Paris air show

Last weekend, Paris played host to an air show at Le Bourget. Not too schabby, lots of chest crushing noise, and expensive toys on display. In the main it was military, but all the big names were there.

The last three posts worth of blogging have featured the fruits of a new camera, still lots to learn and get used to, a serious upgrade from my Coolpix compact. Very chuffed to be sporting the new toy I headed to the show, and landed up standing behind a guy that made me realise air show photography is a whole different story, what with his arm length lenses shrouded in carbon fibre. Of course I was also missing the baggy jacket, which in the past held rolls of film and goodies... hhhmm the lens cap seemed to fit perfectly in my pocket ;) Nevertheless the photies below are what we will have to make do with from a 135mm zoom, which I don't think are too bad given that the planes where not right overhead.

Commentary could be dodge given my knowledge of military planes, but I suspect this puppy is the Eurofighter.















Aaahhhh I want exhausts like that on my car...





























Amazing to see the manoeuvrability of a carrier like this.































Yes, it is flying on its side...










































An old Constellation, one of only 4 still in flying condition. Apparently it only took 36 passengers on board, now that's luxury. Its four props make a wonderful deep droning noise. Elegant air travel.















From the old to the new...





















The big boy also graced the skies, it is quite large!









































One of the ESA rockets on display outside the air and space museum at Le Bourget.













F35, its quite pretty really.

Happy flying!

Fluffy

What with the weird weather around the world, unseasonal storms seem to have made their way to France. Here's a little of what makes storms cool...
























photo by Sophie













photo by Sophie






























































































































Hope you get to enjoy some silver linings...

Lyon

A little while back I spent a day wondering France's second largest city. With both the Rhone and Soane to and some character, strolling the old city of Lyon is a great way to while away the day.















View of the old town from across the Soane.






















Some serious little hills to negotiate by car, bike or foot. The Lyon girls must rival those of Valparaiso in Chile for the best legs, or so I was told by the Chileans ;)
















Red roofs of the city around Hôtel de Ville, situated between the Soane and Rhone.





















The cathedral up on the hill overlooking the old city.
















Some Gallo-Roman ruins with a wonderful view of Lyon.















Made me think of Oliver Twist, Mary Poppins or some such bygone era with lots of tiny streets, brick building and plenty of chimneys to clean.






















A little pedestrian street, keeping with the terracottaish feeling the roofs lend to the neighbourhood.





















A cool thing in Lyon, coming to Paris too at the moment, a communal bicycle type scheme. There are parks like this one all over Lyon, so you check a bike out here and ride it to where you want to be, and voilà, just dump it there. All automated too. Imagine if hiring a car was so convenient, and automated, something the hire car people should think about, what a bonus if they did away with their staff ;)

A very cool city, you get the feeling that it is a tranquil, older and less poncy Paris. If you get the chance, a visit to the old city of Lyon is really cool.

Jee ate

The roller coaster of fame and fortune seems to have made a stop for only the purist of potato brews... Check out Sarkozy at the G8.

Two worlds collide

Thought I would let you know about a new co-authored phot blog, bringing you a snapshot of life in Pakistan and France through the photos of the week. Check it out: Photo of the week.

Nymphaea

Apparently yesterday a water lily painting by Claude Monet went for $37 million, not a particularly large one either. I can't imagine what the Nymphaea in l'Orangerie museum must be worth . The other day I was lucky enough to pop in an take in the beautiful paintings on the figure of eight shaped walls. Even with the tourists it has a lovely peaceful feeling about it.

Hope you have a little of the outdoors, even if it is indoors, to feel a little peaceful.

Photo collection

Although you have seen many of the images on this blog, I have also decided to put some of my favourite photos on Flickr, so if you feel like skipping the bumph I write and just browsing through my favourite images you can check them out here:

My photo collection on Flickr

Just started posting there, but will update it all the time, so be sure to head back there occasionally. It features quite a cool map section where you can see where the photos where taken.