Act 2 Interlude (Paris)

Last weekend I scooted off to Paris to visit Jen 'n' David. The Thalys service was used, a rather ridiculous train service that goes directly from Aachen to Paris in just over three hours, only stopping at Liège and Brussels. A good time was had by all, I think. I stayed at David's wonderful flat, and we wandered about Montmartre, the Marais, the Champs Elysées, the Cité des Sciences, the Jardin du Luxembourg and Gare du Nord, as well as having a few rather wonderful meals. Here are some photos:

A door in the Marais. All doors should be like this.

The Geode. A really big, reflective ball at the Cité des Sciences.

David and Jen in front of a red Thing at the Cité des Sciences.

David and Jen being statues at the Jardin du Luxembourg. I also have a movie of this, taken by accident while fiddling with the camera, which is quite amusing. Email me if you want to see it (or, in the case of David and Jen, if you're prepared to pay good money to prevent me from sending it to anyone else)!

David and me looking "pensive" in the Jardin du Luxembourg. David seemingly trying to avoid actually sitting on his seat. There was probably water on it.

This weekend is the closing weekend of the Karneval, an event I mentioned earlier in my blog. Monday is Rosenmontag, a day where, instead of going to work, everyone in Nordrhein-Westfalen dresses up as pirates and Red Indians, gets completely rat-arsed and then lies paralytic on the streets waiting for the police to come and clean them out of puddles of their own vomit. There's also a parade involved somewhere, I'm told. Personally, I'm going to go to work and take my chances with a few translations. Yes, I'm a wimp.

My Life (in multimedia)

Hello. Since I have no words for you at the present time, I'm instead going to present a view of my life through the media of sound and imagery. Sadly for you, I'm a crap photographer and have pisspoor taste in music. Hah.

First of all, here's a fun meme that I found on Facebook and will copy:

How to make the soundtrack to your life…

1. Open your library (iTunes, Winamp, Media Player, iPod, etc)
2. Put it on shuffle/random
3. Press play
4. For every question, type the song that's playing
5. When you go to a new question, press the next button
6. Don't lie and try to pretend you're cool...

Opening Credits:
Your Time Has Come - Audioslave

Waking Up:
Warm Tape - Red Hot Chili Peppers

First Day At School:
Wish I Had An Angel - Nightwish (haa...)

Falling In Love:
My Immortal - Evanescence (aah...)

Fight Song:
Where Do I Belong - Anastacia

Breaking Up:
Please Take Me Home - Blink 182

Prom:
Day In Day Out - Feeder

Life:
Stadium Arcadium - Red Hot Chili Peppers

Mental Breakdown:
This Feeling - Puressence (oh, that's so appropriate!)

Driving:
UR - Alanis Morissette

Flashback:
Something To Sleep To - Michelle Branch

Getting back together:
Yellow - Llama Farmers

Losing your virginity:
Cry of the Land - Skyclad (rofl!)

Wedding:
Rain King - Counting Crows

Birth of Child:
La Valse d'Amélie (Version Piano)

Final Battle:
Plasticine - Placebo

Death Scene:
Out of Exile - Audioslave

Funeral Song:
Brother Sleep - JJ72

End Credits:
Svefn-g-englar - Sigur Rós

So much for that. Here are the photos.

My house in Aachen. My flat is the middle balcony on the first floor.

A view of Aachen from the local high point. Although it's more a view of a lorry going along the motorway. Some day I'll figure out how my zoom works.

View the other way, across the fields towards the Venn.

View across the road from in front of my house. Again, need to figure out how to make the zoom work.

Again, view from the high point, this time towards my house across the old quarry that's been made into a sort of park. Finally, something completely different, taken at home on Twelfth Night 2007:

Next year we'll be getting a non-drop one.