A little bit of Nature in Paris

While in Paris (see more here) we did a lot of walking – A LOT! 

I loved it because we got to see Paris up close. 

One of the wonderful things we saw was the natural elements of the city.

Many Paris streets are lined with trees like this.  And, of course, this was the best time of year to be there – trees and flowers were blooming everywhere!

We even found the small vineyard garden in Montmartre.  Unfortunately, they were closed.

And the flower shops …. sigh ….

And on our last day in Paris, we took part in a Parisian custom – packed up the cheese, baguette and wine, strolled the boulevard to a park and enjoyed a most excellent picnic.

This is me all packed and ready to go …

And this is our destination…

And this is our view (and you thought you’d get through a post on Paris without seeing the Eiffel Tower?) …

Ahhh, Paris ….

If you’ve been, what is your favourite memory of Paris?

I’m in a Paris state of mind….

Advance Warning – this is a picture heavy post!

As you know from this post, hubby and I celebrated our 30th anniversary this month.  And celebrate it we did!!!  Along with two very good friends, who just happened to also be celebrating their 30th, exactly 2 weeks before ours, we headed off for Paris – the “City of Light”! 

I know you are anxious to hear all about it … so, let me tell you…it was AMAZING (I know … stop yelling).  I don’t know how I’m going to summarize this trip in one post, so you may see a couple more …

For 9 days straight we walked, we gawked, we ate, we drank, we walked, we ate, we walked, we drank and we drank some more.  The food and wine in Paris was fantastic, as were the sights!

Throughout our trip I was in awe of the architecture.  I’ve always known that Europe has so much more history in architecture than we do, but to see it up close and personal was breathtaking!  From the myriad avenues and boulevards to the jaw dropping churches and cathedrals to the enormous palaces and museums – every where you turn is more.

And Paris does not skimp on the flourish – not in the least!  I cannot count how many statues and structures were adorned with gold foil and gilt.  (Below is the entrance to Abercrombie & Fitch on the Champs-Élysées for which there was a line up – yup you lined up to shop)

The ironwork on each and every building lining the narrow streets – unbelievable!

And the Eiffel Tower … by the end of the 9 days I’m sure half of my pictures were of this beautiful structure … it had become a running joke – “ Hey Donna – I don’t think you got it from this angle – snicker snicker!”

There is so much more to share, so stay tuned for more posts!

Shake it up!

During August our family spent a week at a vacation home in Browns Flat, New Brunswick on the St. John’s River.  With the exception of the uncooperative weather, and a little bit of SUV engine trouble, it was a fun week.  We played board games, card games, did a puzzle or two.  We ate some delicious meals and drank a couple, or more, bottles of wine.  There was canoeing, kayaking, fishing and swimming.  Hubby bought me a new lens for my Canon DLSR camera, so there was quite a bit of picture taking too – over the 7 days I took in the vicinity of 800 pictures (which I will share in another post)!  And the icing on the cake, was a lot of time spent with our grandson who was the star of the week.

With the rainy weather we spent quite a bit of time travelling the roads.  As we drove along highway 102 following  the scenic shoreline of the St. John River one thing struck me – how much I LOVED the use of cedar shake shingles on so many of the local homes.  The look seemed fitting for the area, so nautical, so weathered and so wonderfully “coastal”.   So, since its a little dangerous to drive and use a camera, when I got home I hit the world wide web to find homes with cedar shake shingles.  And I found A LOT of examples, in A LOT of styles … traditional, contemporary, natural, stained, painted … have a look at these:

Little House on Cape Cod

Traditional exterior design by Seattle architect David Vandervort Architects

Traditional spaces design by Chicago architect COOK ARCHITECTURAL Design Studio

Modern exterior design by Seattle architect Lauren and Kyle Zerbey

Traditional exterior design by Burlington architect Smith & Vansant Architects PC

Modern exterior design by New York architect Dufner Heighes Inc

Eclectic exterior design by Boston architect Helios Design Group

Traditional exterior design by Los Angeles architect HartmanBaldwin Design/Build

Traditional exterior design by DC Metro general contractor Winn Design & Remodeling

Traditional entry design by Boston architect ZeroEnergy Design

Contemporary entry design by Boston architect LDa Architecture & Interiors

Exterior design by New York architect SchappacherWhite Ltd.

All images courtesy of www.houzz.com.

I’m having a hard time picking a favourite.  How about you???

Las Vegas–Part One

Although I’m a little behind on posting about our trip to Las Vegas in March, I wanted to share some of the scenery we enjoyed while there.  Some of you may remember that I got a new DSLR camera for Christmas.  Between my new camera and my old point and shoot camera, I took over 800 pictures in 7 days.  You have no idea how hard it is to pick a “few” of those to give you a sense of our trip, but I’ll give it a try.

Here is Part One.

We had never been to Las Vegas before and neither of us are gamblers, so we spent several days checking out the amazing desert scenery.  Check these out:

This is the hotel we stayed in – The Cosmopolitan Las Vegas.  Brand spanking new and very cool.

This is the scene from our hotel room balcony at 6:00 am.  And yes, I went right back to sleep after taking this one :)!

And this is the view down the strip later that night from the same balcony.

Our first big adventure was the flight and tour of the Grand Canyon.  There are no words to describe the Grand Canyon, so I’ll let some of my pictures do it for me.

Taken from the airplane on our flight from Vegas to the Grand Canyon.

First glimpse of the vastness of the Grand Canyon.

More.

And here is a panorama using a cool feature on my Canon camera Photo-Stitch.

Our next big adventure was a trip to the Nevada State Park – “Valley of Fire” which gets its name from the red sandstone formations throughout the stark landscape of the Mojave Desert.  We paid our $11 entrance fee and drove through some of the most amazing landscape either of us had seen.

Here are some rare plants and flowers seen in the desert.

The next stop was Hoover Dam, which was too big to get a single picture of.  I won’t bore you with the amazing details of this man made structure, suffice it to say “WOW”!

Lake Mead before the dam

The new bridge over the Colorado River next to the Hoover Damn  (from which you can see nothing I might add)

In Part Two, I will share some of the Vegas lights and interiors.

Stay tuned…