Favourite Paris photos - 50

Inflatable chicken

Ahhh, Paris.  Home to the Arc de Triomphe, the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre...and the giant inflatable chicken.  What?  You didn't know about that one?  Well, now you do.  Just wait until I show you the inflatable dogs...

Return of the Redneck - Part 2

Day 2 with Mrs Redneck back in Paris for a visit (Day 1 didn't count because we were very busy drinking.  What??  She lived here for three years, she didn't want to visit the Eiffel Tower again, she wanted to drink French wine.  I mean, come on...) consisted of  walking around the Grand Palais and going into the Petit Palais to look at the permanent collection there (note to visitors:  I recommend this - not only is it a nice, but small-enough-to-see-in-a-couple-of-hours collection, it is also free, and the café is lovely.  A little tip from Miss K to you...).

After that, it happened to be Fashion Night Out in Paris, where we drank champagne at Gucci, schmoozed at Nina Ricci, ate canapés and chilled out at...no, I'm not telling you the best place to go (sorry, gentle readers, but Miss K intends to go there again next year and it's a bit of a secret!).  Tomorrow - dead kings and queens and puppies and kitties.  I know, never a dull moment...

Really, cow skulls as a decorative motif??

You'd think we were at Versailles

View from the café

View from the café

Just a few people out for Fashion Night Out

This dog was the star of the show at Nina Ricci

Heading home...

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It started with nudity...

So this is how things went the other day - I was out on my postcard-sized balcony, drinking a cup of tea (as is my habit of a morning), when I noticed that in the building across the street, there was a woman sitting in the window one floor lower than me.  She was bent over, painting her toenails and all I could see was her back - I assumed she was wearing a halter top because it was a hot day, but noooooo.  When she sat up, there she was in all her nakedness, and I do mean all.  I nearly choked on my Earl Grey - Miss K is not what you'd call a prude, gentle readers, but if I'm going to see that much unclothed flesh that early in the morning, I'd really prefer it to be in male form and look like Hugh Jackman, if it wouldn't be too much to ask?

Anyway, after that, I thought I'd go for a little stroll around Paris, which somehow turned into a rather long hike from where I live in the Marais over to the Eiffel Tower and back again.  And along the way, there were some moments (nice ones, odd ones, and just plain perplexing ones) I thought I'd share with you:

Sweet elderly couple snuggled up together in the Tuileries.

Another "Paris being ridiculously picturesque" moment.

Why is there a large statue of South American revolutionary hero Simon Bolivar in Paris?  I'm rather intrigued -  am going to have to look that up...

A brass band playing a somewhat unexpected choice of music:

And not far away,  a French dixieland band - who even knew that there is such a thing as French dixieland??  It was news to me...

Then a whole skip full of books being thrown away, and people swarming in like sharks to get them:

Yeah, because you just never know when a French book on cardiology or a German book about make-up techniques will come in handy...

Some rather awesome street art:

A bridge which I am always nervous about walking beneath, because it looks like it's held together with spit and baling wire:

A guy practicing his tightrope walking skills:

And a large display of power tools.  I don't know, I never really pictured Parisian guys being that interested in the relative merits of different types of band saws and drill presses, but apparently power tools are a universal thing for guys...

 

And that was my day...

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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

Anniversary

Well, believe it or not, gentle readers, I have now been living in Paris for exactly one year, and I'm feeling quite sentimental today (so excuse the lack of snark, it will be back tomorrow).  Yes, on the first of November 2009, I arrived in the City of Lights knowing exactly one person.  Well, one year later, I have lost many kilos and gained many friends.  There have been ups (social life, travel, general awesomeness) and downs (love life, money, general difficulties), but Miss K is one incredibly lucky little blogger and I do know it.  There are times when I complain about life here, but it doesn't mean I'm not madly in love with the city - it's Paris and I live here and that's still a dream come true for  me. 

  

Well, that will teach me

Okay, so you remember how I was whining yesterday about how spring hasn't yet come to Paris?  Umm, yeah - it's here now, so I'll just shut the hell up.

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Seventh photo:

Okay, the sun was so bright that I literally couldn't see exactly what I was shooting so my composition kinda sucks, but considering I was temporarily blinded and I took this on my phone, it's not too shabby.

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Fourth photo:

Okay, I know there are 40 bajillion photos of the Eiffel Tower out there and I may have one or two more coming in this little collection, but this shot is probably my favourite.  Taken over the rooftops of Montmartre in a hazy sunset - just fabulous, if I do say so myself.  And it's my damn blog, so I do.

Just a little something...

...that I get to see on my walk home from work. Feel free to hate me, I won't blame you one bit.