Water Drops

I read a cool blog on Friday, May 29, 2009, by David Hobby, at strobist.blogspot.com, that described how to photograph drops of water.  I tried it as soon as I got home!  

My setup was very low-tech, which made my actually pulling off this seemingly impossible photo trick very satisfying.  Not that I have mastered the art of water drop photography, as this guy has: Martin Waugh.

To see some of the best of mine (so far) click here.

JRT

Friday in France

Friday was a recovery day. We slept in and rested a bit. When we finally got up and around, we walked to the nearby village, Bailly Romainvilles, and had lunch at the Brasserrie there. Like most meals we have had in France, it was great.






















Then it was in to Paris for shopping and strolling.





















And we completed the tourist requirements by visiting the Eiffel Tower.










































Reece had a plate of mussels as a dinner apetizer - he says they were good!

On Saturday we will visit Provins, a midieval village.

JRT

The Running of the Pidgeons

Thursday was spent in London seeing all we could see in a day. We were up at 4:30 and were not back to our house until midnight, so it was a long, long day. The weather was as close to being perfect as any traveler could hope for. There were clear blue skies all day, and the temperature was very comfortable.


One benefit of being up so early was this nice golden morning view of the Eiffel Tower.

We traveled to London on te EuroStar ffom the Pont du Nord train station in downtown Paris. This train travels at speeds up to 165 mph, and took us underneath the British Channel to England.

While in Lndon we toured around on Double-Decker buses with guides commenting and on the sights and offering historical context. We also went on tour of the river Thames by boat, which gave us a very interesting perspective of the city.

Here are some of the sites:

Tower of London Bridge

The London Eye (many think of it as the London Eye-sore)

The Tower of St. Stephen, better known as Big Ben

A great spot for Fish and Chips.

Why go to Spain and risk your life running with bulls, when you can go to London and run with pidgeons? Your biggest risk is a few blotches... Fortunatley, Reece came through spotless!

JRT

Mona Lisa Smile

Today we visited Musee du Louvre, the biggest museum in the world. To see all of it, and appreciate it, you would have to live there for years. It borders on sensory overload. The Louvre contains so many great works by so many great masters they are displayed two and three high in some rooms.

The crowd was huge! I felt like I was fighting through a mosh pit to get a photo of the Mona Lisa, not that I have ever been in a mosh pit, but I imagine this was a similar experience. I recommend that before you visit, determine their lowest attendance day of the year, and plan your entire trip around that day. Seriously. Many visiting cultures have no regard for personal space.

I thought Mona Lisa winked at me, but I am now thinking it was just the thousands of flashes firing in syncopated waves. It is unbelievable that flash is allowed in the Louvre. How rude!

Believe it or not, the Mona Lisa is not the only painting by da Vinci, but it was his favorite. He even took it with him when he traveled. Here is another sample of his greatness:

Two great sculptures, Winged Victory, and Venus de Milo

Here is one of my two great works of art:

I like the works by Renoir: they are soft, pretty, and usually everyone has their clothes on, which makes them easier to study intently with my mother and son always lurking around:

A little souvenir shopping...

Tomorrow we are off to see The Queen of England, she just does not know it yet.

JRT

Tuesday in Paris

My feet are too tired to type after the long day, so here are a few pics...

Backyard critters:

Roses are everywhere on the property:

We spent much of the day in the Musee d'Orsay.

Main Hall of the Musee d'Orsay:

a Renoir:

Fourteen Year Old Dancer by Degas:

Notre Dame:

Notre Dame (again):

The most unique book store any of us has ever visited:

Paris' copy of the Pantheon:

A sweet treat:

Ancient ruins of a Roman coliseum:

We finished the day by enjoying the best meal we have had in France.

Tomorrow we're visiting the Louvre.

JRT

Even in France, Its a Small, Small World!

We slept like logs last night after the adreneline of the day wore off. Once we were up and around it was off to see the sights of the Old West,

...er... Paris Disney!

We rode the obligatory It's A Smaal World ride, and heard the song sung in many diffent languagesReece and I were inspired by the many different cultures we encountered to experiment with new hairstyles:

We treated Mom like a queen all day,

and then she took a well deserved nap,

while Reece mingled with celebrities.

The weather was really close to perfect. It was cool all day and there is very low humidity. The park was not crowded and we never waited very long for any ride. Space Montain, Mission 2, was our favorite - Reece and I rode it four times.

Here are a couple of pics of our temporary French home.

Tomorrow we are going to visit museums in Paris.

JRT