Photos de la Seine par Nuit

Took these last night. The originals turned out pretty orange due to all the incandescent lighting along the river, but I managed to mess with them in the GIMP somewhat to get the white balance back into an acceptable range.

Wish I understood better how all that stuff works…perhaps a class in modern DSLR photography at my local Volkshochschule is in order (it’s been recommended to me before).

Savourez-vous les photos (et mon français terrible)!

notre_dame_seine_wb_rotated_cropped_4862 notre_dame_wb_cropped_rotated.4868 rotated_cropped_wb_notre_dame_4883 rue_des_ecoles_4886 seine_notre_dame_4860

Bonjour Paris! Happy Thanksgiving!

After a pretty long day traveling, we got here just fine to a cute little room on an interesting looking street. I just hope the weather turns in our favor. It’s not particularly cold or wet, but it could be brighter.

Our room at the Hotel Sully Saint Germain is small and the air in it was a little stale, but it’s cute and we’ve aired it out already thanks to the balcony overlooking the street.

balcony1 balcony room

Ah well, that’s why the airfare and hotel rates were comparatively cheap. It’s almost December.

We’ve got good ideas for places to eat over on our planning page for this trip but just walking to the hotel from the Metro stop we passed some interesting looking places — including a Tibetan restaurant. Bon chance et bon appetit!

Takin’ one for the team

The expatriate team, that is.

We got an airfare sale alert this morning. For flights originating in the U.S., United has reduced fares for travel in early December or after Christmas. We’re going to be gone or unavailable during the entire travel window, but maybe some of you can get family or friends over here on short notice.

By the way, if you’ve never used Cheap Tickets, we can vouch for them. We’ve purchased through them several times and haven’t had any issues – YMMV.

it’s not just Detroit

Got a link to this opinion column from my dad via email today:
http://www.freep.com/article/20081123/COL01/811230371

Fred Albom?It’s by Mitch Albom, whom you probably know of as a sports reporter in the Detroit area who looks like what I thought Fred Savage was going to grow up to look like.

No?

How about as the “Tuesdays With Morrie” guy? Or the “Five People You Meet in Heaven” guy?

Anyway, read the column I linked to above and ask yourself why officials in the government aren’t rushing to bail out the auto industry like they are banks and insurers. This has a big impact on me as well; I’m from the Detroit area originally and work now for a German auto parts supplier. If Ford and GeneralChryslerMotors* can’t buy parts from my company, people get laid off here, and other places, too.

Paris Planning November 2008

Narrowing down our list of stuff we want to do, while keeping enough buffer room in for spontaneity, is truly an art form.

Help us paint our picture.

Here’s our rough itinerary and short list:

What have you done? What would you have done (differently)?