Related posts:

1. CAC
2. CAC
3. 20080801

Related posts:

1. CAC
2. Puente del Grao
3. CAC

Related posts:

1. La Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias por la noche
2. Jaime Primero
3. Torres Serranos – Gargola

Packing

The main advantage of a weekend sightseeing trip is that you can pack light… clothes I mean. You can reduce your clothes baggage to clean socks and underwear. Of course this works best either in summer or winter, when temperatures are usually stable and you can actually dress for a certain, fairly narrow temperature range. For cold (rain and wind 30+km/h was the forecast), layers work best… just like in onions, cakes, ogres and Photoshop.

Another advantage is not having any baggage to check in which saves you at least two, quite boring, queues at the airport as well as the requisite 2-hours-prior-to-departure needed for check in.

On the downside is that some low cost airlines have some silly flight limitations… yes Ryanair, I´m looking at you, you´d be better off not spending resources making lingerie calendars and easing up on in-flight selling. And that´s not a complaint about the calendar, mind you . Or easing on the 30€ a pop for checked item (more on that later).

And those about to start arguing that the low cost airlines have to do this in order to offer their low prices… that´s just BS. Simple as that. I´ve flown “regular” airlines cheap and they treat you in a normal way, not as if you´d have to thank them for letting you fly.

Taking the 055PROB head apart to reduce overall tripod length to 55cm

Taking the 055PROB head apart to reduce overall tripod length to 55cm

So, once the clothing was decided and the tripod length reduced to the 55cm limit, came the next part of packing, the camera bag.

And let me tell you, even with a LowePro Mini Trekker Classic, which is on the small-ish side as far as photo gear bags go, it can be a challenging task to decide how to best re-configure the compartments to fit your gear.

Packing the photo gear

Packing the photo gear, explained

Final configuration of photo gear

Final configuration of photo gear, explained

Of course, having learned from experience in Rome, I packed the EF-S 18-55mm just in case anything happened to the 18-200mm (“anything” for example being the lens dropping from shoulder height to cobblestone). Leaves you wondering why  for the love of everything good and holy you left the “kit lens” to save a bit of weight. As a side note, the original 18-200mm only got replaced a couple of months ago, two years after the fall.

Final packed bag configuration

Optional configuration, better for walking, just not around people or narrow places

So, about 45 minutes and 9.5kg later the packing was done. For a longer trip and less uptight weight limits, the laptop would also have been packed, but in this case, it was mostly dead weight. So, 9.5kg being a mere 0.5kg from the weight limit, I decided to move some weight into the other bag. The two 10-packs of extra batteries saved another 0.2kg, so that should be enough to be safe. Weight scale came courtesy of the Wii Fit board, which can be useful if you happen to shatter into a gazillion pieces your regular glass weight scale right when you need to use it for something important.

The airport

This being a quick visit to Paris, we got a “quick” guide for it. Actually, it was for the two maps and the metro plan it had, and since it had all the “main attractions”, it was a plus.

Checking the guide at the airport

So, this being a quick trip also meant that the only reading material was the guide. And no, it did not have “DON’T PANIC” in large, friendly letters on the cover, or anywhere else, which was rather comforting.

Waiting for the plane

The plane taxiing at last

The plane lined up for parking

We departed mostly on time and arrived at Paris Beauvais-Tille Airport, which is half way to the coast (from Paris)  and about in the middle of  nowhere as it gets, at around 1930. This airport, operated by Ryanair is some 80km and 60-80 minutes from Paris by bus; and another 13€ a pop to get to Paris… suddenly, it´s not so low-cost anymore (we did know this before hand, but unfortunately Ryanair was the only one offering flights to suit our needs).

Day “0″ (Because getting to your destination in time to check in and sleep does not qualify as “day 1″)

If you have to get around Paris (at least, for the core of the city) I don´t think anything beats the metro, even if the connections are sometimes more than a bit confusing.

The bus takes you from the airport to Porte Maillot, where the Convention Center is. From there it´s a short walk to the Arc de Triomphe (about a kilometer, but it seems less cos it´s so frigging big). But anyway, you arrive in Paris, the Arc de Triomphe straight ahead… you go see it. And I do mean straight, it´s a straight line from La Defense all the way to the Louvre. Then you walk from the Porte Maillot to the Arc… and you finally start understanding all those things about Napoleon and his complexes and what not.

Being wowed and getting kinda late (at least, for the long day ahead), we take the metro to Col. Fabien, where our hotel is. The Paris metro reminds of a mix between the New York/Chicago metro and the old Line 10 in Madrid. What surprises the most compared with Madrid is the very short distance between stations and that it´s highly efficient despite that.

A stop before ours we spot a Mickey D and a Kebab restaurant. Always good to know where either of those are located. Never underestimate the peace of mind a MacDonald´s offers… no matter where you are (even if size does vary from place to place) you´ll be able to get, at least, a Big Mac. I don´t care how bad or not they might be, bottom line is it´s a sure bet.

Walking to the hotel we also spot several other restaurants, mostly Chinese/Asian, with pretty good prices. That was a surprise. All references pointed to how frigginginly expensive everything is in France. Well, not anymore… at least, compared to Spain. Which, given the differences between minimum wages in France and Spain, is rather depressing. Our prices are mostly even with the rest of Europe (ever since the Euro came along), yet wages have stayed the same… for longer than I care to remember. So the next numbnuts who cries “cisis” is gonna get slapped with a very large trout. But I digress.

A bit further down the street, we see what must be one of the largest vending machines ever. Imagine a whole storefront… only there´s no store behind, just vending machine. Still not seeing it? No problem, check the photos below (taken the next day).

Biggest ever vending machine

Biggest ever vending machine

Once we get to the hotel (

) we check in, leave the bags and go out again for supper. We go around the other side of the block looking for more places to eat. Only one, Italian. We end up in a Chinese (one of those we´d seen before). And for the first time, I can finally say I´ve eaten “chopstick-ready” rice. Nice to eat it the way it´s intended. And a lot less stressfull, too .

And nice to have 33cl Coke bottles instead of the usual 20cl.

33cl instead of 20cl. Yay.

33cl goodness even if out of focus

Second shot is a bit out of focus because I was not using my compact and I´m used to being able to focus oh-so-very-close with it. As close as about an inch (then it has macro mode which reduces that to about half).

Back at the hotel room, which was probably a pension in older times, is nice and clean but small. And the bed, overly cozy.

The room

Day 1

Initially set up to get up early and make the most of the day, a generous cloud cover delayed that by about 45 minutes. No sense losing sleep if there´s no usable light for photography (as has been noted before) .

Of course, getting to your destination late Saturday can upset certain plans regarding buying supplies for the next day, and this being Sunday did not make it any easier. But I´m getting ahead.

On the way to the metro once more, this door (literally next door to the vending machine) caught my attention… how do they get things in or out of such a narrow door? The one on the other side of the vending machine was not any wider, either.

How do they get furniture in there?

There are lots of bicycles in Paris, but not all in good conditions.

Look closer

Closer still

In case you didn´t catch it, that bike is leaning on the tree. Look again. Still don´t see it? It is ONLY leaning on the tree; not TIED to it. Would not last five minutes here in Spain.

Off at Hotel de Ville and up a bit North to Centre Georges Pompidou.

Rue du Renard

This shows where this was taken, and as can be seen there as well, there is a specific place for bicycles at the traffic light, they´re not limited to the bus lane.

Centre Georges Pompidou is, with the pyramids, something that just keeps bringing the “and now for something completely different” back to mind.

Another sign of more civility than Spain is the free toilettes scattered along the city. Here we have very similar ones, but you have to pay to use them... mostly to avoid people defacing them.

Also in the picture, but not as obvious are some of the few “souvenir” shops in Paris. You won´t find many of the typical souvenir/trinket shops so commom… well, just about everywhere else, actually.

Very near Pompidou (across the fountain) is the Church of Saint-Merri, an extreme contrast to the “modernistic” look of the art center, old and gray and somewhat decayed.

Rental bicycles

And the above is an undeniable gargoyle.  Just look at the pipe. No chimeras here.

Setting up the Saint-Merri pano

A “making of” shot of the St. Merri pano. You can better appreciate the decay here. Love how it looks, most of all the moss.

After walking around Pompidou and Sant-Merri, we hed down to Hotel de Ville towards Notre Dame.

More ruined bicycles, this one is tied

More ruined bicycles, this one is tied

Wide doorway, you can get furniture in and out

The merry-go-round and the ice rink did not allow for a good view of City Hall… and it was a shame, for it´s a nice building for a pano.

Ice rink at Hotel de Ville

I wonder where that guy was from… to be in shorts when everybody else was wearing a coat.

Fountain of the year, 2000

This is on the corner of Place du Parvis Notre Dame. Fountain of the year, 2000… yet there is no indication of where the water comes out or flows.

One thing that struck me as as odd when entering Notre Dame is that they were having mass… with all the people visiting it. Wait, what?

Now, just about everywhere else, with, I think, the notable exception of St. Peter´s, you are asked to leave when the service starts. And even if you are not religious or believer, I think it´s nothing but a reasonable request.

But, Church knows best, always, right? So, their call, their problem. Even if I find it disrespectfull what they apparently don´t, I was not about to be the only one to NOT to take pictures.  I do think I was the only one not using flash, though.

Inside Notre Dame

Inside Notre Dame - 100% crop

1/8 second, f/8 ISO 800… yes, I´ve been known to forget to change aperture occasionally; still not too bad for a 1/8s shot

Inside Notre Dame - North rose window

Inside Notre Dame - North rose window

Inside Notre Dame - South rose window

Inside Notre Dame - On going service

Inside Notre Dame - On going service

I have no idea what the sermon was about, but sure looked like a Powerpoint slideshow, Church of Rome style.

Tourist Barge

A tourist barge with… tourists; what did you expect, crossing under Pont St. Michel. Some were actually waving at the people ashore.

Pont Saint-Michel

Pont Saint-Michel, another bicycle just left leaning. Looks like a Puch. Of course, the fork mounted the wrong way and the flat tires will make riding it away hard. but nothing to stop you from shouldering it or putting it into a van or something.

Je T´aime (Pont Saint-Michel)

Can´t help but wonder who that was intended for…

Comparing with StreetView, you can see that the bicycle was not there and that they changed the roadsigns with the post-it notes. “Montparnasse” used to be below.

Pont Saint-Michel

I would not trust those brakes. Yet another bicycle left rusting in the street.

Pont Saint-Michel

It seems odd that some bridges only have boat signs on one side.

Pont Neuf - Corbels

Pont Neuf and it´s corbels.

Henri IV (Pont Neuf)

I wonder who would have lost the head if this had happened a couple of centuries ago.

By the way, did I mention the swell light conditions we had for photography? Well, the proof is in the pudding

Tour Eiffel and Pont des Arts from Pont Neuf.

La Samaritaine - Corner of Rue de la Monnaie and Rue Baillet.

La Samaritaine, shame it´s been closed since 2005.

St Eustache & lonely beer bottle

This could almost be Madrid, the parking meter is nearly identical. No yellow plates here, though.

One thing that may at first surprise when visiting Paris is the almost lack of pigeons… thare are two basic reasons for this, crows and seagulls.

Carrousel du Louvre

The Carrousel du Louvre was one of the few places where we found “lots” of people (even so, not that many). And of course, where there are lots of people, there are lots of seagulls. And a few crows.

Carrousel du Louvre

Certainly not a comfortable way to go around Paris.

Colbert Pavillion

Look, Colbert has his own pavilion at the Louvre

Street lamp detail

I like this shot a lot, not sure why, but checking against the Composition Adjuster it seems that it is at least half well composed. Not bad, considering it was “shot from the hip”.

Carrousel du Louvre - Main view

Carrousel du Louvre - Louis XIV

The placing of this statue is a bit odd, and rather breaks the simmerty of the place. It´s just off the center of the Carrousel, to the “south”.

Probably one of the best maps ever - Le Jardin du Carrousel

Le Jardin du Carrousel

This is where Palais des Tuileries used to be. Part of the Louvre complex, it used to close off its western end untill it was destroyed in 1871.

Former site of the Palais des Tuileries

It´s also where the Carrousel Garden ends and Tuileries begins.

Running across Tuileries

La Concorde from Tuileries, not my most vertical shot

Sculptures in Tuileries

Note to sculptors: When you design your statue support, don´t make it like a giant turd. All the more reason not to do it if the statue looks like it´s thinking “God, that giant turd tore me apart“. Pretty please.

Another thing that would not last five minutes in Spain… unchained chairs. First they´d end up all in the water, then somebody would take them to sell as scrap metal.

La Concorde from Tuileries.

Tuileries seagulls

So by this time we figure it´s a good time to look for a place to eat.

Let me just say this: the concept of “fast food” is not one they have in this area of Paris.

Pasarelle Debilly

So, after two hours of unsuccessful search, we decide to just keep going… and quite a bit pissed off, too. Two hours wasted is a lot when it´s cloudy and sunset is at 17:30.

And as luck would have it, they were doing some work on the tower and had an elevator rail right in the frigging middle of the base of the tower.

Thank you, Mr Murphy.

The Japs are just amazing… that kid knew how to operate the camera. And probably takes better photos than some pro photogs I know, too

Tour Eiffel Detail

That´s not a B&W shot, FYI

Champs du Mars

Can´t help wondering… what do you call a trashcan that has no can? Just “trash”? Whatever, would not last five minutes in Spain. And I still have my doubts about those bags enduring windy conditions.

Champs du Mars

Jew newlyweds getting shot by Nikonians on Champs du Mars. Unfortunately for them, crappy conditions for wedding pictures.

Avenue La Motte Picquet

I just don´t think that brake lever is in a position that is operable while riding the bicycle.

Are bicycles that cheap in Paris?

51bis Boulevard de La Tour Maubourg

That´s part of the Hotel des Invalides complex.

Boulevard des Invalides

Bicycles are not the only abandoned means of transportation in Paris

Boulevard des Invalides/Rue de Babylone

Rue de Babylone

There are also motorcycles in Paris.

Rue de Babylone

But I think the bicycles win hands down…

Rue de Babylone

Rue de Babylone

Rue de Sevres

…don´t you?

Inside Saint-Sulpice

Inside Saint-Sulpice

While “only slightly smaller than Notre-Dame and thus the second largest church in Paris“, it does have a real “church” feeling… mainly lacking the hordes of tourists of Notre-Dame

Fountain outside Saint-Sulpice

Fountain outside Saint-Sulpice

While I wanted to take some shots outside Saint-Sulpice, only the fountain was finished restoration… Murphy, you´re I´m starting to dislike you. Big time.

Day 2

Rue de Steinkerque

Up to Montmartre and Sacre Coeur.

Montmartre

Two missing things I found here were the two public phones that appear in Amelie and that the coin-op looking glasses  that also appear at the top are just not there, they´re on the “wrong” side of the stairs.

Sacre Coeur

Not the best day for non-portrait photography

Montmartre merry-go-round

Montmartre merry-go-round

Montmartre merry-go-round

That horse looks as if the Nazgul king himself were chasing it. Not the best expression for a kiddie ride

Autoservicio descuento

Only meaningful to those that know the brand…

Red light district

It´s kinda odd seeing all the “sex related” business concentrated in a single street. And the above brings back the “two men enter, one man leaves” back to mind

I wonder if they have to get the car out first to bring out the truck behind.

Kebab, anyone?

A good reason not to go live above a kebab joint

Le Chat Noir

The “new” Le Chat Noir.

Is bike repair so expensive in Paris that if your bike breaks it´s better to leave it and buy a new one?

Moulin Rouge

I´d been told “Moulin Rouge is small and you have to be carefull or you´ll walk right past it”. Wait, what? I´m not sure that fits my definition of “small”.

Eric the Red

Eric the Red and his beer.

Three more neatly abandoned bicycles plus one more in the background as bonus.

You better not be in a hurry up those escalators if the person in front is not

Saint-Michel

Place Saint-Michel

DIY basket

I´ve had tires like those.

Thermes de Cluny

Thermes de Cluny are an ancient Gallo-Roman ruin lying in the heart of Paris’ 5th arrondissement and which are partly subsumed into the Musée de Moyen Age- Hôtel de Cluny.

Rue de Cluny

Rue de Cluny

Rue de Cluny

Rue de Cluny

Rue de Cluny

La Sorbonne

Pantheon

What is it with Paris and leaving bicycles to rust all over the city, anyway?

Motobecane

First motorcycle I´ve seen with the motor on the front wheel.

Another interesting door.

Paris Metro - On the way to Trocadero

Metro newspaper

Why is it that the Paris version gets Garfield and all we have is lousy local comic stips? Then again, Metro in Madrid has closed down.

JFGI

Just Frigging Gugler It

Trocadero

Trocadero, looking closely, you can see the reason for not going up the tower

They set us up the tripod

Setting up the tripod for this pano.

Taking the pano.

First attempt

First go at this pano. After the first few rows it was obvious that the tripod was needed.

Trocadero

Tour Eiffel from Trocadero

This gives a pretty good example of the weather the whole weekend.

Space Invaders

Space Invaders

Space Invaders at the Tour Eiffel… WTF?

This is reaching ridiculous proportions…

That saddle must get you uncomfortably numb after a while, yikes!

Bir-Hakeim

The narrow escalators again, at Bir-Hakeim station.

Le Grand Arc

Not the typical Grand Arc steps shot

La Defense has WiFi and probably the world´s best watched bicycle.

Windows FAIL

Drive-by-from-the-hip-spray-n-pray self portrait at La Defense.

Froggies

The airport again

Why is it that with a one carry-on bag limitation, and being forced to check-in the tripod (fro being “too big”) she gets three –count them– bags. Fuckers.

The airport, Madrid

At least, being virtually no carry-on bags, means that the transfer to the conveyor belt is pretty fast… just don´t forget to open both doors so that baggage can go round

You can see the images in this post in this gallery. The gallery includes some outtakes that ended up not making it to the post.

Related posts:

1. Pont Notre Dame from Pont d´Arcole
2. Notre Dame
3. From Paris

Related posts:

1. Alfonso XII
2. Alfonso XII
3. Plaza de Alfonso XII

Related posts:

1. Torre de los Perdigones
2. Torre de Valencia
3. AZCA – Torre Picasso

La torre de los perdigones en la wikipedia: http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torre_de_los_Perdigones

Related posts:

1. Torre de los Perdigones 2
2. Torre de Valencia
3. AZCA – Torre Picasso

Versión HDR

Ha pasado algún tiempo, pero lo prometido es deuda, aquí esta la versión HDR de Autopano de esta imagen.

Como puede apreciarse, está bastante al límite de lo que se le puede sacar al RAW. Por un lado, el ligero tono rosa de sobre exposición podría mitigarse ajustando algo más los niveles (por la parte de las luces) en Autopano, pero a cambio de sobre exponer también la parte de la estructura que recibe sol. También, aunque no es muy obvio tal cual esta la imagen, hay dos “manchas de claridad” hacia el centro y la derecha que impiden ajustar los niveles por el lado de las sombras (lo cual acercaría más al resultado final deseado, que en este caso era el atardecer).

Conclusión: Aunque con JPEG se pueden obtener resultados muy buenos, el mejor resultado se obtiene con RAW (LDR + Smartblend).

PD. Quiero agradecer a Geek7 de Panotopia por enseñarme que para usar el modo HDR de Autopano solo hace falta saber elegir las imagenes de referencia y no hace falta aprender a usar los tonemappers

Related posts:

1. Comparación: JPEG vs. RAW
2. Taller Domestika: JPEG vs. RAW
3. Vuelta de OFFF, segunda parte

Related posts:

1. Kio 3
2. Kio 2
3. Kio 1

Related posts:

1. The Watcher and the Tower
2. The Watcher and the Tower B&W
3. Plaza de Toros