The Life and Times of...Me

Today, we ventured out from Grenoble in our rental car.  Apparently what we had been given to drive was called a van.  It was really just a small hatchback.  Nevertheless, it was a sweet set of wheels, and it took us where we wanted to go with classic French style and presentation. We found ourselves in the small lake town of Annecy, and upon walking through the first few streets, it was readily apparent that there was no shortage of picturesque houses, each with its own picturesque windows and shutters. Definitely a tourist town, but definitely beautiful. Thanks for reading.

For the French, most things are small.  Small cars, small meal portions, and small refrigerators.  No freezers.  If you want to bring home a five gallon container of Dreyer's to enjoy over the next week, too bad.  You either eat it all in one go, or the rest is going to waste.  And if you end up with a stomach ache and four gallons of melted chocolate marshmallow mush (still a fairly respectable accomplishment), chances are you might go for a smaller size next time, and only buy as much as you think you're going to eat. Welcome to one of the defining characteristics of the French lifestyle.  When it comes to food, purchases come often, and in small amounts.  No bi-annual trips to the store to replenish the food stocks of the typical American home.  No Costco. Instead, you go to the market. Thanks for reading.

There are no pictures of the Pantheon in this post. Thanks for reading.

While a previous attempt to visit the Eiffel tower had been sabotaged by a malfunctioning elevator that in turn caused long lines to snake around the tower's legs and subsequently significantly gum up the works, we made it today.  Congratulations if you made it through that sentence. A little earlier on the agenda was the Louvre, another Parisian icon. The Louvre amazed me, but not for the right reasons.  Literally thousands of timeless, classic works, tirelessly recovered and painstakingly restored, hung in relative loneliness as ninety percent of museum attendees flocked to gawk at the Mona Lisa.  While itself both timeless and classic, I couldn't help but be amazed at the effect popularity can have on a person's vision and perception of the world in front of them.  Either seeing da Vinci's most famous work is just another must-see attraction to cross off the list, or the crowd jostling and elbowing for good viewing position was actually enthralled by...