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2017/12/30 Paris' Cluny Museum and remains of Roman Baths

π 2017-12-30 01:01 in Museums, Paris

So, Cluny aka the medieval museum, has quite a good collection of medieval artifacts, including exquisite books. However, it's known specifically for the "dame á la licorne" and other beautiful tapestries. We had done a quick tour in the past, but it was worth going back for a better look, and a special guided visit to the roman baths in that same building.

just like the Bayeux Tapestry, they have a long colorful tapestry telling a full story

The museum's building has a colorful history, but its older parts go all the way back to much bigger roman baths that were 3 times bigger than the footprint that is left, as well as an old castle/hotel that was build next to what was left, re-using some of the walls. However, underground, you can still see what is left of the baths, and while it doesn't rival Bath, UK, or Baden Baden, Germany, it's still interesting to see that in the middle of Paris:

some bits were clearly built later

Cool little visit.

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2017/12/29 Opera Bastille Backstage

π 2017-12-29 01:01 in Museums, Paris

Paris has 2 Opéras. The newer one, bastille, doesn't look as fancy from the outside, but has a one of a kind stage moving system that allows them to have multiple stages ready and they can be moved from center stage to underground for building or rehearsals. This allows them to play different operas on different nights.

While it may seem overkill (no other theatre in the world has this capability to that scale, this theatre can almost host a couple of 747s hidden underground), it was super cool to see this on their backstage tour. Most of the pictures were underground up to 22m (many stories) below ground level:

The tour finally ended up in the main stage that was going to be used that evening after our tour:

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2017/12/28 Paris' Citée de l'Architecture et du Patrimoine

π 2017-12-28 01:01 in Museums, Paris

La citée de l'architecture et du patrimoine is an interesting museum just across fom the eiffel tower. They have one floor dedicated to architecture and modern building design, while the other one has a good collection of replicas of famous buildings for study and backup.

A few pictures:

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2017/12/28 Les Invalides Monuments and Museums in Paris

π 2017-12-28 01:01 in Museums, Paris

Les Invalides is actually a museum complex, including a church and tombs for Napoleon and related people. Last time I went with Jennifer, we didn't have a lot of time, and we breezed through it quickly. This time, we spent almost 5h and had to hurry a little bit at the end.

inflatable decoy tank, awesome

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2017/12/28 Quai Branli Museum in Paris

π 2017-12-28 01:01 in Museums, Paris

The Quai Branly Museum collects first nations art from around the world, and it's a pretty thorough collection that is worth multiple hours, although I'll be honest that I overdozed a bit after a while, probably because I was getting tired...

A few pictures:

nice lighting outside the building

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2017/12/28 Paris Rodin Museum

π 2017-12-28 01:01 in Museums, Paris

The Rodin Museum is not huge, but once you add the tour of the gardens with statues, it's worth a good 1.5 to 2h, especially with the movies that show how the bronze statues are made.

Turns out Rodin actually made the plaster models and others went through the complicated process of making the bronze statues:

A few pictures:

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2017/12/27 A few pictures from Paris

π 2017-12-27 01:01 in France, Ntrips, Paris, Trips

Every year, I try to go see a few things in Paris, and we didn't run out of museums yet: Paris Rodin Museum Quai Branli Museum in Paris Citée de l'Architecture et du Patrimoine Opera Bastille Backstage Cluny Museum and remains of Roman Baths

Otherwise, I also have a few pictures of Paris proper:

the street that used to be for cars to get out of Paris more quickly is now pedestrian. Not everyone loves this...

the worst part is how the effeil tower is now behind airport gates and bad looking temporary roof covers as gates :(

Another day, close to Opéra Bastille

don't get conned, that's a different church, I don't like lines :)

After arriving at Les Halles we went to see the small Xmas market, given that the big one at Champs Elysées was cancelled this year due to suckage of the new Paris mayor:

After too long, Les Halles was finally re-opened:

Nearby St Sulpice Church:

Quick stop at Google and the grand magasins and their displays:

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2017/12/24 Xmas with my Dad

π 2017-12-24 01:01 in Family

We started with Xmas Eve:

the Chapon was refusing to have its head come off, so it took a powertool :)

Random other picts:

For Xmas eve, we went to a seafood restaurant:

Then came New Year:

the famous saucisson richeulieu

And we ended the last day with a gallette des rois, and Jennifer won :)

2017/12/16 Great December Drive

π 2017-12-16 01:01 in Cars, Ncars

Great weather, good temperature, good roads, great cars. Thanks all.

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2017/12/12 Half a day in Cabo San Lucas, Los Cabos

π 2017-12-12 01:01 in Ntrips, Trips

After arriving back in San Jose from our dive trip, we booked a transport to go to Los Cabos, check out the arch, climb Solmar, and walk around town a bit before we had to head to the airport for our 14:10 flight.

We left San Jose at 07:00 sharp and drove to Cabo San Lucas to get an early boat trip to the arch:

We arrived at the pier just before 08:00 when everything was still kind of dead, but thankfully Arturo found us one boat that was able to give us a private ride just before everyone else started doing the same and totally crowding the area later, afer we had left:

this beach connects the gulf of mexico to the pacific ocean

you can also swim to the pacific ocean through this hole, but it's not recommended :)

he famous arch, it's not actually that big

a colony of sea lions was happy fighting over a piece of rock :)

the losing sea lions got thrown back in the water

needle inside the arch

After the boat ride, we went to hike up Solmar. A bit rocky and uncertain trail, but nice views from the top:

yes, well done :)

We then walked back through town before catching our ride back to the airport for our flight:

In the end, it was only half a day, but it felt enough :)

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2017/12/04 Diving around Socorro Islands on Valentina

π 2017-12-04 01:01 in Diving

All the pictures below are geotagged, so you can click on them to see where they were taken

Arturo, Regis, Jennifer and I went to San Jose, Mexico, the southmost tip of Baja, California, to board a 9 day liveaboard (which really only has 6 days of diving due to the time lost in travel), to Socorro Islands, Mexico's Cocos Island. Socorro Islands just became a national park where fishing is totally prohibited, and likely better enforced than in Cocos.
There were 2 boats that could have gotten us there for 9 days (they advertise 10 but it's really 9): Solmar V and Valentina. We ended up picking up Valentina as it was more reasonably priced and more inclusive. I think the boat and cabins were also a bit larger (although I'm not positive on that).

We arrived the day before to visit San Jose and try some ATV'ing, and the next day, we took a long day tour to LaPaz to go snorkel with whale sharks, and finally got onto our diving boat that evening:

This trip was about diving. Just like Cocos, it's a long way there, over 24H each way, so we had time to read, sort pictures, and pass the time in other ways :) The folks on the boat were all great, so it made the trip much better.
The diving was spectacular, especially the first 3 days (out of 6, with a total of 22 dives): Hammerhead sharks, Manta Rays (more than I remember), many friendly and curious dolphins, and then 3 different whale sharks! We also got lucky that the water was much warmer than planned (26 to 29C, mostly 27-28, when it was supposed to be in the 22-26C range).

Ok, I think I must start with Whale Sharks, 3 different ones on 4 different dives. We were so lucky...

even small whale sharks were big

I found a few octopii, although only 3 of them:

Got lucky to find a small octopus that continued hunting after I found it:

We saw some hammerheads:

Plenty of other sharks:

Plenty of sharks at Roca Partida:

Plenty of friendly dolphins:

Look at how many dolphins came to see us:

One site had dolphins that actually came to us and wanted to be pet. We tried to tell them that maybe wasn't maybe legal, but they didn't care, and kept saying "pet me, pet me please", we had to pretend to pet them to appease them :)

So many lobsters, too bad we couldn't help cull them :)

So many manta rays:

Mantas love bubbles

Lots of different Manta Rays at one site:

While at Punta Tosca, a ray followed us during almost our entire dive:

Also mobula rays:

And electric rays we hadn't seen anywhere else:

Plus other rays:

Other highlights:

fun to see those swmimming in pairs

Boat pictures:

We picked up a few tired birds on the way:

Sunrise/Sunset:

Other pictures from the boat:

navy base on Socorro Island

It was a middle class liveaboard with reasonable pricing, so it was a good deal in the end. The last days of diving were not as good due to the weather changing, but we had seen so many awesome things in the first days, that it didn't really matter.
It took another 30H or so to get back to San Jose, and the next morning we left soon after sunrise for a private transport to Cabo San Lucas before having to take our flight in the afternoon:

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2017/12/03 Snorkeling with whale sharks in La Paz, Mexico

π 2017-12-03 01:01 in Diving

Since we were going to San Jose Del Cabo for our diving boat, after a bit of research, I figured out that La Paz had swim with whale shark tours, and that our time to visit was the right season. Woohoo!
So, we arrived the previous day from our boat departure, got picked up at 06:40 for the 2H+ drive to La Paz, and joined the tour. Sadly, they just introduce a reservation system where only 2 or 3 boats are allowed in the area at a time. While this makes sense since you don't want all the boats dropping people at the same time on top of a few poor whale sharks trying to feed, sadly the current system works by having boats leave the harbour, and then wait in the middle of the water, burning gas, for their turn to enter the area. For us, that was a 1h30 wait before we were allowed to finally enter the area, which was annoying given that we had gotten up at 06:00.

But once we got there, finally, it was great. Several juvenile whale sharks were feeding at surface level, and our boat sent people 3 at a time with a guide just next to a whale shark feeding. Sadly, the first 2 we got dropped by, were way too fast for me to keep up with just the small fins they gave us (apparently bigger fins don't help at the surface). You could barely keep up with them if you swam with your hands, but with a camera with each hand, that was not possible for me, so I had to let them go.
Thankfully they picked a slower one for us for the 3rd and last one, and I was able to keep up with it just with my fins and get some good shots.

Here is a summary video:

And here are some shots:

one had fish attached to its tail

So, while the first 2 times in the water were frustrating, because I couldn't keep up with the whale shark due to the small fins and inability to swim with my hands while holding a camera and a video camera, the last encounter was awesome since we got a slower whale shark and could keep up with it for a long time.

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2017/12/02 1.5 days in San Jose, Mexico and LaPaz

π 2017-12-02 01:01 in Mexico, Ntrips, Trips

We arrived the day before our dive trip in San Jose, Mexico, and took an ATV tour that day. The next day we went to La Paz before boarding our diving boat to go snorkel with whale sharks.

Before the ATV tour, I walked around downtown San Jose a bit. Apparently, there were some drug lord issues not long before we came, so the police was in force, patrolling the main tourist areas: