April Cherry Blossoms
Every year I say I’m going to make it down to see the DC Cherry Blossom Festival and then something comes up with work and I miss it. This year, I finally made it. Saturday was overcast and rainy, so my friend Mia and I went shopping at Tysons II and lusted over Prada, Dior [...]
Venetian Architecture
For the last week, I’ve been wading through my pictures from my trip to Venice last October. I only processed a small portion when I came back before I got distracted by other projects. Below is a sampling of some of my favorite photos of the buildings and statues of Venice. The first is a [...]
Do You Have A Terror Score?
Do you often get pulled aside at airports for extra searches? If so, it may be because your Terror Score is higher than average. What? You say you didn’t know that everyone who travels in and out of the US through certain modes of transportation or certain entry or exit points (like border crossings) gets [...]
Windmills, Vineyards and French Tragedy
I spent my last afternoon in Paris, wandering the winding, hilly cobblestone streets of Montmartre. I signed-up for a 2 hour walking tour through Classic Walks Paris. My guide for the afternoon, Connie, dubbed it the “Stair Master Tour” due the multiple trips up, down around the hill crowned by the Sacre Coeur Cathedral. It [...]
Homeward Bound
I’m going to keep this post brief tonight since I fly home tomorrow. I’m mostly packed and I get on a plane early tomorrow afternoon, arriving home just 2 hours after I leave by virtue of time zone magic. I spent my last afternoon in Paris with a walking tour of the Montmartre district, or [...]
La Tour Eiffel
My time here in Paris is winding down now. It’s hard to believe I’ve been here almost two weeks now. I’ve come to feel very at home here. It’s such an easy city to navigate and despite the stereotypes, Parisians are very friendly. The great thing about Parisians is that if they’re nice to you, [...]
Braving the French Patisserie Class
Well, I’m happy to report that no international incidents were caused today (at least not by me). I survived my French cooking class and had a blast (even though I only understood about half the French). I started by treating myself lunch at Lênotreand it was well worth it. Finally, it was time to go [...]
Nymphéas and steps, oh my!
This morning I wandered out into the outer arrondisements to visit the Musée Marmottan, a museum devoted primarily to Claude Monet. I’d been on the fence about going, because it’s way out of the way and kind of a pain to get to, but this morning I finally dug out my Métro map and figured [...]
French Gastronomie
Food is at the center of French Culture–from fine wine to chocolate to patisserie and baguettes, they take great pleasure in their consumption. Dinner (or even lunch) can turn in to an event with multiple courses that begins with an entrée (in France this is the first course or appetizer), plat (the main course), a [...]
R.I.P
All Saint’s Day seemed like an appropriate day to pay a visit to the Père Lachaise Cemetery. The Père Lachaise Cemetery is the largest cemetery in Paris and the final resting place of some of it’s most famous citizens including Oscar Wilde, Gertrude Stein, Molière, Jim Morrison, Frédéric Chopin, and Héloïse and Peter Abélard. Napoleon [...]
Chocolate, Chocolate and Still More Chocolate
Today was the day I finally braved the Paris subway system. I’ve spent my first few days walking as far as my feet would carry me; but now, I’ve mostly run out of places that are quickly accessible by foot. I’d been reluctant to descend into its depths because of all the warnings I had [...]
From the Cluny to the Luxembourg Gardens
I’ve always hated getting wet. So, needless to say, when I woke up this morning to a wet, gloomy Paris, I promptly rolled over and went back to sleep on the grounds that I was still fighting off jet lag. Around 11:30, I finally mustered up the energy to peer underneath the blinds of the [...]
Chartres
The Notre Dame Cathedral in Chartres holds a unique place among Gothic Cathedrals–it only took 66 years to build compared the hundreds of years that it took to build similar cathedrals like Notre Dame in Paris. As a result, historians say it is the purest example of Gothic architecture in Europe. It has been repeated [...]
Bonjour Paris!
When I was 13, I began taking French and I plastered a large picture of the Eiffel Tower on my bedroom wall. For me it was a magical sight. Finally, I’ve arrived in Paris and I’m happy to say that it’s just as magical at 35 as I thought it would be at 13. I’ve [...]
Kim Day is a freelance photographer and travel writer located in the Philadelphia suburbs.