I mentioned that our hotel was near the Gare de Lyon train station. So close, in fact, that you can see its reflection on the building next doors — notice the elaborate clock tower within the grid of windows? I featured that architectural structure a couple of days ago.

Our hotel is the modern silver-blue building to the right of the reflection. And though it doesn’t have the historic charm of a hotel in the center of an old neighborhood, I mentioned that I intended to ease my wife into Parisian life — it was her first trip to Europe.

Here is a closeup of the entrance — clean and modern, like an office building. However, after an entire afternoon looking at historic, overly-ornate stone carvings, minimalist steel and glass had a zen-like effect of decluttering the mind.

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