Europe Continued: Paris Day Two

So when Felipe and I are in Paris, we treat the time as if we lived there (but didn't have to work of course!). We spend the days walking around the parts of the city we love. It could be like the day before when we walked along the Boulevard St. Michel near the Latin Quarter, or along the Seine by the Pont des Artistes. This was a favorite spot for Felipe. He told me about having picnic style lunches with his friends on weekend evenings here, and so we often stop by to sit on the benches and people watch for a while. This visit was not as nice, as it seems that there was all sorts of changes passing on the bridge. People have started placing locks on the railings of the bridge, meant to symbolize their and their partners undying love - but in reality the bridge is entirely covered in locks...it's a bit unsightly and Felipe lamented the new "eyesore". Secondly there were people all over the bridge pushing for you to sign some sort of paper, none of them spoke, they just held out the paper and made a writing motion with a pen, asking in that way for you to sign some sort of petition. I'm not one for signing random things, so we politely declined. Thirdly, there was some guy hustling people playing three card monte (or as I guess the French call it: Les Trois Perdants). It's a public place, so of course the people may do what they please, it was just a bit of a let down from our past visits to the bridge.

We decided instead to relax a bit along the Seine itself, and so enjoyed a bench and watched some boat traffic, and people walking by.




You can see that many of the trees along the Seine have graffiti carved into their bark. I was taking some photos and notice the graffiti on the tree of the first photo in this post. I couldn't help but notice that inside of the heart it appeared that someone had carved a "F + S", maybe it's not that...but "looks like it" is good enough for me! If I ever were to carve my and Felipe's initials inside of a heart on a tree, I suppose I would do it next to the Seine in Paris. However, I'm not one to go carving into tree bark (it feels a bit wrong), so I'll just enjoy that someone else did it for themselves and it worked out for Felipe and I as well :)

Unrelated to this area, but having to do with our walk that day, we passed a little street market and I had to take a photo. I'm not sure the older woman by the butcher quite understood why I was taking a photo....

I would LOVE it if NYC had street markets like this! Sure we have some farmers markets, and a really terrific and large one in Union Square, but they get SO crowded and so cramped full of people that it's not a very pleasant shopping experience, for me at least. These little street markets are all over the place - I've never seen them so packed that you couldn't hardly move.... Well maybe someday we'll live in Paris and I can enjoy shopping at them.

November's Painted Sky

I don't know what it is about October and November that makes the sunsets so beautiful - maybe it's the change in time of the sunset, or the climate and the atmosphere? well, either way, it makes for a beautiful scene outside of our window. How lucky are we that our entire south facing window gives us view like this every once in awhile....

Europe Continued: Paris Day One

Enjoying breakfast on the train.

Felipe and I left Barcelona on Sunday evening. We traveled to Paris via overnight train - a mode of transportation that I think beats everything else. There is something to be said for arriving to the train station easily (no lengthy trip to the airport), no massive lines for checking your bags or security, and your own private little compartment (since we were sleeping we got our own cabin). Perfect! We settled in and watch Hitchcock's North by Northwest, which happens to be a terrific movie for a train! and relaxed. Eventually the attendant comes around and unlocks your bed for you and there you have it. The next morning we woke up when we were nearing Paris and went to the restaurant car to have our breakfast.

We went to Laurence and Sylvain's apartment where we were staying and had a nice lunch with Laurence before heading out to roam the city. Felipe lived in Paris previously, and I've now been there a few times, so many of the main tourist attractions hold less influence over our decisions about where to go. We headed over to the Boulevard St. Germain and the Latin Quarter where Felipe used to live and walked around a bit. On our way back to the apartment we stopped at the Jardin du Luxembourg and enjoyed a quiet walk. The colors were changing in the leaves on the trees and the sky was grey as is typical of Paris in the autumn and winter.

















Later that evening we ate at a nice little restaurant that I can't remember where it is or the name - very unlike me, but was a nice evening with Laurence, Sylvain and our other friend Ruben. Unfortunately the only good photo I got was of the three of them while Sylvain was retrieving the car...so much for him or I being in the photo ;)

Europe Trip Continued: The Wedding Day!

Ana getting ready at the salon.

Okay, I know, I know - I'm so behind on my Europe posts! I'll get better, I swear! So here it is, the post about the wedding! On Saturday morning all the ladies got up early and made our way to the salon to be thoroughly prepped for the big day. It was so much fun to spend the time together, to laugh and chat and we all had a wonderful time!


All the ladies enjoying a morning of pampering - nails, hair and makeup!


Tia Elisa getting her hair done.


Tia Ecy all ready to go!


Here she is, Ana all ready to go!


Here are all of us girls ready to go!

Then we moved on to the ceremony. After a long nervous time waiting it was time to go!

Doesn't Sergi look blown away! He uttered a simply stunned "Wow!" when Ana came into sight, so sweet!

Here are the happy couple, listening intently to Sergi's sister giving a beautiful speech.



Sergi's sister gave a beautiful speech - which I mostly understood, even though it was in Catalan. Very moving!


A nice photo of us with Eda and Primitivo.


The happy parents with the group from Brazil.

Here's a fun video of the dancing!

A Beautiful Morning Walk in the Park (11.11.11)

The colors, the shadows, the trees and the people in this scene reminded me of A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte by Seurat (not saying my photo is as good as his painting - just trying to describe how picturesque the park was at that time in the morning!).

Yesterday I got up a bit early and left for work with enough time to allow myself a walk through Central Park. Because I pass through the park every day, I see the colors changing through out the season, and this week we've had amazingly clear weather and I just knew I had to see the leaves as they seem to be at their peak. Fortunately we've not had a lot of rain, and so the leaves haven't been beaten off the trees like they were last year. It was a beautiful morning, full of joggers and people out walking their dogs....much more serene than on a weekend day when the park is crowded. I hope you enjoy the shots as much as I enjoyed the live scene!






I can't tell you how amazing this spot was - with this blanket of red leaves covering the path, and the ducks in the pond...

Europe Continued: Pan amb Tomaquet, Lost Baggage and the Endless Excitement

The friday night before the big day, the family and all the visitors got together for a nice dinner at Pan amb tomaquet in Vilassar. They didn't have a rehersal dinner like they do here in the states, instead Sergi spent the evening with his family and Ana with hers. Pan amb tomaquet is a nice restaurant in the village where Eda and Primitivo live and we've been there many times before with the family. They had a small lofted area of the restaurant reserved for all of us and we had a terrific time mingling and sharing our excitement over the next day.

Of course, there was some delicious food involved too!

My tortilla and pan con tomate - yum!


Felipe with his pan con tomate and lomo jamon.


Felipe with Ecy and Elisa.


Many friends came for the wedding from Brasil - Eduardo, Bianca, (I can't remember this gentleman's name...I'm working diligently on remembering...), Carolina and Ana in the background.


Eda at the table with Ana Luisa and Bruno - friends from Brasil as well, who you may remember from a previous post (they visited us earlier this year in NYC).


Primitivo and Ernani.


Ana and Primitivo with Primitivo's brother Francisco (Paco) and his wife Mari and their kids Paco, Miguel, and Ana who all came from Zaragoza for the wedding.

After dinner we all headed back home and tried settling in for the night. Let's just say that everyone was a bit hyper over making sure all was ready for the next day and it took quite some time for everyone to wind down. It had been a long day - did I mention that all six guests arriving from Brasil had their luggage lost and that Tia Ecy was "lost" as well for some time - as she missed her connecting flight and no one knew precisely which flight she had been moved to.... well thank goodness that Ecy was found and eventually everyone got their luggage, that is after Eda, Primitivo and Elisa spent about 10 hours in the airport!

Here's Eda and Ana "winding down" before bed...it involved some sort of acting out of an exorcism, which at this time I cannot remember why...


and fake sleeping/laughing:


Sweet dreams for the day to come...

NYC Marathon 2011

Winner Geoffrey Mutai

Today was the New York City 2011 Marathon, and as usual I went to cheer on the thousands of people pushing themselves to the limit in a show of physical stamina that could impress just about anyone passing by. I know a few people, casually, who are running today, but didn't get to see them - it's hard to pick them out of such a crowd and I didn't know their start times. But I had an enormously fun time cheering on everyone from the pros to the amateurs. Felipe and I got to Mile 26 around 11:45am, just in time to see the Men's winner passing by. After two and a half straight hours of clapping and cheering, I had to call it quits, maybe next year I will train for a cheering marathon and then my voice won't give out!

Here are some of the photos I grabbed while there. Enjoy!


Runner 332 and 127


Runner 213


Runners 1-880, 6-431, 2-334, 742, 2-853


Runners 8-555, 1-286, 4-125, 3-491, 4-020


Runners 5-292, 3-737, 13-028, 3-407, 6-383


Runners 12-388, 12-344, 7-706, 827


Runners 6-063, 7-166, 9-266, 5-064, 10-802


Runners 12-693, 6-331, 8-612


Runner 3-592


Runners 14-261, 7-871 and Apolo Ohno


Runners 19-484, 5-822, 9-725, 9-089, 11-181


Runners 11-249 and 7-703