Totally crap outfit of the week

Okay, so this is actually from last week before I left Paris, but hey, I've been a little busy.  Anyway, let's see what we have here, shall we?  

Now, I know that as one gets older, one can indulge in little eccentricities, and why not?  I fully approve of aging disgracefully.  Too many martinis at lunch?  Hell, yes.  Having a fling with a hot pool boy called Pedro?  Go for it.  However, I don't approve of using curtains as clothing - Scarlett O'Hara could barely pull it off, and madam, you are no Scarlett O'Hara.  This fabric was ugly hanging in the window of whatever cheap, nasty motel you swiped it from and it's still eye-wateringly ugly now...

Tales from Toronto (Part 1)

For those of you who don't know much about Canadians (which, let's face it, will be pretty much anyone who isn't actually from Canada), you probably subscribe to the popular stereotype:  we're nice.  Oh, and let's not forget polite.  Yes indeedy - nice and polite, that's us.  And it's true.  We're ridiculously polite - if someone bumps into us, we say sorry to them (spending a decade in Europe has nearly beaten that trait out of me, but sometimes I still do it - grrrr!).  And that's about all anyone knows about us.  But here's the secret - we kinda like it that way.  Because it lets us be as freaky as we want without anyone ever realizing it.  What's that?  You don't believe me?  Well, you tell me the last time you put a skull at the top of your Christmas tree and then we'll talk...

Pretty pictures

From my last post, you probably noticed that I'm not actually in Paris at the moment - I am back in Toronto for festive fun with family and friends until nearly the end of December.  But never fear, gentle readers, that doesn't mean I won't be blogging.  It might be every second or third day (which, admittedly, is not all that different from usual), but I will still be sharing my silly ramblings with you.  I'll write about Toronto if I see something noteworthy, or I might post some photos or talk about some past events from Paris, or I might share some crappy outfits I photographed this year and didn't get around to posting at the time.  We'll see...

But for today, some shots from the plane window as there was a rather spectacular sunset as I was leaving Paris...

If you squint, you can see the Eiffel Tower - it's the pointy thing just off-centre

That's better - my camera rocks

Clouds - although it looks like ocean

Quote of the day

After Wednesday's epic snow in Paris, I was more than a little concerned about catching my flight out of town on Thursday.  I had planned to walk to Opera and get the bus to the airport (thereby avoiding the hassles - which are many - of taking the Metro with a large suitcase), but since the roads were in complete chaos, I had to take the Metro/RER combo to get out to the airport.  The Metro was working fine, and the RER was delayed, slow, very crowded and fairly miserable, but it was worse when we got to the airport with crowds trying to get through the gates into the building.  There was a lot of very rude pushing and shoving, and from somewhere to my left, I hear this:

"The next person who pushes me, I'm gonna hit 'em with my cane!"  I look over there and see a rather large, extremely sassy, middle-aged African-American lady, who was, indeed, brandishing a cane.  I, of course, thought this was completely excellent, but she wasn't done:  "I don't want to get all American on y'all, but if I have to, I will!"  

I'm not sure words can describe my love for her at that exact moment.  Hee!  Thinking about that made me giggle my way through a 2.5 hour delay on my flight and it's still cracking me up to write about it...

Jour Blanche

If you watched the news today, you will have seen the crazy weather in Paris.  Seriously, this was a bizarre day - it started snowing and just didn't stop for hours.  At one point, it was an actual, honest-to-god, proper blizzard - which I know because I was outside, doing the penguin shuffle along the slipperiest surface on the planet (snow on top of wet leaves on top of cobblestones - yikes), and trying not to fall on my arse into the disgusting, mucky slush.  And why was I doing this?  To take photos for you, gentle readers.  Enjoy...

The Louvre is in the background, but good luck seeing it.

The Tuileries looking even more ridiculously pretty than usual.

The Musee d'Orsay is in the background.  Good luck seeing that, too.

In the Tuileries.

The Tuileries - and some very unhappy-looking seagulls. I feel you, boys.

The Tuileries.

The Tuileries.  Dude, I feel your pain.

Although this lady seems to be enjoying the snow.

At the Arc du Carrousel. My "Impressionist" photo.

Arc du Carrousel - the big thing you can almost see in the background is the Louvre.

Arc du Carrousel.

The Louvre - the pointy snowy thing is the pyramid, although it's hard to see.

The Louvre.

Things you might see on the street

So, how did they come up with "Paris: City of Romance" as a slogan?  Could it possibly be because "Paris: City of Toilets Abandoned on Street Corners" somehow just didn't have quite the right tone to bring in the tourists?  Just wondering...

Parking in Paris

All right, this is a new one for me - I really thought that after a year in Paris I had seen every possible variant on weird parking, but nooooo, those wacky Parisians can still surprise me.  I know these cars are teeny tiny, but they still don't fit this way into a parking space.  Maybe if you flipped it upright?  But I'm getting ahead of myself -I'll probably see that next week...