I spent a nice but chilly three and a half days in Paris, and had the chance to take some photos while exploring the city in the evenings. I didn’t have any room to pack my tripod, so some of the night shots don’t have stunning clarity, but they did turn out surprisingly well. Along with this archetypal photo of the Seine taken from a bridge that connects the 4th quarter to the Île de la Cité, my other favorites are Notre Dame against a twilight sky, the terrifically Gothic St. Jacques tower complete with spooky branches in the foreground, and Pont Alexandre III with Eiffel dressed in Christmas lights and her rotating beacon. They and other photos can be found in my photoset for the Paris trip.

The TGV rides to and from Paris were neat, as always. Timewise, it’s rather comparable to taking a plane: flight time is about an hour and a half, then you need to add an hour for check-in, plus another two or so hours for travel to and from the departure and arrival airports, as well as waiting to gather your luggage, which makes it about 4 or 5 hours in all. The TGV takes just over 5 hours, and train stations are in the city centers — no special travel or parking necessary! I prefer the train because it’s so much less tiring. It was a relief not to have to deal with luggage or security restrictions, and to be able to get up and walk around whenever I wanted. You also get beautiful views from the large windows.

I filmed two short videos with my mobile phone, the first on Monday as we travelled through Provence between Toulon and Aix-en-Provence, and the other just after we’d left Paris on Thursday afternoon — there had been a dusting of snow over the French countryside.

This afternoon I attended a performance of “Eugene Onegin”, an opera by Tchaikovsky, in Monaco. While “going to the opera in Monaco” may well seem tinged with a bit of snootiness, in reality, performances in the principality are often more reasonably priced than elsewhere.

Tomorrow I take a TGV from Nice to Marseille, up through Lyon and on to Paris. I’ll be in the city a few days on business, leaving the kitties in the capable hands of a pet sitter. If you’re interested, keep an eye on my photostream; I’ll be updating it with shots from my mobile phone while in Paris. Pictures taken with my DSLR will have to wait until my return to be uploaded.

I’m really looking forward to the long train ride — my company was sweet and got me first-class tickets. It’s 1,000km (about 620 miles) from Nice to Paris, which takes just over 5 hours by TGV. The TGV still runs “slow” (about 120kmh, or 75mph) from Nice to Marseille, but gets up to speed on the Marseille-Paris stretch, which takes only 3 hours. Marseille to Paris is 660km, or 410 miles. That makes for an average speed of 220kmh/137mph — keep in mind the TGV comes to a full stop in Lyon.

Once I stepped off the train in Nice this evening, the familiar woman’s voice announcing arrivals and departures came on with one that first caught my ear because of its very short train number: 19. I stopped dead in my tracks when I heard the train’s destination: Moscow. “Le train numéro 19 à destination de Moscou va partir.” It’s a new line that was put in place just two months ago: French Riviera train for Russia. With fares starting at about 300 euros, I’m sorely tempted to try it out some day. It’s anything but a fast trip though, at 53 hours!

I’ve been busy lately, and today was no exception — I went to Paris for a business meeting. Once it ended, I hopped on a metro to the Eiffel Tower, hoping to see it in the sunset. I didn’t have time to visit anything else in Paris, which meant that I could devote what little time I did have, to photographing more of the Eiffel Tower than I would otherwise. It was a beautiful evening, and as always, my breath was taken away by Eiffel’s gorgeous conjunction of imposing mass and fine grace. You can see more of the “Iron Lady” in my photoset from today.