France trip photos - more, more, and more added!

[Todd_H]

I LOVE the pic of the fence...Such beautiful iron work. Nice composition...Keep em coming...

Thanks!

Beautiful shots! You truly captured your experience.

I always say, "a camera". Don't leave home without it!

Thanks! I definitely agree about not leaving home without it

 

[Todd_H]

This was a street performer/mime who would act like a statue until someone dropped a coin into the bowl at his feet. He then "came alive" in slow motion and thanked whoever gave him money.

A Parisian pigeon

Note the artist palette (it's a little difficult to see. I should have gone for a shallow DOF to blur the tower in the background)

Montmartre is an artist's haven (and all the artists that display/sell their work there are incredibly talented)

Next we hopped on the metro at Pigalle and headed for Père Lachaise Cemetary. More to come.

 

[Todd_H]

Next we hopped on the metro at Pigalle and headed for Père Lachaise Cemetary. More to come.

Actually, I lied. Next we found a small museum in Montmartre dedicated to some of Savador Dali's lessor known works. It was really fascinating and made me want to read more about him.

He did an entire painting series around his interpretation of Alice In Wonderland.

I'm kicking myself for not taking individual pictures of each piece

Some Dali-designed flatware

This isn't a great picture, but I like it because it fits the abstract theme of the museum

Looking from the top down at the painting, you see some kind of winged insect, but looking at it's reflection in the silver pole, you see a face

NEXT up will be some pictures from Père Lachaise.

 

[Golf4food]

Interesting shots from the Dali museum - I'm surprised they let you take photos inside like that - so many art museums won't it seems - is that a European thing?

Have you been to the Dali museum in St. Petersburg? Amazing.

 

[Todd_H]

Interesting shots from the Dali museum - I'm surprised they let you take photos inside like that - so many art museums won't it seems - is that a European thing?

Have you been to the Dali museum in St. Petersburg? Amazing.

You know, I thought we would have problems taking photos in museums, but we never had any issues.

Haven't been to the Dali museum in St. Pete. I would love to check it out. This museum in Montmartre was very, very small.

Dali was really amazing and to see all the different styles and the range of his capabilities was mind boggling. I really want to do some research on him.

 

[My2Girls66]

Interesting shots from the Dali museum - I'm surprised they let you take photos inside like that - so many art museums won't it seems - is that a European thing?

I've never had a problem taking photos in museums in Europe, either. Most have a 'No Flash' policy with most of the paintings because they are specially lit to protect them from the damaging effects of light and the flash can ruin them. The only places they are strict about 'no photography' that I've found- inside Sacre Coeur and inside the Sistine Chapel.

 

[Todd_H]

After bolting from the red light district, we caught the metro to Père Lachaise Cemetary. Now, I'm not a big Doors fan, but I wanted to see Jim Morrison's grave. There are many famous graves in Père Lachaise. We didn't spend much time here because, well for one it's depressing, 2) it's a bit creepy, and 3) we wanted to make it to the Eiffel Tower to see them turn the lights on at dusk.

Here is Frederic Chopin's grave

Thought this grave was interesting (although I don't think I want skulls with bat wings on my tombstone!)

And here is the grave of Jim Morrison (for some reason, I thought there was a bust of him on his tombstone)

 

[Todd_H]

After spending about an hour in Père Lachaise, we hopped back on the metro and headed for the Eiffel Tower. Our plan was to ride to the top of the tower and be up there when the turned the night lights on. However, when we got down there, the sun had started to set, the wind kicked up, and the line was a mile long. Needless to say, we bypassed going up in the tower, but we still hung around and waited for the lights to come on.

After we visited the tower, we headed back to our hotel to get ready to go out that night. We crammed A LOT of sightseeing into this one day and it wasn't quite over. We ventured back out to the Champs-Elysées that night. Still more to come...

 

[Todd_H]

After touring Paris all day, we really had to force ourselves to keep our dinner reservations that night. We ventured back out to the Champs-Elysees so I could get some night shots of the Arc de Triomphe.

This was a tricky shot because it had to be taken in traffic (shots of the Arc from the sidewalk were partially blocked by trees so I had to wade into traffic for the next two shots)

I have some miscellaneous shots from Paris that I will process and post a little later. Next, I'm going to move on to some pictures from Bordeaux, which was actually the first part of our trip.

Is anyone still out there? Bueller?

 

[My2Girls66]

Still here and lovin' them! The traffic around the Arc is hairy I think the only picture I even got of it was while crossing Champs Elysees, I stopped really quick to snap a picture then ran across. We arrived in Paris during afternoon rush hour and we had to go around it. Glad I wasn't the one driving. I think I closed my eyes. Another thing I noticed about Paris drivers- on the loop highway around the city, motorcycles will pass in between cars like its the norm
Can't wait for more from Bordeaux

 

[PhotobearSam]

In that traffic..You must be nuts...LOL

 

[Todd_H]

The traffic around the Arc is hairy Another thing I noticed about Paris drivers- on the loop highway around the city, motorcycles will pass in between cars like its the norm

Yep. You're exactly right. It's actually not limited to the highway... they do it on every street from what I could tell and they will not slow down for you . I took pictures in the middle of the street at about 7 or 8 different Paris locations and the only time I almost got hit was by a motorcycle.

 

[Todd_H]

In that traffic..You must be nuts...LOL

Little bit . It's funny, when I took the shots of the Arc in the middle of the street, I walked up right beside another guy doing the same thing (shooting Nikon btw).

 

[boBQuincy]

Wow! Your photos are really good, makes me want to go to France!

 

[Todd_H]

Wow! Your photos are really good, makes me want to go to France!

Thanks, Bob!

 

[figment52]

The shots are great. I want to go back to Paris now that I have a better camera. Ok, to spend more time there too but the better camera won't hurt - lol

Thanks for sharing. Keep them coming.

 

[Todd_H]

The shots are great. I want to go back to Paris now that I have a better camera. Ok, to spend more time there too but the better camera won't hurt - lol

Thanks for sharing. Keep them coming.

Thank you!

 

[Todd_H]

I had to work two days while in Bordeaux, so I only had about 3/4 of a day to sightsee. We were taken into the Bordeaux countryside to see some of the wine chateaux (is that the plural of chateau?) and visit the wine region of Medoc.

It was very foggy this particular morning

This is not a good picture, but this is the wine chateau we visited (Chateau Barreyres)

This room really was glowing yellow

The driveway into Chateau Barreyres

This was another wine chateau that we visited (can't remember the name)

 

[PhotobearSam]

I had to work two days while in Bordeaux, so I only had about 3/4 of a day to sightsee. We were taken into the Bordeaux countryside to see some of the wine chateaux (is that the plural of chateau?) and visit the wine region of Medoc.

Yup, the X at the end of chateau makes it the plural. Un chateau ou plusieurs chateaux. (Plusieurs means many)

You must have had a great time. I am so envious.

 

[klmall]

Such beautiful pictures! I especially like the museum shots and the cheateaux and wine barrels. Certainly reinforces my wonderful visions of France compared to DH's nightmare when he traveled there once as a chaperone for school group and still complains about the trip!