Bonne année !

Nuit sur le quai

L'artiste - Place des Vosges

This sidewalk artist at Place des Vosges, actually had some nice work for sale. Our friend Marie bought a little print and I took his photograph for her.  He seemed a little skeptical!

Les Orchidées

Today a charming flower shop that displayed these beautiful orchids in their window. Sometimes, the simple windows are a nice change from all the holiday hoopla!

Un autre café

"Let's stop here!"  I say that a lot in Paris, followed by, " I'm tired and I think I need a glass of wine."

Eiffel Tower Tower

On Christmas Eve, my Davis erected a tower that I think Monsieur Eiffel would love.  He took most of my ET collection and made his own.  The header photograph is another creation that he and sister Eva devised.  "Mumsie, the towers in descending order." Parfait!

Yesterday, my blog friend in Paris, Karin Bates Prescott, sent me a message that Living France Magazine had given me a nice review in their December issue here on page 55. What a thrill!

La Crèche

The Église de la Sainte-Trinité, is now one of my favorite churches in Paris. Last January I featured the beautiful papier maché angel here. Today I share the entire manger scene.  Note the wooden crates stacked all around.   These were also used on the altar.  A very rustic touch in this magnificent place of worship.

A favorite French carol for you here.

Bienvenue Père Nöel!

I'm sure you expected a glorious shot of Paris at Christmas, but I've been saving this for almost a year for this night.  C'est la veille de Nöel!

Galeries Lafayette........magnifique!

I adore the way Galeries Layfayette drapes herself in these fabulous lights every Christmas. For me it's the Paris show stopper of the season!

Channeling Chanel

My dear and faithful blog friend Véronique, French Girl in Seattle, is my inspiration today.  My French Life featured some of my Christmas windows this week,  and she commented that tlast year there were some delightful windows at Printemps with little Coco Chanel dolls.  As luck would have it.........voilá!!!  I'd been saving this adorable window for just the right time. Ma chère Véronique... pour toi!

Paris Through My Lens 2012 by VKJONES
Begin selling my art online at zazzle.

Le pot d'or grands!

Oh I made fun of the big gold pot  when it was proudly displayed on the plaza outside of the Centre Pompidou a while back.  Then it was taken away but alors, it has found a new home up on the roof joined by a smart little red flocked tree.  Say what you will, I still think some artist is laughing all the way to la banque over that one.

My newest wall calendar, PARIS THROUGH MY LENS 2012 is now available HERE on Zazzle!

Simple et festive!

The trees in front of the Panthéon, adorned with simple bows and streamers

Paris Through My Lens 2012 by VKJONES
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Lèche - vitrines

Window shopping in Paris is one of my favorite pastimes ,  but during the holiday season it's even more spectacular.  Even the smallest shops, like this on in Galerie Vivienne, is a delight.  My friends Mary and Mary couldn't resist.

Sunday Church Series - La Sainte Famille

The Église Saint- Roch was just across the narrow street from our apartment last January.  This day, there was a service in progress so I took this photograph of the Holy Family from behind.

Place de la Concorde en noir et blanc

Paris Through My Lens en colour et noir en blanc weekly planners are now ready for sale on BLURB.
Also available, Paris Rouge Through My Lens.

Noir et Blanc

I've been designing my newest weekly planner calendars on Blurb this week.  I"ve already published my PTML color and now I'm almost finished with my black and white one.  I found this shot of Daniel Buren's Les Deux Plateaux at the Palais Royal.  Taken last January on a rainy day, quelle surprise, I still find them graphic and fun to photograph. You either love them or you hate them. I've grown quite attached.

This weekend I've joined Jame's Weekend Reflections......at last!!!

Le Tour de Macarons - Printemps

Macarons verts. Pistache peut-être?  Pour toi Peter! 

As magical as most of the windows are, designed to bring a smile to the faces of les petits enfants, some of Printemps windows made our jaws drop!  This tower of macarons is just one fine example. I have more.

For my macaron aficionados, here's a link to Paris Pâtisseries' blog that you will enjoy!

My new Paris Through My Lens 2012 Weekly Planner is now available on Blurb!

Printemps - Les Belles Vitrines

Printemps window displays thrilled the adults as much as the delighted children who lined up on the raised platforms so that they could get the best view.  More tomorrow!

Merci My French Life. org for featuring some of my Christmas in Paris photographs on your site right here!

Plus ROSE au Printemps

Yesterday I showed your the hot pink lights that adorned the outside of Printemps. Today more rose as we see the glitz that hung from the arcades all around it.  What a magical way to set off the wonderful Christmas windows that we will have a peek at tomorrow!

Printemps dans la couleur de la saison...ROSE!

Last year Printemps decked herself out in hot pink decorations and added these festive lights. Could anything be more PARIS??

Sunday Church Series - Cathèdrale Notre Dame de Paris

Le Mur Vegetal

The Musée du Quai Branly is an impressive museum in its own right,  but Patrick Blanc's vertical garden on the exterior is not to be missed. Measuring 200m wide and 12m tall, even in with icicles in January it was alive and well.  Click the link here to see more photographs that were obviously taken in warmer months.



Now fast forward to the latest news that the French company Ginger is proposing to cover la Tour Eiffel with bags of dirt and zillions of live plants and turn the whole thing into what is being dubbed as "
"The Green Giant".  Read more here about this harebrained idea!

The Waiter

I recognized this handsome waiter at Nemours from another trip to Paris. That sunny afternoon he served us champagne outside. This rainy January day, we had a cozy lunch inside.  I'm amazed at how many photographs I snapped from my seat that last day in Paris.

Crème glacée au chocolat.........MIAM MIAM!!

Eva and I fell in love with French chocolate ice cream our first trip to Paris in 2007.  The summer of 2009, she picked right up where we left off!

Le Playlist:
I've added a few songs for your listening pleasure. This is a FREE playlist so I'm limited in my French selections. 

Regarder

As I peruse my growing archives of Paris photographs, I realize that I've captured quite a few Parisians from their windows.  I'm guessing that in a busy city, the comings and goings down below can be quite entertaining!  And if you don't look up.... you miss it.

Yesterday I introduced you to my newest blog friend Natalie at Jewel Yet to Find.  So many of you paid her a visit and left such delightful comments. I thank you for welcoming her to blogworld and all the friendships we have found here.

L'arbre dans la fenêtre

Hôtel de Ville

Today, I am pleased to introduce you all to a new blog friend, Natalie.  She has just launched her new blog 

Jewel Yet to Find.  Natalie is a traveler ( but adores Paris), so she starts with the south of France with an armload of divine photos, but who knows where she'll take us next with her wonderful eye!

I hope all of you will stop by for a visit and follow her blog.  Isn't it so much fun to make new friends here?

Only In Paris!

Place Colette

Paris Rouge LXXVII - Les Belles Portes

IF I had a flat in Paris, THESE would be my doors!

I Heart Paris Christmas Tree

One thing I've learned, all Paris decorations are not necessarily "over the top".  This charming little tree,  standing proudly in the courtyard at leMoulin de la Galette in Montmartre, stole my heart.  The déjeuner that followed with friends, was delightful as well.

Trois amis

These boys were walking hand in hand,  home for their lunchtime break.  Lucky for me that I was walking behind them and was just able to get one shot!

Noël est arrivé !

It's official, Christmas in Paris has arrived on this blog.  I can't promise it will appear here every day but we'll sprinkle the photographs around.  Today, one of the beautiful trees that flanked the front of the Hôtel de Ville last year.

La boutique de bonbons

La Cure Gourmande is chain with six shops around Paris and also Spain and Belgium.  They specialize in biscuits, chocolats, and confiseries.  I think their logo and packaging is trop mignon and did I mention they always have tasty treats to sample?  I'll admit I've never shopped there,  because I'm too busy snapping away. Maybe this photography thing is helping me refrain from a FEW of the delights to be found in Paris.

WE HAVE OUR WINNERS! 

M, who lives in Katy, Texas will receive a set of Paris Walking Tour cards

Martine- Alison , Martinelison, who lives in France will receive one of my 8x10 photographs.

Thank you all for entering and for all of your wonderful comments this week and for the past three years. 

Deux oiseaux

Ma Bourgogne is a café I frequented during my stay in Paris the summer of 2010.  I felt comfortable there and the waiters were delightful and took good care of me. Late one summer afternoon, as I sat outside with a glass of wine, I had fun snapping photos from a prime seat at the Place des Vosges.  The lanterns will be unmistakable for you Paris lovers.

WE HAVE OUR WINNERS! 
M, who lives in Katy, Texas will receive a set of Paris Walking Tour cards
Martine- Alison , Martinelison, who lives in France will receive one of my 8x10 photographs.
Thank you all for entering and for all of your wonderful comments this week and for the past three years. 

Quarante-deux

Tellement Paris!

Yesterday markedParis Through My Lens' third anniversary. Scroll down for the details.  There's a little giveaway. It's not too late to enter! 

And what is a birthday party without presents ??? To celebrate this occasion, I have un petit cadeau pour toi. Actually I have deux, one for my faithful followers in the US /Canada and another for those that live on the rest of the planet.  Leave me a comment and please add your whereabouts and your name that will go in the hat for the drawings on Tuesday.  Bon chance! :)

This Is How It All Started

As most of you know by now, I fell in love with Paris in March, 2007.  Daughter Melissa, who was already in love, took granddaughter Eva and me for a week in Paris that changed my life.  Photographing the City of Light was the start of what has become a "magnificent obsession."  In November 2008, I returned to Paris with my friend Karen.  After that trip, my blog friends encouraged me to start another blog so I could share my Paris photographs. Today marks the the third anniversary of Paris Through My Lens. I have posted almost daily since and often blogged from Paris while there.  Nothing pleases me more than sharing my memories and my photographs with all of you who love Paris as much as I do.  Here's to many more trips, photographs, and memories shared!!

And what is a birthday party without presents ??? To celebrate this occasion, I have un petit cadeau pour toi. Actually I have deux, one for my faithful followers in the US /Canada and another for those that live on the rest of the planet.  Leave me a comment and please add your whereabouts and your name that will go in the hat for the drawings on Tuesday.  Bon chance! :)

Bienvenue à Ladurée!

I hear from friends Daryl and Conrad in NYC that Ladurée has opened a small shop there, and the crowds are still wrapping around the block eager to have a taste of the Parisian delight.... le macaron.  Like most things Parisian, I think they're best tasted right there in Paris.  Today, Ladurée -16 rue Royale.


Yesterday I had a little puzzle for you and the winner is..........Veronique ( French Girl in Seattle), who correctly guessed that I was sitting on the steps of the Panthéon when I took the photograph. Thank you all for joining in the fun. Wayne so kindly pointed out that there seemed to be no prize and I gently reminded him that the personal satisfaction of winning was worth far more than un petit cadeau!

All Aflutter

I thought we'd have little challenge today, although I'm sure my sharp readers won't miss a beat. We'll give it a go anyway.   Do you know WHERE I was when I shot  this??

Thanksgiving Paris

If you are an American living in Paris, there are probably certain food items that you must crave from time to time and would pay many euros to get your hands on.  Thanksgiving, is just the place, specializing in American groceries that are difficult to duplicate in Paris.

 Wishing Americans in Paris a Happy Thanksgiving,  and I hope you have a reasonable facsimile of your favorite back home feast!

Thanksgiving

20 rue Saint - Paul

Paris 75004


And for your reading pleasure, I present this Art Buchwald column, " How To Explain Thanksgiving To The French"  featured on Polly-Vous Français.

Une grande entrée

The entrance to Parc Monceau is pretty snazzy for a semi-public park don't you think?  For all the formality of the gated entrances and the rotunda, it's actually considered more informal in the English style, with curved walkways and randomly placed statuary, unlike the more formal French gardens.

An interesting fact I learned is that the 9 entries are monitored by a 5th generation park watchman who lives above the royal rotunda on the north entrance. Now I'd like to meet  him one day!

I'm pleased to announce that Belle Inspiration Magazine has featured some of my Nöel à Paris photographs. Please have a look !

Keep Your Eye on the Ball

I fret.  I fret a lot over my blogs. I worry about the quality of my photographs, or if  I'm boring my dear readers when I post  too many photographs on the same subject/theme ...... like pétanque.  This is what I've decided ( for the moment).  When I'm lucky enough to get to Paris, I photograph what pleases my eye, makes me laugh or stand in awe,  or evokes a memory I don't ever want to forget.  Getting to know and photograph the pétanque players at Luxembourg Gardens continues to be an experience I want to revisit each trip.  Watching the diverse group of players and spectators, never ceases to delight.  For me as a bystander ( not to mention a foreigner) watching these men doing what they love everyday, is like being invited into the "inner circle" of Parisian life.   I hope you understand.

Paris Rouge LXXVI - le Métro

Forgive the tourist shot today, but I loved the vine covered wall behind the Métro sign.

Saint- Germain- des- Pres 

Les Ombres

Cimetière Passy

Le kiosque à journaux II

So very Paris.
Place Monge

À travers les branches

Novembre à Paris!

70e Anniversaire de l'appel du Général de Gaulle

This enormous banner was hung on the facade of the Hôtel de Ville in June, 2010.  From a distance it is obviously a portrait of Gen. de Gaulle.  Take a closer look, it's fascinating. The banner says:

Ce portrait a été réalisé à partir de l'affiche diffusée à Londres en 1940 et des photographies de 1016 femmes et hommes Compagnons de la Libération

* "70th anniversary of General de Gaulle’s call. 

This portrait is based on the poster which was published in London in 1940 and on photos of 1016 women and men, Companions of the Liberation."

*Merci Peter for the translation and for this link.