When I was young, we had slide shows ...

[blamebrampton]

A VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY to aldehyde ! May you and your fabulous new hair have a spectacular 2010, filled with fandom glee and decent weather!

And a slightly late but very happy birthday to jadzialove ! May this year be smooth and highly entertaining for you! And may all the people you beta for be as organised as joanwilder  ... I had a brilliant idea for a pressie, but failed miserably. So instead, here is a shot of where Draco could have ended it all if things had turned out differently in your present from the other year.
Poor bugger, he must have been very cold! I choose to believe the weather was better that year than this!

Which leads me to a brief picspam! There were many signs of the credit crunch around London, but also some of the boom period that had come before. I like to call this short photo essay from Belgravia: 'Old Money: New Money'





One of the silliest thrills of the trip for me, for the first ten minutes at least, was waking up one chill morning in Paris to look out the window and find that it had snowed. It gave a veneer of beauty to everything, here one of the Jardins (I think des Tulleries, but have the memory of a fish today) beside the Louvre was made marvellous with a few inches of snow dusting the sculptures.



It also brought out the humour of the city. While walking down the left bank, we encountered this little fellow: 


and were thoroughly charmed. pingrid , raitala  and I decided he needed a companion. 'He is Harry!' declared Pin, 'we must build him a Draco!' Alas, our intentions were not quite matched by the quality of the snow (this is our story, to which we are sticking) and after cries of 'Oh no! His head fell off!' and 'Pin, did you mean to make a snow cock?' this is what we ended up with:
So he was downgraded from Draco to Goyle.

One of my most hilarious adventures was visiting Versailles with Rai and Pin. Sadly, they are both reasonably tall and long legged, so I was trailling along stumpily, but here they are (excuse the coat bulkiness, it was a very cold day): 


Being us, we found the gayest painting in all of the palace, Pin howled down our suggestions that it could be depicting a father and son's re-union after battle, pointing to the onlookers and stating that they were obviously keen, no matter what the two main characters were thinking.


Back at the hotel, we were greeted enthusiastically by Isis the Hotel Cat, who thought we were demented to go out in that weather. Generously, she allowed us to warm our hands by patting her. SO GIVING!


Though much as I enjoyed Paris, and I did!, I regretted taking the time out from London. I fell back in love with London, before I was trapped in Paris. Walking about London so much, even if mostly on the way to one museum or another, brought me many reminders of its joys, not all of which were fabulous shops or artefacts. About five people will laugh as much as I did at this final photo, but for me, this Kensington family's Christmas decorations were absolutely, utterly perfect. Bugger lights and reindeer, tie a ribbon on the fo lions!



Comments

[deensey.livejournal.com]

Isis is adorable. As are the lions!

[vaysh11.livejournal.com]

Aw, Goyle is soooo cuuuuute!! As are the ribboned lions. :)

That pic of Rai and Pin in Versailles makes me envious all over again. *grumbles*

[anexiana.livejournal.com]

*grins at kitty and lions*
*gapes at Versailles*
*giggles at Goyle*
*hugs you*

[being-here.livejournal.com]

All hotels should have a cat! Great photos

[agreva.livejournal.com]

Isis is so cute and yay, for gay paintings!

This shows me how much I'm missing out having never traveled, or seen snow... One day, and I'll make a snowman with a penis too.

[phoenixacid.livejournal.com]

Penis!Snowman ahem, Goyle is the CUTEST snowman I've ever seen. Serious. He's so so... penisy. XD

Versailles looks amazing and Isis seems almost majestic, doesn't she? I love the lions and the ribbons! They are adorable.

Anyway, if you want to feel tall, hun, feel free to walk beside me for a day. I'm definitely more vertically challenged than you are.

[angela-snape.livejournal.com]

Lovely pics... the snowmen are fun.

[meredyth-13.livejournal.com]

apparently I am a complete slash pooper - I looked at that pic, and my immediate thought was 'Oh, there's a lady who has dressed up to hide in the army and be with her man - and he's just found her after a battle'.

*rolls eyes at self*

I dunno, there's just something about the shape of the body, especially across the back and side of bust, and the legs, and the cheek ... hell, all of it screams woman to me. I don't want it to, but it does.

I love your pics. We drove up to Mt Macedon on Monday, just to get me and my lungs out of the house for a bit, and it was beautiful, true Bowral-esque old estates and big trees and even patches of real green grass. All I could say to C was 'I miss Wiltshire'. Apparently there is no hope for me.

♥

[enchanted-jae.livejournal.com]

Isis is so cute! And I love that gay, happy painting!

[jadzialove.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the wishes -- late or otherwise, it's always nice to know people are glad you were born.

And the photo! Thanks for that. I'll admit my mental image is a bit more picturesque, but seeing the real thing is a kick. I just re-read that story before Christmas, btw, when I was wallowing in holiday woe. Draco helped. *nods*

[http://users.livejournal.com/_inbetween_/]

I was going to ask WHICH HOTEL COMES WITH COMPLIMENTARY CAT but I'll never in my life afford it, so I'll just enlarge all the pretty pics yealously, hi.

[grey-hunter.livejournal.com]

LOL downgraded to Goyle... just because he can't get it up?

[alex-s9.livejournal.com]

I want to go to London. NOW.

[shadowclub.livejournal.com]

!!! I want to see this painting! I have yet to go to London (it is on my to go list next year), but I really did enjoy Paris :)

Hahaha, Goyle looks a little skinny, but very amusing!