My trip to Paris! That's why I was away the weekend!

[TT]

Ok, I think most of you noticed I was not around this weekend :)

That's because I was in Paris, for a superb week-end with my girlsfriend.

And you already know I love to share pictures and such with my friends, and that's why now you have to take something to drink, sit down on your favourite chair and keep reading :D

Right away the "why". It was partially for a romantic week-end since my girlfriend never went to Paris, but also because she wanted to attent the Paris Doll Festival 2004 (basically the biggest doll-related event this side of the pond). She is an artist and wanted finally to display her dolls not only on her website or eBay and also know in the flesh some of her online friends.
At first I was a bit scared by this part, but I changed my mind afterall :D

So, Paris beeing "only" 600 km away, and having lot of dolls to take with us, we simly couldn't go by plane or train. And I didn't want to rack up to many km on my car, so I decided to rent something.
And beeing a car nut, it's always nice to drive new cars :D
At first I reserved a Golf V at Europcar. it was already nice even if I don't really like the new look, but the day I had to take the car home, they asked me if I preferred maybe the new A3... HELL SURE! And so I got a shiny new Audi A3 2.0 FSI with just 2000 km on the odometer, in a very nice dark blue!

And here are some pics taken Thurday evening:

http://www.flytrap.it/public/ttsib/club/a3_01.jpg

http://www.flytrap.it/public/ttsib/club/a3_02.jpg

http://www.flytrap.it/public/ttsib/club/a3_04.jpg

http://www.flytrap.it/public/ttsib/club/a3_05.jpg

http://www.flytrap.it/public/ttsib/club/a3_06.jpg

http://www.flytrap.it/public/ttsib/club/a3_07.jpg

http://www.flytrap.it/public/ttsib/club/a3_08.jpg

Its color is way better in the metal, but well.. it's just to keep you awake LOL!

Anyway, after two sleepless nights, Friday morning my girlfriend was basically almost dead, so we set up at 8 am, she found the right position and just let me drive the 600 km :D pretty boring if not for the first 100 km with a nice and twisty mountain road.
We arrived easily at the hotel, very close to the "periferique", the highway that circumnavigates Paris.
Of course despite it was 2 pm there was no room for us even if it should have been ready for noon, but after a piss I managed to obtain one to depose our luggage.
And after that, time to set out for a romantic dinner near the Tour Eiffel at the Trocadero!

And here are a couple of pics took at night with the marvellous new "light-job"! Stunning! To bad it was raining!

http://www.flytrap.it/public/ttsib/club/paris00.jpg

http://www.flytrap.it/public/ttsib/club/paris01.jpg

http://www.flytrap.it/public/ttsib/club/paris02.jpg

But we were so tired and she still had to work on a doll on Saturday, so we prederred to go to bed as early as possible!

Saturday, another rainy and windy day, but time to visit the hot spots of the city :D

Notre dame de Paris
http://www.flytrap.it/public/ttsib/club/paris03.jpg

This one is another curch/catthedral near the Louvre, can't remember it's name but it's a nice one :D

http://www.flytrap.it/public/ttsib/club/paris04.jpg

And the Louvre itself
http://www.flytrap.it/public/ttsib/club/paris05.jpg

http://www.flytrap.it/public/ttsib/club/paris06.jpg

The Tour Eiffel seen from the garden of "La touillerie"
http://www.flytrap.it/public/ttsib/club/paris07.jpg

The Sacré coeur, or Sacred Heart, as seen from the back
http://www.flytrap.it/public/ttsib/club/paris08.jpg

The small and charming little streets of "Montmartre".. typical turist's trap ;)
http://www.flytrap.it/public/ttsib/club/paris09.jpg

http://www.flytrap.it/public/ttsib/club/paris10.jpg

The Sacred Heart from the front now
http://www.flytrap.it/public/ttsib/club/paris11.jpg

The "Arc du Triomphe"
http://www.flytrap.it/public/ttsib/club/paris12.jpg

I also shoot some very nice cars in the 5 min I spent there:

As these two for instance ;)
http://www.jabbasworld.net/photopost/data/504/83col309bmw645ci.jpg
http://www.jabbasworld.net/photopost/data/504/83col308bentelycontinentalgt.jpg

And down along the "Champs Elysées"
http://www.flytrap.it/public/ttsib/club/paris13.jpg

And what about those smartasses? I wonder where you can rent a segway in Paris!!! Great idea!
http://www.flytrap.it/public/ttsib/club/paris14.jpg

Louis Vuitton's store had a rather terrible "facade"!
http://www.flytrap.it/public/ttsib/club/paris15.jpg

The Opera
http://www.flytrap.it/public/ttsib/club/paris16.jpg

And now a couple of crappy pics of the doll convention on Sunday:

In this one BTW you can also see the very small stand my girl had there, botton left, beside the guy with the white shirt. Seems so small but it was nice to see it crowed with people interested in her work most of the time!
http://www.flytrap.it/public/ttsib/club/paris17.jpg

There was lot of people there!! Would have never wondered!!
http://www.flytrap.it/public/ttsib/club/paris18.jpg

Anyway, not to brag or whatever, but my girl was fucking successfull in Paris! She sold almost all of her dolls! Only 2 came back! Needless to say that weekend was worth lot of money! One Of A Kind dolls are pretty expensive, and despite the low prices she put on them for this occasion, when you consider a Barbie sized doll went for 200 Euro, a nude "big doll" (16 inches) for 250 and a dressed big doll for 300... well, as I said, lot of money for a single day of businness!! :D
And for her it was even better because even the editor of a famous US magazine bought a doll and commissioned a second one. And promised a feature on the magazine too.. that mean lot of pubblicity but most of all, that made her proud since there were some of the big names there!
And last bragging line.. she also won one of the three contest there were that Sunday! She completed the doll she entered after the last sleepless night, adding the last details Sunday at 8 am!

Crappy pic of the doll and price I just took it 5 min ago and the light was terrible. She will take her "official" pics later but I doubt somebody is interested LOL!
http://www.flytrap.it/public/ttsib/club/paris22.jpg

Guys, as always I will be pointed out as girly or whatever, but enjoyed the day. The atmosphere was great, everybody so friendly, no competition at all, just respect and friendhip.. something so rare these days!
For sure in 2005 we will be there again and I already can't wait LOL. It's thrilling to see people coming at the stand, asking infos, taking the visit card with her infos on them, asking for prices, making offer or asking for commissions and so on! And since I was in charge of the public relations in english, I had to deal with many customers as if I was a doll expert too! :D yes diggy, you can laugh now :D

Back on planet earth: the remaining luggage into the A3 again and a gloomy pic shot in the hotel's garage:

http://www.flytrap.it/public/ttsib/club/paris19.jpg

To leave Paris was a nightmare and I almost had to knock on zippo's door to find my way since I left the "periferique" toward north instead of south! And "bruxelles" roadsigns began to pop up!!!!!! so basically we left Paris at 8:30 PM and we arrived here at 2 AM after 600 km with cruise control engaged and a steady 140 km/h (some 90 mph)!

And here is the odometer at the end of the trip, in front of Europcar:

http://www.flytrap.it/public/ttsib/club/paris20.jpg

Bye bye Audi A3! You can also see how I had to come back home at 2 am LMAO!
http://www.flytrap.it/public/ttsib/club/paris21.jpg

Thanks for reading and I hope it was worth posting :D

[corvette97]

nice triop TT, now u made wanna go to europe again !!!! :P :P

I'm jelous :(

[gis]

very nice review of your trip TT.nice pictures,all of them and of course big congratulations to aleks for the award and success of her talent :D

[Tomerville]

Does she design the dress the doll wears herself? Wow, it looks elaborate. Yeah, it makes me miss Paris. You guys must have had fun...im jealous! :D

[oscargarza88]

that sound like fun, in paris with ur gf....
and i didnt know the doll market was so famous, and expensive, i also miss europe..., the small towns and all that

[666fast]

Glad to hear you made it there and back in one piece! I'm also glad to hear you had a goodtime! There is nothing worse than a crappy trip somewhere.
Make sure to tell your girlfriend congrats for me! I bet she was pretty excited to hear that she had won!
I'm no doll expert, but she seems pretty damn talented!
Excellent pics, It's always interesting to see pics of other cities. One of these days I'll have to visit Paris. Seems like a beautifull place. It's definately on the "places to go before I die" list! lol

Welcome back TT!

[TT]

Thanks guys for the nice words and sure I transmit everything to her too :D When they called their name after the infamous "and the winner is", she almost fainted :D and she didn't want to go on the podium LOL!

oscar, the doll marked is DAMN expensive! On ebay you can find very often repaints (nude dolls with just the face repainted) from the famous artists going for 500, 1000 and above for stuff like LOTR inspired dolls and so on!

And yes Tom, she designs and sew all the gowns by herself of course :)

And draak, yes Paris like most of Europe's capitals is a must see!

[Zonda11]

Nice country....but these cars...what to do about these cars? http://www.flytrap.it/public/ttsib/club/paris04.jpg

[oscargarza88]

Thanks guys for the nice words and sure I transmit everything to her too :D When they called their name after the infamous "and the winner is", she almost fainted :D and she didn't want to go on the podium LOL!

oscar, the doll marked is DAMN expensive! On ebay you can find very often repaints (nude dolls with just the face repainted) from the famous artists going for 500, 1000 and above for stuff like LOTR inspired dolls and so on!

And yes Tom, she designs and sew all the gowns by herself of course :)

And draak, yes Paris like most of Europe's capitals is a must see!
so she just buys the body and she makes all the details and clothes? is all are hand made how can she keep up with the demands?

[coloradosilver]

Looks like you had a great time. I leave for Paris in about 2 weeks. I'll only have 2 days there, what are the best things to see in your opinion TT? Anything that you saw that you thought was neat that you didn't list? Oh will the Eiffel Tower still be lit up in a few weeks of was that just a special thing. It looks awesome like that!! Any tips would be appreciated. 8)

[BADMIHAI]

Awesome trip, TT!

BTW: I hate you! You made me miss home sooooo much! :cry: :cry: :cry:

[Toronto]

TT adventures in PARIS, very nice pick, I have been there once b4, never liked the smell....

Hope u had fun

[novass]

Nice pics TT!! I love Paris, I was there about 4 years ago and I want to go back. Fuck, I just want to travel.

[DeMoN]

Nice to have you back TT! Glad to see you had a great trip. It makes me wanna be with my GF. It makes me think even further about you being a machine. Having a long drive and exhausting vacation, come directly to JW!

[Chaos in 1983!]

Congratulations to you and your girl!!!...I see you had a good weekend too!...I'm glad she was succesful...

Paris is amazing!...I've been there various times, but only once I've been able to go out to the city...I love how it looks at night! it's spectacular!...I LOVE to travel...most of my savings are done for traveling...but my next trip to Europe will have to wait 'till I get out of college in 2 years or so...

Again congrats to your girl! :D

[troskap]

Sheesh TT, a brisky and busy weekend, but a worthwhile trip, for both you and your girlfriend :) Congrats to her for her well earned prize, and her success (and in part, yours as well) at selling dolls.

Just makes me wish I were in more of a position to travel around. Gads, I wouldn't mind scooting around Europe, for one. Damn winning lottery ticket, where are you? :x

[RC45]

Welcome back and all that...

Did you say nudes?

[spd]

wow, what a trip, I think you should spend more time at Paris, only a weekend is not enough :lol:

[adlinyusman]

so that's where the quote about your girl's barbie came from....it all makes sense now. :)

Paris is so beautiful at night, and i'm glad you're back, it was becoming rather quiet for a while there...

[McLarenF1God]

Smart cars and Segways are leading the way I see. I'm glad I don't collect dolls.

[666fast]

Smart cars and Segways are leading the way I see. I'm glad I don't collect dolls.

You just collect action figures right? :wink:





GI Joes rocked, untill I flipped my bike over and ground their heads down on the tire.

[yg60m]

Congrats to you and your gf TT, happy to hear that she sold well in Paris and that your trip was nice (except the périph. mistake but it's hard to navigate on when you're not accoutumate !! ). :D
Welcome back !

[cho_888]

looks liek you had fun! things couldnt have gone better for you. that A3 looks nice, i like it alot

[Fleischmann]

Shit, that A3 looks cool in that colour. And not a bad top speed :)

[DR.GONZO]

those are some great PICS looks like a blast I like the pic with that tower lit up!! :D

[TT]

Thanks to everybody :D

so she just buys the body and she makes all the details and clothes? is all are hand made how can she keep up with the demands?

Yes, you can buy the nude dolls. Then she remove the original paint (eyes and lips) and re-do it completely (that will take just some hours). Then it's time to sew the gown. she has some patterns around for the main parts, but then there is all the beading work, all the manual sewing, trimming and so on.. the details as shoes, purses and jewelry... it's time consuming yes, but a couple of doll/week are doable :D

coloradosilver (BTW, I'd like to come to Colorado one day!) - two days in Paris coming from US sound like a crazy bet LOL! For me it was not the first time so it was easier to skip things, but well, the "must see" are for sure the Tour Eiffel (and the lights are one maybe untill the summer, but we need yg60m or some other french to answer that). To be able to visit the Louvre is also cool but you should count at least an half day for that alone :( Of course you can pass by Notre Dame beeing basically in the center of the city.
Another great place is the Sacré Coeur and Montmartre very charming!
For a change there is also the "Lavillette", a "science museum", always interesting.
And for some shopping (even if not cheap), the "Galleries Lafayette" are the biggest place there. Some sort of Harrods.
Also a romantic trip on the river with a boat is a nice way to enjoy the town.
But basically you can't go wrong in Paris :D everything is so nice :D

Nice to have you back TT! Glad to see you had a great trip. It makes me wanna be with my GF. It makes me think even further about you being a machine. Having a long drive and exhausting vacation, come directly to JW!

LOL, at least when we came home I went straight to bed and logged in only the day after :D

(except the périph. mistake but it's hard to navigate on when you're not accoutumate !! )

What a nightmare it was!!

But you have to hand them and their parking methods :p Everybody leaves of the handbrake and they park fender to fender, as close as possible to the one in front or back of then. Then if somebody wants to get out, just a little on the trottle pushing the cars in front a little more forward or those in the back a little more away and out they are. Great to see it

Yes, I wanted to take pics because it's really like that! And yes, it's funny as long as your car is somewhere else :D

[1zippo1]

thx for the report TT. Makes me want to go back to paris in the near future... Been there about 4 times but it has now been euhm, 8 year ago so. I love Paris but it is very expensive of course and I wouldn't like to go there with my own car.

By the way, how is that 2.0FSI engine. It should be pretty high-tech... is it as good as your 2.0 bmw engine?

[ARMAN]

Glad to see you back TT :wink: This doll is beautiful art work! :shock: Very nice work!

[TT]

thx for the report TT. Makes me want to go back to paris in the near future... Been there about 4 times but it has now been euhm, 8 year ago so. I love Paris but it is very expensive of course and I wouldn't like to go there with my own car.

By the way, how is that 2.0FSI engine. It should be pretty high-tech... is it as good as your 2.0 bmw engine?

Hehe you're not that far away! How many km for you? You should go again for sure :D
And yes, it's expensive, but big cities always are :(
Anyway if you don't want to go crazy, there are plenty of good and cheap hotels just on the "peripherique". ours costed some 200 € from Friday to Sunday. Sure it was not 5 stars, but we didn't stay in our room that much :D

As for the 2.0 FSI engine... sure is a nice piece of technology, modern and such.. and not to thirsty! With my car I should have stopped before arriving in Paris to put some petrol in, while the A3 did easily 650 km.
But well.. it's a 4 pot engine.. mine is a straight six... the sound of the 2.0 FSI unit is nothing special.. kind of boring, little noisy even inside and not charming at all... anywhere in the revs... always kinda lame... while mine is way better IMO, sure very noisy, but at least it's a nice sound :D
But still, the A3 was a great car. Pretty good standard seats BTW: supportive, not to soft but still good for 6 hours non-stop as I did.

[possessed_beaver]

TT, is the trafic rely that bad, like jeremy clarkson commented on, during his trip around europe?

[1zippo1]

Hehe you're not that far away! How many km for you? You should go again for sure :D
And yes, it's expensive, but big cities always are :(
Anyway if you don't want to go crazy, there are plenty of good and cheap hotels just on the "peripherique". ours costed some 200 € from Friday to Sunday. Sure it was not 5 stars, but we didn't stay in our room that much :D

As for the 2.0 FSI engine... sure is a nice piece of technology, modern and such.. and not to thirsty! With my car I should have stopped before arriving in Paris to put some petrol in, while the A3 did easily 650 km.
But well.. it's a 4 pot engine.. mine is a straight six... the sound of the 2.0 FSI unit is nothing special.. kind of boring, little noisy even inside and not charming at all... anywhere in the revs... always kinda lame... while mine is way better IMO, sure very noisy, but at least it's a nice sound :D
But still, the A3 was a great car. Pretty good standard seats BTW: supportive, not to soft but still good for 6 hours non-stop as I did.

I just did a search with autoroute. It's 394km from my home, 3 hours and 30 min with the car. I surely will visit Paris again, but they're so much I still want to do :D one of the places I would like to visit next is Rome, maybe this summer when I go on vacation in the North of Italy I'll try to reach Rome. My parents are going for a week to Rome in a couple of weeks.

Thanks for the info about the A3. Very interesting. It's hard to do better then bmw's straigth 6's... but I've heard good thing about that 2.0FSI engine. I like the looks of the new A3 and I prefer it above most other hatches... I'm curious what the 3door astra will be like. That could be a very nice one too. My dad is going to the launch of the new Astra this friday... too bad I can't go with him.

[stevert]

cool stuff, looks like you had a good time TT, and congrats to your lady on her prize :)

[TT]

TT, is the trafic rely that bad, like jeremy clarkson commented on, during his trip around europe?

Sure it is! Paris is terrible traffic-wise! The big loop around the city is ok just at night, while during the day it's a total mess. LOT of cars, still no accidents because everybody is used to that, and although cars change lane every second, it's still "fluid"... but it's terrible yes. And in town it's even worst :D

Luckily the metro is perfect to go everywhere so basically you can go anywhere way faster with it... but I guess all the cars around are driven by peopl living outside where it's more complicated to go with public transportations

[TT]

LOL thanks for the offer :D in effect I was not to scared to go toward Belgium since I know there are many friendly JW members there :D

[stradale]

Good to hear your weekend in Paris was great. I visited it for a week some eight years ago and saw all the typical tourist hotspots in your pictures as well. I loved it, BTW. The way Parisians park is something else. When I was there I remember the old Mini (equipped with small Bull bars for better parking abilities of course) being very popular with Parisians. Is that still the case?

Congratulations on your girlfriend's succeses! As you already told us she stood a good chance, but I can imagine it still being very exciting. I always find bourses full of people with the same passion to have a very good atmosphere. It reminds me of those on car models.

[draak666]

TT, don't hold back the Moulin Rouge pics. :D I'm sure you've been there, cause it's a great place to pick up inspiration for the dolls. :mrgreen:

I was pretty amazed to see that they still haven't removed the Christmas decoration on the Eiffel tower.

[FoxFour]

Nice story. The next time I go on a trip, think I will do the same thing you did. Take pictures and tell about my travels. Too bad it was cloudy when you got there. Oh well, a bad day in Paris is better than a good day at work!

[TT]

It reminds me of those on car models.


Oh, I'd like to attend a big one someday!


TT, don't hold back the Moulin Rouge pics. I'm sure you've been there, cause it's a great place to pick up inspiration for the dolls.

I was pretty amazed to see that they still haven't removed the Christmas decoration on the Eiffel tower


LOL no time for the Moulin Rouge, really :D

As for the light decoration, wasn't it for an anniversary of the Tour?

[stradale]

It reminds me of those on car models.


Oh, I'd like to attend a big one someday!


The biggest one in Europe is held about six times a year in the Netherlands, Houten to be precise. So I guess that would be a little more than 600 kms. :wink: According to NAMAC, the club that organises it, around 4,000 people visit each time and the metres of display tables add up to over a kilometre. If you ever get the chance to there, do it. I regularly visit with my dad and you can find just about everything you're looking for. TT, you would probably spend a small fortune there, even though prices are much better than in shops...

[TT]

Dang, I'd really like to attend it but it would be to much to handle I think :D

[gis]

i wanna go to that model one,i think id need to be carried out in the end,lol

[stradale]

I've seen Brits there, so you wouldn't be the only visitor from across the channel. There are also Belgians, Germans, Frenchmen and even an Italian guy that comes every time and has a stand to sell models.

gis, you'd need a forklift to get all your newly acquired 1/18's out of the building. :wink:

[Chingachgook]

I went ot Paris 3 years ago with the school and it was fantastic! Shame me and one of my friends hadn't the opportunity of rent a Kart and drive it in Rene Arnoux track! But Paris was incredible, beautiful! Shame I hadn't seen any good car

[Jabba]

Excellent write up TT that I enjoyed reading very much...congrats to your gal..... 8) 8) 8)