My Last day in Paris

On Thursday the only pictures I took were in the evening at the Eiffel Tower. We finally realized why it was blue! It is because France is taking over the 6 month rotating presidency of the European Union. You can see the stars of the European Union on the front - we were always looking of it from behind.
It will be blue until January 2009, just for your information.
A couple water-splashed shots of the sparkles and an accidental bump of the camera and I was off hiding somewhere it wasn't raining.

Our apartment in Paris

For those of you wanting to know what the apartment looked like, here are some ideas for you:

This was the living room. You can (maybe?) see the kitchen table and my bed. Through the door is the bedroom where Matt and Mandy stayed and to my left is the front door and the kitchen. Mind the mess.
Here is our little kitchen. We didn't have an oven, just a stovetop and a microwave.

Here's another shot from the same angle. The walls were covered with padded fabric - not sure if it was for muting or what, but it was nice.

Friday was spent just packing and socializing until I had to catch my bus to come back to London. The bus ride home was nice, although it was dark and I didn't get the chance to take any pictures.

All in all I had an awesome time both hosting people here in London as well as in Paris. Hope you enjoyed the pictures!

October 29: Eiffel Tower

On Wednesday, October 29, all of us together headed over to Notre Dame to go inside. It was lovely inside, and what's better is that its free to go in!
I really need to buy a tripod. My photo options were somewhat restricted when I had to find a surface to put my camera on.
The stained glass is just lovely.

I always loved how huge the place was on the inside. I can never quite get a picture that covers both the floor and ceiling of this place to illustrate just how big it is, but I'm sure you got the idea.

After that we got the chance to feed the birds! We brought our own stuff (just dried baguette), since I didn't want to take any from the guy in case he wanted money (you never know...)

This was seriously one of the highlights of this trip. And it's true, a bunch of sparrows on your hand is a lot less stressful (and less heavy!) than a bunch of pigeons.

Seriously. Loved it. I will definitely do this again next time.

After that I visited the deporation memorial on the tip of the island. It was a memorial to all the french people who were sent to the concentration camps during the second world war. You couldn't take any pictures inside, but it was a very good memorial.
A couple more photos of Notre Dame (yes, I know, enough already!) and I was on my way.
We were on our way to meet up with Matt and Mandy (I think...) when we stumbled onto the Place de la Concorde right at sunset. The luck!
Perfect timing.

After we all met up we were walking through some of the gardens just west of the Louvre when we saw the Eiffel tower all lit up and blue!
And, of course, while I was trying to balance my camera on a bar table to get a good shot, the guys were spinning circles in front my camera! Silly buggers.
Pretty silly.
Finally, a person-free shot!

And here's the token night-shot of the Champs Elysees and l'Arc de Triomphe.
And a night-shot of a foundtain in the Place de la Concorde.

Yay! More blue Eiffel Tower!
Everyone was having a lovely time.

And then the Eiffel Tower began to sparkle! That's the best part.

Tuesday, October 28

On Tuesday, October 28, I went to the train station to meet Nicole and Matt at the train station. I got there a bit early, and since Nicole and Matt's train was delayed, I wandered around taking some pictures.
Matt and Mandy were still at Versailles that day, so after Nicole and Matt checked into their 5th floor hotel room, we wandered down the Seine.
Everyone was very happy about the view.

We actually ended up at Notre Dame where we wandered around and took some pictures. Well, okay, I took some pictures and Nicole and Matt visited the crypt under Notre Dame.

This is Paris' point zero. This is the centre of Paris, and the point which all distances are measured from.

Fortunately this was one of Paris' nice and sunny days. Best enjoy it for now, it doesn't last!
If you look closely at the bush, you can see that it is full of sparrows. You think that there are tons of pigeons in the square, but there are also tons of sparrows. It's because they are being fed.
There was a man there handing out bits of what looked to be sweet cake or something for the birds to eat. The moment someone would hold it up they would get swarmed by sparrows. Much less threatening than being swarmed by pigeons.
This is one of my favorite pictures. I could always tell when the pigeons lifted and were swarming over the square because a bunch of school girls started screaming like they were in an Alfred Hitchcock movie.
I couldn't help but humm the tune of "Feed the Birds" from Mary Poppins when I saw the woman. The man just looks badass.
And how many birds can you see??

After leaving Notre Dame, we wandered around the St. Germain area, and stumbled through several gardens and some churches, none of which I remember the names of, but did snap these photos.
This appears to be a Roman wall, as it looks similar to other walls in England (rocks and layer of thin red stone), but I can't be sure. I'm not sure of the Roman history of France, if there is one.

After that we ended up walking along the shore again, across from the Louvre, I snapped a couple photos before the dark skies convinced us to head home.
One last picture of the Louvre!