Paris: memories, statues,fountains, art

On our first day in Paris, we took the subway to the Arc de Triomphe and walked down the Champs Elyssees to the Orangerie, which has huge paintings of water lillies by Monet and bunch of other impressionist art. One of the cool moments was walking by a bank called the Societe General. When I was 19, I spent a year as a student in southern France. My father was a banker at that time, and his bank had some sort of relationship with the Societe General, so I opened an account at the branch in Avignon. Every month my dad would transfer $100 to my bank account for food and rent, and I would trot over to my bank to get the money out. Hard to imagine living on $100 per month, but seemed fine at the time. I haven't thought about that bank for decades, so it was a blast from the past to walk by a branch.

Charles de Gaulle

whenever I feel powerless, I should think of this statue

by Renoir

also by Renoir

one of Monet's BIG water lilly paintings at the Orangerie