Tuesday, October 29, 2013

The Colours of Mexico


The colours of Mexico are so astounding, everywhere you turn, there is something to be photographed!





Friday, October 25, 2013

Friday in Paris

Unfortunately, I don't have time right now to give you the full story of our Friday in Paris from a month ago, since I've got to get packing for my trip to Mexico.  The plane is leaving in the morning and I'm going to be on it!  So the majority of the photos of our fabulous Friday will have to wait, as well as more tales from our second week, which was spent in the south of France.

For now, just a little taste of Pere Lachaise cemetery:

A nibble of Montmartre:

A glimpse of Amelie:

And a peek at the Moulin Rouge:

More to come in a week or two, stay tuned!

Thursday, October 24, 2013

Thursday in Paris

Thursday in Paris was such a stellar day, I took a grand total 515 photos, the most of any single day during the whole of our two weeks in France!!  I can't possible share them all with you here, so you'll have to settle for just the highlights:

Morning - two hour guided walk of the St. Germain-des-Pres area on the Left Bank with Paris Walks, including the beautiful interior and exterior of St. Sulpice church (made famous in Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code, much to their chagrin):



following in Hemingway's footsteps:

Lunch - at a Mexican restaurant - yet another delicious meal!

Afternoon - a walk along the Seine





Late afternoon - at long last, the Eiffel Tower, up close and beautiful!



Early evening - a brief visit to the Louvre for a meet up with Marie Christine from the Paris Urban Sketchers group and a wee bit of sketching outside.


I did sketch a bit but did a lot more people watching, there was a lot going on!



I'll post more photos from this day in the future, there are several worth sharing!

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Wednesday in Paris

The Wednesday we spent in Paris four weeks ago was probably the quietest day we had.  Lisa had made plans with June from the Paris Urban Sketchers group for a day trip to see Monet's garden in Giverny.  I was tempted to go but to be honest, I didn't want to give up a day in Paris to do so, at least not on this trip.  We waved them off

Lisa and June
and then Lorraine and I headed out to explore a little bit of the neighbourhood in which we were staying, including this church around the corner

and the outside of this building next door to it with the unusual (Freemason?) beehive carving over the door.


Our main purpose was to seek out the Marche de Algiers, a daily morning market I had read about.  We had no trouble finding it, a combination of fruit and vegetable market and flea market.



We found some lovely old map papers

and other vintage ephemera, including a tall, thin ledger from 1861.  Bliss!

We wandered about the neighbourhood, admiring the architecture, including this building with its gorgeous Art Nouveau windows.


We ate lunch in a small, Italian restaurant we found along the way.  The homemade ravioli was divine.

On the way back to drop off our purchases at our accommodations, we separated for a bit.  I checked out a garden walkway called the Promenade plantée, built on an old aboveground railway line.


Another view of Saint Antoine church
from the Promenade
It was quite nice and park-like but full of quiet, secluded corners and I starting feeling a bit nervous being up there alone, even though there were other people about here and there. You know that feeling in your gut that something isn't quite as safe as you'd like it to be? I heeded that internal warning and didn't linger, but wished I could have explored the walkway a bit more.  Next time!

A view from above
I then popped in to a bakery a block from where we staying and purchased a lemon tart, one of my favourite French delicacies.  Lorraine and I shared it later with fresh raspberries I'd bought at the market that morning.  Mmm, good!

We then headed out on the subway to travel line 2, having heard it goes above ground.  It does, but for only a few stops.  Most of the time, it remains in a tunnel as subways usually do, which was rather disappointing. But the views over the city streets when it is out in the open were quite enjoyable, as was the graffiti!


We switched to another subway line and headed back to the city centre to visit the BHV department store, across the street from one of my other favourite Paris buildings, the Hotel de Ville (a.k.a. City Hall).

We checked out the store's stationery and art supply sections, which were well stocked but again, somewhat pricey.  Not that we left empty-handed, of course! ;)

That evening, while waiting for Lisa to return, we ventured out again from our accommodations to a nearby pizza place that had been recommended by the owner of where we were staying.  For a mere 5 euros, we got a large sized pizza from this storefront location with the rather unusual name of "Pizzeria le coq" (= "Rooster Pizza"!?!).