Paris June 2009 part 2

Having an incredible time here. It’s been a bit chillier than expected and didn’t bring enough warm clothes but hey we adapt and get used to it. Am posting photos and movies here for those of you that refuse to join Facebook.

Have done a bit of walking and have bike riding has been very comfortable and relaxed. There are so many great shots to share so we decided to share these with you. I really like posting these shots and movies and would love it if you commented on them. The show that we saw last night at Theatre des Bouffes du Nord with Nouvelle Vague was incredible. The venue was incredible and the sound was great, although it was a bit warm in the building for the opening act – it became very comfortable and we had a really great time.

Here is the google map street view of our apartment.

View My Saved Places in a larger map

You can click on box with the arrow on the far left to see the pictures full screen

Paris June 18, 2008 – July 9, 2008

This year our trip to Paris was just incredible. We were able to see so many concerts, ride our bikes (two dahons – packed away in their own special suitcases), be with friends Jack and Victoria, marvel at the sites and sounds of the city, eat fabulous food, buy some great clothes, incredible weather, and espeically have time to spend alot of time together walking, riding and just enjoying the whole day and night together for 3 weeks in our favorite apartment building. Here’s some pictures of our adventure this year. Everybody asks why we go back to Paris over and over – and I think the pictures tell the story.

We were able to see so many concerts this year in Europe:
Joseph Arthur – Café de la Danse
The Bravery – La Maroquinerie
Bruce Springsteen – Parc des Prince
Radiohead – Westerpark – Amsterdam
REM – Westerpark – Amsterdam
La Moche – World Premier – Chatelet Theatre
Richie Havens, The Foals – Soidays – Le Bois de Boulogn
Bike riding in Le Bois de Boulogn was incredible especially when we got onto the bike route around the Hippodrom and found ourselves with packs of other bike riders.
We didn’t get to see any of the Tour de France this yet but for what we saw on TV once we got back to the states, but the trip was the very best.

Joseph Arthur Café de la Danse Paris, FR

One of the concerts we were really looking forward to when we got to Paris was the Joseph Arthur concert at Cafe de la Danse. We had found tickets for his concert while looking for things to do when we were in Paris and purchased them immediately – unfortunately we were going to have to pick the tickets up at FNAC. We went out walking that day – oh my god did we walk – we walked up to the Opera from our apartment and then walked all the way over to Le Bois de Boulogn looking for the rose gardens – we never did find the rose garden – but we did find ourselves in this wonderful garden filled with peacocks, flowers, grottos and statuary. We got alot of great pictures of that park.

When we got back we were exhausted and were going to settle in for the night but then realized that the Joseph concert was that night. We had about a half hour to make it over to the Bastille area, pick up the tickets and find the theater. We raced out the door. Oh god it was hot that night. We were both sweating like pigs. We got over to the FNAC only to find it closed for the night – so we decided to try to find the theater anyway and see if there were any tickets available at the door – and we also thought well concerts never start on time we’ll make it. Wrong. We got to the theater and did find that there were tickets available – but that he had already started the show – right on time. We got in and stood the entire show over on the sidelines under the stairs watching Joseph give a great one man performance.

Once the concert was over we decided we wanted to buy one of the CD that was recorded of the nights performance – this is one of the things I really like about Joseph – he is always recording his preformances and you can take them home with you that night. We got in line and it was a long line. I didn’t think we were going to get a cd – most of the people up in front of us were looking at the tshirts and some were buying cds – i didn’t see anybody buying anything and i signaled that i wanted to purchase a cd and the sales guy handed one over to me – my luck – it was the last one of the night. Right at that point Joseph came out and was gong to sign things for his fans. David got him to sign his ticket stub and i got him to sign the back of the CD cover. I didn’t make any small talk with Joseph – but David did – told him that he thought “tonight’s show was good but it wasn’t as good as the one at the Troubadour” – that illicited a chuckle from Joseph and we left for the night feeling giddy – and had dinner.

Radiohead and REM Amsterdam

When Radiohead announced it was going to do a tour for in Rainbows David and I said – “We have to go!” and hopefully we would get to see them in Paris when we were going to be there in June/July of 2008. I got on the ticket sites and started searching. On ticketmaster for the netherlands ticketmaster.nl I found the tickets I wanted. Radiohead was going to play in a park called Westerpark. Great – it was GA and we love GA – so we bought the tickets. Last year we were supposed to go to Amsterdam and Marshall our hairdresser told us all the fun he and Douglas had in Amsterdam – so we wanted to go – but for some reason – possibly cuz i was still stressing about my Mom being gone – I just didn’t want to do anything other than just sit around Paris after we had gone to Barcelona. So we didn’t go. But this year we had to go – WE HAD TICKETS FOR RADIOHEAD.

Westerpark is a great venue for a outdoor concert. The park wasn’t too far away from the hotel we stayed at The Times Hotel (Herengracht 137 Phone: 31 20 3306030 ) – it was clean, quiet and within walking distance to the park.

Amsterdam turns out to be a bit warmer than we expected. I went out and got a sweat shirt so I wouldn’t be cold at the concert – but never had to put it on. We got to the concert area about 2 pm – David likes to go early and we sat out in front of the venue with others who hoped to get a spot close to the stage. The nice thing about the venue is there is a restaurant near the entrance, bathrooms and the ticketbooth for upcoming concerts. When we walked into the area we noticed that there were tickets still available for the next nights performance which was REM – someone we enjoyed for most of the eighties and much like Springsteen we let drift away musically, but we had recently purchased their new cd and wanted to hear them and since we were in Amsterdam and there were tickets available – why not? While sitting outside the venue we talked to people, and enjoyed the sun and listened to Radiohead doing their sound check.

When they did finally open the gates we were pretty warm – the sun had been beating down on us all day, but it was well worth it – we got into the pit area and fairly close to the stage. Unfortunately there were these three morons who decided that they should sit in front of us and smoke pot the entire show like it was going to disappear. Their annoying smoke was irritating yet the over indulgence was the most exasperating – they used so much of the stuff – they all fell to the ground at some point in the show and were oblivious to the great music that was going on in front of them.

The music was great though and I am so glad that David was able to capture some parts of the show.

The next day we came back for the REM concert and although less crowded than the night before – these guys really put on a great show and declared that if it rained they would owe everyone a kiss but it did not come to pass – instead we had a brisk evening air filled with great music from a great band.