an afternoon on the Garonne

Toulouse, France

Place de la Concorde

Paris, France

Sainte-Chapelle

Paris, France

Today was a gorgeous January day in the City by the Bay. It seemed as if the entire city was in Golden Gate Park soaking up the warm sunshine. And yet, in spite of this rather pleasant winter weather, I inexplicably found myself missing the deep winter of the Midwest.

I may have no right to say this being a California native, but I truly believe winter is not winter without a fresh snowfall, down coats and knit scarves, and the occasional bitter trek through said snowfall. I’m not ungrateful by any means - there are more than a few days that I wake up counting my blessings that I don’t have to scrape the ice off my car and wrap a scarf around my face. Right now however, as I upload my first post in a very long time, the only place I want to be is on the University of Notre Dame’s campus, camera in hand, in the beautiful stillness that comes after a fresh snowfall.

Touché, Midwest. You’ve got me hooked.

Vernazza

Cinque Terre, Italy

Saturday before finals… perfect day for a trip to the beach!

(Why didn’t we do this every weekend in Rome?)

Orto Botanico (“Botanical Gardens”)

Perfect for picnics on sunshine-y days with great friends.