While we are talking about love...

Back to Paris, the city of romance. After visiting the Louve we took a stroll across Pont des Arts bridge, a pedestrian bridge that crosses the river Seine. This is the love lock bridge, where couples symbolize their love by padlocking engraved padlocks to the bridge, then toss the keys into the water. Judging by the number of locks adorning the bridge Paris really is a romantic place. Interestingly, while doing a little googling to find the name of this bridge I found a news article from last year telling how Paris officials stripped the bridge of locks, or at least most of them, in May of last year. So, for the, most part we were viewing about 9 months of love. I wonder what the bridge looked like before they culled the locks. I am glad though that they left many of the quaint antique locks, it would have been a shame to remove all the history.

Notice the combination lock... it that the lock of a commitment phobe?

I love all the antique locks!






A Mickey Mouse lock?


Is this one Asian?


Not quaint and perhaps not fitting, but I liked the snake lock!


The loves of my life, my kids!

Love is in the air.....

It is, it really is. Love is in the air... at the dollar store. I stopped there late last week to pick up a couple of my dollar store standards. The dollar store is my favorite place for a few cleaning products, my favorite lavender scented soap, wrapping paper, and whatnot. As I was checking out with my few sundry items, I looked up and spied this huge mass of Valentine's Day balloons. I've never seen so much love floating about. Problem is, is there a market for Valentines balloons several days AFTER Valentines Day? I guess some manager or buyer overestimated the need for love in Salt Lake City. I thought they looked pretty though...Makes me wonder how many balloons were in the store ON Valentines Day... that must have been a sight. Who's to say "you can't buy love". Clearly you can, and it's only a dollar.

Why I'm the luckiest girl in the world....

Because I can get up on a Sunday morning, leave the overcast, gloomy, inversion caused smog that blankets the Salt Lake valley in the winter, and in half an hour be at Brighton, where the air is cool and crisp and not polluted and the sun actually shines. And once there I can strap on skis and fly around the slopes. Today started out cold and overcast, the corduroy stripes laid down by the groomers last night were frozen solid and and covered by a skiff of new snow. Skiing the frozen corduroy was kind of a tactile experience for the feet, not scary icy, but oddly rumbling underfoot. The trees on the upper slopes were where frosty and beautiful, frozen and flocked in new snow. Eventually the sun came out and it was gorgeous day. A winter wonderland for sure. Not enough new snow for a powder day, but a perfect day for cruising. I love to ski fast, feel the wind bite my cheeks, feel the exhilaration as I fly down the slopes. I was skiing solo today, so it was easy to push myself, so aside from a potty break, and a trip to my car to grab my camera, I didn't stop all day. I skied 26 runs, surely a record for me. Had some interesting ski lift conversations... met an Aussie that lives in London, a strip club owner from Tennessee, a nice woman who owns a cute Salt Lake store that I've driven by a zillion times but haven't stopped at (but now I will), a guy who drove here from New York, and many others. Last ride of the day was with a cute little 15 year old boy, who was up by himself and seemed thrilled to have someone tell his snowboarding stories to. Such a nice, nice day.

I am not from here, but even after living here for 25 years, I can't spend a day in the mountains without thinking "Wow, I am so lucky, and so thankful, to be able to enjoy this every weekend" Oh regarding the top picture.... just a fumble fingered moment, trying to use my camera while riding the lift, holding my poles and wearing ski mittens, a total inadvertent snapshot I really liked... my happy legs!

Museums... The Pompidou Center

A trip to Paris would not be complete without visiting the many art museums. The first on our list was the Pompidou Center, Europe's largest modern art museum. It was quite fascinating, collections included the works of famous modern artists such as Picasso, and some very recent, interesting, provocative modern art, some shock value pieces designed to really make you think, and other strange pieces that make you think "hmmm...this is art?". Besides the artwork itself, I was rather impressed my how it was displayed, the placement and spacing of the art and utilization of negative space on the walls and floors, as well as the use of lighting and shadow really accentuated the pieces.



The following photo was taken by Sarah

Picasso's


a Kandinsky...

The following photo was taken by Sarah


I think this was my favorite, painted by Sonia Delaunay in1954. I love the subtle imagery. Do you see the dancers?