Everyday Spring comes one step closer to Paris. I started out today with a run in the park I always run at and noticed that there a lot of flowers blooming and there are buds on the trees. Some trees especially the willow trees already have leaves on them. The temperature here gets to about 60 degrees in the afternoon but still is in the low 40s when the sun goes down. Many people, including myself, have taken up sitting in the parks reading, writing, doing homework, or just lounging around. There are several parks along the Seine that I like to go to. One is in front of the Hotel de Ville which is the city hall. It's a little noisy but that is where I took the pictures that I currently have for my header. The other one is on the point of Ile de la Cite, on the opposite side from Notre Dame. Both are very nice and can be very crowded, it's not exactly hard to figure out that a park is a sweet place to go in the spring in Paris.

Sunday I went to Les Arenes de Lutece first, just a little after lunchtime. I had a late breakfast but I stopped at this bakery that was close by. It was relatively cheap so I got a sandwich and a chocolate cover cookie for maybe 4eur which is really cheap. I took it to Les Arenes de Lutece and ate there. Les Arenes de Lutece is an old Gallo-Roman arena. I held 17,000 people back in the day but now I think it could only hold the VMI Corps of Cadets, with some standing. I think at one point there probably several tiers which have gone to building all the apartments around it. Yes the gladiators fought there but there was other less morbidly violent entertainment there also. However, now it hosts little kids kicking soccer balls back and forth, a play ground just outside, and a there are always the old guys playing an intense game of petanque. It's pretty cool though since it’s the only remain Gallo-Roman structure in Paris.

Next I walked over to the Jardin Des Plantes which is just a block east of the amphitheater. It's quite large but it’s not very pretty yet. There is a lot a work being done right in preparation for spring. Jardins Des Plantes was founded in 1626 to be the royal garden of medicinal plants but was later opened up to the public in 1650. Guy de la Brosse, the physician of Louis XIII, designed and planted it. It's the most popular botanical garden in France covering 69 acres complete with a large boulevard about 1km long with trees bordering the entire length of the boulevard. There is a hill in the rear of the garden with a gazebo on top offering a nice view of the surrounding area.

I crossed the Seine over to the Right Bank and began walking toward l'Eglise de Saint Eustache located by the Forum Des Halles and sits on top of the world's largest subway station, Chatelet. Five Metro and three RER lines meet at Chatelet making it very crowded place to be. I personally try to avoid it as best I can. It takes forever to switch trains because the station is roughly the size of a city block underground. Anyway l'Eglise de Saint Eusache is very beautiful. It looks like it is made from the same kind of stone as Notre Dame giving it that almost white appearance. When the sun hits it in the evening it is a sight to behold. Many people just go and sit out in front of it and chill out while the sun sets. There is a fairly large garden/park in front of it which of course makes it a very popular place to be since any form of green grass naturally attracts people in the city. I joined everyone else until the sun set.

Monday was a routine day sort of. It was a fun day though. I actually enjoyed both classes instead of just the first one. I went to ISA afterward and took care of some miscellaneous stuff and then bought some stuff at the Monoprix, and went home for the evening. Not much happens on Monday's as far as sightseeing goes just because I have class literally all day, just like high school again....

Tuesday I class in the morning. I was a little tired but so was everyone else. There was a strike on the transportation system also. That meant that two RER lines were shut down, the Tram was running at half strength, and half the Metro lines were running at half strength also. I didn't have a problem with the Metro but the Tram took a lot longer. On top of that there weren't any police at Porte d'Orleans (a large cross roads in the 14e Arrondissement). Therefore all the cars were gaggling in the middle of the Tram tracks like a bunch of cows waiting for the day to pass. There are now traffic lines here; it's basically everyman for himself. There are stoplights, but cars have the right away all the time so pedestrians are just SOL (sorry out of luck). The Police have to constantly direct traffic which makes them very disgruntled since they are over trained, under worked, and under paid.

The Police force in Paris is interesting to begin with. There are first the regular Police who would be equivalent to a SWAT in the US. There are roughly 30,200 police officers of whom, as of 2004, just about 3,000 were Gendarmerie. The "Gendarmes" are basically the equivalent of a US Army Light Infantry Brigade and outfitted as such complete with light armored vehicles, machine guns, assault rifles, and body armor. They like to travel in large convoys, patrolling the streets of Bagdad, oh...um...I mean Paris. I see them a lot in the Algerian sections of town...because they riot once every five years...

I got a haircut on Tuesday. It's shorter than what I would have liked but that's okay, VMI would be proud.

Today I have a test and some other work to do so it looks like I am off to the parks again today. No complaint here. Take care and have a great week!