Paris When It Drizzles - Part II

One of the advantages to the apartment I rented was it's close proximity to Père Lachaise Cemetery. Since I missed the cemetery on my first two visits to the city, I thought it only appropriate to take a walk through the grounds on this visit.

On the way I spotted the most interesting totems.



In Père Lachaise I stopped to say hello to a favorite author.



I skipped the museums to explore some of the remaining covered arcades, with their glass roofs, tiled floors and old wooden storefronts. I was stunned to discover one between Saint Germain des Prés, so much so that I forgot to take photographs.

Paris When It Drizzles - Part I

In contrast to last year's heat wave was this year's cold front. It rained. Almost every day. For twelve straight days. I had two days of complete sun and temperate warmth. I spent the rest of the time trekking around the city in one of three increasingly dirty, long sleeved t-shirts, combing through the sales at the various Gap locations searching for clean long sleeved t-shirts to keep me warm.

Even in the rain Paris is lovely beautiful for walking, bare of head and sans umbrella. I once again skipped visiting the packed museums for the Seine, the parks and the city streets. I missed out on visiting Giverny (again) due to the weather and discovered that two weeks is a week too long to be away from J.

The first round of photographs.

Flowers in the Place de la Nation.


The steps in front of Sacré Cœur.


A memento in Montmartre Cemetery.


Bicycles in a covered arcade.

Hockey News - With Lots of Wikipedia Links

The rest of my Paris trip will be updated this weekend.

Former Penguin's player Tomas Surovy returns to the United States and signs with the Phoenix Coyotes.

Jordan Staal gets arrested while attending older brother Eric's bachelor party. Please read it, as it involved no less than three branches of law enforcement, threats of deportation and two of the prettiest mug shots ever. The comments are also priceless.

Yes, he did break the law. And like hundreds of other underage kids (18 years old, remember) he got caught. Drinking. Not rape, murder, drugs, doping, fixing NBA games or participating in dog fighting. Drinking while underage.

Mike Lange signs for another year of Penguins radio broadcasts. Phil Bourque also returns. Let us hope that over the summer Bourque learned how to add while intoxicated.

The 2007/2008 Penguins giveaway schedule includes four bobbleheads (Crosby, Malkin, Staal and Recchi), a Commemorative Captain's C and other miscellaneous items, including a Penguins Mr. Potato Head.

I want the Penguins Mr. Potato Head. Alas, it is only for fans 14 and younger so I am soliciting suggestions on how to scam one out of the organization.

And I'm Back...

... have finished the final Harry Potter (Jay - your thoughts?) and fully caught up on my sleep.

This entry will be brief as the first episode of the Spike Television series Kill Point is airing at 9pm tonight. Stop laughing. It was filmed in Pittsburgh. For three weeks I had to do battle with camera crews who set up filming in front of and around my office building.

I want to say that the travel gods were unkind (surprise!) as my July 1, 6:10pm flight from Newark did not leave until well after midnight of July 2.

However, since the reason my flight did not take off until after midnight was because the auxiliary cabin engine, the one that runs the lights, circulates the air and allows passengers to flush the toilets, died as the plane was leaving the gate. After 45 long minutes of sitting in the dark as the pilot struggled to coax the engine back to life, the plane was towed back to the gate.

Because of the nature of modern air travel, a spare engine was not readily available and had to be flown into Newark. We were allowed off the plane and I indulged myself by buying a burger and fries from McDonald's. I wandered the halls. I loaned my pen to a fellow passenger so she could take some notes. I called J to update him on my latest travel obstacle. I wandered the halls some more. I considered calling around to nearby hotels for reservations.

Sometime after 11pm, long after the other two Continental flights to Paris took off, we were loaded back onto the plane. For once we did not have to wait an obscene length of time in line to take off. The crew served drinks, dinner and more drinks. By the time the plane landed everyone was exhausted.

And it was raining. Which it continued to do for 12 out of 14 days.

A view from my apartment window:

A neighbor's cats:


Place de la Nation:

Jet Lagged

I have returned and I will be writing about my most recent adventures once my entire being (physical and mental) is back in the same time zone. Right now I'm here by my internal clock is still six hours ahead.

For now, a photo for you...
Yes, I know the photo is sideways. I don't care.

Now that I am fully awake, I've fixed the photo.

Off...

To Paris in a few hours. Packed and ready to go. Have spent a portion of last evening and this morning playing the odds on "what will get through security" game, since I wear contacts and it is necessary to carry both saline and lens cleaner in my carry-on bag.

I'm looking forward to trying out my new camera lens and macro filters in-between raindrops this week. Purchasing the lens was entertainment in and of itself, as there is only 1 camera store in Pittsburgh that will 1. Stock the merchandise and 2. Allow you to experiment with said merchandise before buying. The owner and I got into a game of one-upmanship when I told him where I was traveling. I won when I mentioned that Jonathan Demme remade Charade and used most of settings from the original movie. He promised to add the film to his Netflix queue.

Back on July 15. Safe journeys to everyone.