Sacre Coeur Basilica, Montmartre, Paris
from Dave....
Hi everyone! We got in to Germany about 9:35 last night. Took the train from Paris; average speed: 191 miles per hour! That means we were well over 200mph quite often. Didn't feel like it; pretty smooth. Amazingly beautiful countryside; almost all farmland interspersed wih woodlands and forests. Sublime villages, each with its own church with steeple. Charrnimg and beautiful! I tried to take pictures from the train to get an idea of the countryside. Tough at that speed. We'll take it easy here today at my daugher's house and then hit the road again tomorrow for eight days; Head east and then north through Prague, the tip of Poland, Berlin and back here (Schneckenhausen). 7 nights; four hotels. Our stay in Paris was 7days, 6 nights; all in the same hotel. Took the Metro (undrground)all over the city as well as a couple days on a bus. As our tour guide in Paris said "When you are asked where you went in Pars, answer, 'Everywhere'!" It is quite a city. Kinda crazy; 7 million people. It was good to get out of town one day and up into the countryside to Monet's house and gardens. Very peaceful and beautiful. We were often run ragged with all the Metro stops and incessant walking. Good thing it wasn't hot. The weather has been fantastic. They had had a heat wave a week earlier. I hit the streets with camera in hand ready to document all the wonderful things we were seeing. With three camers I was sure we would came back with about 1000 pictures. That may have been close. One woman in our group had taken over 400 in the first 24 hours! I'll never know as I left the camera in the bathroom of one of the main departents stores in Paris and it was gone after about three minutes when I remembered and returned. The store clerks and security were very friendly and helped me out but there was nothing anyone could do. It was a bummer. We were very disapponted. But a couple good things may have come from it: 1. It broke my "slavery" to the camera. I was looking at everything as a potential subject for a photograph. Once the camera was one I was more relaxed and able to enjoy things on different level without always thinking about the next 'shot". I was able to take it in and not be concerend with documenting the moment. I found that I wa taking most of the pictures "for others" (like you guys) and only about 5% or 10% for myslef, even though I tried to compose all the shots. So... I lost some great shots but enjoyed the rest of the time not being a slave. I realize most people don't want to see that many pictures anyway! A couple days later I took the other camera out and took "snapshots". So you'll still get to see some pics of Paris though maybe not as good of pictures as I had hoped. Everything starts to look the same after awhile :). If you want to see some of the places we visited Google: Sacre Couer, Montmarte, The Louvre, Musee D'Orsay, Notre Dame, Grand Arche (La Defense), Eiffel Tower, River Siene (Bateau Mouche), Giverny, Ache de Triomphe, Champs Elysees, Opera and all the streets and roas in beween. Typical tourist destinations all, but also the main anchor points of the city. Plus a differnt restaurant every night. Nothing fancy or expensive. We were on a restricted budget for food. No one starved, though. We had breakfast a our hotel, on our own for lunch and then dinner together. So one could splurge if they wanted to for lunch. We usuallu got a sandwish or crepes or even one day - yes, a hamburger (about 7-8 inches across!) from a carnivale food tent. I came down with a nasty cold two nights ago. I'm taking some French/Euro drugs faithfully. I hope they work. It's no wonder; there are so many people crowded into small places; endless handrails, stairs, elevators, escalators, drinking fountains, public bathrooms, etc. I think I'm the only one who got sick. That's good. So, we're off tomorrow on the next leg of this trip. Don't know when I'll be able to get online again. Certainly by the 2nd or 3rd of August. Hope you're all doing well.
Hi everyone! We got in to Germany about 9:35 last night. Took the train from Paris; average speed: 191 miles per hour! That means we were well over 200mph quite often. Didn't feel like it; pretty smooth. Amazingly beautiful countryside; almost all farmland interspersed wih woodlands and forests. Sublime villages, each with its own church with steeple. Charrnimg and beautiful! I tried to take pictures from the train to get an idea of the countryside. Tough at that speed. We'll take it easy here today at my daugher's house and then hit the road again tomorrow for eight days; Head east and then north through Prague, the tip of Poland, Berlin and back here (Schneckenhausen). 7 nights; four hotels. Our stay in Paris was 7days, 6 nights; all in the same hotel. Took the Metro (undrground)all over the city as well as a couple days on a bus. As our tour guide in Paris said "When you are asked where you went in Pars, answer, 'Everywhere'!" It is quite a city. Kinda crazy; 7 million people. It was good to get out of town one day and up into the countryside to Monet's house and gardens. Very peaceful and beautiful. We were often run ragged with all the Metro stops and incessant walking. Good thing it wasn't hot. The weather has been fantastic. They had had a heat wave a week earlier. I hit the streets with camera in hand ready to document all the wonderful things we were seeing. With three camers I was sure we would came back with about 1000 pictures. That may have been close. One woman in our group had taken over 400 in the first 24 hours! I'll never know as I left the camera in the bathroom of one of the main departents stores in Paris and it was gone after about three minutes when I remembered and returned. The store clerks and security were very friendly and helped me out but there was nothing anyone could do. It was a bummer. We were very disapponted. But a couple good things may have come from it: 1. It broke my "slavery" to the camera. I was looking at everything as a potential subject for a photograph. Once the camera was one I was more relaxed and able to enjoy things on different level without always thinking about the next 'shot". I was able to take it in and not be concerend with documenting the moment. I found that I wa taking most of the pictures "for others" (like you guys) and only about 5% or 10% for myslef, even though I tried to compose all the shots. So... I lost some great shots but enjoyed the rest of the time not being a slave. I realize most people don't want to see that many pictures anyway! A couple days later I took the other camera out and took "snapshots". So you'll still get to see some pics of Paris though maybe not as good of pictures as I had hoped. Everything starts to look the same after awhile :). If you want to see some of the places we visited Google: Sacre Couer, Montmarte, The Louvre, Musee D'Orsay, Notre Dame, Grand Arche (La Defense), Eiffel Tower, River Siene (Bateau Mouche), Giverny, Ache de Triomphe, Champs Elysees, Opera and all the streets and roas in beween. Typical tourist destinations all, but also the main anchor points of the city. Plus a differnt restaurant every night. Nothing fancy or expensive. We were on a restricted budget for food. No one starved, though. We had breakfast a our hotel, on our own for lunch and then dinner together. So one could splurge if they wanted to for lunch. We usuallu got a sandwish or crepes or even one day - yes, a hamburger (about 7-8 inches across!) from a carnivale food tent. I came down with a nasty cold two nights ago. I'm taking some French/Euro drugs faithfully. I hope they work. It's no wonder; there are so many people crowded into small places; endless handrails, stairs, elevators, escalators, drinking fountains, public bathrooms, etc. I think I'm the only one who got sick. That's good. So, we're off tomorrow on the next leg of this trip. Don't know when I'll be able to get online again. Certainly by the 2nd or 3rd of August. Hope you're all doing well.
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