Wednesday, January 27, 2010

sand in my socks

From weekend trip to Berck and Touquet. If you've ever wondered what the North coast of France is like, it's a little like the Pacific North West (of North America). But no mountains and more... French.



What I've always imagined architecture in Havana to be like: 1950s tropical, yet communist...








Tuesday, January 19, 2010

reverse chronological order

Congratulations, we made it! As you are probably aware, yesterday (January 18) was Blue Monday - designated the most depressing day of the year by British psychologist Cliff Arnall. This article from the Globe and Mail (which I used with a class currently doing a unit on health and exercise) suggests watching your go-to kitten video on youtube as a means of kicking the blues.

Along those lines, I opted to immerse myself in photos from my family's Christmas vacation in Nice and Paris. Imagining myself back in Nice certainly cheered me up, as did being able to cross "post photos from Christmas" off my to-do list thus killing two bluebirds with one stone.

So here we go back in time to the end of December 2009. Be prepared to be hit with a whack of vacation photos. We start in Nice...





So many gulls at the fish market...




Nice: city of yachts




Fishin'




Sunset streaming through a flag by the harbour


The happy fam




Onto Vence - a medieval town in the mountains inland from Nice. Today it is inhabited largely by a community of painters. Most artist's studios percapita in France or something like that. Also contains a chapel designed ground up by Matisse.








Paris! View from the top of Sacre Coeur at the top of Montmartre.


Strange geometry. Montmartre architecture.


This made me happy. These signs are ubiquitous in Paris and Montmartre especially so I'm glad someone decided to make something of it.


Crooked house on Montmartre.


Famous windmills of Montmartre


Palais de Justice


Brothers... excellent subjects for requisite silly photos


I love this photo. I was standing directly in front of the Mona Lisa at the Louvre and turned around to take a picture of the crowd behind me. Not only is this an insane mass of people, but I love the way they blend into the painting behind.


Thats all for now. Remember to keep giggling during these last dreary winter months. If that doesn't work - you could always try light therapy?

Sunday, January 17, 2010

a good day...

Wintertime happens to almost all of us.
For part of each year we are forced indoors and into inactivity, subconsciously feeling the effects of our waning supplies of vitamin D.

Once every so often, those sadistic weather gods of wintertime take it upon themselves (for reasons known only to gods of weather) to give us a day of startlingly beautiful sunshine in the midst of all that cold, wet, dirty-sponge grey. On these rare and blissful occasions we get the heady feeling that we know (and I mean really know) what life is all about.
Today was such a day.

Behold the giddiness:
The usual suspects (canadian, german and spaniard) plus two extra germans to boot went for a stroll, soaking up enough fresh air and vitamin D to last us through February.



Made friends with these two jokers hanging out the window of their appartment in the Grand Place.



Watching ducks on the canal.



Tim Burton-esque. A real life moment that reminded me of Big Fish.



Queens of the playground ;)