Paris / Day 2 Pt 2

I'm reminded by visions of famous chase scenes in Ronin and Bourne as we cross over the river and to the island. 

Diplo would be proud, might even like it more that it's the misspelled.

Some great smelling lavender soap bars.

The protesters spirit is still alive an well here, we've seen a fair number of these banners and groups chanting while here. 

And here it is, the world famous Notre Dame! 

Fortunately, despite the high expectations I had, the church was still very impressive for me. The amount of detail and work on it is just staggering. Not the largest church, but the size is still something to behold. 

Fortunately, photography was permitted so long as I refrained from using my nonexistent flash. It's always shocking that there are still many people who persist on strobing away despite how poor it makes the images appear and how much it upsets the clergy (and police officers). 

Despite the flashes though, I was relieved that the noise level was kept to a respectful whisper. This is after all still an active church. 

Those stained glass artworks...

Every church we've been to, in service or not, there were always several tourists paying respects. 

And so concludes Notre Dame. Next up, Jardin du Luxembourg and a little of the Latin Quarter. 

Paris / Day 1 Pt. 2

After beginning to get the ins and outs of the city, we began heading towards Sacre Coeur. 

Old school Saab 9000 with old meshies somehow fit really well here on the Parisian streets. 

At first glance, I thought it looked like an Indian temple at the top of the hill. Maybe because it was so much cleaner (whiter) than most of the other churches and temples we saw. The domed tops helped the Taj Mahal affect too. 

Look at these punks causing a ruckus with their skateboarding and scootering. Actually, the real delinquents was the scum at the base of the hill that'd grab people's hands (mostly women) and try to put a piece of colored string on your finger so you'd be "forced" to buy their crappy excuse of a souvenir. Despite the police being in clear eyesight of the activity, they just kept at it the entire time we were there. If you happen to see them, don't be shy to physically push them away and tell them to [shoo] off; it's the only way they'll understand you're more trouble than you're worth and they'll just move onto the next victim. 

Once you move past that unfortunately scum though, the rest of the area was really pleasant. Even the pigeons, which look a lot healthier than those in London/SF/LA, were friendly. 

It's really refreshing how clear and open the city feels compared to London. Even with the local smoking and the weird smelling grocery stores, the air here is just so much cleaner. 

It even managed to get Michelle to crack a smile. 

And have I mentioned that I miss hills and breaking up the monotony of the flat, featureless slab of land that is London? Yeah it may be a little bit of an exercise to get up to the top, but I enjoyed every moment of it. 

Finally we arrive. 

And what a view!

Through the trees and buildings, we even got our first sighting of the Eiffel Tower. Definitely a great area to live for the view, though I'd try to avoid the bottom of the hill. 

Because when you think of Memphis, you think of palm trees? Gotta love the crazy MKIII Golf specials. 

Alfa Romeo may only have a collection of fwd hatches and saloons/estates (if you exclude the 8C and newly introduced 4C) but man these things are lookers. My favorite looking modern fwd hatch for the longest time has been the VW Scirocco R, but the Alfa Romeo Brera is a very close second. 

Peace brah!

The local ads tend to have a fun vibe about them compared to the serious and clean ads of London. 

I know this is considered to be the city of lights but it feels like the city of color coming from the bleak streets of London. 

One thing that I've noticed these past 3 days is that Paris is the sheer number of scooters and motorcycles, which makes sense when there's almost no parking and the traffic is crazy. What this means to me is plenty of great 60-early 90s bikes to spot, like this Yamaha and BMW. 

This wraps up the first day. Stay tuned for the next day as we go to Notre Dame and Pompidou.