A Nice Day by the Ocean (part five)

Sunset and beyond. Bringing this one day sequence to an end, I was debating if I should include this top one or not since it is pretty much the same time frame as the last post and fairly similar, but I guess it's different enough to be worth a look... and the sky is rather nice. The second shot was literally an afterthought; walking back to my car to head home, I still had my camera and tripod over my shoulder and for kicks decided to stop and shoot this last view which is well after sunset. Reviewing my "digital negatives", it was a really dark exposure and I had no intent to even process it, but with some spare time the other day I started to play with it and was fairly happy in the end, if only because it puts the whole setting for the previous shots in some perspective and adds just a touch of civilization at the end. Looking north toward the settled part of La Jolla Cove... you can see some high rise condos and the lifeguard station off there in the distance.
I was also able to work on some texture studies/abstracts of the rock patterns in between these other shots, but will save those for another day and end this series here... time to move on. All in all a very productive afternoon. Wish they were all so.

Thanksgiving in Paris

While riding the train from the Musée d'Orsay to the Eiffel Tower we noticed a young American couple, probably early 20's, riding in the same car. They were going to the Eiffel also; unfortunately, they were wearing only light clothing like you might wear around Southern California at this time of year and it's certainly not like California here in late November.. We came up from the Metro station to pouring rain and wind and probably 40°F at best. They didn't seem too concerned, but I doubt they ever made it into and up the Tower. We had parkas, umbrellas and hats and were still cold. Only one of the lifts was open and we had to queue up for at least half an hour in the rain and wind to get in. Many of the people in line, all tourists of course, were unprepared with no umbrellas and were like drowned rats by the time they got into the lifts. It was worth it though; the city was beautiful in the wet twilight and it actually stopped raining by the time we got to the top area, which is out in the open. Still cold though.

The mid level is partially covered so you can spend time looking out from there even if it is raining.

I'm sure the lighting on the tower is extra special for the holiday season.