Paris at night

It's a cliche, but I never tire of it.

Graffiti

Last week we were on our way to dinner when we drove by an unoccupied building not far from our apartment. Painters were hard at work on their art - but unfortunately we didn't have time to stop and catch them in action. We went back this week to capture the results.

A self-portrait of the artist?



No surface left untouched - walls, sidewalk, trees, lampposts, etc.

You can check it out yourself if you live in Paris - 18 rue des Pyrénées in the 20th arrondissement.

Elaine caught in the act . . .

Ice skating in Paris

Snowshoeing in Paris

My local bookstore

Just across the street is a bookstore (and a bookseller) that I've been dying to photograph.

Where to start?

Don't even try to find a book. Just ask!

I went in this afternoon looking for a specific book with rules for conjugating English verbs. I described the book, the editor and the publisher. The bookseller listened intently and then disappeared around the corner. He reappeared a few moments later, book in hand.

I happily paid the 10 euros for the book and we talked for a few minutes about books, beards, and Santa Claus.

There's another career waiting for him if he ever tires of his books ;-)

New camera

Wow, I am seriously intimidated by my new camera. It's like buying a new Porsche when my most common destination is the grocery store . .

I was a complete camera novice as of a year ago. I never owned more than a point-and-shoot, and typically relied on my traveling partner (thanks Margo!) to handle the photography duties. Then, when I came to France equipped with a newer point and shoot, I suddenly discovered the joy of photography. I took a couple of classes here in Paris (thanks Meredith) and the more I learned the more I realized there was to learn. However, Meredith gently reminded me that I would be frustrated with additional classes - the topics covered would be impossible for me to achieve with my limited equipment.

Sooooo, the new camera. And while it takes fabulous photos on the Automatic setting, it would be a real shame not to take advantage of its many capabilities. Besides, now I want to take more sophisticated photos. And so I am plunging into the world of ISO settings, Aperture and Shutter Priority, White Balance, Depth of Field, Bracketing, and Flash Modes - not to mention struggling with the latest version of Photoshop Elements . . .

Patrice keeps trying to teach me the basics and the physics of photography. Afterall, he had a darkroom when he was 15 years old, and these technical aspects are as natural as breathing for him. I keep looking for the angle or the color or the story behind the scene I'm trying to create, while he wants to teach me about focal length and ISO setting. Furthermore; he thinks, works, and explains in French, and his camera controls and documentation are in French, while my camera controls and documentation are in English - not to mention that it's hard enough for me to learn a new vocabulary such as "aperture priority" without trying to figure out how it's called in French . . . .

So please bear with me as I learn how to drive my new Porsche ;-)
In the meantime, here are a couple of recent photos . .


This is the Invalides dome behind the Assemblée Générale

as seen from the top of the Grande Roue (ferris wheel) in the place de la Concorde.

Autolib'

Today is the opening day for the Autolib' in Paris. Autolib' is a network of 100% electric self service cars. It is based on the success of the Velib' the self-service bicycles that we've been using. Today, 250 of these hit the road, with 2000 expected by next summer.

Patrice loves being on the leading edge of new technologies, and so he was one of the first to sign up for a year's subscription. He received his electronic card in the mail this morning, and we went out this afternoon to test the system.

Uh, as with any new system, things didn't go quite as smoothly as planned. . .

We went to the nearest station, held the RFID card up to sensor in the rental kiosk, and . . . . .



Nothing happened. The card didn't seem to work - despite the help of the local Autolib' ambassadors. What to do? Call up customer service . . .


And then we spent almost 2 hours on the phone with four different customer service agents. During that time, a repairman came by to fix the machine - thereby prolonging our wait time.


Meanwhile, both radio and TV stations came by to ask questions . . .



And finally, success! The car greeted us with a "Welcome Patrice Neger" message on the GPS screen.

You can read more about the Autolib' program here.