Every few blocks in Paris and in every small town in France there was a pâtisserie. It’s a good thing we were walking a lot everyday because there was no way I could resist the luscious displays of fresh handmade tarts, pastries, breads and cakes. They were sooooo delicious…made from authentic and high quality ingredients. Fresh batches came in from the ovens in the back of the shops.

I was delighted by the artistry and attention to design in each mouthwatering confection and how beautifully they were laid out in the windows and cases.

One of my favorites was a poire (pear) tart; it was fun to buy one from different shops and compare the subtle differences.

Last Thursday it began to snow here. By Friday morning my little table and chairs on the kitchen deck had collected a lovely pillow of snow and the surrounding landscape was blanketed with white and every dark branch was outlined in snow.

Saturday it continued to snow and snow. The snowflakes floated gently down from the sky with no wind to interrupt the soft snow building up on trees and bushes and roofs and walls and my little table and chairs.

By Sunday it stopped and began to warm up. And today the snow has melted on the table and chairs, the trees are no longer outlined in white and our winter wonderland has almost vanished.

An iconic image of France is a straight road with a row of evenly spaced trees on either side. These classic images of tree lined roads and lanes have always fascinated me and traveling the country roads of France fulfilled my yearning for more of these images. It was a feast!!! Most of the photos I shot through the windshield of the car. It was as if we were driving into a painting.

Wow! what a design lesson to observe in the physical world the simple repetition of one element to create the most pleasing and intriguing composition.

During the day the vistas down the roads were stunning. In the late afternoon and up to dusk the shadows and shadow patterns added drama and intensified the beauty of the tree lined roads of France.

On December 31, the last day of 2013, we left Paris.

We took a cab to the car rental office, claimed our black Peugeot and off we went into the Paris traffic. Oh my, the roundabouts were like carnival rides; no one stayed in a lane, each car wove in and out to make their getaway out of the intersection and onto their chosen street.

Our saving grace was Allen, one of the best drivers I have ever ridden with. He had the driving skills of a race car driver and the navigational instincts of a homing pigeon. Never having been in Paris before, he drove right out of Paris and connected to all the right highways on our way to the west coast of France. It was actually fun.

Because I was the “assistant navigator” in the passenger’s seat, I wasn’t able to shoot too many of the views as we left Paris. I did however have time to shoot La Grande Arche in the business district on the western edge of Paris. The immense arch seemed to hover on the horizon line for so long as we were speeding down the expressway. The arch was dramatic and spare and modern with a huge hollow center creating a powerful focal point among the skyscrapers.

La Grande Arche was built in 1989; the hollow area of this enormous cube-shaped frame is large enough to hold Notre Dame Cathedral. The arch is on a direct axis to the Arch de Triumph so far away in the middle of Paris. What a connection and contrast between the old and the new in this famous city of history and design.

Most mornings we made two stops; first at a patisserie for a quick and oh soooo delicious pastry and then again for coffee.  This particular morning we sat down for a leisurely breakfast at a small, classically French restaurant.

When they served my breakfast, it was so attractively arranged and the butter pot was covered in vellum, printed with the name and address of the restaurant. I had to photograph it!

It all tasted as good as it looked and we were off to see the fine sights of Paris.