We were in Paris for a few days, so this is going to be lengthy and photo-heavy.  Bullet-points to make us all less murderous.  Sincere apologies if this crashes your browser or interferes with the speed of your Netflixing.

• When we arrived to Paris, it was drizzling.  We had a few hours to kill before we could check in to our little apartment, so we stashed our bags in "city lockers" (for real - one day rentals), checked out some bikes we'd previous rented and made our way down the Champs-Elysees to the Arc de Triompe.  Shit you not, the first thing we do is bike a congested street in a foreign city in the rain.  Fun times.

• We continued the theme of eating really, really well.  I think we had a bottle of wine every single day and now I actually like the stuff.  Also, America, get on the cookies-with-your-coffee bandwagon. 

• We visited a few street markets and bought some stuff.  Foods and souvenirs.  Every single day was jam-packed full of adventures and one of the first ones was a bike tour, through Fat Tires Paris.

He's such a show off.

• The bike tour showed us the highlights of the city.  The Louvre.  L'Ecole Militaire.  The Grand Palais, the Petit Palais.  L'Invalides.  We went through the Place de la Concorde's loop, which we had done by ourselves the first day.  It was crazy and amazing and I strongly recommend both the tour company and the experience of biking in that city.
• Afterwards, we went to a tack store.

• I'd told Hillary that my one desire in Paris (other than the touristy stuff) was to pick up a new bridle for Archie. He's a quarter Canadian and I think he'd appreciate a little French.  I have no other photos of PADD, the store, because it was the sole place where we encountered the reputed French attitude.  I knew not to touch things in small boutiques, but this was a regular store and people were touching stuff and I went digging through the bridles to find one that met my specifications (pretty, reasonable, removable flash if there was a flash) (pretty fucking low-maintenance) and one French woman didn't even give me an opportunity before sending over another to pull out a bridle and shove it in my hands.  Whereupon I learned that Europe loves the flash, as I stuttered to ask if there was one without and if the brand was a good one.
• Specs on the bridle:  the company is "CSO", which stands for "Clothing Sportswear Outdoors".  I know shit about this company, but the little I've been able to find is that they are primarily European and I think they use American cattle.  Don't tell my husband.  It's got sufficient bells and whistles to replace my 10+ year old Circuit bridle.  And don't gasp, but I didn't do a damn thing to it after ripping the tags off, attaching the bit, and before shoving it on Archie's head.

Old on left, new on right.

I like the stitching.

This is specifically what I was looking for: detachable flash without a permanent holder.

A little lopsided on the old man's face, but I like it!

I will never go back to the tiny hooks.  Ever.

Tips on removing stoppers?  The rest of the reins are rubber.  I haven't tried shoving the stoppers past the buckles yet.

And this is how she lives.

"He who has learned to despise life fears not death."

• We also took a riverboat tour and saw tons of people sitting out on the riverside, with bottles of wine and take out.

• I've said before that I speak some French.  D was actually a grade below me and took French as well.  Our teacher, whom I love for this very reason, told him repeatedly that he should hit me up to study.  His running joke is the retained knowledge of one phrase: Ou est le Metro?

There.  It's there.

• More of the tourist stuff.

D's superhero, Mr. Rick Steves, recommended this water fountain.

Soulmate.

Her expression.

Realism.

Napolean's casket.

Napoleon's horse.

From the Eiffel.