La dream team



Our MBA class at HEC Paris in France

2011 Salon de la Moto

The Paris Bike Show just ended. I'm not much of a bike expert so most of it flew right over me (I only recognized a handful of brands).

People (mostly men obviously) pay 12 euros for a chance to sit on a Ducati...


...have their picture taken on a BMW...


...or drool over some of the fancier models


Once you're back down from cloud nine, it dawns on you that pretty much every model on the floor is way beyond your budget.






They had a vintage section as well with some alien-looking older models




In the end, I liked this little Honda Zoomer the best

Nothing fancy, rugged, and no chrome (I'm not gonna get a bike so I can spend every weekend polishing it). 50cc (so no need for a license) and looks nimble enough to survive Parisian traffic. And at 2,600 €, it's almost affordable.

Album:

2011 Salon de la Moto - Burnout

To celebrate the end of the bike show, bikeshop Moto et Motards did a burnout on their Yamaha


Here they're giving the crowd a taste

More excitement

The big finale


The aftermath

Not much left of the tire in the end

...no sun up in the sky...♪ stormy weather ♫


Nature getting mad at Paris. Stood at the window for a good hour, got only one decent shot. Never knew catching lightning on film was this hard.

By the way, I was humming Stormy Weather the entire time.

La ligne 13


...can't...breathe...

Bastille Day

Update: the official video of the fireworks is up now (note: reload page if the video doesn't play).

Feu d'artifice du 14 juillet 2011 : l'intégrale par mairiedeparis

This year's Bastille Day fireworks show just ended. I remembered the crowds from last year and how you had to get there hours ahead to get a decent place, so I decided to watch the show from home this time around.

Disclaimer: my dinky camera doesn't like the night so, out of 50+ shots, I only got 4 decent ones.





The show lasted a good half hour. Here's a clip of the last minute of the show:


Call me a nerd but I thought the most interesting part of the whole thing was the very end where you can really notice how it takes at least a good 3 or 4 seconds for the sound to get to you. By the way, the people hollering are my French neighbors on my street, who are normally very quiet.

There goes the neighborhood...



New Starbucks in the neighborhood. As if Paris doesn't already have enough cafés. Well, at least it wasn't a McDonald's...

La Défense

A rare trip to La Défense (Paris' version of Manhattan).

Springtime in Saint Denis

Tomorrow's summer, so here's some pics to remember this spring by. No exotic locations this time. These were all taken within a mile from the office during my daily post-lunch stroll. Maybe that does make them unusual since Saint Denis isn't exactly the pretty of cities...











Complete album: