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Paris October 2006
I wandered off to Paris at the Start of October in 2006. I love Paris, been several times, and would deeply love to retire there. This time was a flying 3 day visit, and I stayed in the Hotel de la Paix (Countryside Hotel) under the Eiffel Tower. I couldn't help feeling the Hotel was familiar, and it wasn't until I watched "The Bourne Identity" recently, that I remembered it's used in the movie. Did a lot of things this time, went to see Jim Morrisson's and Chopin's Graves in Pere LaChaise Graveyard, whilst spending a bit of time at the Polish Pianist's Grave, I noticed a large, plain Grave next to Chopin's. Namely "Michel Petrucciani - Jazz Pianist" - did a bit of googling, and it turns out Michel was a 4 foot man with terrible deformities, but turned out to be an amazing player. Bang his name into Youtube for some serious Jazz. A nice discovery there! I also did my usual trips, the Eiffel Tower (Didn't go up due to the huge queue), the Louvre, Place de la Concorde, Jardin des Tuileries, l'Arc de Triomphe, Champs Elysses, Centre du George Pompedieu, and my personal favourite each and every time, Monmatre - with the spectacular Sacre Coeur, and the Artisan Quadrant. A new discovery this time after a feed of Chocolate and Banana Crepes, was Salvador Dali's Museum in Monmatre. Very surreal (Naturally), and quite humourous. Dali had an extraordinary sense of humour most people never see in his usual works. As always, the French were fantastic, very friendly, and conversation was very pleasant no matter where I went. Restaurants? I did some Thai Food, some French Cuisine, and some Italian on the Champs. Oh, and I got to see the Paris Motor Show, and get the scoop on the launch of the new R56 MINI for my other site The MINI Club of Ireland. So, let's see some photos!

The view of the Eiffel Tower from the wonderful Parvis des Libertes et des Drots de l'Homme. You could sit here all day and watch Paris roll by.

A B&W Shot from below using the new wide-angle lens I bought before travelling.

Not much to say about this one. There was the daily military procession going on when I visited, and I took the incredible hike to the top of the Arch to take some panoramic photos of Paris. Within a few minutes of coming back down, I watched a Ferrari Scaglietti 612, Aston Martin Vantage, BMW 850i, Lamborghini Murcielago and a Ducati 999 tear through the roundabout. The noise was incredible!

A wide shot of one of the fountains at the Place de la Concorde. This city square is designed on an Egyptian/Masonic theme, and it's very evident. Well worth spending an hour here going through the geometry of the monuments, fountains and the Obelisk here to see the patterns.

One of the fountain statues close up.

Here's a street lamp near the Louvre that looked like a face. The Parisians even go to the trouble of designing attractive street lamps!

Here's the glass Pyramids outside the Louvre. Some call them the scar on the face of Paris, but I quite like them. The French aren't afraid to make bold architectural statements.

The Venus de Milo inside the Louvre, mobbed by crowds and American Students.

Sacre Coeur Cathedral in the idyllic Monmatre. Everything here screams slow pace of life, street artists, a period funfair Gallops at the base of the steep climb to the Cathedral, and underground crypt in the Cathedral itself, and of course the Artisan Quadrant.

Here's the main square in the Artisan Quadrant, even though the rain was starting to come down, the Artists were busy creating portraits and caricatures. All the Restaurants were busy, and I was about to eat when the Dali Museum was noticed, and how can you pass that oppertunity up?

I must have shot off 100 photos in here, but only choose to put these two up because of the bizzare nature of them. All his usual sculptures and paintings were here, the Persistance of Vision, Don Quixote on an Infinite Landscape, Spectral Horse, and of course El Caza. Killed a few hours in there!

The colours in this are just breathtaking, well worth publishing.

Will it be my last trip to Paris, not by a long shot, this was my 5th time, and I'll be going back again. It's impossible to tire of Paris, and each time I go, I learn something new, get to speak French all the time, and try new foods. If I won the Lottery, I'd retire here in the morning.