Photo Book

Assignment # 4

Final Thoughts, August 4, 2011.

 One step in the time to achieve the success.  I left my comfort zone being around my children and making sure that my husband has a very successful career,  stepping out of the 'kitchen', and leaving all these behind to re-entered back to school to start all over again.

Yes, I can say it -- I did.  I was starting with an old programs on my MAC 2008, which could not keep up with all assignments or downloading all extras that I needed to create all assignments.

I have to say Thank You Very-Very Much to everyone who was helping me through all these three weeks that flew by like a day.

I would recommended to anyone to try to do something so unfamiliar that you could feel the same way that I do right now: A Blessing!

Glogster

Good for a change.

Another day at the palace, The Buckingham Palace. Once again, it all about gold, tourists, and a big impression. The tour is well organized since this is the Queen's official residence.  The Faberge exhibit is one of the kind.  I wear only one bracelet that is a modern Faberge.  Nothing to compare the original Faberge art work, which was started in Saint-Petersburg, Russia and went out of business in 1920, but reopened in Switzerland. Strolling among the beautiful palace, passing over the dress of Kate Middleton, hearing the story about how the dress was designed by Sara Burton.  The lace on the dress was made in Hampton Court, wow, we just went there yesterday. I glad that I was able to see this dress so close, even though then I married almost 20 years ago and I could not afford any special dress on my wedding day.  Yes, the dress is beautiful, what else you would designed for a royal wedding.

The gardens, and the greens, and the alley to heading you back from the palace.

Finally, the last stop.  The Hard Rock Cafe:

Great for a change.

My family started a tradition then we take our boys for their b-day to the Hard Rock Cafe.  It began as accident while we were on the family vacation in overseas.  Boys missed traditional American food the most.  Since this 'accident' my boys are waiting to go out for b-day dinner to wonderful world of the Rock & Roll.

Yes, it was a very special lunch in the very first Hard Rock Cafe.

Hampton Court

As soon we arrived to Hampton Court, passing through the green court, I could not help myself to stop thinking about all palaces that I was visiting in the past.  Somehow, I see so many similarities in each of them even though all palaces are different.  Most tours are started with bedrooms or  a dining room.  Today, we were heading directly to the kitchen.  Appetite, attitude, and amount!  This is a king's life after all.
Good Lord, Henry did not eat the same meat every day, and actually he loved varieties.  Sure, including the number of his wives.

Still, the Hampton Court is listed among the top ten things to see in London.  I wander through over 60 acres of beautiful maintained gardens, the Maze, and the Chapel Royal, still I was thinking about the life-style...

The life is good!

Hyde park; Kensington Gardens.

A green summer.  Summer in the city get a little overheated in London too, so it is a the prefect day to take a break and go on a "nature  and culture" excursion.  Today is an opportunity to enjoy the cool air and discover some excellent and very special parks that dedicated to Princess Diana.

 The first stop was at Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Playground with a centerpiece of the wooden pirate ship in Peter Pan style.  The whole area is designed so that children can play together, and the same time,  provides  many educational & social skills, encouraging using an imagination with.
  The second stop, the Memorial Fountain symbolized life and happiness.

I saw the children playing around, and I was thinking about my boys.

Today's assignment is photographing water.

And babies -birds that I saw 

and in the end - the prefect tea party with delicious food. Great day!

Back to work: more assignment are due.

Paris -- Part Three: The Modern Art & The Louvre.

My Paris is all about an art.  It's always intriguing for me.
On Friday, I saw the sign about an extreme event: "Paris-Delhi-Bombay" exhibition at the Pompidou Center, and of course, I told myself that I have to see it.

 At the start of the exhibition, a hi-tech module summarizes the main principles of Indian society, regulated by a system of values that may seem very complicated and exotic to us.  Museum compares India past and present and an Indian dessert. Seventeen French artists have also been invited to express their vision of India.  This was an extreme journey between India's Old & New Worlds that again confirm to me that the contemporary art is forceful expression.

The Louvre isn't a forceful expression.  This is my choice; I enjoyed every moment of being there.  I started back on the same spot where I stopped on Friday since we have a limited time only.  I went all floors, and I spend another 6 hours there.   I love it, and I am dreaming of coming back.

And a real Mr.  French Mascot is very-very tired and wanted go back to London;

 

Paris -- Part Two: A New Shopping Experience

If Paris is the capital of fashion, then Galleries Lafayette is its heart.  Following the department store's renovation, the pulse of the french luxury sector beats here. But do all Parisians browsing its floor or tourists.  The Galleries Lafayette attracts many international customers and provides special services for them.  Certainly not.  Yet, thanks to its exclusive offers, the shopping is now a paradise for foreign visitors.

I saw the lines of only foreign shoppers, mostly from Asia, and I saw that each counter has an asian-native salesperson.  Finally, to make the delights of shopping even less stressful, the store is offers another brilliant  innovation: an immediate tax-refund service.  I found the best shopping innovation for me -- a free chilled water with many free refills as you wish.  I took advantage of that.

 45-minutes later, I was heading outside away from the new shopping experience.

Paris -- Part One: Culture & Gourmet Dining

Three days in Paris, is it enough?  This is my third time in Paris.

Paris is so different compare to London: the speed of the life, the language, and the atmosphere. 

Paris earned the reputation of the center of the style, the art, and gourmet dining.

Paris has more monuments to discover than any other European capital city, which is only natural, you might think, for capital of the country that welcomes the most tourists in the world. However, few restaurants can claim to be an integral part of  Pure –bread Parisians and tourists alike come here in search of something quite different: the soul of a city and taste for certain art of living. 

For over a centuries Paris has been a place to savour simple, authletic, generous, traditional cuisine that is easy on the pocket. Classical and seasonal startes, tasty meat and fish dishes and succulent stews follow each other in the unique friendly atmosphere created by sharing large tables with their red and white tablecloths.

Diners chat, marvel, learn, enjoy themselves and feast like kings.  Isnt that what July is for?

Well, I noticed that easy on the pocket restaurant is disappeared very quickly.  The breakfast that used cost about 20 euros, now is 55 euros.  Do you think it is too much, too soon, and too dramatic?

Here is some view on dining; here is everything available, and if you cannot afford -- take a pictures as I did.

Remember there is always a street market: