Les Arènes de Lutèce in the snow

Les Arènes de Lutèce is ancient Roman arena hidden in Paris' 5th arrondissement. (I have an article about the place here, with some photos in nicer weather.) I stopped by recently and took some pictures of the arena in the snow, which was lovely, but I'm mostly posting these for the great signs I found just outside...

I love this "no drinking in the park" sign (and also no picking flowers!).	Closeup: vin, bière.
It was so nice and quiet and peaceful to wander around Les Arènes de Lutèce in the snow.	Haha, "This zone is open, [but] be careful!"

Check out more Weird and Cool Paris History.

Notre Dame under the winter sun

A few weeks ago I was walking across the Pont de la Tournelle, leading onto the Île Saint-Louis, when I noticed that the back of Notre Dame was getting some really pretty (and rare for Paris in winter) sunlight.



I usually only take pictures when I have a specific article in mind that I want to write; this time was just because it hit me, as it often does, that Paris is gorgeous and wonderful.

(I do have an article that I wrote about Notre Dame a long time ago, with another pretty picture, here.)

Le Petit Resto Dans La Prairie

Yes, there is actually a Little House on the Prairie-themed restaurant* in Paris. When my (French) friends told me about it, I was A) surprised to learn that Little House on the Prairie is well-known in France, B) amused to learn that some enterprising Parisian decided to create a restaurant with the theme, and C) baffled that my friends wanted to go. The place is loosely decorated in a sort of American frontier style, with farm tools and horseshoes and stuff on the walls, so, nothing terribly interesting or exotic for Americans, but I can get why it's cute for French folks. I personally wasn't really impressed with the atmosphere or the service or the food, but my gang of French friends really dug it, and it's clearly more for them than for foreign visitors. I just wanted to take a picture of that adorable menu and and show you readers.

*Quick French lesson: the French word for restaurant is, of course, "restaurant," but "resto" is a common, informal word for the same.

Deyrolle — legendary Parisian taxidermy shop

Deyrolle is a fantastic taxidermy shop that's been open since 1831. The shop occupies two floors with several rooms full of tons of exotic and majestic animals, all of which are very pretty and very dead. The place is very inviting and is a somewhat well-known tourist attraction, so it's definitely worth popping in if you're in the neighborhood, even if you're not actually interested in buying any taxidermied creatures... Read more