errands. in Paris!

yes we had some running around to do. tax receipts to get straight, gifts to finalize and purchase and the luggage situation to work out.

breakfast on the champs élysées put us in good position to hit the ground running at Louis Vuitton when they opened. next a stop in few sport stores, then home to drop off “the surprise goods”.

once we were out again it was short
lived. a rosary for M, the opera district for a “New York” bar that was closed so another sufficed. I had run out of steam and once back at home, I slept the night away.

wait…. it was New Year’s Eve! there was a show at the Eiffel Tower that had to be taken in!! while I did sleep for a few hours – at 10:30 we went to a local restaurant for dinner and champagne. took a short walk to the park in Passey where we watched the festivities with a group from Germany. they were a lot of fun, and people from all around the globe crowded the streets to celebrate. tons of baby strollers jammed the sidewalks, and cars jammed the streets.

the light show was beautiful – no fireworks though. Paris stopped fireworks a few years ago. we walked home giving and receiving Bonne Annèe’s to everyone. it was a great was to begin two thousand fourteen.

happy new year!!

bright and early we arrived at the louvre. today was the day! we had nothing else planned and with rain in the forecast it was a good
day to be inside.

now everyone had warned us of the museums size, but I don’t think I was prepared for miles of hard marble floors, stairs up, stairs down, mazes upon mazes. corridors that lead to rooms the size of small cities! beautiful, massive, full of important pieces of our humanity and safe keeping of the facts that we exist with a long history on this planet.

the sculpture was my favorite and the art was a close second. we did not see all of the masters – Monet, De Gaulle, Renoir were missed, but the art that I did see exposed me to many new masters I had not known.

finding a day where the crowds are not their own exhibit to contend with would be great, as many more trips to the Louvre are necessary!!

feeling culturally uplifted.

day seven: sun. no wind, no rain!

A great day to wander the Latin Qtr. We started out with a well travelled, well spoken (7 languages) driver from Russia. Andre told us about the statues in Place de la Concorde representing their countries and facing them. He took us to see what is remaining of the original wall that enclosed Paris, and finally dropped us at Jardin du Luxembourg. We visited Sorbonne, and the Pantheon before heading to the L’Opera district to say hello to the Apple store.

A quick stop by Louis Vuitton before heading home to change for a deliciously authentic Italian dinner.

Thank you for sunny days Paris!

Bon nuit!

My observations of Parisians so far: they are very put together. Head to toe, fashionable, smart looking and extremely polite. I’ve been greeted with a bonjour by complete strangers more times than not. The smoking situation I was warned about seems to be restricted to outside for the most part. We’ve only encountered indoor smoking once and it wasn’t that big of a deal. The dog poop is true, you do need to watch your step as it seems that cleaning up after your pet is not a common practice. LOL

Day 3: (merry christmas) we started early. The photographer in me wanted to get to the Arc De Triomphe before full sun hit it, so we did our “normal” walk to the Eiffel Tower and caught a cab from there. Dark quiet streets made capturing a sleeping Passey easy, and M broke out his GoPro to do some video taping of our day.

It was Christmas Day so the Champs Élysées was buttoned up tight – no shops open except the tourist knick-knack shops and a few cafés. We ended up walking the full stretch of the Champs Élysées to the grand Palace, across the Ave du Winston Churchill towards the Hotel Invalides. Our goal was to walk back to the Eiffel Tower to see it from the park side. When we arrived, there were more people there than I’ve ever seen. Maybe a Christmas Day tradition – thousands of people. We were on high “pick-pocket” alert, but didn’t expect to get swindled by two cute girls asking for blind/deaf donations. Oh well – let’s hope the money makes it to right place!!

It wasn’t until after we crossed the river Seine on our final few blocks home that the sky opened up and dumped on us royally! We had walked nearly 5 miles, me with a 20lb camera backpack on and only my North Face vest. This walk and the downpour was going to get the best of me.

Once home we prepared for our Christmas evening and planned on spending it at the Ritz with the number 1 rated bartender in the world – but we got to the Ritz only to realize it was closed for renovations. Our Uber driver was quick to find an alternative and hotel Costes was perfect. The bar was dark and sexy, with fancy decor and very “established” clientele. Our dinner was delicious – la Tigre is what M ordered (the house specialty) and he was NOT disappointed!! I had a spicy lobster pasta that was equally delicious. The wine recommendation was perfect (definitely more than we spend normally – but it was Christmas, and this is Paris).

Once we were back at home – all hell broke loose with my health.

Day 4: sick as a big, hairy, wet, smelly dog. A cough that won’t stop, fever, chills, blazing headache and back pain (which could have been from lugging my camera bag). Day four is a total loss. I slept ALL DAY, M panicked – no language skills, didn’t want to leave the house without me (but dude, I wasn’t moving), starving to death. He did get to a pharmacies and explain my symptoms for a round of meds that made a tiny dent in how I felt.

Day 5: still carrying around that big, smelly dog of illness, but I was able to at least get out of the house for breakfast, and my own visit to the pharmacy. Different approach to meds, and these seem to be doing a little better. Oh and we’ve added sinus pain to the list. The short trip out to eat was a lot so back to the apartment we went for a 5 hr nap. (I never sleep this much). And in the afternoon we headed out to La Marais district where the shopping was plentiful, but the restaurant we had in mind didn’t exist. Mediterranean food it was, and if you know me – the day I pass up shopping is definitely a sick day.

Back home we came – feeling a little successful at even going out at all I though we’d find this secret neighborhood designer store that our AirBnB host gave me insight to. 5 minute walk from the apartment should have been doable, and it was on the way there. Coming back was up hill and the wheezing took full control! We did find a few cute gifts for friends back home so I count it as a success.

Day 6-10 will be closely monitored for activity as my cold from hell either progresses or subsides. We are off to get round three of meds – these recommended by Emi (who knows the power of NyQuil). Wish us luck and a speedy recovery!!

xo – n&m

so the holiday season is upon us, and the frantic pace of shopping, eating, parties, eating, shopping has begun.

I’m fortunate to have the full turkey week off, and high hope plans of sleeping in, spa day, a day of shooting are lofty and I’m afraid will only be partially realized. instead there are vet appointments, dr. appointments and lots of work to get the spare bedroom set up to store photography equipment and supplies in an organized manner.

I am thankful for the time, for friends near and far, and always for the love and support of my family.

happy thanksgiving!

-nlb

hey everyone, quick update that there is an official site for my photography at http://www.tallieimages.com. there is a space for blogging there as well (photography related) and there are some exciting plans in the works – so check here and there. at some point I will need to consolidate – or not. just didn’t want anyone to miss out on the happenings!

happy easter!
xo-nat

these next three days were filled with meetings – the reason I am here. the apple offices are very nice, and the people were lovely! we met with the AUS team, as well as teams from KOR, JPN, and CHN. I can only say – we have kickass people in all of these geo’s!!

we had dinner after work on tuesday at a great italian restaurant – again the no heat thing was apparent with the patio heaters indoor to break the chill. on wednesday a handful of us did the Sydney Harbor Bridgeclimb. If ever in Sydney it’s a must do!! 1,390 stairs to the top, and lots of nooks and crannies to climb up and through that make you feel like you’re in a movie! we met up with the rest of the team at the OperaBar for drinks and dinner. extremely fun night and probably that highlight of the trip!
thursday night we went to a very cool speakeasy type bar/restaurant modeled after an Argentinean man. food was delicious and the “old fashion” club was born. lots of bourbon flowed…good times, good times!

the walkabout…
okay so we didn’t do a ‘proper’ walkabout , but we did a lot of walking about the city!

the city of Sydney is very walkable. we were able to get to all of the major sites in a very short time. from our hotel near Hyde Park, we walked to the harbor (Circular Quay) where the beautiful Sydney Opera House and The Rocks are located near the Harbor Bridge.

we took a ferry (pedestrian only water taxi) to Manley Beach where we had a seafood lunch that was only hours out of the water. we watched a good number of surfers catch small waves in the not-so-cold water, which was surprising because it is mid-winter here now.

the area so far reminds me so much of San Francisco except for the exotic bird calls and crys which remind me I am not at home.

on the way back for Manley I sat up front/outside on the ferry to catch the city view for photos. Enter “Captain John”… John was a salty old sailor who was enamored with me – not in a good way. He eavesdropped on my phone call with M., and asked if I was from Melbourne once I had hung up. “No.” was my reply, him: “Sydney?”, me: “No, I’m from California – why do you ask?”, him: “really, you don’t sound American, you don’t have an American accent.” me: “I’ve heard that before, (which is true and weird)”. the conversation started like this and moved to talking about my hair, which he loved, and then to his sailing adventures around the world, a quick point to the right of the nude beach we were passing, and to the left, the passage out to the Pacific Ocean where I could sail home in 30-37 days. there was a request for a photo on his little flip phone (80’s), and his comments about teeth is where things got really weird. him: “why are your teeth so beautiful?, we get horrible looking teeth but you/blacks have beautiful teeth.” – oyyyy! luckily we were nearing the city and i could concentrate on my camera. he was a nice old man, and gave me my first authentic Aussie experience.

Sydney is lovely – the weather was beautiful, and I can’t wait to explore more!!