— 16 Comments

Around le Marais

The Marais district stretching through the 3rd and 4th arrondissements has many amazing sites to see. As mentioned in my earlier post on Le Marais, this gorgeous popular district in Paris was once home to many of the aristocracy who built their famous maisons in spectacular architecture and opulence of the times. A few sites in the Marais are definitely worth your time.

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The Hôtel de Sully is a hôtel particulier, or private mansion, which was built between 1625 and 1630 for the Duke of Sully and today represents one of Paris’ finest examples of Louis XIII architecture. Although you can’t go inside, a walk around this gorgeous work of art is worth your while.

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France TRAVEL BY REGION TRAVEL PHOTOGRAPHY
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Paris through an Olloclip lens

“Look at everything as though you were seeing it for either the first or last time. Then your life on earth will be filled with glory”. -Betty Smith

Before heading to France, I purchased an olloclip three-in-one lens for my beloved iPhone. As an avid Instagram follower, I began to notice all the incredibly cool travel shots with funky angles. I asked a fellow Instagrammer and blogger, 2Summers, who told me about the olloclip. The olloclip is a quick-connect lens solution for the iPhone 5, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S and iPod touch that includes fisheye, wide-angle and macro lenses packaged all in the size of large gum ball. For the size of the lens and the price ($69.99), it is an amazing little lens that is so easy to carry and convenient, that it beat dragging around bigger lens for my “real” camera as I walked for hours upon hours in Paris.

Here are some of the shots I got with my olloclip. I didn’t take as many as planned since I used my main camera way more than my iPhone, however, these shots should give you a feel for what this little guy can do. Pretty amazing, huh?

The first three photos are all taken out of my hotel room window in the Marais, looking down at the street below and the last two are in lovely Montmartre. (Note: I didn’t take any pictures with the macro lens yet, just the fish eye and wide angle).

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France TRAVEL BY REGION TRAVEL PHOTOGRAPHY
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Le Marais

Tucked away in the 3rd and 4th arrondissements of Paris’ Right Bank lies the magnificent, historic Le Marais.  Literally translated as “The Marsh”, this district of Paris is where the aristocrats moved and built their ornate “masions” over former marshland as Paris blossomed in the 17th century. The historic gorgeous maisons of the aristocracy remain, as well as the sensational Place des Vosges and other noteworthy sites. Yet by the 19th and early 20th centuries, a new presence entered the area as the nobility moved out: The Jewish Community who were later pushed out and tragically persecuted during the Nazi era and the Vichy regime.

Today, Le Marais is one of the hippest, architecturally beautiful arrondissements in all of Paris.  Tree-lined streets are dotted with gorgeous boutiques, swank cafes and beautiful restaurants that offer the traveler a real Parisien experience. Furthermore, Le Marais’ proximity to so many wonderful historic sites not to mention the Bastille, Place des Vosges and Rue de Rivoli, the premier luxury shopping street, make it a perfect place to base oneself for a stay in Paris. If you want to experience Parisien life in all its splender and authenticity, Le Marais is the place to be.

Here are some pictures from this gorgeous arrondissement, starting with a view from our lovely hotel room in Le Marais.

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France TRAVEL BY REGION
Paris, France Doors
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The Doors of Paris

“Life was meant to be lived, and curiosity must be kept alive. One must never, for whatever reason, turn his back on life”. – Eleanor Roosevelt

In Paris, which is one of the most beautiful cities in the world, I found myself always craning my neck and looking up. Up at the gorgeous architecture and the overly ornate doors that withhold centuries of history. Perhaps my borderline obsession with doors is the mystery of what lurks behind. Or else it is just the amazing diversity and beauty of them. Who knows, but for whatever reason I found myself unwilling to stop taking pictures of them. I was fascinated by each and every door I saw, old, new, plain or ornate.

Here are a few of the doors that captured my imagination the most.

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France TRAVEL BY REGION TRAVEL PHOTOGRAPHY
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Bon Voyage! A week in France….

“Above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don’t believe in magic will never find them.” – Roald Dahl

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Today I’m leaving for France and I’ll be honest, I can hardly contain my excitement, anticipation and joy. France holds a special place in my heart. I lived there twenty years ago twice, once in Paris as a student at the Sorbonne and the next year in Marseille doing a business internship at the age of 22.

I blossomed in France. I became a woman. The world was at my footsteps and I will always look back at my time in France as one of excitement, discovery, growth and joy. It was one of the best times of my lives, yet thankfully I have many other times that have also qualified for equally as great.

This trip will also be extremely special because not only am I going to revisit all of my most favorite, memory-ladden places, I will also be taking this trip with two extremely special people in my life: My mother and my sister.  Looking back now, although we have traveled a lot as a family I don’t believe we have ever taken a trip just the three of us.

Meanwhile, my wonderful dad is coming (in the place of my mother who has graciously watched my children for the last eight years while I’ve traveled with my dad) to help “babysit” the kids while my husband works. Should be an interesting time. I’ve already typed up five pages of detailed instructions. Looking over at the list, it is no wonder I’m always tired!

While I’m away, I am going to try my hardest not to blog. Instead, I’m going to focus on soaking everything in…the beauty, the architecture, the food, the people, and lovely fantastic Spring in Paris and Provence. I am convinced I will beat my record of 800 photos in a week. What do you think? I’m thinking it will be over a thousand.

So in the meantime, while I’m away, if you are missing my blog you can keep abreast of my pictures and trip via two other sites that I will be updating. You can follow me along on facebook and Instagram where I’ll be posting some of my favorite pics….

Thirdeyemom on Facebook

Thirdeyemom on Instagram

Here is a sample of my site…I’ve become a little addicted to Instagram lately as I love looking at photos so if you know any good ones to follow or you have an account, please let me know.

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I will also try to post one photo a day from my trip on my other photoblog, thethirdeyeworld. Thethirdeyeworld is the sometimes ignored and overlooked little sister of thirdeyemom. If you haven’t checked it out before, please feel free to do so and subscribe!

Sadly, this blog will be left alone with no posts until I get back! I promised myself I wouldn’t waste anytime inside my hotel room writing a blog post when I could be out enjoying France. So stay tuned! 🙂

A bientôt! 

France TRAVEL BY REGION
— 24 Comments

A walk through a market in Savoie

We arrived on our very last day in Savoie to see the town of Pralognan la Vanoise come to life with a glorious outdoor market. Every kind of fromage and saucisson you can imagine was available to sample and buy. If only I wasn’t flying back to the United States the next day, I would have gone hog wild! I am a cheese-aholic and can’t seem to get enough of the fatty, savory food.

Take a walk with me through the lovely market in Pralognan. If only pictures could be transported directly “chez moi” then I’d be in cheese heaven!

Au revoir La France! Until we meet again (which I’ll let you in on a little secret. It won’t be long! A trip is already planned for my mom, sister and I to meet up for a never-before mother-daughters trip to La Belle France this Spring!).

France Tour de Vanoise TRAVEL BY REGION
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The last hike

It has taken me awhile to complete my series of posts on hiking in Vanoise National Park, France. Although I’ve been busy writing about other stuff, sometimes it is hard to say goodbye to a lovely travel experience. I only have two posts left on this fantastic trip I took three months ago and only one post in particular in the mountains!

So here are views leaving the magnificent Alps and returning to civilization. When I look back overt all 800+ photos I took during this trip, I realize that my heart still remains in the mountains and I’ll be back….

Au revoir les Alps!

Adventure Travel France Tour de Vanoise TRAVEL BY REGION Trekking/Hiking
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Time to return to civilization

This post is a continuation of my series on hiking the Tour de Vanoise in France. This post follows the post “Our Last Night in the Alps at Refuge Peclet-Polset”. To read it, click here. 

As I always like to say “All good things come to an end”. Today would be our last hike in Vanoise National Park in the French Alps. It had been a glorious hike with lots of spectacular views and over 800 sensational photos to prove it. Yet, I was really ready to get back to civilization and get a good night’s sleep!

Our last refuge. I should have known it was going to be trouble.

Adventure Travel France Tour de Vanoise TRAVEL BY REGION Trekking/Hiking
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A Picnic Lunch in Paradise

Author’s note: This post is a continuation on my travel series hiking the Tour de la Vanoise. Somehow or another I had started this post and forgot to finish it! How dare it! This post should have occurred the afternoon before we arrived at our last refuge, Refuge Peclet-Polset, and should have been placed after my post titled “Into the Mystic”. 

Have you ever been in a place that felt like it was out of a fairytale? A place that brought back memories of being a child lost inside some fictitious fantasy land? Well that is how I felt when I climbed over the low-lying hill and descended upon our picnic place for the afternoon.

As I walked over this hill….

This is what I saw….

Adventure Travel France Tour de Vanoise TRAVEL BY REGION TRAVEL PHOTOGRAPHY Trekking/Hiking
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Our last night in the Alps at Refuge Peclet-Polset

We reached our last refuge for the trip, the Refuge Peclet-Polset around mid-afternoon. It was another stellar day awash in brilliant sunlight and perfect temperatures. We had heard from our guide Mark that this refuge was relatively new and “modern” as the old one had burned down. By the looks of it, modern meant ugly. It was poorly designed and felt like a shoe box inside with paper-thin walls, no ambiance or quaintness like the other, older refuges and many people.  As we entered the refuge to get our bed assignments I thought to myself “Here we go again. Another night of no sleep”.

So what did we do? Celebrate and have a good time!

Our group having an apres-hike beer at our refuge.

Adventure Travel France Tour de Vanoise TRAVEL BY REGION Trekking/Hiking