pink.lemonade

its been forever since i have properly updated this blog about Paris (or any pictures of my trip). i am really behind on my image processing.. lately i have felt so worn and tired all the time.. i think ashton is going through another growth spurt or something.. plus i haven't been sleeping very well.. today i decided to commit myself to finishing up the Paris pictures.. i still have to share other non-Paris pictures that are just waiting to be processed. i am so behind that i don't even have the energy or desire to take any more pictures.. which is bad, i only have one more week here and i haven't even started taking pictures of things i really wanted to take yet.. this is why i hate having too many images to go through.. i am a bit disappointed with our Eiffel tower shots.. this is a HUGE reason to own a tripod! 90% of the Eiffel tower shots are unusable (BLURRY! the shutter was open way too long to be handheld).. david didn't get one good shot of me either.. i am just a huge blurry mess.. not his fault.. DSLR's are hard to learn on and for a beginner he did a pretty good job, it would have been better had we brought a tripod with us ORRR had a better lens ORRR if either one of us knew 100% how to deal with our camera.. however the images are useless.. thats not to say mine are perfect but mine came in a bit clearer than his did.. 

the Eiffel Tower

was crowded.. cold.. windy.. and cold.. 

life without a tripod is a hard life. i had to prop it up on davids backpack.. get as low as i can so i can look through the view finder to set the settings (which isn't easy with a belly in the way) and crawl back over to him in time for the camera to take the shot.. david thought it was hilarious (i did this like twenty times or so).. i however, was cussing him out in my head wishing he would not make me feel so guilty for wanting a damn tripod lolz. we are blurry but deal with it people! it was hard just to get the tower and the two of us in the shot!

it was cold and rainy the night we sat out there watching the tower.. 

i think the european union stars look a bit silly, don't you? 

standing underneath the tower takes your breath away with how huge it is.

at the second tier (the tower has three levels).. windy.. cold.. but not as cold as the top tier that's for sure.. that white spot above david's head is the moon!

at the top tier.. i had severe vertigo.. crazy high.. crazy windy.. crazy cold.. crazy crowded but totally worth it!

the Chateau de Versailles 

was by far not my favorite place this time. it was nice to see it.. but it was the worst tourist location in Paris.. it was so packed i actually felt claustrophobic. the rooms were filled like cattle getting ready to be slaughtered.. on top of that, they added these horrible pieces of "art work" to each room.. totally ruining the atmosphere the palace is known for.. for example.. they had one room with Michael Jackson and his monkey, "bubbles" in the center of the room.. wtf?! david wanted me to take a picture of it but at the time i was hot.. bothered by all the people pushing and shoving me and the added level of no one wearing deodorant.. i was not in the mood.. now i wish i had, just to show how tacky it really was.. then in another room they had a blow up lobster pool toy hanging from the ceiling like a chandelier.. WTF!! so stupid.. it didn't end there.. Versailles is also known for the gardens with beautiful fountains.. they only had them running for 2hours.. so it was impossible to see it all.. bottom line.. i was very disappointed with Versailles this year.. its still a beautiful palace.. i just wished they would get rid of the weird and random art work in the palace rooms and for the price they charge you to visit the palace, they can AFFORD to have the fountains running longer than 2hours! i didn't bother taking any pictures of the front of the palace.. they were doing some renovation and placed a fake mural of what the palace looks like in front of it..

you can see the palace behind the fountain.. david came in blurry because i am an idiot and forgot to set the apeture correctly. live and learn

haha.. i was impatient with getting pictures of all the fountains.. david wanted me to get a rainbow in the water droplets.. and right before i took this shot he said, "the fountains aren't going anywhere".. two seconds later the fountain turned off (they only had them running for a few hours). david's memory isn't one of his strong abilities.. just as patience isn't one of mine!

La Defense Arc

was one of my favorite places to visit.. we make a quick visit on the day we left Paris.. it wasn't crowded and a lot of fun.. they have a history of the computer museum at the top.. along with some awesome art work.. and a great view of paris at the top of the arc.. 

i could have sworn i got the entire building in the shot.. i walked like a mile just to get it..  a few days ago i read in my photography book about a crop factor digital SLRs have.. what a rip off.. no one TELLS you these things.. another reason for me to hurry up and get a full frame DSLR :o) not anytime soon though.. but man, i wish i had known that before i purchased mine or i would have picked a different camera..

this computer seriously had like a 2mb harddrive.. look how HUGe the thing is? can you imagine.. only 2mb?

david showed his age when he said, "i remember having one just like this".

LOL!!! this is our CPU unit we own at home.. a few weeks before we left for europe i begged and pleaded with david to buy me a new laptop.. "what's wrong with our computer?", he asked.. "um it's like ten years old.. thats what." "but it still works" "yeah.. you can get on the internet and that's a bit stretching it".. it took a day or two but david finally relented and let me get a new laptop.. when i saw our computer in the vintage collection at the museum i rubbed it in his face.. "See I TOLD YOU we need a new computer!".. in honor of it though, i told him to pose proud of our CPU unit.. im thinking of trashing it when i get back.. its WAY too big. (i think i heard david yell NO00ooo just now in my head).. the thing hardly works with internet.. seriously! and we can make so much room for other things.. 

La Defense had some really  neat art exhibits.. this was the 3-D exhibit

this was the best art there.. you stare at a white dot in the center of the image then look at the white canvas and a 3-D image of the person (they used hollywood actors) would appear.. kinda like those art things that were popular back in the 90's? you stare at it and slowly go back and image would appear out of the mess? well sort of like that but different.. you could have one done of yourself by the artist for 60euros.. i wish we had the money to do it because it was by far the coolest thing i have seen yet. (in the art world)

the view of Paris from the top of La Defense.. you can see the Eiffel tower just right of david.. 

well, that's all the Paris pictures i am going to share.. i can't believe how much work it is just to share pictures.. i made my quota of 40pictures! next up.. Switzerland pictures..