Who says all French men are rude?

I'm sorry. 

 I can't help myself any longer.  I simply MUST share a few of my favorite photos of France with you.  

 Eric and I have discovered the perfect antidote for guests that stay too long:

  a slide show of our trip to Europe. 

 We learned this after having unintentionally run off or put to sleep a number of close friends and relatives.  Lucky for you, I'm only going to share a few at a time.  I'll bore you to death in small doses.

  Kind of me, no?       

I had this thing for flower shops in Paris.  

London too.

Oh yeah, and in Switzerland.

Alright, alright.  In ALL of Europe. 

 I have more pictures of flowers than I do of my children growing up.  

(Forgive me kids.)

Sweet Sixteen in front of one of her favorite finds in Paris. 

 Look at the light fixtures in the window.  They're tutu's!  Have you ever seen anything more adorable?

 

 And take a closer look at the rows and rows of pointe shoes in the cubbies in the store.  Dreamy colors of pink and peach and ivory. 

One word.

 Yummy. 

 The French have such incredible style.  So many storefronts looked like they came right out of a photo-shoot.

Can I be French?

Please? 

That's me on the left.  Fat, dumb, and happy.  Silly grin on my face.  Content to just soak it all in.

That's my girl on the right.  Studiously and seriously getting down to the business of making art in the city of light.  Doing what truly creative people do when surrounded by hundreds of years of art and architecture and culture.  

Who's happiest?

We're still arguing that point.

How can I not include a picture of the Eiffel Tower in our little tour of France?

And just in case you're wondering, there really is only one bathroom in the huge park surrounding this famous landmark.  And yes, they do shut it down to clean it for about an hour each day.  

The French are not really big on public facilities, if you know what I mean.

  

Not only do they possess incredible style, but they have the largest bladders on the planet.

 

Living proof that not all French men are rude.  

(Or short and fat and smelling of garlic, Marty!)

This guy was VERY friendly.

He was our waiter at a cute little cafe near Notre Dame.

I seriously contemplated having Christmas cards made up of this one.

 But I decided against it.

Far too much explaining to do later.