Paris

Last week was spent in France with my Gran, Mum and Aunty. They are visiting Europe, and it would have been just plain rude of me not to take full advantage of their hospitality and crash on the floor of their apartment for a few nights in the Montmartre area of Paris.

It could have just been just first taste of spring. It could have been some subconscious rekindling of old sights and sounds from my childhood. It could have been all the characters walking straight off the Amelie set (or back on to...). It could have been something else.

But there is something about this part of Paris that I just fell in love with.

I took about 200 photos over the 4 days I was down there, cause, well, a picture DOES tell a thousand words.... As my pictures often get to the point quicker and better than I do, Here are 11,000 words.

View out of one of the apartment windows.

View out of the bathroom. Actually out of the window above the bathtub/shower. Each morning I opened the window and took all this in whilst showering. Thats the Sacré Coeur in the middle there.

Typical view from the area we were in.

Totally sweet french graffiti.

We went to Giverny one day, to Monet's house. His gardens were pretty, um.... pretty.

Yep. Springtime is on its way....finally!

Went to the Moulin Rouge one eve, as it was about 10 mins walk from our place. Unfortunately, as you can see, the best tickets I could afford for this place left me with a fairly limited view of the dancers...

Metro. Lamarck Caulaincourt.

Gran and Mums on the Metro.

View from the Australian Ambassador to France's Apartment, top floor of the Australian Embassy. Yeah thats right. We ran in to an old family friend, who also happens to be the Ambassador's wife, and had been in Paris for only a matter of hours when we ran in to each other in the street... We organised to go in to her place for coffee a few days later. Highrollin'. I lived in the same building and had a similar view when I was 4. Oh yeah, thats the Eiffel Tower in the background there.

Wall.

For anyone that has a newer cannon digital camera, I recommend playing with the extra settings. Most of these were taken using the "foliage" option, and as a result, I have not needed to use photoshop like usual to get the colours looking so vibrant.