Rue St Jacques is one fairly long street at 1.55 km – although not quite as long as rue de Vaugirard, which stretches across 4.36 km in the southside of the city – and along it, some interesting architecture features from different periods of time, right from the medieval to the contemporary, can be found.

Of course, innovative restauranteur could also go one up, like this front façade of an Indian restaurant that has been elaborately decorated in the orient style. From what I gather, the theme is carried through the interior of the restaurant too. A colleague mentioned that their food is quite good, so perhaps I should give that a go sometimes soon.

How often do you buy pick-n-mix? And where do you buy them? Cinema? Shopping mall? By the street outside the cinema? That’s where you can find this little candy stall. At St-Germain, by an exit of Odéon métro station, at the intersection between a number of cinemas. Handy, eh?

This is time for a little disclaimer though – I don’t buy pick-n-mix when I go to the movies. In fact, nowadays, I don’t even get popcorns. Gone are my movie snacking days. I think I may have been weaned off popcorns because those I can find in Dublin are salty. They’re not like the buttery and sweet popcorn I used to get while I was growing up. I am not sure if there is such popcorn in Paris. Perhaps I should check.

There is something about bars and pubs in winter – they somehow manage to look very cosy and inviting, especially when it’s cold cold outside baby. I suspect this association could also well be forged from years of living in Ireland where I spent the evening every now and then with my friends at our locals (or elsewhere when mood struck us). Try as they may, they haven’t manage to make an Irish girl out of me yet. (I can mentally picture Dave’s tut-tutting at me for ordering only 7-up in Kennedy’s!)

Nonetheless, it didn’t stop us from having a good evening out, chatting and snacking while forgetting just how chilly it could get outside. Something I miss much is pub quiz sessions, where often the rounds would start well but as the quiz progresses, the results may also deteriorate, pending on the number of pints the quiz-goers have imbibed. They are always good laughs though, could get a tad competitive, but still remain in good humour.

This blog is starting to look a tad more somber that I’d like it to be, what with all the night (and not particularly interesting) shots. And tonight’s shot is even starting to somewhat reflect my mood. It has been a long day, and my arrival back from Dublin late last night is not helping at all. At this point, I just want to be back in my apartment, sit down, and do nothing at all.

But I can’t do that. See, amusingly (to me, at least), while it was the colour contrasts of the leaves that caught my attention in the first place, my head keeps pinging back to waraqat sajara (i.e. tree leaves) that I’ve been learning in Arabic classes. What a timely reminder that I have revision to do before tomorrow’s class. There is simply no rest for the greedy?

Mention to just about anyone in Dublin “the arch entrance of St Stephen’s Green” and they’ll know just what you’re talking about. However, if you ask for the name of the arch itself, that may be trickier to come by. Even I didn’t know it for a very long time, and learned about it after a friend came visiting. The things we do to impress our friends ;)

Modelled after the Arch of Titus in Rome, it commemorates the 212 soldiers of the Royal Dublin Fusiliers who were killed fighting for the British in the Boer War (1899–1902). For that reason, the arch was also previously called the Traitors’ Gate by strong nationalists, who believe that Irish should not be fighting a British war but to demand for independent Irish states. Today, history largely forgotten by many, it serves as one of the main meeting points of the city, quite likely before a walk down Grafton Street for a shopping spree.

I don’t often go out to Sandymount but on a friend’s request to play photographer for an hour or so for shots to be used on his website – honestly, I was nervous and didn’t know if I’d do a decent job of it – I took a leisurely stroll over from Ballsbridge. And on the way, I passed by a deserted Sandymount DART station.

It was rather odd and seeing there weren’t any train coming, I stood smack in the middle of the track and snapped a couple of quick pictures for today (spot the glassy Aviva stadium in the background). Only later, when I spoke to my friends that I got to know that the rail service at that stretch is down. Part of the track collapsed after the massive flood last week and it’s still in reparation process.

First, my apologies for this not terribly interesting shot. I was in a bit of a hurry this evening, heading over to Porte Maillot after work. I had a flight to catch, a weekend destination for a short getaway, and a bunch of amazing friends waiting for me across the Celtic Sea.

As I got to Porte Maillot and walking around part of the roundabout just in front of the Palais des Congrès, the Eiffel Tower began to play peek-a-boo with me. Sometimes I saw it, sometimes I didn’t. It was kind of fun, catering to my whimsical mood at that point in time. Perhaps it’s the excitement of what’s to come for the couple of days ahead. In a way, I’m going home…

It seems the end of daylight savings is going to be very challenging for me from now on, at least for the next two months, in getting decent photos for Project 365. And you may be getting a lot of night shots too, which means I really would need to learn how to use and optimise the camera for low-light conditions and start carrying a baby tripod with me everywhere. It’s not the same now compared to earlier in the year, when my movement was not constrained by working hours.

My attempt today was tricky at best. It was slightly drizzly and I have forgotten my tripod. Still, moving on, I took myself towards Invalides and decided it could be nice to try to photograph Pont Alexandre III by night, in the direction of the Grand Palais. As I stood there, the drizzle became progressively heavier but I played on with various settings. I had to pack up when it started to pour. I thought I managed a decent shot but I’m still not particularly happy with this one because it’s not as “crisp” as I’d like it to be.

Since I moved here, I’ve seen this bookseller at the main gate of Cité U nearly daily in the evening, either setting up the “stall” by displaying the books on the staircase (there are numerous editions of Petit Prince and in different languages), or chatting with punters (serious or otherwise), or trying to sell packets of tissue paper (10 cents each).

With his latest advertisement hung on the tree, I finally know name his name (Fabien). It has been a tad disconcerting walking past someone who regularly says hi to you but you haven’t a clue of who they are. I admire his tenacity, of staying outside and let fate chose the way things go. I also once saw him leaving in the evening – his bicycle was stacked with more books and he looked almost comical as he pedalled hard to go home for the night.

The carrousel is proving to be very popular in this town. Just go to any random corner and I bet there is yet another carrousel standing there, with queues of accompanying parent(s) and their little ones who “weaally, weaally, want to goooo” on the moving vechicles! The operator must be earning a small fortune.

This particular carrousel is found just across the road from the Eiffel Tower. It has proven to be popular not only with the tourists (well, mostly because of their kids) but locals alike. Tickets can normally bought in bulk which comes at discounted price and I’ve seen clever mommies around Paris who dishes out the ticket only one at a time. Time saving when you don’t have to queue up each time, and money saving with the reduced price to bundle of tickets.