Breaking In Barcelona

I spent Spring Break or "Semana Santa" in Paris with the parents. It was REALLY AMAZING. My most favorite city in the world. Yet, anyway. And it's hard to explain why it's my fave, other than that it comes from a general feeling of comfort I had while there. And I'm still figuring out what makes me comfortable. But it may be a combination of the following:
- beauty and cuteness everywhere. All the buildings, churches, parks, even the people and the clothes they wear are all so pretty and "quaint." You know, just French.
- clean streets. For a city, it's really well-kept (the parts I was in anyway).
- good food.
- hearing the soft hum of the French language everywhere.
- the history
- the grandiose-ness of all the buildings
- a refreshing, fat body of water running right through the middle of it
- you may not believe me, but.... kind people.
- the best museums, sites, all that stuff

And like I said, what this all adds up to, for me is a feeling of being at home and cozy. I think I can't help wanting to be surrounded by pretty things.

We stayed in the Marais (4th) district, which has got to be the best. It was so cute and central with narrow alley-streets and cobblestones. We were also about a block from the Seine.
Let me explain the "French being nice" thing: from the moment I got off the plane.... wait, no, even from before getting off the plane, every French person I encountered was really sweet to me. I corrected myself because of Jean-Marc, a Parisian man I met on the flight over who was really cool and gave me lots of suggestions for restaurants and helped me find the train station. And my whole stay there, I didn't encounter anyone who was cold.
However, what was cold, was the weather. Paris in March is not necessarily the best time to go. I think I was colder than I've ever been in my life at some points.
Now for pictures!

The Seine at day.

Seine at night.

My mom, in a cafe at Versailles.

We went to Versailles to see Louis the XVI's and Marie Antoinette's palace. It was totally insane.
Here is a glimpse of how over-the-top it was:
Marie's bedroom:

This was a bit of the gardens... as you can see from that long river thing in the back, it covers a lot of ground.

Inside Notre Dame:

Outside Notre Dame, dusk:

The cemetery (where Jim Morrison is at, and a ton of other people). I forget the name....

I suppose I shouldn't end on the topic of cemeteries, but I have no more pictures....

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo
Emily