The last weekend in March I decided to go to Paris and spend some time with my friends Julien and Sarah. I left on Friday night and arrived on Saturday morning to have Julie meet me at the airport.  They live near Pigalle--I had visited their apartment there last fall, and they were awesome hosts again.

The first thing we did, of course, was eat! They prepared a great meal with cheese and foie gras, followed by canard a l'orange.  I took a nap so I could be prepared to go out for a birthday party. The party was near Père Lachaise. Julien and I stayed most of the night, came back and took it easy much of the next day. Sarah didn't go to the party as she had to work the next day.

On Monday, Julien worked, while Sarah and I went to check out the Yves St. Laurent exhibit at Le Petit Palais. Unfortunately, it was closed on Mondays, so we just had a great lunch and a beautiful day walking around Paris.

Sights we saw:

The Grand Palais: and it's ceiling: The Notre Dame: Église de Saint-Eustache This was the first time I had been inside St. Eustache, despite many times in Paris.

The Louvre: After leaving the Notre Dame, I walked around the back (my favorite view), over to Isle St. Louis, and Sarah and I got Berthillon ice cream. We came back over to the park behind the Notre Dame to eat it, after listening to these guys play music over the Seine:

The next day, Julien and I did make it to the Yves St. Laurent exhibit, followed by some cofee at Ladurée: Julien at Ladurée: Posted by Frank Wrenn at 9:08 PM 1 comment: Monday, March 22, 2010

Puntarenas, Costa Rica (Again!) I liked Puntarenas so much in February that I went back in March, this time with mom and dad. We left on Thursday morning, March 18 and stayed through Monday. It was their first time to Central America. We stayed at the Double Tree Puntarenas --great all inclusive resort. We tried not to miss much -- we did a cocktail class, dad and I did a Spanish class, mom and I did a coffee cocktail class, we played bingo, I went to dance class, and of course lots of time at the pool and the swim up bar. Dimas, the awesome driver had had last time, met us at the San Jose airport and drove us the hour and fifteen minutes to Puntarenas. This time, I also arranged a couple of excursions with Dimas as well. One was really a highlight of the trip -- the canopy tour over 11 waterfalls. I couldn't believe mom and dad agreed to do this-- ziplining through the forest on 23 cables and repelling on 2.  The guides were really great. I highly recommend it! Check out Adventure Park & Hotel Vista Golfo.
The adventure started with an hour long horseback ride. Mom decided to come up the mountain in a truck instead, but dad and I rode the horses. And mom arriving in the truck: Mom about to zipline: Dad on the zipline: Me on the zipline:
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