Mother's Day, Sunday, May 10

Took the Metro to Bois de Boulogne, a huge park on the western edge of the city (2100 acres) and walked through the Square des Poetes.  Then went to the Marmottan Museum, a museum devoted to Impressionism and containing the world's biggest collection of works by Monet.  The building was originally a hunting lodge and then a townhouse and finally the museum in 1934.  The dining room is still complete with furniture and table settings and is really beautiful.  We bought a double entrance ticket while there so our visit to Giverny (Monet's home outside Paris) is included.  Affter the museum, we crossed the Bir Hakeim bridge which has the best view of the Eiffel Tower - pretty spectacular no matter how many times you see it.  After crossing, walked to the Tower for a close up.  I'm always amazed by the size of the structure and remember my initial disappointment (1968) when I first saw it as I thought the brown color was ugly and unbefitting something so huge.  Sttopped for a light lunch at La Rotonde de la Muette and had an omelet and Leas had a club sandwich, made with tomatoe, mixed lettuce, mustard and a little piece of bacon on top of the bread.  We both had a Leffe beer.  Walked down the Chap de Mars to the Ecole Militare and caught the Metro home.  Stopped and got a couple of individual pizzas from the boulangerie, fruit from the green grocer and a bottle of wine from Nicholas, our favorite wine shop so we can stay in tonight and take it easy.

So far, the weather has been fine for walking around; overcast with little burst of sunshine , a little wind at times with temps in the 60s.  Sometimes the sky is very gray but then it brightens, a little blue shows through and big white puffy clouds appear and then it's gray again.  It changes very rapidly and yes, the blue is bluer in France.