fun restaurant across the street with tables in ski gondola cabins

The next evening, I spent a bit of time in Paris and walked around to see the lights and Xmas houses before seeing a show that was a cross between circus and a play:

A few days later, went to Paris again to meet some school friends for lunch:

plenty of random nice churches, popped in a few on the way

small cars are always fun :)

Great to see Rani, Laurent and Franck

went back out to see a few lights

cool Xmas houses, always fun to see

The next day, I went out during the day for more sightseeing staring with the center of Paris:

Then, going back to the Panthéon felt like a good idea, especially since it was going to rain. The building has fascinating history. Sure enough, there was a long line to get in too and no online tickets for that day. I had to get creative again to get in:

the underground crypt is quite interesting and houses lots of famous people

Marie Curie is properly recognized for the brilliant scientist she was

Back to the 1st arrondissement to enjoy lights and Xmas houses:

yummy but ridiculously overpriced nougat

lime scooters despite hard to find or park legally, came in handy

Another lime ride to the Jardin des Plantes for the night illuminations (click for pictures):

The next day, given the somewhat ok weather, it felt like a good idea to go to Sacré Coeur:

one of the 2 above ground subway lines

all the locks removed around the seine river are now ending up here?

after 'a few' stairs :)

funny that the streets around are still open to cars somehow

I tried a drawing for the first time

Interesting smile-smirk :)

Back to 1er arrondissement, the seed and plant store is always fun to see:

Conciergerie was next, lots of history in that building that used to be a jail during the kings and french revolution. It also contains documents from the first republic (yes, France has 5 republics and constitutions, so that it's in better shape than the US whose constitution is hard to update for current times):

very cool sand structures

the video guide was interesting and showed views of how the place used to be

Sainte Chapelle is a beautiful churh but very hard to get into due to its location in the palace of Justice

Then a quick trip to les jardins du louvre et l'arc de triomphe du carousel:

The nearby festivities had the big ferris wheel with great views, and another Xmas fair:

arrived just in time for sunset

nice views

I went with the seared foie gras burger :)

more overpriced nougat

yes, I went for a bumper car ride, those don't suck and have proper power

L'obelisque was not very far, so it was a good next stop leading to Champs Elysées:

It was fun to climb l'arc de triomphe again:

l'arche de la défense in the background

The next day was friday, which has late hours at the Louvre, so good day to visit (click for details). This was indeed an open to close until 21:30:

After that was Dec 31st with dinner plans that evening, so it was a good day to see Versailles:

while changing RER, you have to cross the seine on foot, and the orthodox church happened to be open

first time I got in, in so many years, although it doesn't look like much inside :)

The rest of the day was spent at Versailles (click me for more):

After NYE dinner with my dad, I figured it would be fun to do NYE in the middle of Paris, something I hadn't done in 22 years, but the dinner ran late and by the time I got to the subway it was packed and it was clear it would be impossible to get to Effeil tower, so I aborted and got out around République:

I was able to find the last lime bike available and barely get it by reserving it with my phone before someone else was able to snatch it, and biked like crazy to get to Obelisque just in time, literally down to the minute. A bit too close for comfort, but it worked out:

plaee was packed of course, champs elysées was actually shut down because it was full

I then tried to complete my plan to get to Effeil tower, which was done by lime bike again since the whole city was gridlocked. Even biking was hard due to the number of pedestrians everywhere and all streets blocked with cars all stuck. But I made it:

The following day was a good day to see les grands magasins boulevard hausman and Google:

Thankfully it was a nice day for a change, good time to go to the eiffel tower:

I tried Batobus, not the best viewing but easy to get on and off

After getting off the boat, a semi random walk to see some sights:

another random church on the way

This interesting bit is the biggest piece of the wall that used to be around Paris:

And ending at Place des Voges with interesting art as always:

And that was the end of a good trip:

The flight home was nice until we failed to land in SFO due to terrible weather:

so we had to land in Sacramento

after a multiple hour stop in Sacramento, finally landed in SFO

I got 2 flights for the price of one:

But once in SFO, the torrential rain had not stopped and caused a landslide on hwy 280 with fallen trees in the middle of the freeway, so it took a while to get home:

Day1

Next to the airport was a commercial seahorse farm. They had a very overpriced tour, but you got to hold a seahorse at the end :) No, the price is not really worth the tour, but I didn't have enough time to research it to that level of detail, oh well. It was still fun:

algea they are growing

sea horses they are growing

we were able to put our hands in a tank and have a seahorse attach to us

Nextdoor was a Salt Farm, also worth a visit:

nice selection of salts

The rest of the day was spent doing an afternoon and manta ray night dive, and a chill dinner:

sorting pictures :)

Day2

Day3

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Going at altitude just 2h afer my last dive was potentialy tricky, but thankfully one of my 3 dive computers was able to give me the maximum altitude that was safe to ascend to, and it was high enough to where I was going:

by then I could already go to 10,000ft

Across the road to the observatory, there was a short altitude hike with view:

Unfortunately, the lava flow towards Saddle road had already stopped fee days prior, and the road to Mauna Kea was closed due to snow, so we didn't get to go to the peak, either:

visitor center at 9000ft was open, though

After that, the road was drenched in rain, so there was no point in stopping until just before Hilo. Kaumana Caves was a nice stop on the way, a real lava tube that you can explore for a really long distance:

one direction had a hole and exit, but kept going on for a long way

The other direction in the lava tube was inteesting too, including a tube that splits in two:

Day4

After that, quick stop by Hilo farmer's market:

From Hilo, it was an easy drive to Volcano NP:

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From the research and prior experience, I knew it was best to start with Kilauea Iki Trail, a beautiful hike in a crater that isn't 100 years old yet:

I love how this spot has layers you can simply take apart with one hand

When getting out Thurston Lava Tube is right there, but it's very underwhelming compared to the previous day's hike in Kaumana Caves:

my flashlights still came in handy

When it came time for the Steam Vents and the nice Sulphur Banks hike, pouring rain came down, that got all the way inside my socks and shoes since I only had my emergency umbrella and not a bigger one:

By the end, the Volcano Art Center Gallery was a good stop from the rain, which didn't stop:

I wish I could have seen that

I did a couple of other quick hikes, but it was not fun with the rain, but the good news was that the weather got better at the end of chains of craters road, but the ocean:

just in time for sunset

Day5

My plan was then to drive up around the coast back to Hilo, and stopped at Hawai'i Tropical Bioreserve & Garden which I independently re-discovered was the best botanical garden on the island (realized later it was the same one I went to in 2009, but no biggie, it was definitely worth going back to):

From there, finishing the island tour was technically possible, but not very safe time-wise, and there would not have been time to stop for anything, so it was safer to retreat and go back to Hilo through saddle road and make the flight with a good 15mn to spare :)

Quick stop to check out Kaulana Manu trail for birding another time:

Back to Kona, with airport in the background:

4.5 days might have been barely enough for the big island without diving, but with diving, the time was a bit short. Still, I feel like the itinerary worked out pretty well, considering.