The previous year, because of covid and no vaccines, I literally didn't go out at all, or see anything. This year I was triply vaccinated, so I went out to enjoy the city again, plenty of pictures:

nice views from top of Printemps

newer building, not sure what happened there

Printemps was great to see as always:

yum but totally overpriced

Great to meet some of my friends for lunch while I wsa there:

Arc de triomphe:

I went to arche de la défense to check out the view and the Xmas market:

The top of the arch has a small expo each time, this time photos:

I then went to the Xmas market (remembering that it closes at 18:00 on the last day, but 20:00 on previous days). So many yummy things:

so yum

I was weak and got a seared foie gras sandwich

those bottles were beautiful

look at the patterns blown inside the glass!

Random pictures while walking around in Paris:

the flower market is always nice

that weird building again, I'm not sold

cartoons showing the rebuild

we shall rebuild!

it rained many days, but not every day

After doing the Xmas market at arche de la défense, I did the one by jardin des tuileries:

yeah, I didn't have of those, fixed :)

Oh yeah, I also went shopping for the essentials. The entire row of cookies fell from the shelf into my cart :)

that's why I shop for chocolate in france :)

Back another day for some night pictures:

While I was in Paris, I also saw (click on the links):

And thankfully I managed to avoid catching covid for long enough to fly home, it was a close one:

'Adieu les cons' is a fun movie :)

Musée Méliès was really good given how pioneering and famous this French cinematographer, was, especially as he can be said to be the first real one, and with so much success.

The museum does a great job recounting his life, inventions, and firsts, including how he built his cameras based on the frères Lumière's work who didn't believe their own invention would be worth anything:

There were multiple screens showing some of his early short movies:

even then, some of the movies were hand colorized, frame by frame

the whole story board for 'voyage vers la lune'

He built an entire studio, the first one, in Montreuil:

Really cool visit (and we got lucky to have a guide walk by and give us nice explanations). After we were done, we went to see a different expo on Jean Paul Gaultier, the famous French fashion designer, and how his work got into many movies (including 5th element):

They had cool indoor displays:

The castle had timed entry and very nicely decorated rooms:

nice 3D video mapping

very nicely done show

After the visit, I went to walk the grounds to the end back (long walk, almost 1H):

sun started setting on my walk back

Finally it was time for the night show with more video 3D mapping on the castle, very nice:

Very nice castle with very good decorations, well worth the visit.