Day 6 Paris – Today is my last day here.  Very sad to be going as I have become very fond of this place and the people.  A petite side note from Tuesdays blog.  That kilometre long uniformed horsemen procession that I stumbled across was actually part of a ceremony for the new President of France who was taking office.

Last night I got some wonderful shots and a panorama which I can’t wait to stitch together down at the river on bridges looking back towards the Eiffel Tower.  As it does not get dark here until about 10pm, I had a bit of time to kill before the lights came on.  I noticed out the corner of my eye the Grand Palace had a photographic exhibtion on by Helmut Newton.  So I thought, why not.  I wasn’t familiar with his work.. but now I am.  Wasn’t quite ready for what I saw and when you see his work, you’ll see what I mean.

For a bit of fun today, I decided to place only my 50mm lens on the camera, set at f2.8 and away I go for some shallow depth of field shots.  I caught the metro to Luxembourg where I ventured around the areas of the Pantheon, the Mouffetard and Luxembourg Gardens (the Latin Quarter).  Got some great shots of old one lane coble stoned alley ways and the gardens were just a real pleasure to photograph.  Flowers were out in bloom and there was a fountain there that was just stunning.  Quote of the day went to some loud tourist as I passed them – “That’s the problem with being in France, everything’s in french.”

I returned to my hotel early noon and decided to put down the camera and just go out and explore, taking in Paris without looking through a viewfinder, you know, take in one more chocolat crepe for the road.  I got lost, but for the first time in my life I didn’t really care at all.  No better place to be lost than in such a fantastic city.

Au revoir Paris.  Tu es tres belle!