Guys Singing on the Steps of the Sacre Coeur

For some reason, I kept forgetting to put up this video. At the end of my long day walking down the Boulevard de Clichy, I finally arrived at the Sacre Coeur. As I was climbing the stairs, I passed a couple of young guys singing on the steps to a large crowd of people. It was really a neat moment.

Here is the end of their rendition of Wonderwall:



So, this is it. That's everything I have, so this is the final post. Hope all of my 3-person readership enjoyed it.

The Last of the France Photos

The few random things from my phone. Triste.

(Almost) The Last of the France Photos

More at Pompidou and the Louvre here and, lastly, here.

View of Paris from the roof of Pompidou. About 5 seconds in, you can see the Sacre Coeur, and later, of course, the Eiffel Tower:



Back in that statue room, walking through it. Pay attention to the perspectives between the statues; they're awesome.



And then three opulent rooms in the Louvre:

Return to Paris

So, after returning to Paris, it appears my picture-taking got more sporadic, which is probably best for everyone. Anyway, here are pictures from our trip to the Musee Carnavalet, which is a museum dedicated to the Revolution; our night at the Opera Garnier to see Alcina; and our walking tour from the Place de la Concorde to the Opera Garnier, after which I and several friends headed out into Paris, ending up at the Tuilleries and then, briefly, at the Louvre. The photos are here and here. Video tour lies below:

Here are a couple from inside the Opera Garnier:





And moving from the Tuilleries to the Louvre:









And here is one final one inside the Louvre. This is the entryway to various galleries, and it's fucking awesome. An amazing room full of statues. I could stay here forever, I think, if I had people to fool around with.



All right, almost done. Just a couple more posts to go!

Biarritz (Part 2) - Wanderings and the Musee Asiatica

So, here is the rest of my wandering in Biarritz, which, you will find, eventually conducted me to the Musee Asiatica, whereat I took many, many pictures (a small fraction of which may be seen here and here).

And, in addition, here are some videos:

Here is a good deal of where I was walking in the previous tour, from the beach before the Casino to the Port des Pecheurs:



After taking that video, I turned around and walked into the Eglise St. Eugenie, a beautiful old church. Here is one of those annoying 360s to give you an idea of the environs:



And then here is a cool but shaky video of me walking up to the altar. It was fucking awesome because I was completely alone in this beautiful old church.



I believe it was later that day that I headed out to the beach. By that point, it was starting to get somewhat stormy, though it didn't rain. Nevertheless, the waves rolling in off the ocean were really awesome, especially from afar.



After that, I walked down to the beach in front of the casino and just stood there, watching the waves come in and running back when they leapt up to get me:



A day or more later, I headed to the Musee Asiatica. As you can see, I took a lot of pictures. I thought I also took a lot of videos here, but it turns out, I only took three, and of these, I only posted one, as they were pretty much all of things I took pictures of and were very long tours of their detail. Here is the briefest, of that awesome carved ivory tusk:



And that's it for now! I'll be finishing up Biarritz soon, and then, not long after, Paris. Let me know if anyone should feel he wants to see the rest of the Musee Asiatica videos.

Biarritz (Part 1) - Tour of the Beaches

Start your tour at the lower black dot. This is the direction of my hotel, though it is further south. Heading up the Rue Gambetta, you will eventually reach the first blue dot, which is where I had dinner my first night there. Continuing to the next blue dot, you will be at the location of this video of the beach and the properties along it:



At about 51 seconds in, you can see the Biarritz casino, and starting at 1:25 the fancy hotel that was a chateau or something.

At the third dot, you're at the main entrance to the beach, which is where many of the facebook photos were taken. Finally, at the forth dot, you will be exploring a little cove created by the space under a large rock formation. A view from within:



Obviously, it starts out pointing in the direction of the Porte des Pecheurs and then turns back toward the main beach. There is also a second video, from on top of the rocks, of the peaches and the neighboring port:



Moving along, you will eventually reach the fifth dot at the far side of the Porte des Pecheurs ("Port of [the] Fishermen"), a beautiful port where fishermen still dock and where some of them still reside in ramshackle hillside houses, some of which have, by now, been turned into restaurants and businesses, though. To give you a better idea, here is a video:



Further still, you will reach the sixth blue dot, which is atop a large hill or cliff-face over-looking the ocean. There are many observation platforms here, and it's absolutely gorgeous, and kind of feels like the end of the world. I could almost imagine sailors looking out from here and wondering if there was anything more out there, but perhaps that is revisionist of me. I even lay in a little patch of grass on a hillside here and just contemplated life (and wished my friends were here to see all this with me). Anyway, this is a video of me climbing to the top and then surveying the ocean:



All right, continue along to the seventh and final dot, which is a leveled rock at the end of a long pier called the Rocher de la Vierge ("Rock of the Virgin"). As thought the last thing weren't end-of-the-world-y enough, this goes even further, as the video will evidence. Also be sure to note the statue of the Virgin Mary that gives the outcropping its name.



All right, from here, go back inland and explore at your leisure. I headed to the Musee de la Mer ("Sea Museum," or, basically, an aquarium), though it was unfortunately closed (starting that very day!), so I didn't get to go in. That's where I ended the tour with the red dot, though feel free to explore the city at your leisure. The streets down here are a little less touristy and more old-city, and there are plenty of delicious restaurants and nice little shops. Myself, I got a crepe and struck up a conversation with the nice crepe lady, but you are free to do as you wish. Enjoy!

Biarritz (Part 1) - Tour of the Town

In conjuncture with my Biarritz pictures (part 1) here, here, and here, here is a video tour of the town (a tour of the beaches will soon follow).

Anyway, first, you have to get to Biarritz from Paris. You will do this by taking the TGV (Train de Grande Vitesse, or Train of Big Fastness). Here is a view out the window. You will see it travels at a very big fastness indeed:



Anyway, once you get there, you will see the city. This is a view of the park near the center of the city.



And this is just a view of what the streets look like:



That's it for now; when I get the rest of the beach videos uploaded (yes, there are many, many beach videos), I shall compose a recreation of my beach tour for you.