France in ten photographs

France here is mostly Paris, twice, in two different seasons — plus the week we spent outside it.

November Paris is the better Paris, for my money. Chestnuts roasting on a cart near the tower, sold in a paper cone by a man who has done it ten thousand times and can do it without looking. Brasserie awnings on a corner near the Louvre, full at four in the afternoon. And a Space Invader mosaic tiled onto a wall above a striped awning — there are hundreds of them across the city, and once somebody points out the first one you can't stop finding them.

May was the other trip, and we left the city for most of it. Reims and Épernay for champagne, which in practice means sitting outside for three hours with a board of charcuterie and no particular plan. Giverny, where you rent a bike at Vernon and ride the old railway path out to Monet's garden. Versailles, and the Hall of Mirrors, which is exactly as much as everyone says it is.

Then back into Paris, on the river, under the tower.

The last evening was a sunset cruise on the Seine for a wedding, under the tower as the light went down.

Two trips, one badge, and a set of photographs I'd have to go looking for otherwise.