First Up: Paris

Marta and I just got home from a 13 day trip to Paris, Tel Aviv, Galilee, and Jerusalem. It felt so good to sleep in our own bed last night! Over the next few days I will add some photos from the different legs of our trip.

Here's how our trip was broken up:

• Paris - 1 day;


• Tel Aviv/Mediterranean coast - 1 day;


• Galilee area - 4 days;


• Jerusalem and area - 5 days;

So here is the first installment - Paris. We were only here for a day, but it was great to get a feel for the city and and how to get around to see the city (our next trip will be all Metro). We spent the morning in the Louvre and then took a city bus tour. There was a light rain falling for most of the day, but it made for a cool, foggy effect in the night pictures and looking back these are the ones that I liked best.

I was pretty surprised by the size of Paris. To some degree I guess I thought it would be like San Francisco. When you see a postcard of San Francisco you see the same 5 row houses with the city skyline in the background. I've seen pictures of the white stone buildings with cafes on the first floor and apartments above, and so I figured that was the picturesque Paris scene - but the whole city feels like that as you move down the Seine river. It is an incredibly beautiful city and despite the rain this was a great time to see it. The trees were blooming and, except for the Salle des Etats, it wasn't too crowded.