our trip to Paris

Last week I went to Paris, with my boyfriend and my two baby-girls Rosie and Viv.I brought along a new camera: Olympus Pen Ep1. It's a digital camera but with a lens and all kinds of wonderful features. For instance, you can select different kinds of art-settings, like PopArt (with ultra bright colors), Soft Focus and Pinhole. I know it is cheating and real photographers will probably laugh at me, but I love it! Some features are a bit eighties, like soft focus, but Pinhole lets me take pictures in a way that I love. I really admire the work of Brenda van Leeuwen (www.brendavanleeuwen.nl), and there's no way (no way!) these images look like hers. But they do reflect a bit the atmosphere she always puts in her images. A bit dark and moody (nice moody), and a bit dreamy.

We had one goal: to check out a new shop (kind of new), Merci, at Boulevard Beaumarchais 111. Tip: it is around the corner of Rue St-Claude. So don't start walking down the Boulevard on the wrong end (near Place de Bastille) like we did. Because it is a long, long walk and there's nothing nice to see. Unless you are a Harley Davidson-shop lover.

I love Merci! It is big and light. It is not overstuffed with products, they made a good selection of all the things they like. www.merci-merci.com 

It was a lovely day on friday, so we took the girls for a walk, through 2nd and 3rd district.