We've had busy couple of days so far in lovely Paris. The highlight, of course is getting to spend some time with our niece, Amanda. She's been living here for the past year and has been a wonderful host. Our first night here she took us to a Basque restaurant near our apartment for dinner. It was delicious.

We had veal wrapped in bacon and drenched in cheese. The sound you may be hearing is of my arteries clogging.

The next day we met her up at Montmartre for a wonderful view of the city and Sacre Coeur.

It was cloudy so the view was a bit obscured but well worth the climb, nevertheless. We wended our way back down the hill, with a stop at a cafe for some crepes - I'm pretty sure that's required - before hopping on the metro for a stroll through Amanda's favorite neighborhood and soon to be home, the Mouffetard section of Paris, near where we're staying.

This is Amanda's new home.

Luxembourg Garden

We parted ways in the afternoon with plans to meet up again on Wednesday.

Then later in the day on Monday Lee and I walked over to the Eiffel tower and wandered around the area for awhile.

We saw buskers, and park benches with pedals.

We also saw some quintessentially Taiwanese things - an Asian couple having their wedding photos being taken and Hello Kitty. I felt right at home.

For dinner we met up with a friend from Taiwan, Lech. He left Kaohsiung just before we did and landed in Paris a week ago to start cooking school. It was a real treat to spend the evening with him.