Monday, October 08, 2012

"You are the window through which you see the world."

"Better keep yourself clean and bright. You are the window through which you see the world."
  ~ George Bernard Shaw   

No time for stories, people, cuz it's 2am, and tomorrow I get up at 6:30am to pack for my flight to San Francisco. Wow - if San Francisco is "home" then I'm going home. If it's not really home... I already told you, I don't have time for this.  I got a flight to catch!

Enjoy the photos - a few from the south of France and the rest from Paris.

Lots of love, and this time I mean it!
Dave


This is a view of the Seine River in Paris, with an illuminated Eiffel Tower in the distance. This night was the annual "Nuit Blanche" city-wide street festival, which ran from 7pm to 7am. It's a massive effort for a single night's festivities, and the streets were teeming with people.



The next few photos are back to the Cevennes area of southern France, before I came to Paris. I can't get over where these small mostly-stone villages are located.



This is what I'm talking about. Just amazing - the village of Saint Enimie. Check out the bridge in the foreground.



This ancient hermitage overlooks the village above. The oldest parts are about 1,000 years old.



This photo doesn't do the scene justice, but you can see the small stone houses of Castelbouc hanging on the rock ledge just above the river. Just out of the photo are the ruins of the chateau that dates back to the 12th century.


Stone, an arch, and a bridge. What could be better.



Some of these photos use the "HDR" technique I've written about. You take three identical photos, but at different exposures, and then use software to capture the "best" exposure for each part of the image. This is not far from Mount Aigoual, the tallest mountain in the Cevennes area.



It's rugged and beautiful country. I was amazed by how many village were tucked into these steep hills.



The castle of Montdardier towers above the village of the same name.



An old door in Montdardier.



Now, I'm not saying that Romney is an extraterrestrial. I'm only saying that people are saying he's an extraterrestrial. Of course, those people are French, so you can take it with le grain of salt.



Night life in Paris.



A canal boat on the Seine.



Many bridges cross the Seine in Paris, and many of them are beautiful works of art.



This is the Haunted House at Disneyland. Or it might be the Louvre in Paris. Look how dramatic the lighting is! They don't just blast it with light - they create a mood by lighting it like you would a scene in a movie. Beautiful.



A walkway near the Louvre.



The red and blue lights were rotating in this fountain.



More mood lighting at the Louvre.



The glass and metal Louvre Pyramid.



Swanky!



The Metro stop near my Lola's flat, where I stayed for 5 nights.



My friend Menuka just happened to be walking by as I was wanting to get a photo of someone walking by. Seems a little suspicious, but I don't do posed photos. Er, I don't admit to doing them. Menuka spent two months in a remote village in Nicaragua a few years ago and put together an amazing book of photos - she's a very talented photographer.



Light on the water, near Menuka's flat. I really like taking these kind of photos for some reason.



Fountain and bordello. At least it looks like one. They claim to be a restaurant. Yeah, right.



Liquid light, not far from the blue-on-water photo above.



My friend Fanny and I spent a couple of hours walking through the massive Père Lachaise Cemetery. It's like a whole city, with so much to see. There are 1 million people buried here!



This guy looks like the model for the "V for Vendetta" masks. I can't say I understand the meaning of the statue.



Many of the graves are stamped with a number and a phrase that says "in perpetuity." You can't dig up those ones - sorry.



This gravestone is returning to the elements. The dates you can see are 1852 and 1917.



Jim Morrison of the Doors is buried just near this tree, who's trying to devour this grave and headstone.



I love the moss.



Devotion, in a church not far from the cemetery.



Oh, the French and their baked stuff. Wow.



Delivery trucks, and this food cart, are ripe targets for graffiti. Some truck owners commission graffiti for the whole vehicle, since they know it will be covered anyway - they may as well choose something they like.


(The End)