Character shoes

For those fans of Opera, you may or may not recognize the basis of Opera for all female performers, character shoes. Basically to keep these divas out of the air and onto the floor some little man decided that these performers would have to wear, quite possibly the ugliest shoes on earth (next to toe shoes of course). I happened upon a whole store of them in the Marais. I think they might still be considered fashionable by some doyennes of the Octogenarian set.

And then the last picture is of a pretty flower, kind of like sorbet to cleanse the palate, except this is to scrub out your eyeballs.

Parisian summer

Sunset. Look at the light, the light!

Ah! Mmm...Sterr? Damn!

 

 So this is pretty much how it started. We got off of the Thalys train from Paris, which took only a 3 hour ride. Out of the Centraal Station towards the water as that is where my google map on my phone decided we needed to go to. A very nice Dutch lady helped us figure out which ferry we needed to take and off we went. Across the sound, or bay, it wasn't a canal as it was way too wide, we noticed it was a bit run down, crunchy and very Williamsburg, Brooklyn looking, which to me made my heart sing. It just ended up being grungy, but we made it towards the right place, and near our hotel. It was cool to see this Russian sub parked next to our hotel. We turned around after we attempted to check in, and started walking around, and immediately fell in LOVE with the hand painted signage. I mean, its not even a font, it completely freehand, uneven and wonderful!

 Oh dear...

 I am in love

 Amstel never looked so good.

 I have carved a couple of things in my day. This is no easy feat, was probably completely freehand carved by a master mason, and look at the tops of the "A". It is a broken line, requiring several chops and taps.

 This pretty much typifies the dutch weekend ethic. This is strung between a tree and a lightpost, and just says, heck yeah world. I am taking the day off.

 creepy. but so good. I love the repetition of things.

 This is about as close to the Rijksmuseum as there was a line forever long. It is pretty from the outside and they have a glockenspiel which chimed every 15 minutes or so, quite nicely.

 I didn't even wonder what was on tap. I was lost at the window.

 Here my brain nearly exploded. You can see me in my shroud of Turin refelction that I am agog, mouth open, looking at this paint as well as the french polish on the door. Kaboom, and fizzle, there goes the cerebellum.

 This is fun, as the buildings are parallel to the canal, but if you look behind the facade they are at an oblique angle from the face, kind of like a fun drawing you do when talking on the phone forever. Lots of directional cubes.

 This is probably called the kiddiewågjon. A fun way to tote them or stuff around.

 Continental Botel breakfast.

 Thar she blows, Botel, the hotel on a boat. It was funny, and I am really glad we didn't leave our stuff there in the morning when they said we couldn't leave our things in our rooms.

Centraal station, a bit earlier than we had planned, but it was a needed thing to get home again. Amsterdam is great if you're looking to pay for sex, see some drugs, and smoke your brain away.

One year and a day…

Please, no applause, its been a feat, but not that difficult of one. Here are some photos from the past year that haven't been posted, mostly because I started this little archive of time here after I had already been here for three months.

Its a strange place this Paris land. There are seemingly odd customs even though they we are all of the "western culture" Nothing happens here without a Bonjour, bonsoir, monsieur, madam, or a bow/nod of the head. It is quite old school in its manners.

Architecture is amazing, everything is cared for seemingly and restored with tremendous care, but it could also be because there isn't a real motivation to finish quickly either. Oh and there is also the art, which easily is fantastic! Lots of it, everywhere, of all levels, and the galleries, be they small or large, seem to be undying, plentiful, and full of daring do.

Snow…in Vars

Yes!

My view from my bed on the night train to Mt. Dauphin near Vars. 

Hallway of the night train

View from the train station…amazing

View from our chalet window

Mountain Breakfast of coffee OJ and muffin

Wild about hearts in the chalet interior

the “Chateau" Queryas, a fairytale castle in the middle of a valley near Briançon

the above 12 photos are of Briançon, the highest and oldest village in Europe.