3 Schoolboys in Melun, France

Joe and I explored Melun, notable for the frequent stays of Kings of France from the 11th to 15th centuries.. or so says their brochure :-)  It's ancient, like most towns around here east of Paris, first mentioned by Julius Caesar in the 1st century B.C..... a long time ago!!

We were doing our usual thing, walking around, taking in the town, cameras at hand, when the first boy dashed by, running fast just across the street from us. Quick as I could, and I'm finally getting faster, I grabbed the running boy shot. Then I noticed there were others around, school must have just gotten out. What attracted me to these images is the difference in what they were all doing, and I processed them differently to underscore that. I used my own texture I made off of a church wall, fun!

Which is your favorite?

 Boy walking with iPhone, focused.

Boy reading intently, real paper.

Boy dashing... really fast, in a hurry or just for the love of running.

Buying a Guitar in Paris

So you're in Paris and need a guitar, where do you go?? Joe looked online and found an entire store dedicated to guitars, beautifully arranged and a great selection. The place is called Woodbrass.com, not very French, and while Joe was choosing a guitar to buy so he can continue playing while we're here... I took photographs. Guitars are very photogenic and so are the people playing them:-)

Great looking intruments well displayed. 

Joe concentrating on the sound... which one goes home with me??? 

Both her parents play the guitar, and her face lit up as she looked at her sister with this guitar in her hand. Just the right size!

So nice to see children interested in making music! 

Another patron testing out the instruments, he was in the really nice guitar section, maybe a professional?

La Tour Eiffel in Paris looking fabulous!

What a perfect day to go see the Eiffel Tower yesterday, beautiful sky and not a lot of people around. Joe and I looked at it from many angles, and yes, it looks fantastic no matter how you view it!! The French really do have a great sense of design, and I'm glad they didn't tear it down after it served it's original purpose for a World's Fair in 1889. 

Here are some more views of it, in case you want to see a few more, or forgot what it looked like :-)

La Tour Eiffel...What a dramatic structure, deserves all it's praise!

You know you're in France when... berets, well dressed people, laughter....

The old puddle refection shot, a staple of this trip, a little rain the day before can be a good thing!

Lucky us, this couple was having their wedding photos taken and so I took some, too :-)

Wardrobe issues...

Sunset over the River Seine was beautiful, too. 

 The couple next to us had these great little keychains, and let me take a few photos with them. They were prepared!

I added some textures and french script to this blue hour shot. 

Settling in at Bailly-Romainvilliers, France

Today was a rainy day, and I thought it would be a good time to cull some of my photos from the past week to give a sense of what it's like where we are staying. Many times we travel using our timeshare we purchased 20? years ago, and use it to trade into places we want to stay at for a few weeks or longer. Timeshares we like are a complete home; kitchen, living dining room, bedrooms. The timeshare we're staying at east of Paris, near Disneyland, looks like a little French village, very tastefully layed out and very comfortable!

Hi, there!!!

Our unit came complete with swans that have no problem coming up to our windows asking for handouts.

A rainy day, no sitting out on the terrace this week. 

The local outdoor market, crepe lady and her friend from the next stall. 

 Love the light at the end of the day on these buildings.

Walking home in the evening. 

 Carol, this bread is for you!!

Very proud of her award winning bread, well deserved. 

Geese, ducks, swans and gulls live here, too. 

 Back again on a sunny day.

Back in France!

Where are we now... in France, just outside of Paris!! Joe and I are exploring the great land of France with our cameras and enjoying all the wonderful old world goodness, the people and the food. Also liking the lack of snow and warmer weather. Ian's in Ithaca, NY at his new job with Cornell Lab of Ornithology... this blog was started as a Where are Ian and Amy now :-) Joe has his own blog at Joe's Retirement Blog, and most likely if you're reading this, you may have subscribed to his blog, too. He posted a great one on Notre-Dame today.

Joe and I have been here for nearly a week, and I keep thinking I'm going to start blogging at the beginning, but if I wait any longer the beginning of our time in France will be way in the past. So I'll start with today's photos, everyday we go out and see such amazing things, it's a lot of fun walking around a new place with Joe, both of us with our cameras egging each other on, Joe has a great eye and sees things I miss.

The town is Meaux, and it's claim to fame is it's Gothic Cathedral. Our routine, if we have one, is to leave our comfy condo mid to late morning, drive to a new destination and visit the Tourist Information office, get a map. Find a place to have a nice long lunch, then explore and try and capture something worth sharing :-) Head back home when we feel like it, pick up some fresh bread and veggies for dinner, process our images and before we know it the day is over! Sleep and repeat!

Cathédrale Saint-Étienne de Meaux

Inside same Cathedral, loved the light coming through the windows, impressive space!!!

Lunch

I didn't know I caught this until I was processing it, ha ha :-)

Great name...literally "at the pleasure of bread."  Yes.

School vacation week in this part of France, nice seeing children around.

Walking Around Old Havana, Cuba

There were about 8 of us photographers that took off toward a part of Havana we had only seen from the bus. Great long streets full of life and crumbling old buildings attracted us, so when we had an afternoon off from the structured people to people schedule, we walked there from our hotel and had our own people to people experience. What a great afternoon we had, observing life from the streets, friendly people everywhere with old cars and the best backdrops ever!

   

2 bakers happy to pose for me.

 

Having a great game of dominoes in the street with hip sunglasses required.

Boys and their toy guns, universal.