Not The Thinker

Not the Thinker

Maybe the “Oh My-er”? Perhaps the, “Did I just shart”er? Nah, I think the “My beard is particularly soft today-er”.

jon

Notre Dame from the Down Low

Notre Dame from the Down Low

Notre Dame was pretty wicked cool. On top of that, I just watched a NOVA on gothic cathedrals last night, so I’m a total expert. They explained how the buildings were designed with ancient bible numbers as the basis of the structures, and not, you know, engineering. Then to prove that the numbers they cherry picked from the bible were really involved, they kept changing which units of measurement were used for the conversion from meters, to whatever matched. It was pretty scientifically valid if you ask me.

Watch out behind you! There’s a church, and its angry!

Flying buttress. Definitely has the word ‘butt’ in it. That’s been consistently funny since middle school. How do you stay so fresh and relevant buttress? I mean, you sound like butt dress and everything.

I totally would have taken your picture, why didn’t you ask?

Pop it Like it’s Hot

Pop it Like it’s Hot

Almost bought that shirt. Seriously. Maybe if it was Chicago, or L.A. I would have. But, Palm Beach, ick.

River Bar

River Bar

We have those in Milwaukee. They are awesome. Or, so I hear from people who never seem to invite me. But, that’s OK, ‘cause I know I’m cool.

Boat Bus

Boat Bus

In all seriousness, if you go to Paris, do the Boat Bus. And specifically this boat bus, it was the only one with hop-on hop-off, and it had six pretty darn good stops. The subway is cool and all, but the river goes near almost anything you’d want to see. Man, now I wish we had a boat bus in Milwaukee. Funny enough, there are actually signs for one (including at my work), but I’ve never seen one. Or, siene one?

Gandalf?

Gandalf?

Who knew the Parisians were such fans of Tolkein?

Many Bridges

 

That’s the thing with a town on the water; bridges everywhere. And the irritating thing, that river bends quite a bit. It is easy enough to use it as a frame of reference if you stay along it, but it isn’t going to give you any clues as to the relative direction between. Why can’t it just go North and South like our beautiful Lake Michigan shoreline? Don’t most rivers think ahead, what up Seine?

Musee de Cluny

 

A pretty blasted cool example of medieval Paris architecture. Once a place for abbots, it now houses art. Take that religion.

 

As with all the museums seen that day, when you have a single day in Paris, the exteriors are all you get.

Now That’s French

A corner building with useless ‘balconies’.  That’s one damn French building I tell ya.

jon

Cause its There

Got to love a few subway shots.  In all honesty, there is some interesting color contrast between the paint job on the train and the plastic chars.  The tiling everywhere was also pretty wicked.

This particular station was more than five floors.  I never really got a grasp on how it all layed out, or how large it truly was.  Just up, then down, than across, then put your left leg in, and take your left leg out, do the hokey pokey and find yourself in the Latin Quarter.

jon

Suckered

Don’t tell a swarmy French man you are willing to eat anything.  You will get some nasty heartburn just so he can punish you for not ordering on your own.  But, the pancetta was good.  Not Milwaukee good, but good.

jon

Les Chimeres

Coolest gin and tonic I have ever had.  They give you a large glass with a little gin and some ice in it.  Then they hand you an unopened bottle of tonic and a spoon.  Mix yourself, strong, weak, it’s all up to you.  I was impressed, so upper class.  Sort of like eating a candy bar with a fork and knife.

jon

Busy, Not.

Guess no one wanted to go to Chateau de Vincennes.  Losers.

jon

Smoke Break

And why not under the gilded door thing.  What is that?  Is there even an English word to describe it?   Regardless, pretty wicked.

jon

Arms Bend That Way?

Wow.  That’s something.  He was boarding on the church property.  Tourists, old ladies be damned.  And pigeons? Forget about it.

jon

Indeed.

Yes.  Mmmm.  Hm. I see.  Ah.  Perhaps.  Possibly.  Go on.  

jon

Every Great

Every Great Organ has a great church.  And every great church needs a great fountain.  And what is all this without a great lion?  RAWR!

jon

Église Saint-Sulpice

From what I understand, on the inside is “The Great Organ”.  Something I didn’t get inside to look at.  In retrospect, it is a shame that I didn’t get a photograph of The Great Organ.   Mainly because I am missing out on opportunities to say The Great Organ.

Jon

Bike Basket

Bikes are incredibly popular in Paris.  Most people I saw were riding on the rental bikes.  Which did look durable and comfy, probably not light or fast.  Other than the rentals, most bikes looked pretty P.O.S.  Thankfully, I found this pleasant example of a Euro bike.

jon

Statue

Sun hat, how about you cover your shoulders strumpet!  I think she is a delightful statue.  It is a delightful statue?  Yeah, it.  Unless the sculpture stuffed a real girl in it.

Jon

A Street View

And not from the Google.  Upon reflection, the content here isn’t fundamentally different than what Google would serve up.  But, I was there, so there.

jon

More Detail

All the masonry and detail.  Just everywhere. Smiles abound thinking about it.

jon

Medici Fountain

Here was a real miss in the photography department.  The fountain is just stunning.  Unfortunately, the lighting conditions were not.  It twas a cloudy day, and the fountain was shadowed by the surrounding trees.  My non-tripod attempts at capturing the scene just couldn’t land right.  This shot ends up being the uncomfortable halfway shot between the detail of the sculpture, and the wide angle of the space.  Sad.

Well, enjoy,

jon

Pony Rides

Man, kids seemed to have it all in the parks.  It was so nice to go somewhere and see family’s playing together in the park.  Such a different way of living than everyone buying their own ‘private parks’.  I thought it was nifty.

jon

Almost Glowing

The statue above just seemed to glow from a distance.  It is an immediate eye catcher.  I wonder if any one knows why they put a naked statue of Catwoman at the French senate.

Enjoy,

jon

Free Gallery

There were a couple of free galleries.  This was the only one without a line, so we went in.

The space was pretty cool.  It reminded me of where they train the Lippizzaner Horses.  Not that I’ve actually been there, but I saw a movie on them once.

Jon