Monday, December 31, 2007

Lille, France - August 19, 2006

Welcome to Lille, the northern-most city of France which evinces as much Belgian flavour as it does French (just take a look at the charming wine-sized beer bottles below). Henri, like Vianney, worked briefly at Access Justice in Vancouver and agreed to let me shack up for a day or two with him in Lille. My first day there was pretty casual and involved some beer, cheese, and a stroll through the overcast and quaint town. Although I would leave France for the final time two days later on August 21st, after first travelling with Henri to visit Bruges in Belgium, these are my final pictures of la belle province.






































Paris, France - August 18, 2006

Paris: Day 3.

A quick run-down of the day's events and sights include starting the day at the famous Louvre museum (I exclude the few shots of artwork taken) and its surrounding gardens. A walk past some previous day's sights to Napoleon's two arches, the smaller Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel and the more famous Arc de Triompe de l'Etoile with the Obelisque de Luxor in between.

At midday I turned to the north of the city to visit the districts of Montmarte and Pigalle. The former, named for the hill at its centre, houses the beautiful Basilica of the Sacre Coeur or the Sacred Heart of Jesus. From the sacred to the profane is just a short walk down the hill through the narrow streets to Pigalle, the red-light district and home of the Moulin Rouge. Lastly, an oddball picture of what looks like Mongolians outside the Centre Georges Pompidou.

That evening Vianney and I went for dinner at an extraordinary French restaurant that had been famous in the 30s for its decadence and as a hotspot for European artists. The restaurant's many pillars are painted by a number of these artists including Picasso and Chagall among others. Finally, a last walk through the city of lights at night provided for some excellent parting shots.




























































Paris, France - August 17, 2006

Paris: Day 2.

Given my lack of energy to finish selecting photos and complementing them with descriptions and stories from my trip, I have decided to simply post a small selection from each trip destination in order to finish Europe 2006 for good and be able to move on to post some pictures from New York and Cuba (also sans write-ups). I hope that when I'm finally caught up I will again find the time and energy to post stories with new photo journal entries.