April cards...

...are thin on the ground. Partly due to being away, partly due to lack of time in general.

I made the first one as a thank-you for the woman we rented our apartment in Paris from, hence "Merci" rather than "thank you" or any other sentiment.

Paris, Day 2 Part 1

I should really have ended off my previous post with this photo of Notre Dame by night, just to keep things chronological for my own memory!

The next morning we went to BHV, where we always go round the hobby and leisure department, and most of the kitchen and cookware department too. An exhibition I'd hoped to go to wasn't on any more, and since we were still tired from travelling we just went back to the apartment after a morning shopping, buying something for lunch along the way.

Tour St. Jacques, again

BHV, now rebranded with Marais in its title

In the afternoon we went to the Eiffel Tower. Line 14 (from our nearest station) took us straight to Bir Hakeim station, and then we went into the Maison de la culture du Japon; we both love the gift shop there with its beautiful Japanese ceramics and origami papers, and there's almost always some exhibition worth seeing. This time it was a small exhibition of paintings based on the theme of remembered childhood.

Bir-Hakeim metro station

Just like the Champs Elysées and the Tuileries, it was thronging at the Eiffel Tower. I don't recall that it used to be open so late (11, midnight in the summer) - maybe it's to cater to the increased number of tourists. I'm pretty sure we've been there late in the evening before and it's been closed. Anyway, we didn't want to go up, just to enjoy the area. At the moment they are working on adapting the public space on the first level, added a clear floor. Not for me!!! I hope they still keep the winter skating rink - C loved it the time he was able to skate up there.

poster showing artist's impression of the work

The starlings were in starling heaven having discovered a wonderful self-service canteen. Even standing on tippy-toes it was still worth it.

Paris - day 1

One of C's "must-do" things on any visit to Paris is walk down the Champs Elysées from the Arc de Triomphe right down to the Louvre. Apparently walking up (and it is uphill) doesn't count!
So, after arriving at our apartment and leaving our bags, it was great to discover that one of the two Metro lines served by our local station was Line 14 which has the Etoile as one terminus.
So we walked - through the throngs - down the Champs Elysées. Too hot a day to go into the Citroen building, we saved that for another day! We stopped for icecream in the Tuileries, and then crossed the river and walked up the rue de Seine to the Jardins de Luxembourg. There we stopped again and enjoyed the sun  (me) and tennis (C) - it was even time to get some lotion out. In the evening we went into the centre for dinner, so the last photo is an evening photo of the Tour St. Jacques, which was still swathed in scaffolding for cleaning the last time we were there.

Arc de Triomphe

Looking down the Champs Elysées

Citroen building

Fountain on the Place de la Concorde, detail

Looking up the Champs Elysées from the Tuileries

Tuileries

Tuileries

La Pyramide du Louvre

Rue de Seine

L'Institut de France, cupola

Rue de Seine

Gérard Mulot, rue de Seine

Jardins de Luxembourg

Tour St. Jacques

Easter Trip

Here we are, it's the 26th of April and this is the first post I've managed to make this month.
When I would have had time over Easter - we were away, and here's a quick taster of our trip to Paris.
I really will try to edit and share some more photos in a reasonably timely fashion. With a holiday weekend here next weekend, I'm hoping to have a little more free time. But the downside (if you can call it that!) to the longer brighter days is that there's a larger portion of the day when there's too much light on my computer monitor to allow for any editing!

Arc de Triomphe,  Eiffel Tower, Louvre and the Seine, Louvre and the Pyramid, Notre Dame by night - and while we did sample quite  bit of patisserie here and there, this was a cake for a party and too big for just the two of us. But isn't it beautiful!!

March Cards

March may have been a busy stressful month, but I seem to have ended up with quite a lot of cards I really like, thanks to the March VSN challenge on Splitcoast, and a wonderful rain-themed Inspiration challenge.

I really enjoyed making the shadow box - Happy Birthday, Lorraine.


And just for fun!! It's such a shame I only have one young nephew - the others are teens now, and much harder to make cards for.

Spring Birds

It's been mostly grey here, and we've had a lot of rain so the back windows need cleaning again.
But such as they are, we've been having some extra visitors now that spring is here.

A long-tailed tit perched in the hedge.
Chaffinch...
Redpoll
Siskin

We've also had a sparrowhawk. Lovely to see,  but a bit distressing  when he snacked on one of the robins.
We still have two who seem to be a pair, I'm happy to say.