Sunday, August 9, 2009

ok.... its finally here... but all in one...


So this post is a little delayed... well very, after all i have been home for a little over 2 weeks now, and I'm feeling it, I really am. I suppose I have been avoiding this post for a few reasons, 1 = its all over and typing this one last post just makes it that little more real, 2 = I haven't had time... no really I've been very busy... but its really mainly 3 I think... 3 being that this semester I have been neglecting my utmost favorite past time, ie avoiding uni work, and so it was inevitable that something else must take its place (for the record though I take nowhere near as much pleasure in this new hobby... not sure just how long it will last)...


So, the long and the short of it is that I would have quite happily avoided this post for the rest of eternity, but, earlier this morning I was plunged into the dark ages of yester year - Optus decided that today would be a marvelous day to have network issues in - and in the absence of internet and landlines... well I just had no more excuses... there was nothing more to do but edit some pics of France for your entertainment... for better or worse...

(Bordeaux, my favorite place... maybe partly due to the fact we only got an hour there... but I love the atmosphere)
my oh my I am rambling today aren't I :P ...

(random catherdral)

You know the sad thing about these pics... I must have accidentally left my camera on iso 1600 whilst shooting late and forgotten... so they are all shot in iso 1600 :( *Darcy cries*

(Olreans - spelling??? - and the Joan of Arc statue...)

For those of you who have no idea what I am talking about, it basically means that all the images have a fair amount of digital noise... not at a normal size but if i wanted to blow them up - which i do... :(

(take a wild guess... come on you know it... think the DaVinci Code...)

but for the most part I don't expect you to read this so please... keep enjoying the pics...

(random candids...)

For the record this post covers about 4? maybe 5 days... I can't remember exactly and I don't really feel like checking...

(umm... I'm not quite sure to be honest...)

Mainly though they are from the 2 days spent in Paris! Which, although I enjoyed, was admittedly marred by the presence of illegal street sellers (not the legal ones) which although present in most of the other major cities, were most definitely the worst in Paris.


Under the Eiffel Tower, which surprised me with its curly decorations, as - and please excuse me if I am the only one here who did - I had always thought of it as being made a bit like the Sydney Harbor bridge (crossing metal bars and the like), and even with all of the picture I had looked at prior to the adventure, I had never noticed them... anyway, maybe its just me, but if you click this pic you can see for yourself...

view from the top... best viewed large...

crepe o'clock... yes it is an actual, legitimate time, declared by me, and rigorously enforced...
you have a choice... nutella or banana and nutella, its your heart attack after all...

and the following is a fair few of the Nortre Dame Cathederal... so to break up the pics I'll tell you a little story... yup its one of those "it will only and always happen to Darcy" stories...


One evening, well it was probably more like 11ish... a few of us youngin's were hanging in the hotel lounge areas unwinding after a long day sight seeing... just chatting and typing on our laptops (yes it was like a little club of laptops and ipod touches... don't judge, its the way of our world)...


Anywho, this drunk guy comes into the bar area and gets a drink and sits down across the room (which for the record was quite small... I could smell him from where I was seated...) AND... watches... and watches and watches...

it was a little strange...

eventually though he asked Rhino (who happened to be the only male in the group on this particular night) if he paid... now you may think we were being nieve but no one knew what he meant... his English wasn't so good and we assumed he meant did he pay for the beer... ummm... no...


We eventually got it though... "did you pay" meant "did you pay for these girls for the night"... WTF?!?!?! WE WERE IN JEANS AND TOPS AN NO ONE HAD ANY MAKE-UP ON WHERE THE F%$K DID HE GET THAT IDEA!!!

Needless to say we promtly left, well we went outside because we were not all getting in the excelator after that!

(and a few pics of the Moulin Rouge - let me know which you prefer... I'm testing b&w pics...)

The outcome of this night:...
- we were a little confused and offended,
- we were also paranoid he would be at breakfast (thankfully not)
- and RHINO had the gall to be offended because "I don't have to pay to get sex!"... lol

(and Finally the domed roof of a shopping centre... once again the b&w was completed using another technique so let me know what you think... oh and the colours look really good larger...)

and here endeth my story...
hope you enjoyed it,
lots of love and hugz
D.