometime this trip!

No post on Paris is complete without the ubiquitous shot of the Eiffel Tower.

On the left above is the Hotel Crillon (the clean part of the building) which is sadly closed for renovations. We caught them loading the last of the contents into trucks(famously auctioned off last month at staggering prices).

Paris is full of beautiful doorways but the one above, in a very Parisian turquoise, boasts newly cleaned brass hardware. While I love the patina of age something is just so beautiful about frequently and lovingly maintained old hardware.

After a long day of wandering around the city nothing is better than returning to your own little apartment in the city seen above (rented of course) with copious amounts of stinky cheeses and a still-warm baguette from the local boulangerie. I am again staying in a cozy apartment on the well-located Ile St. Louis which I can't recommend more highly; just say no to hotels!