Worse ways to spend a Sunday...

The day started off with me feeling very sorry for myself. Long haul flights are OK, you can stroll around, hang out in the galley or choose your film. Well you can if it's in one of the big planes. Last night, was 7,5 hours in a 737, with a back bulkhead seat that didn't recline, spaced for the legs of a little Panama girl. So, I had some guys head up my nose (consolation was my knees were in his kidneys), no individual screen and stuck next to the can. Although, being next to the toilet does allow you to fart with impunity.

Needless to say at 6am when our plane touched down I wasn't the happiest camper.

But then there was a nice shower, a fresh pineapple and coconut juice squeezed before my eyes and this stroll on Copacabana:

A midday nap, followed by a Skol and Chicken fillet lunch (in amongst the locals who were making a noise - they were even talking to each other at neighbouring tables - it felt so un-paris), then a fresh coconut juice alongside beach. An evening run on the beach to Ipanema to finish off.

What was that story about the flight again? There are worse ways to spend a Sunday. It just became great.

Smokin'

Top of Sicily at 3340 m

Steaming crater at about 2940 m, the Etna eruption of 2002.

View from Taormina towards the mainland.

Piazza Armerina to Taormina

The Romans invent the bikini? One of the girls from the mosaics to be seen at Casa Romana del Casale.

After dinner in Piazza Armerina

Getting the chop in Siracusa

Ahoy the mainland... looking from Taormina towards Calabria

Almond wine with roasted almonds

Palermo to Marsala...

Palermo, just before the Mercato Vucciria gets going. The cat (Wally the cat) drew me to this picture.

The view from Erice castle is worth the motion sickness from the hairpins.

Marsala, yes, where the wine comes from.

Les Champignons

Ahh holidays are good, a little stroll in the undergrowth to look for some cépe mushrooms. A little garlic, some parsley.... yum!

Not this one, he stayed in the forest for the slugs.

These little guys came home with us... mmmmm

lac blanc

It was a beautiful weather Sunday, and holidays season. So needless to say, every man and his dog had the same idea as us... lets stroll up to Lac Blanc. The best part about 'walking' to Lac Blanc is getting a fair bit of the ascent taken care of by the téléphérique de la Flégère. The fresh air is also so much more welcoming after cuddling up to someone's armpit in the cable car cabin. From the top station it's uphill for about an hour and a half. Then, instead of abusing our knees for the hell of it, we traversed to l'index and caught the télésiège down. We still had the same folks around us as up at the lake, so not much gain in time, but I'm sure our legs felt happier.

Rewarded by beautiful views during a hard walk in the hot sun, summer's here!

Not much white about lac blanc right now...

font III - just because

more 'fonts

on a mission

'Fonts

Just because you have to like Elephants...

Bon weekend

La Défense II

Etoile

He who hesitates is lost. No truer expression for taking on l'étoile by car. Simple rule; he who is coming from the right is king, even if 'he' is just a piddly Smart. Above all, don't hesitate, just gooi!

Speaking of étoile, I like the 15 odd little étoiles surrounding the Arc de Triomphe in the photo below (click for a larger view). All starry thanks to the small aperture used to get the long exposure.

Always a little surreal driving around l'étoile and down the cobbles of the Champs Elysées that leads out into another free-for-all in the Place de la Concorde. Never imagined it as an everyday thing.

Just gooi.

La Défense

Within a Paris setting, La Défense is fairly weird, and even more so when viewed through a fisheye. It's great fun seeing what can be done, a really photogenic spot.

Star trek meets the EDF tower

Not often you see all of la grande arche from within the arch.

both sides

Imagine being able to see on both sides of your head... With a fish-eye, one can, almost. The world doesn't look altogether what one is used to. The new addition to the family is a Samyang 8mm f/3.5 lens (here's a review). So, using a DX sensor, this gives a 180° field of view on the diagonal with its stereographic projection. Or, in normal speak, a very wide angle with lots of distortion. Whatever it is, it's fun, and in my opinion makes for photos that are either interesting or rubbish, depending on how it's used, up to you to decide.

Wouldn't want to meet them in a dark alley. RATP security guys always look like they have a different night jobs.

Crossing over after the Tour de France. Here the horizon is mid photo, hence straightish. 

Solferino, amongst other things, home to the Socialist Party HQ. Here you get a nice feel for the fish-eye distortion where only the lines passing through the centre are straight. Less obvious in the metro tunnel where straight lines are few and far between to begin with. In my opinion, it is for this reason that the distortion works. If you look very carefully at the edge of fluorescent lights, you'll see some chromatic aberration, which I haven't processed out. Just one of those things that comes with squeezing such a huge angle into view.

So now you're in for the occasional fish-eye, let me know if it is rubbish or not.

Tour de France

It is impressive to be at the side of the road when the riders of the Tour de France come by. It has been a long hot tour, and yet even on the last day their strength is remarkable.

Positioned at the quayside, next to the Jardins de Tuileries, it was fun to try capture some of the action. Yes one could up the ISO, or open up the aperture to freeze the cyclists, who must be doing 50 - 60 km/h. Instead, it seemed more fun to try get some motion blur of the background. I won't let you know my success rate, but it wasn't high. Good thing they did eight laps of the finishing circuit around the Place de la Concorde and the up the Champs-Elysées.

Here are some efforts that came out OKish.

Is that Daniel OSS (46) of LIQUIGAS-DOIMO?

Difficult to be sure, but perhaps 153, Anthony CHARTEAU of team BBOX BOUYGUES TELECOM

 Francesco BELLOTTI (42) of team LIQUIGAS-DOIMO 

Maxime BOUET (82) of team AG2R LA MONDIALE

 Steve MORABITO from BMC RACING TEAM

Christophe RIBLON (89) of team AG2R LA MONDIALE

Boulogne fireworks

Music by DJ Omatic

fête nationale

13 July

The 14th of July is nearly upon us in France, which means fireworks in front of the Eiffel Tower. Outside of Paris however, fireworks night is the 13th. Here are a few shots from the Pont de Sèvres, looking down the Seine at l'île Seguin.

Elsewhere most people seem to refer to the 14 July as Bastille Day. In France, I'm not sure I've ever heard it called that, here it goes by "La fête nationale", or just plain "quartorze juillet"... The meteo predicts rain for the 14th in Paris... hmm is that what's called a damp squib?

Montpellier

It is hot in the South! Summer is here, even at 11pm in Montpellier.

She sells sea shells...

Very cooperative models by the seaside, although sitting still isn't their thing.

Wishing you sun and salt water.