#paris, #cityoflight (at Centre Pompidou - Musée National d'Art Moderne)

Today marks the 12th anniversary of the tragic events that happened on September 11th. I can still remember that day vividly. I took this photo last year from Brooklyn Bridge Park, and I’m very proud to be a resident of this beautiful, resilient, hopeful, inspiring, and strong city. #neverforget

There is so much beauty everywhere in #Paris. I can’t get over it (at Place de la Bastille)

Banksy's Manifesto

An extract from the diary of Lieutenant Colonel Mervin Willett Gonin DSO who was among the first British soldiers to liberate Bergen-Belsen in 1945.

I can give no adequate description of the Horror Camp in which my men and myself were to spend the next month of our lives. It was just a barren wilderness, as bare as a chicken run. Corpses lay everywhere, some in huge piles, sometimes they lay singly or in pairs where they had fallen. It took a little time to get used to seeing men women and children collapse as you walked by them and to restrain oneself from going to their assistance. One had to get used early to the idea that the individual just did not count. One knew that five hundred a day were dying and that five hundred a day were going on dying for weeks before anything we could do would have the slightest effect. It was, however, not easy to watch a child choking to death from diptheria when you knew a tracheotomy and nursing would save it, one saw women drowning in their own vomit because they were too weak to turn over, and men eating worms as they clutched a half loaf of bread purely because they had to eat worms to live and now could scarcely tell the difference. Piles of corpses, naked and obscene, with a woman too weak to stand proping herself against them as she cooked the food we had given her over an open fire; men and women crouching down just anywhere in the open relieving themselves of the dysentary which was scouring their bowels, a woman standing stark naked washing herself with some issue soap in water from a tank in which the remains of a child floated. It was shortly after the British Red Cross arrived, though it may have no connection, that a very large quantity of lipstick arrived. This was not at all what we men wanted, we were screaming for hundreds and thousands of other things and I don’t know who asked for lipstick. I wish so much that I could discover who did it, it was the action of genius, sheer unadulterated brilliance. I believe nothing did more for these internees than the lipstick. Women lay in bed with no sheets and no nightie but with scarlet red lips, you saw them wandering about with nothing but a blanket over their shoulders, but with scarlet red lips. I saw a woman dead on the post mortem table and clutched in her hand was a piece of lipstick. At last someone had done something to make them individuals again, they were someone, no longer merely the number tatooed on the arm. At last they could take an interest in their appearance. That lipstick started to give them back their humanity.

Source: Imperial War Museum

The scene outside of our apartment window today. This place has a lot of #character. #lisbon #portugal #nofilter (at Lisbon)

#lisbon is pretty charming. #portugal #nofilter (at Lisbon)

Flying by #lisbon #portugal (at Lisbon)

Who let the #dog out? #lisbon #portugal (at Lisbon)

Je suis heureux! #sacrecoeur #paris #nofilter (at Basilique du Sacré-Cœur)

#alps (at Annecy)

#alps (at Chambéry)

I did not expect to be in the #French #alps this weekend, and I certainly did not expect to be stand up paddling on a #beautiful lake this morning. Sometimes it’s just best to be #spontaneous. If there’s anything I’ve learned in France so far, it’s that the French know how to truly live. #standuppaddle #SUP #frenchalps #chambery #france #nofilter (at Chambéry)

#french #alps #annecy (at Annecy)

Every time I go to #Paris, I notice these striking beams of light that shine down on the city. “A walk about Paris will provide lessons in history, #beauty, and in the point of life.” - Thomas Jefferson #eiffel #eiffeltower #france #nofilter (at Centre Pompidou - Musée National d'Art Moderne)

I finally got to see the #catacombs after my 3rd visit to #Paris. I waited 2 hours but it was definitely worth it. The catacombs hold the remains of about 6 million people and has been open to the public since 1874. A kid screamed “Oh my God!!” when he entered the room with the remains. I’m also impressed by the lowlight capability of the #Canon #5DmarkIII. This was shot handheld at f/2.8, ISO 8000, at a shutter speed of 1/10th of a second. “I see dead people.” (at Catacombes de Paris)

My new favorite thing to do in #Paris is to get lost while riding a bike. Tonight it really paid off! This is one of those #surreal moments that will be implanted into my memory forever. I guess I not only came here to eat, but to also capture the #beauty. Paris must be one of the most #beautiful, #magical, and #picturesque places in the world. Thanks @marc for turning me onto @velib! #magichour #sunset #france #eiffel #eiffeltower #seine (at Paris)

She looks so damn beautiful at night. Apparently, the Great Pyramid of Giza was the tallest man made structure in the world until the Eiffel Tower was built. Whether that’s true or not, you can’t help but marvel and stand in awe of her. Everywhere I go, there is so much beauty. I got lost riding my bike to Café Constant tonight, but fortunately I was able to use the #Eiffel #tower as a guiding light to get me there. I know that’s über cheesy, but at least it’s true. #paris #france #eiffeltower (at The Eiffel Tower)

Entering the Parisian vortex #paris #nofilter #home (at Paris)

Paris

I’m in Paris for an extended stay, forcing myself to be creative each and every single day that I’m here. I’m not quite sure what that means or looks like, but it should be interesting nonetheless. If anything, I’ll eat really well and drink lots of coffee.

My apartment in #paris. I like it already (at Rue Mayet)