À la patinoire

Les Marches Noël runs along a good portion of the Champs Élysees all the way to Place de la Concorde from November 11-January 8. Small white stalls sell gifts, souvenirs, food and even vin chaud, a crowd pleasure. I'll be honest, it's not one of my favorites, but as I needed to get from Avenue George V to Tuileries, walk through it all I did. I stopped to enjoy the little ones at this small skating rink. This cute petit garçon and his Papa, were having a very good time.
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Paris Rouge - La montgolfière

The windows at Louis Vuitton on les Champs-Elysées caught my eye. with their bright blanc et rouge montgolfières!

Today, I am pleased to again join James' Weekend Reflections right here!

Paris Rouge - L'autobus

Only fools and first time visitors to Paris stop as they are crossing the Champs Élysées to take a photo!

Paris Rouge - L'autobus

Sometimes you just can't have enough Paris Rouge in one week!  Today a shot Peter has perfected on his blog header.  We were having a look at The Welcoming Hands at Tuilieries,  and he kindly pointed out this vantage point, capturing these three in one shot.  The red bus was the cherry on the sundae, so to speak.

Having watched the ending of le Tour de France ( thanks Genie for the heads up) as the bikers pedaled up and down the Champs Élysées yesterday, it made me homesick for this special view.

As an added bonus I include a special tune for you today!

From High Atop...

la Plus Grande Roue de France
( shot through the window)

Tuileries

Place de la Concorde

I'm pretty sure this could be used as the classic, predictable "Paris tourist" shot,  but I'm sharing it anyway! I was probably risking life and limb by standing in the street trying to capture the Champs Élysées while dodging cars!

Blog Update

In a valiant effort to make my photographs last till I can return to Paris, I will now be posting lundi- venredi.  I hope you won't desert me.

Bon weekend everyone.

Guess Where We Went Today II ?

Not another picture, Mumsie!!!

Well doesn't this just say it all? We got this close to the Arch and the sun was in their eyes and....... well you can read it on their faces. After a stroll down the very crowded Champs Elysées we found the Monoprix and had a nice shopping expedition. We wound our way through the masses to Jardins des Tuileries. May I just say it doesn't look like this in March and November?? A sea of humanity. Maybe we can find a time when it's not so crowded!

In addition, I want to take back what I've said previously about learning to count to 100 en français as being a waste of time. When the kids wanted to ride the ponies at Tuileries, the "pony man" and I had an interesting "conversation" about when their ticket number was called. Quarante six et quarante sept! I think he was making fun of me en français but of course I couldn't be sure so I just smiled!

We also found our favorite piece of sculpture: Eric Deitman's "L'ami de personne" (Nobody's Friend) . I photographed Eva here in 2007. Today more photos with brother Davis in the mix.

Tomorrow ( Sunday) we are expecting Birmingham friends to arrive for a 10 day stay! A trip to the Bird Market is planned for the afternoon. We are excited about seeing them and visiting this market for the first time!

( A nice discovery at the Franprix grocery store. A nice gentleman recommended the Tropicana Gazpacho in a carton the other day ( It's amazing to me how someone speaking another language can get their point across!!) . We tried it tonight. Magnifique!!! We are hoping V. Richards will be able to get it at home!)

Nobody's Friend Plus Deux

The Pony Man - # 7 - 100 French Strangers Challenge

Eva and "Nobody's Friend" Redux

Huge Canon Camera Envy - Place de la Concorde