Paris adventures

I have finally sorted through all my Paris pictures. I try to give each photo a bit of special attention, and at least half of them are stitched from more than one shot (blame the horribly long focal length of my camera lens). It takes a bit of time, but I try to make my photos a happy medium between those that are purely artistic and those that are purely practical. I'm starting to think photos of fun times aren't as fun without showing myself doing something fun, but that's what you get for travelling alone. I've created two sets:

• The (mostly boring but sometimes amusing) shots of, and out of, my various forms of transportation between home and Paris;
• The (more interesting) shots of my stay in Paris itself.

The uploading process is a pain with the slow internet, and is only less than half done. Check back soon! Hopefully I'll compose a couple of videos too.

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Trip to Paris - Days 4 and 5

I'm back in Sweden now. It's been 5 days since I've been in an empty house in the quiet suburbs (as opposed to Christy's apartment in the festive St. Germain neighbourhood), and I miss the Paris atmosphere already. It's really something that has to be experienced first hand. Life just felt much simpler in Paris, and I think that living in an apartment (instead of a hotel) really gave me the feeling of living, and not just visiting, the city. Today (Day 5) was mainly the journey back to Stockholm. I snuck a quick visit to the Arc de Triomphe (top) for a few minutes before catching the bus to the airport. The rest of the day was pretty much the 10 hour journey. Yesterday (Day 4) was a visit to the Palace of Versailles (middle, bottom). I was no doubt impressed by the palace itself, but the crowds of tourists (myself being one, of course) kind of took away from the experience. That's just not avoidable. Anyway, it's back to business as usual starting tomorrow.

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Trip to Paris - Day 3

Today was just more walking and a bit of shopping. Walking is actually a great way to absorb the atmosphere, and Paris is really a city best explored by walking. Above are night shots of Notre Dame, the Seine and, of course, the Eiffel Tower.

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Trip to Paris - Day 2

I was walking around for a few hours this morning, and now I'm back at Christy's apartment to recharge my camera battery. Processing all the pictures and videos will take too long (and take away from Paris-enjoying time), so I'll just post a few of my favourites each day. For now, Top: view from Christy's balcony. That's Notre Dame on the far left. Bottom: an HDR of a church interior. I haven't figured out the name of the church yet, but thanks to the GPS tag I'm sure I'll find out later. I think the HDR is a little too bold; I'll fix it when I get back to Sweden. For now I just want to share a tiny bit of the Paris atmosphere. Try listening to some Louis Armstrong while viewing.

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Trip to Paris - Day 1

It's been less than a day in Paris and I think the atmosphere beats Stockholm by orders of magnitude. "Well duh." Anyway, the trip here was rather exhausting. It consisted of or 6 modes of transportation ranging from 20 minutes to 2 hours in length, somehow adding up to a journey from 7:26 to 17:30. If it was a 10 hour flight, I can actually sleep, but transferring every hour or two meant I had to be half awake most of the time. Our friends at Ryanair also delayed the flight by half an hour on an "air conditioning problem", and produced the rockiest landing I have ever experienced (after which the passengers broke into applause). I did get a chance to experience Paris through dinner and some strolls, but pictures will have to wait until at least tomorrow. In the mean time, enjoy this wacky Ryanair captain leaned out over the cockpit window!

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