PARIS IN A DAY
Well, it was 5 days, but the song kept coming back to me as we tried to do as much as we possibly could do in the time we had alloted to us. We have been to Paris at least 5 other times before that we can count, but it is not like you can do it all in even that amount of time. This time we were with my brother Jacks son Matt and his girlfriend Erin. Matt is an architect in Buffalo and Erin a lawyer in Rochester. And they had not ever been to Paris, so we tried to see it from as many other ways as we could. We had never been to the top of the Eiffel Tower, nor taken a double decker tour nor gone to the museum of the Middle Ages before. We had not spent much time at Place des Vosges nor wandered the Marais district other than the Picasso museum and the Blvd des Franc Bourgeois nor seen the many views behind Notre Dame as we headed home with the sun setting and magic picture taking time. And we did all of these things because of these kids. What a great experience!
Our rented garden apartment in the Marais left a bit to be desired, but the location was the best ever. It was advertised as two full bedrooms and two full baths. How can you have a full bath without a toilet? Or a full bath when you cannot stand in the shower? Or a full bedroom when the roof would be fitting for a midget, but not for normal sized people? Still, it was so handy to the wine shops, supermarket, and bakeries, as well as having a Metro stop across the street and we DID have our own resident doorman, but he was usually drunk and slumped over the grating.
I took almost 600 pictures! But that is because of those darn bus tours you never seem to get just the right view and so keep clicking away at it. And then there are all the heads and hands in the way because of other photographers. I am glad I have an editing program that I can use because many of the shots needed to be straightened up a bit. I noticed that things that we had looked at when walking by, even those we saw several times, looked so different from the top of an open bus. But at least walking by you see a view and can pose the camera before the view takes off.
And walk we did. When we arrived, I had a tough time getting used to the chilly weather and had just had a flu shot, so I did not feel very energetic. But by the time we hobbled off of the plane last night at 11 PM, I had bruised the sole of my foot from so much walking! It is either that or a Planters wart, which I have not had since my 20s. I hope it was a bruise. We shall see.
So here are some shots of the first day or so from the open tour bus. The shots from the Eiffel tower and Arc di Triomphe alone could have totalled in the hundreds, but this is a select grouping. More tomorrow.
Our rented garden apartment in the Marais left a bit to be desired, but the location was the best ever. It was advertised as two full bedrooms and two full baths. How can you have a full bath without a toilet? Or a full bath when you cannot stand in the shower? Or a full bedroom when the roof would be fitting for a midget, but not for normal sized people? Still, it was so handy to the wine shops, supermarket, and bakeries, as well as having a Metro stop across the street and we DID have our own resident doorman, but he was usually drunk and slumped over the grating.
I took almost 600 pictures! But that is because of those darn bus tours you never seem to get just the right view and so keep clicking away at it. And then there are all the heads and hands in the way because of other photographers. I am glad I have an editing program that I can use because many of the shots needed to be straightened up a bit. I noticed that things that we had looked at when walking by, even those we saw several times, looked so different from the top of an open bus. But at least walking by you see a view and can pose the camera before the view takes off.
And walk we did. When we arrived, I had a tough time getting used to the chilly weather and had just had a flu shot, so I did not feel very energetic. But by the time we hobbled off of the plane last night at 11 PM, I had bruised the sole of my foot from so much walking! It is either that or a Planters wart, which I have not had since my 20s. I hope it was a bruise. We shall see.
So here are some shots of the first day or so from the open tour bus. The shots from the Eiffel tower and Arc di Triomphe alone could have totalled in the hundreds, but this is a select grouping. More tomorrow.
posted by Sicilian Mama at 3:36 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home