Eiffel tower at night
In 2010, the Eiffel tower is under repainting for the 19th time to protect steel from corrosion. 25 painters are working for the job and it takes 18 months to finish. The tower is re-painted every 7 years on average.
"The summer air was soft and warm
The feeling right, the Paris night
Did its best to please us
And strolling down the Elysée
We had a drink in each café..
And you
You talked of politics, philosophy and I
Smiled like Monalisa...
We had our chance
It was a fine & true romance...."
- "Our last summer" ABBA -
Paris, je t'aime!
My day walking alone around Eiffel tower. I can't help falling in love with Paris, and who actually can..? (",)
View On Large
top right: The male statue @the square near Eiffel tower: This's on the left of the square, the female statue w/ same sitting pose is on the right (cute butt btw :-D); bottom left: Beautiful couple w/ beautiful wedding outfit! I saw them when walking up the stairs to the top floor of the square near Eiffel tower. I stopped, & the bride smiled at me, she has a truly shining smile :-); (the guy's on the right was posing for a pic of himself with Eiffel tower, he looked funny being near the glowing-in-love couple :p) bottom right: Golden-coloured statues @square near Eiffel tower - nearly sunset: Among 8 statues, only one turned her head to the Eiffel tower
Paris 06/08/09
One of the great things when living in Paris is u can definitely enjoy a cup of coffee or beer on streets. It's similar to my hometown but not that easy to find in Singapore, and that makes this place closer to my heart..
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The weather in autumn turns cold quickly, promising a coming freezing winter. It'll be my first winter in Europe, my first time to see snow :-). I don't know whether it'll be as romantic as it's always in movies, not really I guess. I've been warned by my friends that it'll not be very pleasant to walk on streets or after the snow melts & the roads'll be all wet.. Whatever, I'm still excited! My days now pass by slowly as I'm not busy working like before. I've been preparing for a new chapter of my life.. (",)
Some comments from flickr's friends:
"Great shot! Your friends are wrong. There is notting like the feeling of walking on fresh snow with a winter breeze in your hair. You can feel it breaking under you feeth. First snowfall allway's bring a feeling of romance and everything looks different when covert under a white blanket. For me it give's a sence of happyniss and romance. And you can shoot awsome picture's after snowfall. Have fun!!!!!" - Lorentje.
"You are right about enjoying a coffee/beer on street, anytime, almost anywhere, days and night and all year long. Keep enjoying! Regarding snow experience, well, there are not many snowfalls in Paris and they usually don't happen before end of december or january. In addition, if and when that happens, you have to be very quick. Just after a snowfall, the city is absolutely beautiful and romantic. But in less than two hours, snow melts and turns into dirty slippery mud. What i can suggest you is to leave Paris and go for example to Versailles, only 25 Km from the center of Paris. Temperatures are lower there, and there is no underground heat from subway and or parkings. And snow remains longer." - Py All.
The colour of Time...
"The Butterfly Effect"
"It has been said that something as small as the flutter of a butterfly's wing can ultimately cause a typhoon halfway around the world." - Chaos theory - Unexplained mysteries..
The photo's not really related to the title, but I just want to write about The Butterfly Effect - an old American psychological thriller film that I watched yesterday. The title of the film is a reference to "the butterfly effect, which theorizes that a change in something seemingly innocuous, such as a flap of a butterfly's wings, may have unexpected larger consequences in the future, such as the path a hurricane will travel."
Honestly, I was a bit scared at first during & after watching the movie, but then I found it really interesting & memorable. "The movie's about a man named Evan who suffered severe traumas as a boy and a teenager, blacks out frequently, often at moments of high stress. He was urged by a psychologist to keep journals detailing his daily life. As an adult seeking the cause of his memory problems, Evan breaks open those childhood journals and inexplicably finds himself capable of traveling back in time to relive those events. Believing this power of time travel will allow him to heal wounds suffered by those close to him decades ago, Evan goes back in time to change his past.
The actions he takes, and those he enables others to take during his blackouts, change the timeline in the new future wherein he awakes. As he continues to do this, he realizes that even though his intentions are good, the actions he takes have unintended consequences...." (source: Wiki).
Some people want to forget the past. Others want to change it.. The movie made me think about what goods & bads I've done to others or the other way around.., and I wonder if even one small detail in my crucial timeline had been changed, how significantly different my life (or others') would have been... I will never know!
A little crazy or funny or I have too much time to spare? I don't know, but I surely know that the movie's good :-): "It is, for lack of a better term, very human." ..And small good things that you do today might have really big effect (possibly to the whole world) tomorrow, so let's do more and more goods!!
Paris 16/09/09.
A comment from a flickr's friend, jjdo: "I don't know anything about the movie you mention above. I don't know anything about butterflies. But, I do now when beauty turn to passion. The heart flutters. How can such a slight glance make such a powerful affect?"
The vegetables and fruits in France seem to be so fresh compared to what we used to buy in supermarkets in Singapore. We love having fruits as well as yohurts everyday.
We came across this market when my Bear was checking out his most-likely new house's neibourhood. Good thing that he'll have various choice of food (and a little bit cheaper) not far away from his place. In Paris, beside supermarket, you can find a lot of small stalls on streets selling all kinds of food or cooked dishes. Somehow I feel it's similar to home here (compared to Singapore of course), where we probably can enjoy life better meeting our friends for street food or just a cup of coffee :-)
We ate quite an amount of cheese during the past first 2-weeks here, it's easy to love cheese! (& easier to feel afraid of getting weight :-|)
Didn't intend to buy cherry at first, but after 1 try (thanks to the nice fruit seller), I think I'm falling in love with them :-P
Started in 1163, took almost 200 years to complete, towers are 69m high, damaged during the Revolution, its sculpted decoration was restored in 1845. A Unesco World Heritage site since 1991.
View from Chimeras Gallery, Notre Dame de Paris
View on top of the Notre Dame de Paris
Dumb-faced gargoyle on top
Stryga, the most famous of the chimeras, gazing at the everchanging city..
I wonder Stryga propably knows that human beings are born just to discover through the course of their life the pains that they will need to go through, no matter how much happiness they can experience. The pains will be still there and cut deep. From childhood until a grow-up person, a human will reveal slowly the true face of life, and until he does, he will feel the deepest pain to be a human being. Life is a complicated stage, but the feelings of the real-life actors/ actresses are real. Life is sometimes a joke...(Berlin, 16.01.2013)
Musée du Louvre - sunset after the rain
It doesn't rain heavily much during summer here, so we got lucky that day; although it was very cold but I think this worths it :-)
It was getting darker a moment later :-). "Every night has its dawn..every rose has its thorn.." (Guns N' Roses).
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Wish everyone a great week ahead!! Tomorrow I'll fly to Prague & stay there for a while for my Master, I still have some photos of Paris and will upload them soon.
Prague - one of the most famous cities in Europe, I've been dreaming of visiting it some time ago, and very soon my dream'll come true :-). I'm nervous but excited! When I wake up this Wednesday, there'll be a new world to me.. Hope someone can share with me some experiences. Hug from Paris >:D<
Paris 28/09/09.
Musée du Louvre
Short holiday with three friends - my Master's colleagues. Paris 26/02/10-01/03/10.
Sunrise at Charles de Gaulle Airport - Paris 29/10/09.
I was on a 3a.m. flight from Prague to Paris for a get-away weekend from the stressful Masterin Prague. It was nice breathing early morning air after a sleepless night... I think Paris is sort of another Home to me now.
Paris in early morning fog 29/10/09. It's turning into Autumn.
I was on the train to the Paris apartment after the 1-hr-and-a-half flight from Prague.
One sleepless night, one flight to Paris.. One beautiful early morning, warm feelings of a familiar place.. :-)
(It will be nice to mention that I had a wonderful night in Prague before the flight, going out with friends, drinking, talking and a lot of laughter (",),
La Seine's entering Autumn..
Long weekend with wine, & love - Home again..
So follow your heart
- Your heart will lead you home by Kenny Loggins -
Sometimes we don't care about our 'stupid' hearts (like I do), but eventually, our Hearts shall lead us Home!
Fall love 
Love and care!
With beloved Krabi in my Bear's apartment on Christmas and New Year's Eve Day 2009/10. Krabi was growing so fast, in the photo he was just about five months old.
(RIP, miss you and still have dreams of you sometimes, Krabi! Berlin 15.01.2013).
September's roses
September's smile!
Time flies!! It's been one year and more than one month since I'm staying in Europe. I love every city that I've visited! They are not only so beautiful, so alive, so charming in their own different ways but also they've witnessed a significient part of my life - the memories that I'll always remember...
Tomorrow I'll leave Paris for Berlin and stay there for some time. In our lives, there are often many possibilities with twists and turns, as one of my friends mentioned. I do have several possibilities to choose now and none of them is easy.. In all cases, I have to decide what I really want and I'll hold on to my decision, hopefully for better and who knows, for worse.
Good luck to myself! And wish everybody a sun-shining week ahead!!! :-)
Paris 23/08/10.
Some comments from my flickr's friends:
jmtimages: "what a beautiful capture of his smile amidst the flowers, dear Hoa! it's a wonderful image for this calendar!! I hope your transition to Berlin will be an easy one and that everything will be great with the decisions that you choose to make. whatever you decide will end up being the right choice for you, i believe! please take care and i'll post new photos for you every day once you are able to get an internet connection in Berlin, dear Hoa...be sweet as always! *hugs*
My dear childhood girlfriend: "my dear, hope to see you soon. no matter what, be your side :x send me an email if you have time just to let me know how are you and what'll be.. love you much :x"
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The feeling right, the Paris night.."...
Special Paris, 2009.
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