This is was what faced us as we began the climb. The rest of the stairs were a spiral and quite a lot narrower, after 84 steps we were at our new front door. The apartment was spacious, unusual for Paris, and had great views over the roof tops and many old chimney pots.
France had just held their Presidential election the weekend before we arrived and everyone we met seemed happy that France had elected Macron, who is quite young (39). We were amused to see this poster. Our plan was to meet with our friends Marcy and Katherine Tilton later in the week, but walking near our apartment, we saw them having lunch in a sidewalk cafe, quite a coincidence in a city as large as Paris!
Our stay in Paris was for two weeks where I planned to participate in a "Streets of Paris" photography workshop, but before that began, we explored and wandered those wonderful Paris streets.
Walking past Notre Dame, a view from the bridge that avoids the crowds.
We found our way to the Museum of Natural History, surrounded by beautiful botanic gardens. Inside was an amazing space with very well-arranged exhibits. I was impressed that the high glass roof had variable lighting and a super sound system. This was used to simulate the changing light over an African savanna, which was exhibited below. We experienced the light and sound of a thunderstorm and heard torrential rain, which brought another dimension to the exhibit.
There are many street markets in Paris with an abundance of fruit, vegetables, fish and meat, and let's not forget the bread and pastries.
And fresh oysters.
An amazing assortment of fish.
Fish filleted while you wait.
And, of course, the flowers.
Met our friends from Oregon for dinner at Chez Janou
Had our cafe creme and croissants.
Lusted over pastries.......
It is a pleasure to view the streets of the city without skyscrapers. The workshop with Peter Turnley was a wonderful experience and an opportunity to meet fellow photographers from around the world. The workshop was quite challenging and a good learning experience.
Peter invited guest speakers on several occasions, who added another dimension to the workshop.
One of these guests was Voya Mitrovic, on left with Peter, holding one of Peter's black and white prints. Voya was the printer for many great photographers including Henri Cartier-Bresson, Josef Koudelka, as well as Perer Turnley. Voya is now retired and the print he is holding is one of his last. I really enjoyed Voya's talk as he showed many prints from his own collection and described the process he used to finish prints as they are seen in galleries.
The goal of the workshop was to capture street scenes of Paris with a wide angle lens.
This man was quite a character and a delight to chat with.
Our friend Pat took me to the petanque court where he plays five nights a week.
Paris has a lot of street art and I came across these two artists, surrounded by wonderful graffiti.
A fellow photographer, Marcy, showing images we took of this highly-decorated and pierced young woman.
A happy couple......
These guys were hilarious when I tried to take candid photographs, they all wanted to "be" in a picture!
We came across this scene with a model being photographed on a bridge over the Seine.
We did spend some time sitting outside cafes having coffee and pastries and were fortunate to have good weather for the majority of our days in Paris.
Next adventure, a train ride to Normandy to spend time with my brother, Jeff and sister-in- law, Oriana.
Stay tuned.
