Month: July 2013

Paris in July – Paris Versus New York

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(courtesy of Birdbath)

Paris Versus New York: A Tally of Two CitiesParis Versus New York by Vahram Muratyan. Finished 7-1-13, rating 5/5, travel, pub. 2012

Love, love, love!  I have loved New York since the first weekend trip Jason and I took there to visit The Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1997.  After many trips and a 5 month stay in 2000 I felt like I was a decent tour guide to out of town guests.  I loved the city, but Jason and I both agreed that it would only be doable long term if you could afford to get out of the city on weekends.  We only spent five days in Paris so any real comparison between the two would be superficial, but it is safe to say that both cities are favorites of ours.  I probably prefer New York and Jason, Paris.

This book comes from a blog by graphic artist Muratyan and features a contrast between the two cities with pictures and one line captions.  I thought this was a fun 15 minutes and  I’ve found myself flipping through again and again in the past few days.  I think there are some stereotypes in his 100+ comparisons, but some stereotypes fit the bill.  I think this is a fun gift for someone who loves both cities.  It’s also a great book to look through at the library or bookstore since it doesn’t take long.  I checked this copy out of the library and I’m a little sad to have to return it.  Totally fun, but not a serious expose of either city.

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France 271I found the Pompidou Museum interesting, but some of the exhibits disturbing.   We spent quite a bit of time here with our friends and it was a mix of very cool and very gross.

Eiffel Tower Quiz – guessing closed

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(courtesy of Bookbath)

France 139She looks majestic even on a gloomy day, doesn’t she?  Let’s see if you can guess the titles of these books with this beauty on their covers.  This will begin a new round of quizzes (details here) open to everyone!

For Paris in July I will also be giving away a few things, so if you participate you’ll also be entered in my giveaway at the end of the month!

Just leave your guesses (you only need to guess one to be entered for the prize) in the comment section.  I will periodically hide the answers so you can’t copy off your fellow bloggers 😉  You have until Sunday night.

eiffel11.Paris by Rutherford  2.Murder on the Eiffel Tower by Izner  3.Madeline by Bemelmans  4.Three Weeks in Paris by Bradford  5.The Paris Enigma by DeSantis  6.Paris Versus New York by Muratyan  7.We’ll Always Have Paris by Bradbury  8.Paris My Sweet by Thomas  9.Paris in Love by James  10.The Last Time I Saw Paris

eiffel2

Paris in July starts today

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(courtesy of Bookbath)

I’ve decided to participate for the first time this year.  I plan on taking the month to show you pictures from our France trip three years ago, read a few books set in Paris that I have sitting on my shelves, watch a few French movies, and come up with some quizzes to test your France knowledge.  Oh, yes, and I have a few giveaways of things French.  Whew.  That seems like a lot doesn’t it?  I think it’s going to be a fun and I can’t wait to see what Tamara at Thyme for Tea and Karen at Bookbath have planned.

Jason and I had good friends who moved back to France in 2008.  We were sad to see them go and promised to visit in two years, so at the beginning of 2010 we started planning our trip, plane tickets and hotels.  And then a funny thing happened, at the end of February I found out I was pregnant!  We were going in April so I would be in my second trimester, but after a miscarriage a few years earlier and my advanced age (38 :)) there was still a decision to be made, reservations or not.  Thank goodness we decided to make the trip.  Yes, I had morning sickness every day, but who knows when we will be able to take another trip like this one.

We were there ten days and stayed 5 days with our friends in Lyon and 5 days in Paris.  It’s a beautiful country and Jason and I both fell in love with Paris.  I have to think that if we are able to go again it will only be better since I will be able to drink the wine and eat all of the cheese!  The pregnancy did slow us down, I made frequent stops to rest and even though we walked everywhere, I did it at a very leisurely pace.

I’m going to post a favorite photo everyday.  Hope you enjoy France 🙂

France 136We had already made our plans for Paris, but our friend recommended Pere Lachaise cemetery so we walked over after our train arrived in the city and I fell in love.  We only had an hour, but I could have easily spent a whole day admiring the chaos and the history there.  This is the metal door of an above ground burial house.  Can you see inside?  This cemetery had discoveries like this everywhere, much like the city of Paris.