New year was yesterday, but traditionnaly in Paris, the “street parties” are on the 1st week-end following the chinese new year.  For the complete details of the week-end you can check this site.

As it’s a street carnival, there will be lots of traffic jam… so use tram or velib (plenty of stations/bicycle at porte de choisy).

Edit: link restored

We did it!

Bij, Lil and me finally manage to see that exhibition!

It was great but crowded. The internet website says opening is at 10am during week-end… but it seems it might be 9. We arrived at 9:30am and finally get into the museum at 11:45. After initial entrance, they wait until people get out to let more people in… so waiting time depends a lot on your time of arrival.

According to what we saw when we went out of museum, queuing might be reduced around midday.  They are still few ticket to buy on the fnac website, from 3am to 4:30am on the 2sd of february.

In the age of digital manipulation, there are so many tools out there to play around with, that the user doesn’t need to be a pro to produce some fun and rather stunning final photos from somewhat mundane shots. One of the tools that I’ve been checking out of late is the Tilt-Shift Maker.

Tilt-Shift Maker works best with panoramic-style overall shots, transforming the location into seemingly a miniature model while enhancing the colours. Unfortunately I love taking photos in close crop most of the time, making it difficult for me to find something suitable. Nonetheless, I’ve grabbed a few shots randomly, taken in Paris and in other places within Provence in the south. I uploaded them to Tilt-Shift Maker for quick manipulations, and save them again. Have a look (click on image to enlarge it) and tell me what you think of them ;-)

The triumphal arch of Paris

The Eiffel Tower at sunset

Dining al fresco in Castellet

The port of Marseille

The waterfront of Cassis

I must admit, while it’s exciting and all to fake the tilt-shift, the end result made me a tad envious. More specifically, why do I not have the skill to produce photos that are at least as bright and beautiful as the faked versions, even if I can’t manage the tilt-shift myself (considering there are special lens required and my baby point-and-shoot can never compare).

Oh well… and I used to think the photos I took was pretty good. Putting them side by side to manipulated ones, they look dull, dull, dull. *sigh* Now you know why proper photographers get paid so much. They can produce miracles instantly that us mere mortals can somewhat reproduce via Photoshop and various other softwares.

I’m sure you already heard about the Picasso exhibition going at the Grand Palais… You’re also probably aware that considering the sucess of this exhibition, it will be open 24 hours a day for its last days of opening (i.e. from 9am friday, 30th January to 8pm sunday, 2sd February).

I first thought that this opening could’nt be bought in advance, but today I discover that they are sell online. Unfortunately only few tickets are still avalaible : from 2am to 5am on sunday the 2sd of Ferbruary…

So if you’re  a night owl and you haven’t seen the exhibition, that’s your last chance… As for me I will be queuing in the cold and the rain next week-end.

for now at least…

Indeed, yesterday, temps went up a bit and it rained… The remaining snow did not make it through the drizzle. Things are now back to normal over here: no snow, no slippery sidewalks, but opened parks (with muddy tracks!)

I’m curious if we’ll have further snow this winter. I remember last year we had a brief cold period in early winter and then the rest of winter was a breeze…

We’ll keep you posted ;)

Yes, there is still snow in Paris!

I know, it’s most unbelievable. It’s still the same snow though. But it’s been holding in places… I think today the sun has started working on it but in the mean time parks are still closed for “bad weather” (which is funny with the sun shining above…)

This mean that Paris has had snow for over a week now! This must be some kind of record, no?

I can already hear the Canadian, Russian or people from wherever there is snow every winter making fun of us little Parisians… A day of snow and everything is messed up, people decides to stay home or bus stop running… Today no snow but be careful!!! It’s sliding… I experienced it myself despite the hiking shoes I’m wearing…

BUT it seems there’s differences depending on the “arrondissement” you’re in. When my bus was in the 14th, everything was withe outside and I experienced the sliding sidewalks. And as soon as we enterred the 6th : no snow anymore, the sidewalks are not even wet… If anyone has an explenation, please, feel free to comment…

It’s incredible. I walked though lots of snowy snow today! (And lots of slush too!)