Sunday - Paris December 2008
Sunday
Sunday 7th December 2008
Morning at the Bastille market, an afternoon stroll along the Champs Elysees, but undoubtedly the highlight of the day was our stay at the rather superb Hotel Raphael.
Paris December 2008
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| 12:19:56 Chie at the metro in the Gare de Lyon, where we changed en route to Bastille. | 12:28:28 Here we are at Bastille, where we'd come to visit the Sunday market. | 12:36:27 ...and here's the market. This is one of the more heavily lettuce oriented pictures of my photographic career. |
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| 12:37:13 Chie in front of the very photogenic lettuce. | 12:52:47 A view down the market (unfortunately not very well lit) to the Bastille monument thing. | 12:53:04 More market scenes. |
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| 13:26:15 After leaving the market we popped to the nearby Bastille Café for an very good cup of coffee. | 13:27:51 Very good indeed. I would recommend this place, not least for the seemingly hyperactive waiters. | 13:48:59 In Bastille metro station. |
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| 13:49:27 ...and one with me in. | 14:14:21 How French can you get? Here's Chie in front of the Arc de Triomphe, which was very close to where our hotel for this evening was. | 14:22:19 ....and here it is, the hotel Raphael. |
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| 14:35:32 Our room wasn't quite ready when we arrived, so we sat and had a drink in the bar. Not sure this picture really does it justice (the lighting isn't that great) - the bar was very nice indeed. | 15:04:41 ...and here's our room - one of the Hotel Raphael's junior suites. Rather opulent don't you think? | 15:04:54 It was hard to get the best angle for a picture but hopefully this gives you a bit of a feel for it. |
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| 15:05:21 Looking through from the bedroom here. | 15:05:28 There's the walk in closet. | 15:07:27 Chie relaxing on the sofa. |
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| 15:11:35 ...and at the bureau. | 15:15:34 We were treated to all sorts of complimentary goodies. | 15:21:28 Me taking a picture of myself in the mirror. |
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| 15:21:49 ...and again - this one is a bit clearer. | 15:31:42 One of the windows on the stairwell. Rather nice. | 15:51:53 We ventured out from our hotel (somewhat reluctantly as the room was so nice!) for a stroll down the Champs Elysees towards the Place de la Concorde. Here's an odd sort of a Christmas tree outside a shop which apparently I liked the look of enough to take a photo. |
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| 15:56:18 Chie on the Champs Elysees. | 16:01:59 More Christmas decorations that didn't come out that well in the picture. | 16:02:37 They have nice lamp posts around here. |
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| 16:04:29 Santa on the roof of a market stall. | 16:16:58 There's Place de la Concorde then. | 16:17:54 You can see the Eiffel Tower in the distance there. |
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| 16:20:23 ...and again here. | 16:42:54 Here we are in the Musee d'Orangerie with the famous Monet waterscapes. | 16:43:10 Very popular with the Japanese. |
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| 16:43:44 Me and Chie and some of Monet's handiwork in the background. | 16:44:21 I'm trying very hard to think of a pun along the lines of "Monet makes the world go around". But I'm failing. You may be somewhat relieved at this news. | 16:45:32 There was a nice sense of space in this gallery, which I think this picture captures quite well. |
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| 16:46:21 Chie and the weeping willows. | 16:46:57 One last picture of the Monets before heading out. | 17:09:31 The big wheel in Place de la Concorde, nicely illuminated by night. |
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| 17:10:48 ...and again with an eskimo in the foreground. | 17:39:02 Another nicely illuminated, err, thing. I think this is Place de la Vendome. | 17:47:41 Oh and this is the Academie Nationale de Musique or something...? |
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| 17:50:15 Rather nicely lit up at night. | 17:55:31 One of the buildings of Galeries Lafayette with some festive illuminations. | 17:55:39 ...and again. |
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| 19:38:03 Dinner - the "Salade Vegeterienne" at a restaurant we went to for no other reason than because it was round the corner from the place we actually wanted to go to, which had closed down. It wasn't really that great. | 19:38:07 Chie and her dinner, a Cassoulet I believe. | 20:28:07 Dessert was a little better, a sort of chocolate pudding. |
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| 21:01:52 One the way back we passed through a station with this rather weird red tunnel. | 21:16:15 The Arc de Triomphe by night. | 21:16:27 ...and the Champs Elysees by night. |
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| 21:17:15 ...and again. | 21:17:50 ...and a couple more shots of the Arc de Triomphe by night... | 21:18:23 ....taken rather precariously from the middle of the road. |
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| 21:33:39 Back in our rather fabulous hotel room, and as another nice little touch there was a bottle of champagne awaiting us on our return. | 21:35:28 ...the hotel had it's own label champagne no less. | 21:35:55 I rather like this shot. |
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| 21:38:51 These petit fours were rather nice too. | 21:49:09 A bit trigger happy by this point! | 21:49:17 ...the quality of the pictures is definitely deteriorating! Time to stop snapping away now then! |
