Cote d'Azur

Myself and three of my best friends that I have made in Paris decided we needed to get away from the grey skies of Paris and head south. After a 6 hour train ride, we arrived in Nice in the south of France. We stayed in Nice for four nights, and although this was a lot of time, we didn't have alot of plans or excursions planned. This was nice though, as the hustle and bustle of panicked travel had gotten us very tired. We spent lazy days in the sun on the beach, did a few touristy things and enjoyed some deliciously fresh fruit and food. Here are some pictures...

 Somehow we lucked out with this amazing hotel in Nice for a very small price:

 Our view (from one of our four balconies!):

 Nice:

Promenade des Anglais:

 Old Nice

 Cours de Saleya flower market:

 Our daily breakfast on the beach:

best cure for a sunburn: a swim in the Mediterranean:

Chagall cathedral windows:

 Chagall museum:

 A day trip to Monte-Carlo, Monaco. It was only 3 euros to get from Nice to Monaco and Cannes so we went to Monaco for the day and Cannes for the evening.
Monte-Carlo yachts in all of their splendour:

 the Japanese garden:

 

 The Monte-Carlo casino:

 A night walking the boardwalk of Cannes:

 Steak hache:

Spring Snapshots of Paris

This is my good friend Stephanie and I after a day spent lazing in the sun in front of the Eiffel Tower: 

One of my good friends I made here in Paris was leaving earlier than all of us so we went out to Notre Dame St. Michel to have dinner and saw this lovely view. All of Paris is in beautiful bloom and there are pink and white magnolia trees everywhere:

 One of my "to-do" items on my list was to go an see the infamous Bon Marche department store. For my History of Paris class I chose to read Emile Zola's "Au Bonheur des Dames / The Ladies' Delight" which is based on this infamous store. The novel describes the development of department stores in Paris and the struggles faced by the independent retailers as they try and compete. The main character is Denise, a shop girl at the department store and she is conflicted with her working-class family's suffering while also desiring to rise to the top of the capitalist department store. Zola describes the colours and glamour of the inside of the store and I can say that the inside of the store is still as spectacular as he described it.

The inside of the store:

 

The displays of hats were amazing. Every item in the store is put on display like it is in a museum. I took this picture but was quickly scolded and told to put my camera away:

St. Suplice church, where Delacroix frescoes hang:

Eating what is supposedly the best eclair in Paris (it was so sweet I could not finish it). This eclair came from the Patissier Stohrer which is the oldest in Paris, opened in 1730. Stohrer was a baker at Versailles and prepared desserts for King Louis the 15th before opening his own patisserie:

 Paris is in bloom at Buttes-Chaumont park:

 The Chagall exhibit at the Luxembourg Museum. This was my favourite painting in the "Between War & Peace" collection, and although it doesn't look much like his other work, it is a beautiful portrayal of the Cote D'Antibes in the south of France. Perhaps I liked it so much because I had just spent a wonderful sunny week in Nice with great friends and it reminded me of this.

My residence put on a final good-bye soiree for us a few nights ago. Here is a picture of the amazing free food they put out for us as well as unlimited wine and champagne. It was a really nice evening and a good chance to say good-bye to some of my friends who have left Paris. 

 The pond in les Jardins de Tuileries is full of fresh baby ducklings:

 A last visit to my favourite museum, l'Orangerie:

 Jardin des Plantes:

 poppies in bloom:

 At the Mosque of Paris you can get delicious mint tea for 2 euros and a selection of Middle-Eastern desserts:

 inside of the Mosque:

 As we were strolling through the Jardin des Plantes, we came across the Menagerie. This is the second oldest menagerie in the world. Although we didn't go inside, we managed to see the captivity of kangaroos...After looking at them for a while we noticed some appeared to be quite big-bellied...and soon enough baby kangaroos emerged from their mothers' pouches! As you can see, they were very cute: