starlight run: 2009

Sunday, December 20, 2009

Snow light

Just a few last shots, taken at around 4h35pm, at sundown

and the "shepherds delight" shot

Not the 20 inches we were expecting, not even 10 inches ... more like 8 inches .... but its nice to see the white stuff .... around Xmas ... for one day at least. Below is the back yard, and the amount of snow can be seen by looking at the table ...

Next we see the front of the house ... looking toward the driveway

Then turning right toward the front garden ... with route 202 facing us

And lastly the guardian of the snow .... Desdemona, Queen of the Artic surveying her domain

Sunday, December 6, 2009

The road home

As we headed back home, we became ensnarled in Holland tunnel traffic, in freezing temperatures, with snow falling (the first of the year), and New Jersey awaiting us. Here we make our way back from Chambers Street Wines where we had pick up some goodies - pinot noir from Alsace, nice earthy beaujolais from Cote de Brouilly, and others (including a nice port). Great store and nice people. I love the shot Nikki took below, with some color focus only on the lights ahead of us, and a nice B+W effect to the rest.

Next,a nice shot of a downtown bistro, or rather one of the few smoking lounges left in the city, down by Tribeca

Finally the entrance to the Holland Tunnel appeared ...

From there we were set.

Once in NJ, we stopped by Linden to get some Paulo Laureano Singularis portuguese red wine. Stocking up for Xmas as it's only $9.59 a bottle. Got the recommendation from my buddy in Lisbon, Vasco Ricardo, and have been grateful to him ever since, as it is a great wine at a great price.

What Stanley Kowalski really wanted ....

Saturday with Hockney

Went down to the city yesterday, to meet Jim Garfield, Peter Nunes and family/friends at the David Hockney exhibition. It's on at 2 venues, but we met at the Pace Wildenstein gallery (32E57th). It's opposite the Fuller building.

There was a great view from the 2nd floor, and despite the terribly sleety cold rain/snow, we had a good time. I'm sure that was not the same case for the cop, directing traffic, below.

"I wonder if his jacket is made out of goretex? hmmmm .. "

Anyway, back to art ...

Vivid colors of outdoor scenes from the English countryside. Below is a happy punter taking in the paintings, in their own time, behind the stairs.

all shots are taken by Nikki on her new LX3 camera;-)

Sunday, November 29, 2009

Monday in Paris

The highlight of the weekend, was eating at the Caves de Petrissans, on Avenue Thiel in the 17th.
They are open Mon-Fri, and have been since 1895. A business passed down from father to son. They are in the business of providing pleasure, and pleasure they do give.

Here is the window made up of bottles or parts of bottles ... pretty cool

Here is the interior, with Nikki taking a shot of the restaurant, the woman at left wondering what we were up to, while her lunch partner is enraptured by her and oblivious to the surroundings

A better view of the locals from our vantage point

A very nice Volnay from Boillot

Entree was a celeriac remoulade for Nikki, and slices of smoked duck breast on a bed of lentils for me

The menu ... and every dish was tempting

The dark and light chocolates with coffee

My muse and darling, beautiful, raison d'etre, Nikki

Sunday Dining in Paris

Not too much to hope that we would find some decent dining options in Paris? Well, while a lot of places are closed, there are some options. We chose la Grande Cascade ... housed in Napoleon III's hunting lodge (you didn't know that there was a Napoleon the 2nd, not to mind the 3rd, did ya .... but there was ).
Anyway, not to digress, but there is a very very nice restaurant, in an old hunting lodge, in the Bois De Boulogne (large park in western side of Paris where Rupert Everett used to do heroin with tranvestites, and yet he still managed to get up for work in the morning due to his strong naval upbringing --- here ).

Sumptuous surroundings and sensational food .... service was a little lackluster, but they did provide a velveted loofah upon which Nikki could place her handbag. The height of class, that.

The cast of characters that ate here on any one evening was enough to fill a Hunter S Thompson novella.

They have a (surprisingly for Paris) reasonably price menu, the "menu du marche", served lunch and dinner, for 86Euro, which includes 3 courses, plus 2 glasses of wine, water of choice, and lots of little extras such as amuse buches and ameuse geules ...
When you order the menu, you will have to deal with the inevitable sommelier and his "oh ... you are choosing the formula" ... and he manages to modify formula into a word of at least 7 or 8 syllables ... the formula being 2 glasses chosen from several different house wines (none too shabby I might add). All this from a man who probably could not afford to eat there himself normally ... but I guess he was just trying to push his product .... we are all pushers of one sort or another ...

More Pariggi

Well some assorted shots of wandering around with the locals .... or taking shots of whatever took our fancy. A lot of restaurants are closed on Sundays, so we had to take our chances with that was open. I had already booked us into the Grand Cascade for dinner, and then to an old favorite for lunch on Monday - Caves Petrissans in the 17th. But what to do for lunch. When we came across the Brasserie Lorraine, we felt sure that we would get a quiche here, as well as some soup. It proved to be just what the doctor ordered ... and Donald Sutherland was leaving as we sat down, so if its good enough for him, its good enough for us. Senor Sutherland looked resplendant in his old age, very much a movie star who ages well and has no need of botox or others little aids ... No pic ... sorry ... not really into celeb snapping ... let them eat in peace is what I say.
We had other things to do, such as marvellous Soupe de Poisson and some excellent Quiche Lorraine.

Sometimes, its just nice to sit and relax ...

Then off we went to walk and get some air. Nice street scene below.

some pesky local caught in our lens crossfire

you've got to hand it to the french .... in nyc we put all sorts of crappy posters around construction sites. Whereas here, they let artistic freedoms roll ..

The triumphal arc .... how resplendant she looks bathed in the soft winter light

and a very, very, cute cinquecento (how could I not post about cars ....)

Pariggi ... the city of luv ...

Arriving on sunday morning, we took the airfrance bus from CDG to Porte Maillot, where we were staying. The hotel Concorde La Fayette proved to be very central, and very comfortable for our short stay.
The hotel is the tower in the background.

snazzy walls ...

snazzy lobby ...

Le view, from our chambre ....

All in all, a lovely place to stay and get to know the western side of Paris ...

A380 - The Movie

Here is some film we shot ... the debut is a bit fuzzy as we prepared to shoot the Kips Bay Boys and Girls Club singers (charity that benefitted from gifts donated by each A380 passenger on the inaugural flight). Ignore the sneaky banner that that the lufty crew infiltrated into our movie ;-)
The kids were great really, and the flight was a blast. After the kids singing, we see some of my colleagues waiting around the gate area before the kickoff ...
Then the takeoff as seen from the large monitors. Note the mood lighting.
Photographers and documentary makers were marking the occastion for corporate posterity.
Our food was very tasty, with an irish chocolate or two thrown in ....

some more a380 shots

Here are the other shots we took of the plane, just for the aviation buffs. One thing to note was the engine noise is almost absent on board, the 39 second takeoff was exceedingly smooth, and the mood lighting (despite all my skepticism) really works well.

Here are some more shots

Amazing really ... such a large beast ...

And lastly a gratuitous shot of CDG airport, with its playful daffodil motif

A380 Inaugural flight from JFK 2 CDG

Last weekend we won 2 seats on the inaugural a380 on airfrance from JFK 2 CDG. Given 2 days notice, what better way to spend a weekend. Off on saturday night, arrive sunday, lunch with Donald Sutherland, dinner at Napoleon III's hunting lodge in the Bois de Boulogne, then a quick calf's head lunch with a spot of Volnay before flying back home. Spending 2 action packed days with your honey in the city of love --- priceless !!!

here is a shot of manhattan on the drive to the airport, with plan in top right hand corner