Maurice and I just returned from a really delightful time in Menton to see the Citron Festival that they have during this carnaval time. Menton is the last major stop in France before you enter Italy if you are on the Cote d’Azure.

These tables make me want to eat here in the center of Menton

Along with the parade there is a garden with all sorts of objects made out of lemons and oranges. This was the gateway to the garden.

They had a real elephant around too giving rides. He was like a big old dog sticking his trunk all over the place, probably looking for food.

A butterfuly of lemon and oranges

Just another colorful corner

An interesting god. India was represented in this festival this year.

A Taj Mahal of lemons and oranges!

I have many more photos so there will be at least three more postings. Wait until you see the parade!

PS-I have been changing the photos, etc, over in Cafe Press, trying to have more photos for sale and trying to figure out just how to do that. I am not a computer genius, by any means.

There is an interesting church in the second arrondissement called St Eustache. It is near the location of les Halles where a huge outdoor market used to be, part of it covered nick-named the stomach of Paris. The traffic got to be horrible and there were flies and rats and everything else that goes with food and they decided to do away with it. Now there are markets in many places all over Paris but I still would like to have seen this one. They made the mistake of tearing down the buildings and put a huge underground mall in its place. Rue Montoguille is really worth a visit as is this huge church, St Eustache. It’s very dark inside but full of interesting things and they do great concerts there as well.

There is, of course, always at least one statue of Mary

Many angels everywhere

You don’t see many painted angels

This modern sculpture is always a shock as you are walking around looking at objects hundreds of years old. This was done to commerate the market that is no longer in the neighborhood.

They had a very modern creche this year. This little statue of the baby Jesus made me smile.

Or I guess I could say, We never really had winter. It has all been rather strange. One day it got very cold and I had my heavy winter coat on along with a hat, scarf and gloves. Three days later all I needed was a light cotton coat. Now, March and April can be “cruel” as some poem says and it’s not over yet, but it looked like Spring on a walk I took last week.

This tree has been fooled into dressing for Spring

A few early daffodils

There is an old abandoned railroad track that has been transformed into an elevated walkway with plants and flowers everywhere. It is called Promenade Plantee and is a wonderful place to stroll around when the sun is out. It is just a short walk away from Place de la Bastille. Here is some very unusual architecture seen from the walkway:

The first time I saw this I was reminded of the trophy for winning an oscar for some reason. It took awhile for my brain to realize that they are all copies of The Dying Slave by Michaelangelo. Why there are there, I don’t know but it makes for intriguing architecture.

They continue on for quite a while.

The word Bastille always brings to mind the revolution and the first fortress to be stormed by the revolutionists. The poor guy in charge was the first victim beheaded. In fact, the fortress was torn down during this time and nothing remains. It is now a very busy place with no fortress but mass of swirling traffic, some young people working on their skate boarding and an opera house.

This is a painting in the metro showing what the area of Bastille once looked like.

And what in looked like in the 1700’s. I love seeing old paintings and how things have changed.

Here it is today. The bodies of several hundred people are buried underneath the column. They died during one of the later revolutions, called “The Three Glorious Days” and their names are written at the base of the column.

Here’s the top of the column. They once let you climb up there. I guess there must be stairs inside the column.

The reflection in the windows of the opera house.

Artistic tile work in the metro station with various scenes of the revolution.

I had a dinner for eight people this week-end, most of them related to Maurice. I served a very good dinner of salad with parasean cheese, osso bucco, mashed potatoes, followed by cheese and a home made apple custard. The next day three of the people who ate with us were sick. Somehow, since all of us weren’t sick, I don’t think it was my dinner but they sure passed on the information to me. Many attacked my egg custard dessert. Can you get sick from cooked eggs? I don’t think so. I feel rather insulted and told Maurice that I would never cook for his relatives again.

Anyway, a few photos from around the Canal St Martin here in Paris.

The canal was built to carry more fresh water into Paris and has become a trendy place to have an apartment. Boats go down it in the summer and locks are opened and closed, as filled and emptied.

If you are familiar with the very good French movie, Amelie, this is the bridge in one of the scenes.

A view from the bridge. At one point at the end there, the canal goes under street level for a while.

Some misguided group (in my opinion) put up a bunch of tents for the homeless and now the area isn’t safe at night and businesses are complaining.

This funny little statue of a lady always makes me smile. She has a little topknot on the top of her head-along with a pigeon.

I was out with a friend the other day and we were suddenly pelted by a heavy rain which quickly passed and then the sun came out. We knew to go look for a rainbow in the sky as there is often one somewhere after rain followed by sunshine and sure enough we found one.

This was taken on the Champs Elysees behind the statue of Charles deGaulle

I liked the reflection of the rainbow on the wet sidewalk-and notice that there was a double rainbow too!

Not a rainbow but an interesting sky behind part of the roof of the Grand Palais.