What's with all the purple?

Monday, on our last morning in Florence, Amy and I noticed something strange: the overabundance of the color purple. Men and women wearing purple sweaters, purple scarves, purple pants, purple shoes; and in one case, all of the above. Young and old, purple was everywhere! We couldn't figure it out. Is purple the new spring color? Is purple the Italian pastel when it comes to dressing for Easter weekend? Why is it all the exact same shade?? We contemplated this through our final visit to the Duomo, while we were oohing and awwwing over Michelangelo's tomb (we had to pay our respects and thank him for the David), while eating our final gelato, and enjoying our final panini. But still, we couldn't figure it out, and we were left wondering, what's with all the purple??

Back in Paris for dinner and a quick visit to Arc de Triomphe with Amy, purple was nowhere to be seen. Despite the recent arrival of spring, Paris still looks like a funeral scene. Blacks, dark blues, grays, some dark browns. Pastel? I don't think there is a French word equivalent. Les fleurs? Only growing out of the ground. I felt like a rebel when I donned a brightly-colored bohemian, flowered skirt for our Bateaux-Mouches tour of Paris Tuesday night.

I didn't stand out so much last night when I met Amy in Montmartre because the influx of colorfully-dressed tourists from all over America and Europe added a little light to the dim. At first, I was slightly perturbed that these ''tourists'' were overcrowding the Sacre Coeur. I was ready to give up on the entire Montmartre area for the rest of my time here...but then Amy and I discovered the outdoor, tented cafes in the middle of Place des Tertres. ADORABLE. It's the Paris you see in the movies - striped tents, menu du jours, carafes du vin, bustling waiters - it was all there. The tourists seemed to fade away and the Montmartre lights shone brighter...and that feeling, the indescribable Paris feeling...there it was. *Sigh*