abc wednesday —G is for "grand opening"

Finally!  Ladurée (Parisian macaron mecca) opened a store here.
The opening kept getting delayed, but finally yesterday . . .
the windows were dressed and the folks were lined up in anticipation.
The woman next to me in line bought almost $90 worth of these treats,
among them a few gorgeous, pink 'pétale de rose'.  My choice: one flavor only—
caramel au fleur de sel.  The best (imho), and worth every single penny and calorie!
[To see more abc wednesday, go here.]

Traveling Tuesdays

Not traveling too far this week—just to the end of 
Long Island (about 100 miles east of NYC).
Unfortunately, my long weekend here was
preempted by Hurricane Irene.  We've had an
interesting time this past year: a blizzard, two
tornados (at once, and they both came down
my block!), and lately, in less than a week 
an earthquake and a hurricane. Yikes!

[To see more Tuesday travels, visit  Sandi's blog.]

Mellow Yellow Macro

Today, I'm just trying to kill two memes with one photo.  :~}


[To see more Mellow Yellow, go here, and
to see more macro, go here.]

Shadow Shot Sunday

This was the beach at Montauk this
past week. The bird won't be casting
any shadows today, while Hurricane
Irene passes directly over this beach.
[To see more shadows, go here.]

Photo Hunt—"symbolic"

In Florence, this Agnus Dei symbol flies high
above the Orsanmichele, once a grain market,
then a church, and now also a museum.

[To see more symbols, visit tnchick's meme.]

Skywatch Friday

We moved our offices last week.  I have a lot less space—but
the view's not half bad!  We're looking east here, across
50th Street and on to Queens (with a peekaboo view of the
Queensboro/59th Street/Ed Koch (pick one; they all apply) Bridge.
[You can see more Skywatch here.]

Thursday Challenge — "blue"

I've featured an iceberg photo taken by my daughter
Kate on her recent trip up above the Arctic Circle.
(See here.)  So how about a beautiful (blue) closeup?
[To see more blue things, visit the Thursday Photo Hunt.]

And here's the photographer—with a
few new (and sound-asleep) friends.
Welcome to high summer in the
Land of the Midnight Sun!

abc wednesday —F is for "flags"

I'm sure you recognize this even if you've never been here.
These are just a few of the flags of the U.N. member
nations.  There are 193 of them lined up in (English)
alphabetical order in front of the headquarters in NYC.
[To see more of ABC Wednesday, go here.]

Traveling Tuesdays

My daughter Kate just spent a week up above the
Arctic Circle—lucky girl!  One day, they went out in a
Zodiac and chopped off a piece of this iceberg.

Here it is.  (And then they broke it up
and used it to chill cocktails—skol!)
[To see more travels, go here.]

Paris at Night 3

I went to this restaurant on the Ile Saint Louis once—
against my better judgement because it's pretty touristy,
 the food is more for gourmands than gourmets
(and I'm neither), and they pack the patrons in cheek by jowl.
But in fact I have a wonderful memory of the place
because we made fast friends with our table mates,
enjoyed everything they piled on our plate, drank pitcher
after pitcher of red wine, and finally stumbled out
of there about 5 hours later, well after midnight.
[And it's Mellow Yellow Monday. To see more, go here.]

Shadow Shot Sunday

Taking an early-evening stroll
through Washington Square Park.
[To see more shadows, go here.]

An unpretentious little white

Went to a wine-tasting in Soho, where they also served de-lish 
made-right-in-front-of-you Italian food with each wine.  I actually 
learned something (and yet still buy the stuff in the box—go figure).
[If you want to see more "drinks," or play along, visit tnchick's meme.] 

Skywatch Friday

I'm sure most people don't think of NYC
as "big sky" country—but you just
have to find the right vantage point.
[This one's for Klaus Peter, the owner 
of the wonderful Skywatch Friday meme, who
passed away recently. See more skies here.]

Thursday Challenge — "friends"

I just love this picture, and had to "borrow" it
from my daughter Lila (the long-suffering one
in yesterday's post).  These two put-together
Parisiennes of a certain age were strolling on
a Saturday afternoon in the Jardin des Plantes.
[To see more "friends," visit the Thursday Challenge.]

abc wednesday —E is for "escargot"

When in Paris, you can't just eat falafel (see yesterday's post), 

so my daughters treated me to a birthday dinner at Brasserie Balzar 

(I've been eating here since the late '60s—the service has slipped
          but the food is still good) and we shared this plate of snails. 

Put enough butter and garlic on almost anything, and . . . yum!

[To see more of the letter "E," visit ABC Wednesday.]

And some of us had fun annoying our big sister 
with the traditional snail-eating implements.

Traveling Tuesdays

Last time I was in Paris, we stayed in an apartment
oh so conveniently located just a few doors
up the street from this place. They've been around
for awhile and now have some competition—but
this is still the best falafel I've ever had—anywhere.
[To join in more travels, visit Sandi's blog.]

Mother Nature rocks!

Don't you love the way this moth (or is it a
fuzzy butterfly? I don't know) is equipped
with a built-in "straw"—perfect for drinking
its meals from the depths of these blooms? 
[To see more Macro Monday pics, go  here,
And to see more Mellow Yellow, go here.]

Sunday Bridges

I found this guy hanging around the Brooklyn Bridge.
  (I'm sorry—but can you honestly say you 
wouldn't have said the same thing?)
[See more Sunday Bridges here, chez Louis la Vache.]

Photo Hunt—"one"

I was in the church of Santa Maria in Trastevere, in Rome,
and I saw this child's mother give him a coin and heard
her tell him he could light precisely one candle.
Well, i ragazzi saranno i ragazzi.  Mom moved away,
and the kid lit his one candle, then proceeded
to add about 10 more! (She didn't scold him, btw.)

[To see more "ones" visit tnchick's meme.]

Skywatch Friday

The idea of the blue hour (or l'heure bleu)
came up recently in a meme I link to
from my other blog.  Now I find
myself looking for it, and one night
as I crossed the Brooklyn Bridge a bit
later than usual—I found it!
[To see more Skywatch, go here.]

Thursday Challenge — "empty"

Parisians must like to sleep in on Saturday morning.
We're looking up the rue St. Etienne du Mont and as
you can see from the clock in the bell tower,
it's after 9. Hey, I'd been up for 3 hours already!
(Granted, this is not a well=traveled street, but
really, I had the Latin Quarter all to myself.)
[To see more of the Thursday Photo Challenge, go here.]

abc wednesday —D is for "David"

I took this picture of my brother while we were
traveling together in Italy a couple of years ago.
(It's unusual because he's actually standing still.)
In April David lost his heroic five-year battle with
stage-4 cancer—with grace, dignity, and humor,
 and surrounded by family and friends. I really miss him.
[To see lots more "D" posts, go here.]

Traveling Tuesdays

This is Paris's Notre Dame Cathedral very early
in the morning, before the tourists showed up.
I guess you might say I'm a tourist too, but I'd
much rather be considered a visitor—it's
a fine distinction perhaps, but an important one.
Anyone who loves to travel knows exactly what I mean!
[To see more from Traveling Tuesdays (or to join in), go here.]






 

One with sauerkraut, please

I wouldn't think of going to Coney Island
without stopping here for a "Nathan's famous."
(In fact, I might make the trip expressly
for one of their delicious dogs.)
[To see more Mellow Yellow, go here.]

Shadow Shot Sunday

They have some pretty nice shadows at
the Metropolitan Museum of Art here
in NYC—don't you think?
[To see more shadows, go here.]

Photo Hunt—"painted"

These guys were out early on the bridge, refreshing
the line that divides the walkers from the bikers.
Unfortunately, the tourists don't always recognize
this division, and tend to wander into the bike lane.
I can't even tell you how many people I've
pulled out of the way of enraged cyclists—
hey, they're just trying to get home!
[To see more, visit tnchick's meme.]

Skywatch Friday

Okay, I know I've featured more or less this
vista before—but lower Manhattan from the
Brooklyn Promenade is a world-class view!
[To see more Skywatch, go here.]

Thursday Challenge — "garden"

This is La Pietra, NYU's property in Florence.
If I were going to study abroad, this is where
I'd want to do it—and my daughter Lila did.
(I took this pre-digital when I visited her there.)
It was truly the best of both worlds: housing was in
a 14th-century villa (but with modern plumbing),
and she could step out of this Renaissance garden setting 
and take a short bus ride or walk to the center of town.
Apparently, 12 years later, I'm still envious!
[To see more from the Thursday Photo Challenge, go here.]

abc wednesday —C is for "coastline"

This is the coastline of treeless Greenland
(captured by my daughter Katie).  I've never seen
the ocean look like this anywhere—have you?
[To see more of the letter C, go here.]

Traveling Tuesdays

I showed you a Roman street light a couple of days ago,
but my all-time faves are the lights of Venice—and
whose brilliant idea was it to make them pink?
[To see more travels, visit Sandi's blog.]