I stayed at the hotel 2km away from Mont Saint Michel and went back to Paris the next day. I took bus from the hotel to Rennes station and TGV to Montparnasse. I didn't plan anything for the day as it was already late afternoon when I got to Paris and my flight back to Helsinki was quite early next morning. In addition, I had my small suitcase with me and the hotel was at the airport which was not close to Montparnasse. But, luckily, there were coin lockers at the station and I decided to go shopping to the Galeries Lafayette (not the one at Opera, but the smaller one just in front of Montparnasse station) and noticed that I could go up to the top fo the Montparnasse Tower. After shopping for a while, I took the elevator to the top of the tower, the 59th floor. Views from there was amazing! I could see all over Paris, the Eiffel tower, Pantheon, the Louvre, the Notre-Dame…It was absolutely beautiful! 

There were still a couple of hours till sunset but I wanted to stay there till the Eiffel tower was illuminated. It got bit cold and was windy while I was waiting for the sunset. I left my coat at the coin locker as it was such as wam day and I didn't have any drink or book to spend time… But I have to say it was worth waiting!!! The illuminated Eiffel tower and the city of Paris! I loved the view : )

モンサンミッシェルに1泊した次の日に、今度はレンヌからTGVでモンパルナスに戻りました。モンサンミッシェルからパリまでは結構遠いので着くころにはもう午後4時過ぎ。翌日の朝早いフライトでヘルシンキに戻る予定だったし、小さいながらもスーツケースも持ってるし、パリではなにもする時間がないかもと思っていたけれど、モンパルナスの駅でコインロッカー発見。そして、遠くに行かなくても駅前のギャラリーラファイエットでちょっと買い物でも・・・と行ってみると、買い物だけじゃなくて、遠くに行かなくてもモンパルナスタワーの展望台があることを発見。ギャラリーラファイエットをぶらぶらして、展望台へ。絶景！エッフェル塔、ノートルダム、パンテオン、モンマルトル・・・パリ全体を一望！せっかくだからサンセットを待ってライトアップされたパリの風景を写真に撮りたい！でもサンセットまで2時間以上・・・というわけで2日連続サンセット待ち。

飲み物も、本も、コートも持たずに展望台に上がってしまったので、暇だし、喉が渇くし、風が強くて寒いし・・・　そして三脚もロッカーの中・・・それでも私の新しいキヤノン、がんばってくれました。なにもしないでエアポートホテルに向かってゆっくり休んで翌朝、早くヘルシンキに戻る・・・というのがおおまかなプランだったけど、意外な展開。今回のパリ、いつものと違うエリアに行っていつもと違うけど素敵なものを楽しみました。それはヘアカットだったり、おすしだったり、素敵な夜景だったり・・・パリはいつ行っても素敵な場所なのです。

ちなみにこの展望台、56階にあります。夏の間は朝の9時半から夜の11時半まで、冬は夜の10時半までです。

Jan 4, 2010

2009 has gone quickly with some lovely trips! I'm not sure if I'll ever write about all of them in detail remembering what I saw and did but the photos can tell us how beautiful places I visited.

In summer 2009, I printed out a map of Europe and marked the countries and the capitals where I'd been to see where I hadn't been. It was my plan to visit all European countries while I live in Helsinki.

I realized I hadn't been to Ireland though I had been to the UK many times. So I booked a ticket and flew to Dublin. I wanted to go somewhere beautiful in the nature and looked at the photos in the Lonely Planet. I chose to go to the west coast and checked the train schedule and local tours. I went to Galway by morning train and joined the Galway tour, the first day to Connemara & Cong, and the second day to Cliffs of Moher & Burren. Though it was rainy and windy on the both day, I was glad to see many beautiful places and met some fun people in the tours. I wish I had more time to take photos. But one has to compromise when it comes to a group tour! Photos I took there are at

http://smileyumi.typepad.com/photos/200909_irelandwest_coast/index.html

One of the other unmarked places was Iceland! I imagined it would be magical there. I asked Japanese friends living in Helsinki and we all decided to go there on Christmas holiday. Well, it was magical indeed. We went Geysir and Gullfoss and happened to go through the Pingvellir National Park. We even didn't know about the National Park but it was on the way to the famous Geysir and the frozen water fall (during winter), Gullfoss. And we enjoyed Blue Lagoon hot springs : )  Photos are at

http://smileyumi.typepad.com/photos/200912_iceland/index.html

We also could see the Northern light and I took many pictures. I'd like to upload the photos with some commentary later. I think it's fun to write about our excitement with the photos.

And this morning, a fried was asking if I was interested in going to see the Season of Light 2010 in the Helsinki city center. Yes, I wanted to go to see it! And it was excellent. Photos are at

http://smileyumi.typepad.com/photos/201001_helsinki_light_sho/

May 29, 2006

I came back from a trip to Hong Kong yesterday. Last day was quite rainy and windy there.

In Hong Kong…

Combination of the beautiful sky and the skyscrapers was fascinating! A view from the peak was breathtakingly beautiful!

Both shopping from street vendors and window shopping at luxurious shops were fun. And food was yummy and cheep!

Pictures I took in energetic and beautiful Hong Kong: http://smileyumi.typepad.com/photos/200605_hong_kong/index.html

(Japanese)

昨日香港から帰ってきた。朝早い飛行機に乗った最終日は雨でとても風が強かった。

香港で…

美しい空と高層ビルの組み合わせが印象深かった。山頂から見た景色は息を呑むくらい。町の屋台風な店での買い物、高級デパートでのウィンドウショッピング、どちらもほんと楽しかった。そしておいしくて安い食べ物がたくさん…

活気にあふれて美しい香港で撮った写真：http://smileyumi.typepad.com/photos/200605_hong_kong/index.html

(26日のポストに日本語を追加しました。)