Paris Words

As already mentioned I love Paris, for me it is just a wonderful city full of art, history, love and culture. During the short time Aimee and I spent in Paris we saw lots and I know what I want to see the next time I go!

If I spent only my time photographing just words around this city I would still be there so here are just 15 photos of different things. Soon I am off back to Scotland to visit my parents, my sister and her family, and part of that is a weekend in Edinburgh with my lovely sister.

Hope you are all having finally some nice spring weather!

Photo of the Week - Heart of the Matter

Photo of the Week comes to you from lovely Paris, wondering around on Saturday at the Place des Vosges. This beautiful square has much to offer a huge playground in the middle, lots of benches for people watching, the house/ museum of Victor Hugo (which we visited) and plenty of fancy shops.

In one of the many art galleries and shops in the square, we saw this picture, I guess heart pictures stand out for some people and this one was very colourful. I liked it a lot, no idea who did it though.

Z is for Zug

Finally I reached the last letter in the alphabet series, after thinking through what to chose decided to go with the Swiss city of Zug. Around 30 mins from Zurich, it is a lovely place to visit and lots to see and do, such as the castle. Then you can go up the Zugerberg which gives you lovely views of the surrounding mountains and lake, or you can take a boat trip which I have not done yet.

Alessio and I went in February for the afternoon and thankfully the sun was shining, we found a  playground for him to play in. The old town is full of lovely buildings with colourful designs and paintings, and some interesting shop signs which I did a post on before.

Nan Lian Gardens and Chi Lin Nunnery

We travelled to Kowloon and to the area of Diamond Hill to visit the tranquil and beautiful Nan Lian Gardens and Chi Lin Nunnery.

First we visited the gardens, it is very near to the metro station and surrounded by high rise buildings but the place is still very quiet and serene. It is built in the Tang dynasty style and has different buildings, a pavilion, a lovely bright orange bridge, ponds, lots of plants and a rockery, it covers 3.5 hectares. There is a vegetarian restaurant if you feel hungry and a gift shop which had lots of lovely stuff.

Then we went to the Chi Lin Nunnery which is interconnected to the gardens, this is also from the Tang dynasty. It is large temple complex featuring different halls and statues, and has the most beautiful lotus pond I have ever seen. It was very pleasant just to sit and take in all the surrounding details of the plants and buildings.

After all the hustle and bustle of Hong Kong streets it was great to come here and have a bit of a quiet time.

Enjoy the weekend!

Eiffel Tower

Visiting the Eiffel Tower is a must as far as I am concerned when in Paris, it is my favorite monument. Every time I visit Paris, this was the 4th time I always go and see it, I never tire of seeing this lovely site. This time around I got to see it at night, which may be the first time for me! It was a very cold evening and I would have liked to hung around more but really it was freezing cold. Once every hour is sparkled amazing blue lights.

The Eiffel Tower is 320m high and is the tallest structure in Paris, it was erected in 1889 for the
World Fair and is named after the french engineer, Gustave Eiffel. There is a lift which takes you up to the highest level, but if you feeling fit you can walk up to the second level, around 660 steps.

It was the tallest structure in the world when it was completed in 1889, then the Chrsyler Building got that title.

Hong Kong Life Part 1

next to a shopping mall

on the peak

Bank of China Tower on the right

The Peninsula Hotel

Queen Victoria Statue

In Lan Kwai Fong area

I decided to do a mix of photos of our trip to Hong Kong, starting from our first evening, which was in Causeway Bay, it is mainly a shopping area. It was always busy and seeing lots and lots of people still at 11pm was something we did not get used too. Also there are SO many shopping malls everywhere in Hong Kong, I did not want to do any shopping but towards the end of the trip I felt like I should be buying lots of things.

There are many interesting buildings to look at from the financial area like the Bank of China tower, to apartments buildings (photo 3), hotels to temples, I found them all interesting to see.

One of the highlights was visiting the all the different kinds of markets, Temple Night Market starts around 6pm, ladies markets is during the day. Then there was the jade market, goldfish market, bird market and flower market they are all in Kowloon.

Lan Kwai Fong is where you can have a wild night out lots of bars, restaurant and clubs. We stopped by the Hard Rock Cafe for some food and heard a live band too. Another evening we came here for a some drinks and saw Captain America hanging out.

Photo of the Week - Scotland in Paris!

Last weekend I visited Paris with my friend Aimee for a long weekend, this was my 4th time in this wonderful city and it never bores me to go back again and again.

I managed to see some sights that were completely new for me and visit some old favorites, one of the new sights was all the padlocks on the Pont des Arts. Apparently the story goes a bit like this a couple writes their name on a padlock, locks it on the bridge and throws away the key.

It seems that it may be not good for the bridges to have all that extra weight and sometimes the lock are taken off. We crossed the bridge and stopped to take a photo of the river Seine and lo and behold as I looked down there was a lock with the words "Forever in Paris, Scotland" I am being totally honest with this story, and thought of all the spots to stop on the bridge I stopped here.

Anyway there will be so more post about lovely Paris to come and still some on Hong Kong!