Christmas lights on Neville Island, Pittsburgh 2009

My son Dan lives on Neville Island. Located about 10 miles downstream of downtown Pittsburgh, Neville Island was used during World War II for construction of barges and over half the island is still industrial. Housing on the rest of the island runs from apartments built to house WWII workers to small frame houses to larger Victorians along the riverfront.

The residential part of the island is about 6 streets wide and maybe a mile long and it took us over an hour and a half to drive and enjoy the lighting displays. This neighborhood definitely feels more is better.

Nascar Santa and Motorcyle Santa were our favorites! It takes quite an imagination to develop Christmas decor to appeal to some buyers!

Lit signs and illuminated gifts were at a few houses.

This house won the "most" prize in our judgement. Even the 2nd floor deck on the back of the house was well decorated with blue lights.

I liked this Santa, a simple flat display, well lit with the shadow on the house. In the window you can just note a colorful Santa face.

One of the apartments had some reindeer and a projected image of Frosty right by the clotheslines.

Small houses were among the ones most covered.

This one is a Light Bright winner with two Frosty the Snowmen in the attic windows.

We saw only three creches.

I call this one dueling duplex. One side was into decorating and the other ran one strand of lights on the porch and had window lamps.

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One of many well decorated....or decorated well...you judge.

These two are not traditional. One was actually out of focus but I think it makes a great artsy shot. The other, the Christmas goose, was not lit at all, but caught my eye as we drove by and deserved attention.

Some houses were monochromatic.... I guess these people are having a blue Christmas.

Others were multi-colored but glowed darkly. I liked the way the siding reflected these lights

Candy canes were quite in vogue in many places on the island also.

Santa sleighs come in many kinds of construction now....the classic lights on metal frames and newer inflatables.

With many of these houses being quite small, the inflatables make sense for off-season storage!

Paris through Lisa's eyes

One our tour of the Left Bank with Richard, we passed a store that caught our eye and had to go in for a few moments. Inside hundreds and hundreds of teapots. The shop was pretty expensive and we saw teapots in other places that were as attracticve with much lower price tags, but this shop was spectacular just for presentation.

Another window in the 6th arrondissement caught our eye the first morning as we were walking to meet Richard for the first time. We ended up buying gloves later the next day at the Christmas market, but wow...what a neat display!

Anyone need a necklace?

Richard took us to see a friend's art show and across the street was this Chinese theater, in active use.

Luxemburg Gardens is the largest park in Paris and very close to where we stayed in the 6th arrondisement. The first day we visted the museum there for a gorgeous Tiffany exhibit. (I was amused we flew the ocean to see an American artist.) The next day, with Richard, we strolled in the park iteself, once the private gardens of the Queen. One building contained an Orangery, basically a hothouse for citrus trees.

Paris miscellaneous items

The streets in Paris were pretty clean. We saw some cigarette butts, but not that many. There are trash bins, mostly plastic bags hanging from metal loops, placed all over, helping people dispose of trash easily. Every other days or so we noticed people out sweeping the streets. First we noticed that there was water running in the gutters. Just below a storm drain there was a pipe at the curb that issued a stream of water, that ran down the street to the next storm drain. The street sweepers used the water to push along any debris, like cigarette butts, that lingered.

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We heard music as we were walking to Napolean's Tomb at Invalides and noticed a group of people gathered in the circle area in front of the church area. As we waited for a green light to cross the street we noticed this guy stop his sportscar and then start taking photos. With the music playing in the background it almost seemed like a car commercial but we think he either just got the car and was taking pics or he was planning to sell the car and needed pics to share. We did not ask.

The music was used to attract people to a demonstration. There was a gathering of nursing students with signs in the street in front of Invalides. They were protesting that their classes had been cancelled so they could help at the clinic to give H1N1 innoculations. We could not understand just what they were protesting.....the lack of classes, the fear of exposure to H1N1, or the fact that it was a nice sunny afternoon and they needed to be inside? We decided to move on into the museum when the police started to arrive.

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We saw a number of panhandlers who merely had outstretched hands or were shaking cups holding coins pleading for money. This guy was the only drunk we saw, lying in a small park in the 7th arrondissement as we walked from Invalides to the Alexander Bridge on our way to the Christmas Market. This is near embassies and a very good section of the city.

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Many people visit churches when they go to Europe, to view the architecture and art. We stopped in this one near the Pantheon, because I had been told about its fantastic rood screen. What caught my eye was this marvelous stonewalk for a staircase.

Note also the simple chairs with straw seats that are lined up and linked together in rows. No pews as we have in the US.
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We saw a lot of 17th century construction. Years ago I was a real estate appraiser in Connecticut and was given an assignment to appraise what was identified as the oldest brick dutch colonial in Windsor, Connecticut, one of the state's first towns. The house was built in 1635, just 15 years after the Pilgrims landed on Plymouth Rock. The architectural simplicity of the house in the New World is understandable given its location in a fairly raw colonial settlement, but it still is interesting to note the vast difference in ornamentation on these buildings in Paris.

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Left Bank streets and Pantheon at night.

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I love the architectural details that are so vibrant in older construction. Check out the face in the stonework above the door and how it is echoed in the door knocker.

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The French Military Academy, similar to West Point in the US, is located in the 7th arrondisement not far from the Eiffel Tower. We passed it walking from the marketplace to where the cooking lessons were held in Charlotte Puckette's house. Notice that the soldier in the picture taken through the fence is riding a horse. They still have at least ceremonial horse units.

These is the stonework in the road in front of the Military Academy.

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Chimney pots on top of buildings of the University of Paris reminded me of London.

The Marais

One of the former palaces that has an entrance to the Place des Voges from its rear garden is now used by the French government for offices.

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The Place des Voges was built for royalty and other VIPs as a series of identical facade palaces around a central square. Now the square has shops, restaurants, and apartments.

Through alley entrances we caught glimpses of courtyards leading to apartments and hotels. A glass doorway offered a view of a staircase leading upstairs to apartments.

When we visit these places, so much older than we are used to here in the US, we have to remember we are not visiting a museum, This is a modern city as well, with all kinds of family life going on. Here, in the central park area in the Place des Voges, a father and his three boys are playing soccer.

I love seeinig architecture as art. Here, in the Place des Voges covered sidewalks, the ceiling itself is notable.

Art for sale in galleries

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We came across a shop that specialized in Russian goods with the nesting dolls of all kinds and other elaborate items.

We also found a shop that sells absinthe.

Narrow streets and alley ways provide a glimpse of how many people now live and have lived for centuries in Paris. At the end of the street (also small pic below) is a horse trough, remnants of earlier days. The are to the right of Lisa, behind the black wrought iron fencing is a courtyard with a small memorial to a Jewish family who had lived on this street and were taken off to concentration camps by the Nazis during World War II.

At one time this area of Paris was surrounded by a wall. The remnant of that city wall can be seen in several areas, including as the side facade of this apartment building.