Thursday, May 20, 2010

European Adventure Recap - Sunset Along the Seine - Part 1

Sunday October 25, 2009
Paris, France

After leaving the Bird Market, we slowly strolled along the Seine River.  It was probably around 5:00pm-ish and the sun was just starting to get a little lower in the sky.

Bridge after bridge, we just kept walking along the Seine and taking in the scenery.

This shows the intricate details of one of the guardrails along a bridge

I've searched and searched and can't figure out what the building in the background of this picture is.  But the bridge is the Pont Saint-Michel (Pont means bridge).  It was built in 1378.
Here's another shot of it from another angle.


I love this photo - the clouds and the silhouette of the road, boat, buildings and bridge...love it!

I bought lots of art from this row of street vendors

This bridge is called Pont des Arts and is a pedestrian bridge.   Construction finished in 1804 and it connects the Institut de France (the building with the dome at the far end of the bridge) with the Musée du Louvre (not pictured). 

Here's a closer picture of the Institut de France.  It was formed in 1795 by members of a French Masonic Lodge.  "The institute manages approximately 1,000 foundations."

This picture still cracks me up!  We wanted to get a picture of all of us, so I held the camera out at arms length, facing us, and we all posed together and I snapped the picture.  When I turned the camera around to see the picture - this was what I saw - a very close-up picture of me! (proving that it was time to pluck my eyebrows, but that's beside the point).  I had zoomed the camera in for the previous shot and didn't un-zoom it for the group shot.  We were cracking up!

Ah....that's better!  Shannon, myself and Rachel along the Seine.

As we walked along the bends of the river, the sun slowly started to disappear....what a simply beautiful sight!

I love this shot with the moon in it too - oh how I want to go back to Paris!

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

European Adventure Recap - French Fire Truck

Sunday October 25, 2009
Paris, France

If you ever wanted to know what a fire truck in France looks like...here it is.  The words across the top translate to "Firefighters of Paris"

Friday, May 7, 2010

Happy Friday!

I'm so glad it's Friday. This has been one of those weeks that I didn't think Friday would EVER get here.  Boy am I ready for the weekend. 

Happy Friday everyone!  Have a great weekend!!

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

European Adventure Recap - Random Outdoor Bird and Flower Market

October 25, 2009
Paris, France

After leaving the Sacre Coeur, we hopped on the train and got off near Notre Dame.  The first thing we came to, was this bizarre open-air Bird Market.


Apparently, this is usually a Marché aux Fleurs (Flower Market), but every Sunday, it is transformed - into the Marché aux Oiseaux (Bird Market) complete with birds of all colors!


I don't know what kind of bird this is?

Doves....

Pigeons....

Some kind of Chicken??  Or maybe a pheasant?

Rachel and I enjoyed seeing the bunnies they had for sale too.
(Rachel is Shannon's Boyfriend, Mike's, brother's wife's sister-in-law....follow that?  She was studying for a semester near Paris, so she met up with us for a day!)

Chipmunks too! 
These little guys were so crazy! Here's a link to a video I took of the chipmunks - it's really cute!



I have no idea how they catch these to get them in the cages, but they did it!
A few hamsters too

This is quite possibly one of the funniest things I've ever seen - a leash for a rabbit?  Seriously?  I think if I was driving down the road and I went past someone out walking their rabbit, I would have to pull over so I didn't wreck from laughing so hard.


Oh wait - maybe this is the funniest thing I've ever seen - a leash for your guinea pig....because having a rabbit on a leash just isn't quite ridiculous humiliating enough for some people?


A few beautiful remnants of the Flower Market (see they like Mums in the fall in Paris too!  Oh how I love fall!!.....in Paris!!)

Chestnuts roasting on an open fire (doesn't quite have the same ring does it?)  There were folks there with a fire blazing in the trash can (sitting in the shopping cart) roasting chestnuts and selling them.  I wasn't in the mood, or I might have tried them.  They smelled good anyway.