Sunday, March 27, 2011

Best of Paris

Now that I'm back in Dallas, I've been busy going through the 1,328 photographs I took in Paris last week. I'll be the first to admit that I still like a good photo album to hold and look at, so I selected my top 300 favorites, had prints made locally, and put that together yesterday.  I'll order enlargements and perhaps a canvas or two from my professional printer later, and also make up some note cards.

I wanted to share my some of my favorites with you all....I highly recommend Paris in the springtime.  There's no place else like it. 





























Thanks again for joining me.  I have more trips planned throughout the year, including one to Nova Scotia in October and one to Vienna for the week of Thanksgiving.  There's nothing like having new places to photograph!

Saturday, March 26, 2011

Paris - Day Seven

I woke up on Thursday morning, sad that it was our last full day in Paris.  This trip has been perfect, and I'm so lucky to have spent a week with my daughter in the City of Light.  We stayed most of the day in our neighborhood.  Walking around, I spotted a small shop that specializes in art restoration.
 Thursday was also another beautiful day in a long string of them!
 Elizabeth Taylor's death was big news here, as well.
Krista wanted to sit in the sun in Luxembourg Gardens, before going home to rainy Portland.  The park was even more gorgeous than it was a week ago, when we first arrived.  It seemed as though everyone in Paris was also taking advantage of the weather.

 This man was wearing some rather spectacular orange trousers!
 These women were just a few of many painters in the park today.


 That's Krista on the far right, with her face to the sun!
 This little one was looking tres chic for her stroll through the park!
 And it was a good day to watch a game of tennis, as well.
The park has quite a few of these green chairs scattered throughout it.  I wish I could've packed a few and taken them home with me!
 Ice cream and wine, in case of thirst or hunger!
I left Krista to sunbathe for awhile, and went outside of the park, walking north toward Saint-Sulpice.  This church is the second largest in Paris, after Notre Dame.  It was mostly completed by 1732, and the neighborhood is stunning.


 More creative landscaping on this patio!
 And more lovely roses.  Their scent followed me down the street.

 Oooh la la, boots!  Have I mentioned that almost every woman is Paris is wearing boats or high heels (or both)...
This basset hound almost took up the whole block!


 A very fancy tea set for a small child was on display in a toy shop.
 Gerard Mulot is on of my favorite patisseries in Paris.  Sister Pam, here are some coconut macarons for you!  I bought salted caramel ones, of course...


By the time I returned to pick up Krista, it was almost 4 pm...the afternoon was slowly disappearing.  We stopped on the way back to our hotel for ice cream on rue Vavin.
 Mine was lemon.
 Krista's was mango and raspberry.
After dropping off my packages, we went up Raspail in search of a book of chocolats for friends, Nancy and John.  John owns a book store in Seattle (http://www.seattlebookcenter.com/), and they are always on the lookout for book objects or anything book-related.  We both had noticed in someone's earlier blog that a chocolat shop was selling books filled with chocolats.  Well, here it is, and the books are darling!

For our last dinner in Paris, we chose to Metro back to Cafe Haussmann for a simple meal of onion soup and wine.  We lingered, people watching along with everyone else, before returning to our hotel for the much-detested job of packing our bags.  The last photograph I shot was of this beautiful neighborhood building.  Someone's apartment had lights on, and the pink curtains were illuminated.  I wonder who lives on the very top floor.
Thank you for coming along on our journey.  I have more photographs to post (I know some of you are patiently waiting for the food porn!), and I'll get to those soon.  In the meantime, it's been a pleasure!