Dreaming away..

Paris Day 3 pt2: Movies, fashion, and a whole lot of Seine..

More random wandering through Paris..starting with the Jewish Quarter, the Marais..

Selfie by the Seine..

Because of course you bring a piano to the Seine...

A genuine fashion shoot in Paris...who cares if it's a bunch of guys; it's still a fashion shoot in Paris!!

(Next to the Notre Dame, natch..)

I have a whole bunch of pics of this statue..I took a bunch cause I was really bored, waiting..

(Statue de Sainte Geneviève, on Le pont de la Tournelle..if you are wondering..)

(Don't know why this is suddenly tinted green here..)

(I hate Macs..)

Reason I was bored: Some movie being filmed, and they shut down the street for 15 min intervals while they filmed some scene or other..No, I didn't bother finding out which film to track it down and watch, cause I was too over the standing and waiting. Plus, the crew member blocking pedestrians looked grumpy..

Now...let's see how long it takes me to get Day 4 up..

Paris Day 3: Streets and food and a little culture..

It's been like a year and a half..whoops..and memory of exact details is getting hazy..but I still love my pictures..they were the biggest souvenir I brought home...I had something in the vicinity of 5000 pics, I think, of my entire trip. Be thankful I am kind and have severely curated them for you! :p (Ok, really, I am a terrible photographer, and I had to take that many to end up with a few decent-ish ones!)

Random wandering the streets...

Playing Saints Go Marching In..I've never been to New Orleans yet, but I could see the ties here..

All vegan restaurant..but I can't remember which one! Soo yummy, though..

Graffiti was everywhere, and it was an art form..

Went to see the Musee Carnavalet..I know good museums all over the world have amazing things to see..but it's always worth going..

Just love the age scarred all over it's face..

Part two coming..

Pink..

One thing I miss from living in the Midwest..you don't see many peonies here in Hawaii..

Day 2: Louvres and Eiffels and Arcs, oh my!

After the Fleas, we headed out for some good old-fashioned tourist sightseeing...

I was just in love with the street signs...I took a lot of pictures...

We were heading for the Arc de Triomphe...which just happened to take us through this entrance to the courtyard of the Louvre..

..which, btw, I had no idea used to be the King's palace, until Louis XIV moved his court to Versailles. Serves me right for not paying attention. Also btw, this was as close as I got to going to the Louvre...7 days in Paris is tragically brief, and all kinds of things got dropped from the schedule, though we would tried harder to make it in here if we knew we were going to run out of time so fast!

Arrival..

Ascendance..

A view worth that monumental flight of stairs. Staring down The Avenue des Champs-Élysées, which is where we came up. I guess it was worth saying I have been there, but honestly, it was not my favorite part of Paris. I mean, there was a Gap. I did not come to France to shop at the Gap. I way, way preferred the little winding, cobbled side streets, with all the buildings and cobblestones and walls and character older than my whole country. THAT was interesting..

This view, otoh..yepp, I am in *Paris*..

Staring down Rue Jean Mermoz, according to Google. Was just damn cool, was all I cared..

I loved this view...the Sacre Couer in Montmarte, visible way off in the distance, through the rain..Did I mention the rain? It rained from the second day through the second to last day. I liked it, though...I came armed with a sturdy umbrella that fit in my bag, a warm jacket, and boots..I was ready to handle anything, and it sure added to the experience! :p 

To warm up from the rain and freezing wind on top of the Arc, we headed to Angelina's Tea Room, across from the Jardin de Tuileries, famous for their hot chocolate. The hot chocolate was pretty damn good...what passed for vegetarian options for lunch was so not. Won't be doing that again. Yuck.

 

Even their amazing looking sweets lined up in the case were off limits to us, being filled with eggs and glazed with gelatin. Oh, well, they LOOKED pretty freaking awesome!

Happy New Year..2013!!

I have no idea where this is, and I don't think it's Hawaii, but, Happy New Year from Hawaii, anyway!! :D

Credit: Villa Altea (Oh, hey..looking up the credit, apparently the pic is somewhere called Costa Blanca in the Mediterranean..Not really so close to Hawaii, huh? :p )

Day 2: Paris Fleas..

The second day in Paris, it was a weekend, so we headed to the Paris Flea Markets..

There were old things..

And as expected, beautiful things..

Things you just wanted to buy the whole collection of and stuff in your suitcase...

Decidedly weird and even downright creepy things..

But I have to say..the steampunk R2D2 was pretty much my favorite thing I saw there. I mean, come on...how awesome would that be to greet guests at the front door???