Time (to) travel

Quiz: where was I today around noon?


Cheers to my co-travellers of the World! Thank you for the refreshing weekend. Yes, it was raining all day long on Saturday, but no pun intended... :)

Gilles and Kostas, you were deeply missed and by no means forgotten. By public demand, you are hereby forced to attend the next meeting.

Looking forward to meeting you all very soon!!!

Lots of love,
Sotiria

V for Victory

Congratulations for Sotiria's triumphant doctoral defence today!

Photo taken in Paris, on top the Arc de Triomphe, from where several great avenues originate.

new M.A.Sc. in the house

Shout-out to my good friend Idipous who successfully defended his Master thesis today!
He is not in Paris, but I know that it is one of his favorite cities!

Best wishes Idipous!!!

bitte berühren

When I was little, I was taught NEVER to touch any of the exhibits in a museum. This of course out of respect towards the works of art, since they will be quickly ruined if each and everyone of us touched for a example a statue or a painting. Imagine my frustration and the deadly looks I give to people when I realize that they are touching something (yes, I am looking at you!).
But, I have heard -on the radio perhaps- that special museums have been created especially for blind people and for children where you are encouraged to touch replicas of famous statues. What a great idea!
The Louvre, has a small room where you can touch the statuettes and this is where we spotted this little guy. I have to admit that I was hesitating to touch it :)

Ah centauri

Spotted at Tuileries Garden

traffic lights: Paris

I am going to take you a tour around the world and see the habits of pedestrians crossing the road.

Let's start from Paris. When the traffic light is red, you have to stand with your feet shoulder width apart and hands on the hips. Annoyed face is optional. When it is time to cross the road, you have to proceed very carefully, almost stepping on your toes! It reminds me a bit of 'the pink panther' :D

...or as the locals suggested, cross the road no matter if the light is green or red! Which is quite similar to our habits in Greece. Indeed, Paris felt like home ;)

Day or Night

Very creative garage door spotted in Paris, but I am not sure what is the message that comes across. If I am reading this correctly, parking in front of this door is not allowed for French people day or night, for Germans only during the night and for Greeks during the day. I cannot find anything for English people though. ;)

p.s. As always, click on the image to enlarge it!

Picnic in Paris

I bet many of you have noticed the spikes people use on exposed surfaces to keep birds away. It seems that this particular bird could not care less :) I guess people should reconsider their effectiveness.

In the mean time, at the background you can see a typical Parisian activity, that is picnic by the river. We realized quite soon that we had to do the same as the food in Paris is very, very, very expensive!
There is one district though that has more reasonable prices, but we found out about it on our last day in the city. More on this tomorrow!

Up and down

The world is turning upside down!

We are in the middle of a tremendous economic crisis, a man-made satellite is about to crash on Earth, there might be neutrinos that travel faster than the light in vacuum and Facebook made yet another change.

If the world does end in 2012 I will not be surprised at all!


Spotted: under the pyramid in Louvre, what was hidden there again?

A facepalm for a minister

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Today, I read in the greek press:

• People with income as low as 5000 euros will be taxed. (Poverty limit by eurostat: 6500 euros). The official justification is that with this measure the high incomes which are hidden from the state will be spotted.
• The minister of economy declared that we are not in a crisis but we try to avoid to become like Argentina, with complete destruction of economy, institutions, social fabric and the production base of the country. Someone should tell him that we are already there. And any rags left by the previous governments are day by day destructed by him and the rest of the gang.
• The same guy told that the recently introduced temporary fee on real estate for 2011 and 2012 will be permanent and included in the regular tax system from 2013. I am relieved! I feared that it would become permanent from now.

Then, I browsed through the photos we shot in Paris earlier this summer. And found this one. Should I feel desperate? should I laugh? Facepalm!

Tonguing

As promised more street-art from Paris.

Enjoy!

Follow...

Spotted in Montmartre.

There are many reasons that make Paris the amazing city that it is.
One of them being the cool streetart. Stay tuned for more!

Looking at the tower

As you might already know, eating in Paris can be very very expensive. There is a very cool alternative though! If you go at Champ de Mars you can have the most amazing view of the Eiffel tower while having a pic nic. Admittedly, you are going to have many friends around! Most of them being (loud) tourists but let's face it, you are one as well, right?

What are you sinking about?

SOS! We are sinking!

Who can tell us why this guy is sinking into the wall?
Tip: spotted in Montmarte.

City

This picture seems completely fake to me. Yet, I am the one who took the picture! Guess the city!

Eternity

Want to preserve your love for eternity? Try this, secure a lock on a bridge and throw the keys in the river.

We have seen this tactic in Rome, Paris and as of today in Munich. As we learned though, your love will be kept safe in the case of Paris only for a year. The tourists-in-love are so many, that the police removes all locks once a year. I guess the couple in the picture has secured their lock somewhere else.

Behind Eros and Psyche

 

Have you ever wondered how some of the famous sculptures look from behind? I did. And here I share with you the rear view of "Eros and Psyche" which is on display in the Louvre.

The Louvre is a great (in terms of both size and quality) museum in the centre of Paris. In order to get in you have to wait in a looooong queue or use a more convenient workaround (knock the door and we will answer). It is essentially an attempt to gather every single piece of art created in the world up to the mid 19th century and put it in one museum. Most of the items on display are taken from palaces after the abolishment of monarchy, and "souvenirs" brought by Napoleon and other French officials during their trips. Good thing, the short guy didn't invade China, because Louvre is not big enough for the Chinese wall.

We confirm rumours that Mona Lisa is NOT a reason to visit Louvre, especially mid-July! It is a small painting which you will have to see from a distance due to the crowd of tourists who are there to see Mona Lisa. I guess because they have seen her everywhere and wish to confirm the good reproduction. Da Vinci was a very productive artist and Louvre has many better works of his. May we suggest the Madonna of the Rocks?

Paris, Paris

We are back after 10 days of travelling with more than 1000 pictures to share with you! Special quiz of the day: name this tower!

We tried waiting in the huge line to get on the top, but after 3 seconds we gave up. Instead we crossed the road and took many magnificent pictures of this very beautiful sight. If you are like me, and thought: "Eh, well just a pile of metal scrap" just wait until you witness it in person ;)

Stay tuned for more pictures and tips from Paris and Berlin!

On the way

I love taking pictures from the airplane!
Spotted on the way to the US. What do you think is this the place?