July Photo a Day and tantalising vacation tidbits

Here is July's photo a day challenge.



I usually present these without comment, but I would like to talk about a few of them, because when I was in London I would often forget to check the prompts before I went out for the day but then I would get back and discover that I had a great photo for a particular prompt. "Animal/Insect/Pet" is a statue of Hodge, Samuel Johnson's favourite cat. "Eyes" is me trying to get a gruesome shot of one of the Olympic mascot statues that popped up everywhere in London overnight and which are, frankly, very weird^*. "9 o'clock" was taken shortly before I finally got to hear Big Ben chime. None of those photos were instigated by the prompts -- they just happened to work.

In Paris, I was much better about planning to take the prompt pictures, but the last day I forgot all about it and only managed to get a related shot for "Cup" by sheer luck. Mostly because I was giddy about buying the dress in "Last thing you bought." I wasn't planning on buying any dresses in Paris, but a) it was on sale for 30 euros and b) check out that detail!

Speaking of London and Paris, I hope to get the over 1000 photos renamed, sorted, and annotated in much less time than it took me to do the 2010 trip. I'm planning on blogging the trip, timey-wimily, as I put the pix up this time. And I really will go back and finish blogging the old trip. Really.

August prompts are here. It's been a whole two months since Lucy has been featured... I think she's due for a closeup.

^*Overheard in Regent Park by some Londoners walking past the first of two of these statues at the beginning and end of a very short path: "What are they meant to be? I mean, I know they're supposed to be the mascots, but what are they?^**"

^**They have been formed from drops of steel, obviously.

Swan Song: Utilitaire-12 #1

If you are reading this blog in chronological order, for some reason, then you may not be aware that I am reaching back in time and retroactively blogging my first few utilitaire rides as part of the Utilitaire-12 challenge. You may also be regretting that run-on sentence. No fear; there will be many more. At any rate, go forward in time and read about it. I'll wait.

Ready? Utilitaire-12 task #1: Bike to breakfast/lunch = Brunch at Swan Diner!

My friend D is heading back to Paris soon and we met up for brunch on west Queen W outside her morning class. Along with her friend K, we walked west to Swan Diner where, despite the late hour, we only had to wait about 15 minutes for a booth. It was a booth right at the back near the kitchen, but that turned out to be not a problem. Especially when it meant that our food came right to the table when it was ready. The place was very busy, but the service was quick. We talked of shoes and ships over lattes and the Hangtown Fry (smoked oysters and pancetta scrambled with eggs). D explained how some Parisian restaurants are trying to do brunch as an exotic thing, but they're getting it wrong; the food is mediocre and expensive. We shook our heads and ate our yummy, cheap food.

Because it was the first day of my birthday nonad, and because we happened to be passing by on the way back to my bike (and because I look for any excuse to buy cupcakes), we stopped at Dlish. I bought a salted caramel and chocolate coconut, their February flavour. They pack them into a box with holes for the cupcakes, but my ride home through Trinity-Bellwoods is a trifle bumpy and the cakes were upside down when I opened the box. Fortunately, only a little icing was lost in transit. And a slightly smushed cupcake is still a very tasty cupcake.

Mileage: From my apartment to Queen W & nearly Bathurst and back: 5.2 km/3.2 miles.

When I bike anywhere that takes me along Queen St or places further south, I almost always head through Trinity-Bellwoods Park. It makes me happy. It's a lovely park. It's full of trees and there are elegant gates at the southern end. More importantly, it reminds me of Paris in that people really use it. Not only are the paths filled with dog-walkers and joggers, but also people out for a stroll. They all, or almost all, heed the ding of my resonant bell and get out of the way when I pass them. The lawns are filled with people hanging out, even now in the cold. The playground and tennis courts and off-leash areas are almost always in use. It's a living, breathing park. It's public space at its best.

As with all things, sadly, it has its problems. The paths aren't particularly well-maintained. There is a good wide stretch running north-south on the western edge that is in mostly good shape, and it even has a running path and a sidewalk to help the multi-use traffic flow. Unfortunately, before you get to that bit, the path is so narrow that only one bike can pass at a time. The path winds around bushes so you can't see what's coming in the opposite direction, and roots have push their way under the path so that it has buckled. The city spent a goodly amount of time a year or two ago creating a path along Crawford to Dundas and I don't see why they couldn't have fixed this path at the same time. The southern end of the path is so cracked and full of potholes that it's no wonder my macarons and cupcakes rarely survive unscathed. No road would be allowed to last in that condition.

I spent the afternoon cleaning the apartment (rewarding myself with a cupcake for good behaviour) before I biked off to dinner and a play. I could have used that and the trop to Dlish as my second and third utilitaires, but rules are rules and I'm only allowed to a) count two utilitaires per week and b) count two utilitaires in one day once. These rules are forcing me to be strategic about the events I write up as utilitaires.

So here is the first entry on my control card. I'm looking forward to the next six weeks!

And so we, finally, bid farewell to the City of Lights...

My Paris pictures. Are. Done.

Yes.

Again, to my Facebook peeps, click on "View Original Post" below to come over to actually see the pictures. If you're reading this on the actual blog site, ignore the previous statement. Everyone click the title below the pics to see more than just the one. Or click on the link at right to see all the albums in their glory.

I took pictures of Luxembourg Gardens, the St-Martin Canal, the Eiffel Tower, back to the Jardin des Plantes, and Père-Lachaise cemetery. Twice.

From Paris 2010: Cityscapes and Walking Tours

I finally went inside Notre Dame for more than a few minutes.

From Paris 2010: Look Ma, Culture!

I also did a bike tour to Giverny.

Giverny 2010

I've also uploaded pictures into my daily life and oddities albums.

Paris 2010: La Vie en Rose

Paris 2010: Ça m'amuse beaucoup!

Wahoo! Only the rest of Provence, the Greek Cruise, Athens, Delphi, London, Oxford, Bath... Salisbury... QM2... NYC...

Suddenly? I feel a little tired.

But, she said, brightening, I have these to look forward to, as I promised myself two months ago:


I may have cheated a wee bit and bought them on Sunday in anticipation, since I only had a few dozen pictures left to go. I did take them to my brother and sister-in-law's, and I did hold back while they took first choice. But they might not have eaten all of them. And Aged P may have bought me a macaron recipe book. And I may have bought a few extra to come home to...

In knee news, the scab has fallen off, and I've got a rather angry red scar bisecting my kneecap. It's still quite sore, especially when I've been sitting for a while. Perhaps it will be back to normal just in time for summer's end.

In which more pictures are posted...

My week 4 Paris photos are online! This quickness is entirely due to several facts. First, I posted my annotated pictures of Mont St-Michel the day after I got back. Second, I had renamed the rest of the photos, which is a way lengthy process, sometime last summer. Third, I spent most of that week vegging out since I had been on the go every day the previous week.

However, I did manage to grab some cards and tour a new part of the city: Palais Royale and the Opera quarter.

From Paris 2010: Cityscapes and Walking Tours

I also took a trip to Brussels and Mons to visit two old friends from my exchange days: Magritte and Laurent.

Brussels/Mons 2010

And just for good measure, even though they've been online for over a year, my pictures of the trip to Mont St-Michel.

Mont St-Michel 2010

I am nearly done renaming the pictures from my last week in Paris, which included the bike trip to Giverny. I can nearly taste those macarons...

And she sighed in relief...

It's not quite the end of the school year, but, despite being laid low last weekend by the flu, I finally got my marks in. I can now turn my attention to trying to get my pictures done. I am pleased to say that I've finally finished winnowing the nearly 1300 pictures from my Paris museum week down to just over 1000, and then further down to about 800, all with somewhat pithy commentary. It was a major mental hurdle. I still have two more weeks of Paris to go, but fortunately I took far fewer pictures since I spent much more time hanging out in cafes and less in museums.

Sunday of museum week was spent revisiting Arts & Métiers, the Louvre, and the Pompidou Centre, while also going to the Musée des Arts Décoratifs. Nifty design stuff there.

The pictures are uploaded. Click on the album title to see all the photos.

From Paris 2010: Look Ma, Culture!

From Paris 2010: Cityscapes and Walking Tours

Off to do week 4, which fortunately has already been renamed and resized. And the pictures from Mont St-Michel are already dealt with.

Running out of ways...

...to say that I'm behind in the pictures, but that I'm slowly putting them up.

By the way, for my Facebook peeps, click on "View Original Post" below to come over to actually see the pictures. If you're reading this on the actual blog site, ignore the previous statement.

Saturday of museum week in Paris: I went on a walking tour of Belleville with a volunteer Paris greeter for Parisien d'un Jour. It was a great experience and I saw a part of Paris I might not have gotten around to otherwise. As always, click on the title below the picture to see the rest of them.

From Paris 2010: Cityscapes and Walking Tours

After my walking tour, I went home and ate a leisurely lunch. Paris leisurely. Four hours leisurely. Which meant that I only had 1 1/2 hours to go to the Museum of Arts and Trades:

From Paris 2010: Look Ma, Culture!

After which, I had about 2 1/2 hours for the Pompidou Centre:

From Paris 2010: Look Ma, Culture!

I think it would have been enough time if I had started on the 5th floor. There was plenty of stuff on the 4th I could have avoided seeing.

Sunday was my last day on the museum pass. Only 134 photos left to sort. From that week.

Getting on with it...

The Friday of museum week was wild. Five, count 'em, five monuments/museums in one day. Plus a long walk down les Champs-Elysées and gawping in Faubourg St.-Honoré. Not to mention the little bit of excitement at the beginning of the day.

That translates into a hundred or so photos to cull, rename, resize, and comment on; I've finally managed to upload them. As always, click on the name of the album below the picture to see the rest of the pretty pix.

I went to l'Arc de Triomphe, l'Orangerie, les Invalides and l'Eglise du Dôme, Musée Rodin,and the Panthéon. The pix start here:

From Paris 2010: Look Ma, Culture!

You can see the pictures of my strolling here:

From Paris 2010: Cityscapes and Walking Tours

There are still two days of museum week left! I've promised myself macarons when I finish the Paris photos. But I've also promised myself gelato when I get a certain set of physics tests marked, and so the photos may have to wait a little longer.

Pareidolia

I learned a new word this week, and I need to share it. To quote my friend Craig: "It's a situation where you interpret a random pattern as meaningful. Examples are seeing animals in clouds, a face on Mars, Mary on a grilled cheese sandwich, etc."

This is about several random somethings. Is there a pattern?

10 things I hate about Paris*

*From the movie 10 Things I Hate About You

1. I hate your hard water that makes my hair all crunchy and my tea kind of icky. 
2. I hate that there are all too many beautiful places that nonetheless smell like pee.
3. I hate that you are so expensive. I never got used to paying nearly $7 for a cup of coffee.  Although one does pay exactly what it says on the tag or menu because tax is included.
4. I hate  how much of my French I've lost, and how understanding everyone has been of my grammatical and vocabulary mistakes.
5. I hate your fabulous bread, tempting me at every turn.  Ditto chocolate.  And crepes.  And cheese.  And...
6. I hate that I am now addicted to macarons.  Oh, you delicate confectionary temptresses!
7. I hate the Paris "look" that I could never quite capture, and that no matter how often I practised, I could never quite tie my scarf with the same élan as the Parisian women.  They must give special lessons at the lycée.
8. I hate the café culture I have acquired such a taste for, making it near impossible to go back to work in July.
9. I hate how the waiters don't hover over you as you eat and actually wait for you to finish one course before bringing you the next.  And that they don't put smiley faces on the bill to get a bigger tip, because it's included.
10. I hate the efficiency of the labyrinthian metro.  And how it's quiet because of the rubber wheels.  And that some of the stations are downright beautiful.
11. I hate that I'm leaving so soon.

All is forgiven, Paris!  I'll be back!

There is never any ending to Paris and the memory of each person who has lived in it differs from that of any other. We always returned to it no matter who we were or how it was changed or with what difficulties, or ease, it could be reached. Paris was always worth it, and you received return for whatever you brought to it." -- Ernest Hemmingway, "A Moveable Feast"

Off to Provence!

Spring is like a perhaps hand*

So after I wrote that last post, I took myself outside (then back in again to get my trench because it got a lot colder all of a sudden) and walked south, doing pretty much the same route I took my first day in Paris.

And I felt less blue.

So kiss me and smile for me...

Paris, I believe, is a man in his twenties in love with an older woman. -- John Berger

I'm feeling a bit blue, today. It's my last day in Paris. My train leaves for Avignon at 7:46 tomorrow morning, but I've been putting off packing. I'm trying to eat the rest of my food, although I might be gifting quite a bit of stuff to Darlene and the next tenants. I've made my last pot of tea.

In which Physicsgirl meets Pepé le Pew*

*without the smelly skunk part

At Pousse au Crime last night:

I'm dancing with some friends to French (and a few English) pop songs -- not swing dancing, but freestyle, as it were. In a circle, as one does. There are a lot of people in the bar. Suddenly, there is a guy in front of me. He has taken me by the hands and is dancing between me and the people I came with, effectively cutting me from the herd. It was very neatly done. Sheep dogs could learn something from him.

   So what do you do in Paris?

   Right now, I'm dancing.

   That's great!

(I look over at Darlene, who is watching this with a look of "Do you need help?" mixed with much amusement. I'm also pretty amused. He's trying to move me away now, but with the number of people in the bar, he doesn't get far.)

   Actually, I'm dancing with my friends. Over there.

   That's okay.

(I try to gently let go and turn back to my friends. He persists and I spend the next few minutes keeping his hands away from my hips. He says something I don't quite catch because it's loud and he's speaking rather quickly.)

   I'm sorry, my French is so-so. What did you say?

   You speak English? (in English)

   Yes, but I do speak French. I just didn't get what you said... (in French)

   Where are you from? (in English)

   Canada.

   I don't care. No, where are you from?**

Et c'est fini. I couldn't possibly continue dancing with someone who didn't believe I'm Canadian! (Maybe I should get that flag after all!) Plus, you know, effective as the hands-on approach was, I like a little conversation before. I'm funny that way.



**I'm pretty sure he just misunderstood me. But wow, not shy these Frenchmen.

Il me reste qu'une semaine...

... and I feel like there is so much more I want to do here. Two days are given over to not being in Paris, and one is needed for packing, so really there are only 4 Paris days left. One month wasn't enough. Must. Chill. Frantically.

Plus I'm out of Nutella and I don't think I can finish a whole jar in a week.

Yeah, who am I kidding?

In which Physicsgirl finds heaven...

I had read about the magical macaron in my guidebooks and on the Girls' Guide to Paris website, and I confess I couldn't see what the big deal was. I knew it was nothing like the North American macaroon, a dense, chewy concoction of coconut and meringue (which I rather like, but YMMV). A Parisian macaron is basically two flavoured almond meringue cookies sandwiched together by a flavoured cream or jam -- kind of an upscale, lighter Oreo. Little did I know...

Statistics

In the last 10 days...

Number stairs climbed: About 2100*
Number of "great views of the city"**(Paris or otherwise): 10
Number of museums/churches/monuments visited: 20***
Number of times I thought I was going to fall to my death: 4****
Number of times I did fall to my death: 0
Holes worn through the sole of a boot: 1
Minutes spent waiting in line: 60 (40 of those at Notre Dame, 15 at Versailles)
Kilometres walked: Lots (sorry, lost my pedometer in Amsterdam)
Number of pictures taken: ~ 1290*****

*Chartres: 300, Notre Dame: 400, Arc de Triomphe: 284 (+60ish to get to and from the underground passage), Panthéon: 300 (aprox - can't find the exact number), Louvre: 150(est.), other museums/monuments: 350 (est.), Parc des Buttes-Chaumont & 19th: 250 (est.)
**"Great view" usually means from a very high place. That you must climb many stairs to see. Except at the Pompidou Centre, where there are escalators.
***Chartres Cathedral, Chenonceau, Cheverny, Chambord, Versailles, le Grand Trianon, le Petit Trianon & l'Hameau de la Reine, Louvre, Musée d'Orsay, Notre Dame Bell Tower, Crypte Archéologique, Conciergerie, Sainte Chapelle, l'Arc de Triomphe, l'Orangerie, Hôtel des Invalides & Eglise du Dôme (Napoleon's Tomb), Musée Rodin, Panthéon, Musée des Arts et Métiers, Pampidou Centre.  I did pop briefly into Notre Dame itself, so that should be 21.
****Three of those times were at Chartres.
*****Yeah, it's going to take a little while to put those up.  Fortunately, there's a longish train ride on Monday and Tuesday.  Of course, there will be many more photos by Tuesday...

It's not the fall...

Spoiler (mostly for Aged P who will have completed that sentence in her head and begun, well, not quite panicking but panicking's slightly less anxious cousin): yes, somebody fell from l'Arc de Triomphe, no, it wasn't me, no, I didn't see it, although it must have happened right after I left, and happily (?), they got off with a concussion and broken ankles.

I don't think it translates to "boîte pour les nuls..."

I watch far too much TV, as a rule, but here I look at it as cultural research. Anthropology, if you will.  What I've noticed:

I'm getting there...

I'm posting my write-ups under the dates they happened, so you may not have noticed that I've put up two posts about my first day in Amsterdam, which are here and here.  The next day is coming, I swear.  There is a very amusing story involving clogs.  I bet you can't wait.

Edited: I have been making sure my photos are up-to-date as of yesterday.  I've been adding to my various albums.  Unfortunately, Picasa won't let me start an album in the middle, so here is what you have to do:  Click on the album title under the picture, then find that photo again in the album (you may have to scroll down a bit), click on the photo again.  Then you can navigate forward and backward through the album from the new point.  (Or you could just click on the first picture to go through all the pictures in the album.)  Either way, it's a pain.

You've already seen my first day walk, but I've been walking around a lot since I got here.  I explored Ile de la Cité a bit more:

From Paris 2010: Cityscapes and Walking Tours

the Latin Quarter:

From Paris 2010: Cityscapes and Walking Tours

and Montmartre:

From Paris 2010: Cityscapes and Walking Tours

  I've also been on a great bike tour:

From Paris 2010: Cityscapes and Walking Tours

  (These are all in the same album, so you could just click once to see the whole thing.)

I've also experienced some culture: I went to the Musée National du Moyen Age (dit Cluny):

Paris 2010: Look Ma, Culture!

and to Chartres Cathedral:

Chartres 2010

This coming week is museum week.  I've got me a pass and I'm gonna use it.  I have a feeling I'll be a little museumed out by next Sunday.

It's just my size...

It's a bit ironic that a girl who isn't big on wine finds herself in grape country.  I usually can't drink a whole bottle before it turns from oxidation, so I was thinking I'd have to do all my wine-drinking in restaurants.  Never fear: French practicality to the rescue!

Ahem

As I expected, it's taking me a while to write up some of my rambles, but I've put up photos with pithy commentary for you to enjoy.

My Amsterdam pictures are here:

Amsterdam 2010

Pictures of my Paris apartment and other daily life are here:

Paris 2010: La Vie en Rose

I took a walk down to the Seine and to get chocolate the afternoon of my first full day in Paris:

Paris 2010: Cityscapes and Walking Tours

Some pix of funny things are here:

Paris 2010: Ça m'amuse beaucoup!

I'll be adding to these albums as the month goes on.