New York

Some of us have been sick, all of us are tired, but what we like so far about New York is a)  they speak an almost comprehensible form of English and  b)   we feel thin all of a sudden. 

We managed a few things: Times Square day & night / Toys ’r Us / F.A.O. Schwarz Toystore / Tiffany’s on 5th Avenue / MoMa Design Store / World Trade Centre / Wall Street / Sex And The City movie / Staten Island Ferry / Statue of Liberty / Greenwich Village / SOHO / Century 21 / Prince St shopping / Blick’s Art Materials / NY Central Art Supply / West Side Story musical show on Broadway / Metropolitan Museum of Art / Central Park / Guggenheim Museum

Taxi !!!!!!!!!!!	Muppet Wall at F.A.O. Schwarz Toy Store in Times Square	Street view of the area we stayed in	Liberty makes a quick call between tourists
Times Square by day - manageable	Times Square on Saturday night – Mental	We were on one Ferry looking at the other one – it’s on a lean because all the tourists are on the Statue of Liberty side of the boat	Plaza Hotel

Paris Phenomena

Some lasting images of Paris as we say goodbye to the city, and sadly, to France.   But wait, we’re off to New York~~~

Paris apartments: Who’d want the corner ones?	Serendipity	Paris rooftops – imagine all those smokin’ chimneys in Winter!	Space is at a premium: Precise Paris Parking
”Protect your private life with Windows Explorer 8” NOT	One of Monet’s large  waterlily paintings at the Orangerie gallery	This Joan of Arc statue is brilliant – makes you feel as if it’s you on the horse	Hmmm … this could almost be a “Send Your Best Caption” competition

Paris Night 3: the delights of the Arc de Triomphe

After our day trip to Montmartre, we had a well needed rest  then headed up to the Arc de Triomphe to see the view and night lights from its top terrace.  We did not know the Farmers Agricultural awareness campaign was on, so we were surprised to find thousands more people in the area at 9.30pm on a Sunday night than we anticipated.

The Champs Elysees as you’ve never seen it – the French Farmers filled it with trees & animals to raise awareness of their plight. For just 2 days only!

Same angle, but a bit later on the same night

Eiffel Tower, once again at 10.01pm and blinking.  It’s simply entrancing

Looking west to the business district after dark  Same view as above, but with a bit of creative camera work

The internal staircase of the Arc de Triomphe. 284 steps with no stopping, no lift and no choice: heart attack material

This does not do the  A. de T. justice.  The front sculptures are covered with flat panels while restoration goes on.  It is also very much bigger than it looks here.

Paris Day 3: Montmartre & Sacre Coeur

A trip on a hot humid day up to the area I was really interested in seeing.  Loved seeing the artists at work, and Sacre Coeur, but the Con men made our day – we secretly watched them setting up unsuspecting tourists to relieve them of €50 a time playing a game called “La Blanche” (White Spot) i.e. swap the discs around and guess which one the spot’s under.  Oldest trick in the book.  After 10 minutes, when they’d made a fistful of dosh, one of them scurried their cardboard box table away, the rest dispersed to a meeting spot round the corner, and they joked about the idiots who had just parted with so much money.  And there were half a dozen different groups of guys doing the same thing all the way up that crowded street in Montmartre.  Incredible.

Montmartre: wall to wall tourists in 30 degree heat – not fun

The Con Men: the 3 men bending over the box are part of the setup.  The woman behind the guy in the blue shirt parted with about €200 while we watched, till her husband dragged her away.

One of the few street entertainers we gave money to for her decorative and musical ability

Sacre Coeur was one of the most attractive cathedrals both structurally and decoratively

another bit of Sacre Coeur

The Place du Tertre is famous for all the working artists & painting sales

Oo la la, ze French artiste

Orangestrial

Paris Day 2: Central City

We took the Metro to the area of Notre Dame and the Louvre and enjoyed the Paris sunshine with 30 degree Spring weather, before heading off to the Musee d’Orsay for the rest of the afternoon, to enjoy their extensive collection of impressionist paintings.

At this stage of the game, Notre Dame is just another cathedral, and the queue put us off going inside	The flying buttress end of Notre Dame	Street busker on his dinky piano	Always a favourite haunt – the bookseller on the Right Bank
The Bubble Man and the child trying to catch one	The passing newly-weds tried to catch one too	Everyone saw this I saw this	Workmates having a Friday night get-together on lethal Paris style cocktails