April 2013

Things I Won’t Miss About Paris Paris, France 2013

About now, we are on our way back home to Montana. Lines of people like these at the Pompidou Center are one thing I won’t miss about Paris. This experience, while fun to a large degree in spite of the obvious hassles, reminds me how well suited I am for living in a place like Bozeman where the total population is less than the number of tourists in Paris on any single day! True, Bozeman doesn’t have the museums and all that, but as they say, life is a compromise.]]>

Pizza Man Paris, France 2013

We’ve eaten a lot of that quintessential French food, pizza, during our stay. Not only do we like pizza, it’s about the only restaurant or fast food staple that approaches the same price we’d pay back home. Want a burger instead? The typical restaurant burger will cost $15-20 and even a Big Mac combo meal is over $10.  The most expensive glass of Coke I’ve seen (but didn’t buy) was about $9. With those prices you’d think I’d lose weight while we’re here since I’m so cheap. But that hasn’t been the case thanks to the pastry shops that are everywhere and sell quite delicious almond croissants (among other delectables) at reasonable prices.]]>

Mobile Studio Paris, France 2013

No printer and a pretty darn small and not particularly high quality monitor to work on but I’ve been pretty content with my little photography workspace in our apartment in Paris. While using just the laptop everything always  looks just the way I want it, but sometimes when I get home there’s a bit of a visual shock when I get home and view the photos on my computer there. (This photo courtesy of the Fashion Queen.)  ]]>

Finding Your Special Place Paris, France 2013

A man after my own heart, finding a quiet spot in a busy museum.

]]>

Road Rage Paris, France 2013

Bicycle rage to be exact; some guy just about ran her down a moment earlier when she stepped off the curb. (He was running a red light.) She got so excited and the woman next to her so amused that they both forgot to actually cross the street once he’d passed.]]>

Notre Dame Detail Paris, France 2013

Notre Dame is one of those places in Paris that doesn’t really need to be photographed yet again by anyone (just buy the postcard), and certainly I have a number of photos of it from our previous trips here. But we are staying quite close to it and it is a damn interesting piece of architecture so I can’t help myself from taking a few potshots at it during my walks in the area. This one highlights some of the detail on the backside of the building. It was kind of shocking to see how many of the gargoyles and other details at Notre Dame are severely damaged or gone altogether. Presumably they have a plan and a schedule for repairing or replacing them. The building is celebrating its 850th anniversary this year, as good a time as any for yet another facelift.]]>

No Public Restroom Paris, France 2013

I’m sure there’s an alternate explanation, but that’s the first title that came to my mind when I queued up this photo for use as a POTD.]]>

Best of the Best Paris, France 2013

The Mona Lisa and Venus de Milo notwithstanding, the scupture Winged Victory of Samothrace is for my money the most memorable and impressive work of art in the Louvre.]]>

Gallery Fatigue Paris, France 2013

We bought six day passes that allowed us into almost all of the museums in Paris. Since we are here for three weeks it would have been nice to have spaced out those six days over that whole period of time. Unfortunately the passes cover only consecutive days so we had spent some long days trying to fit in as much as we could. A friend who works for an accreditation organization for museums once told us that gallery fatigue typically sets in after just a couple of hours; after that you are not only tired from standing around so much but also begin having difficulty appreciating yet another spectacular piece of art (not to mention all the lessor works). Still, we gave fighting off the fatigue our best shot and succeeded fairly well most of our six days.]]>

Under the Pyramid Paris, France 2013

This may be what had the guy from yesterday’s POTD as well as me a little concerned: the view of the crowd streaming down the stairs from the main entrance to the Louvre (under I.M. Pei’s famous Pyramide de Louvre).

]]>