Paris: 18-23 February

Anyways, my folks asked if I would post some photos of our trip to Paris last month. It was our fourth anniversary on the 20th, and we spent a very romantic week in one very romantic city! We've managed to do something nice for every anniversary so far: first in Ireland, second in Durham, third in York, fourth in Paris. Next year: New York City, perhaps?

I think we took over 200 photos on our trip. We have an HP Photosmart R717 'point and click' camera, which takes reasonable photos. But I am always disappointed with how it handles 'abnormal' lighting conditions.

This is Magnus and I literally an hour after we arrived in Paris. We had a very early morning flight from Edinburgh, which meant we had a whole first day. And what a day it was! It was a crisp, clear winter day. The longer I live in Edinburgh, the more I appreciate these days. These days help you get through the long, dark Northern winter! We took this right outside Notre Dame, which was our first stop of the day.


We walked along the Left Bank, and came across this fine anatomically correct fellow. I thought he was fabulous.


We took a breather on a bench on the Left Bank. One of the things that I loved about Paris in the winter is that you are frequently ALONE in the city. Look behind me - there are no other human beings in the shot. All of the usual touristy places were as busy as you would expect, but as soon as we strayed from these spots, we often seemed to have the city to ourselves. Notice how my camera struggled with this one - the bright sky caused me to be underexposed, I think. I know this can be adjusted afterwards, but I don't know how!!

This one doesn't require a caption, I think!

I think you will agree that the hard pointiness of the Eiffel Tower perfectly complements the soft fluffiness of Magnus' beard.

This is us on the Eiffel Tower.

Magnus was very brave, and took this photo of the l'Arc de Triomphe from the centre of the Champs Elysees with traffic whooshing past on both sides.


We were sitting on a bench in the Jardin des Tuileries having a yummy lunch of baguette and cheese (yes, the weather was nice enough to eat outside - in February!!) when we suddenly realised we were surrounded by dozens of pairs of beady little birdy eyes. It took some doing, but we finally got a shot of one of the little buggers eating out of my hand.

We both thought this was hysterical. We love pigeons.

The Louvre. It wasn't open the day we went, but we hung out in the courtyard watching people for ages.


Sacre Coeur. This was the only day that wasn't all that nice. Cold and overcast. But we somehow didn't get rained on.

The famous Moulin Rouge.

We took this photo on our last day before heading to the airport. It was another absolutely gorgeous day. We had been trying to find a British pub to watch the rugby match in, but the whole city was overrun by English rugby fans, and every pub was packed. So we found ourselves a secluded little garden bench and just sat for ages, enjoying the view.