Category: Travels

Place des Vosges

One of my tourist guides told me that Place des Vosges is the oldest city square in Paris. As our trip wore on and the crowds seem magnified we found parks like this a wonderful respite from the urban crush. The weather almost always agreed, making outdoor people watching a real pleasure.

The square around Place des Vosges included this promenade with beautiful brick arches.

Passages

Exploring Parisian passages is one of my favorite walking tours. Dating back to the early 19th century these early shopping malls were built to protect pedestrians from mud and horse drawn carriages. Some seem more light and bright, while others are packed with small cafes, antiques, stamp dealers, and even doll house furnishings.

We enjoyed tea and pastries in the bottom left shop while watching shoppers eye the goodies. (For inquiring minds: I had baba au rhum and it was worth every calorie, though I actually lost a little weight on this trip.)

Ooh la la!

Besides the interior of the Galeries Lafayette in Paris (see my Wednesday post) this is one of the only things that caught my eye.

To answer a question: I didn’t do much shopping in Paris and didn’t check prices at Galeries Lafayette. To avoid checking luggage, I carry a small suitcase that was so tightly packed I knew I couldn’t bring much home…an unintentional means of keeping a travel budget in check. But I did pick up a few beautiful scarves from a very nice street vendor who immediately recognized and exploited an unchecked addiction.

Reflections on travel photography

Shooting new places as a traveler a photographer becomes something of a voyeur, snapping shots and then letting the images open up the imagination. I wonder about the rooms below the roofs, the places that chimneys open into, the sounds of people living within. Travel, for me, inflames curiosity.

I love to see how today crowds its way into a picture, how tradition makes way and adjusts.

Connected

I don’t live in a population center. It’s probably like this in any big city. But I couldn’t get over the cell phone fixation I saw everywhere in Paris.

We rarely sat down or walked anywhere without someone nearby gazing into his or her phone. A five person dinner group next to us in a café, three generations worth, pulled out five cell phones and at one point all five were gazing into four of the phones. Three other travelers in a train station, all peering into phone screens. Bus riders. Taxi drivers. Seemingly, everyone.

The shopping Mecca

Galeries Lafayette in Paris, for me, takes shopping to a new level. From the stained glass dome to ornamented balconies, the place is truly an ooh la la experience.

The interior was so darned pretty I frankly didn’t notice much else.

It was almost like being in a wedding cake turned inside out.