At the country side

This weekend was the first sunny and HOT weekend in a long time. So no reason to stay in Paris, instead we headed out on Friday night and went to a small town called Balay. On the way we ran into a really nice sunset / moonrise long the Seine in the town of Montereau-Fault-Yonne where the rivers Seine and Yonne.

Saturday and Sunday was spent swimming in a lake and climbing in the Fontainebleau forest.

Around Paris

It's always easy to find new and interesting buildings, paintings, and stuff in general when walking around Paris. On saturday I took a few pictures of a little street in the 10th arrondissement called rue Saint Marthe. This quiet street is lined with small colorful houses, restaurants and cafes.

Not far from there is l'Hopital Saint Louis and along its outer wall there were colorful murals made of paper. I particularly liked the gold fish.

Torino

Last weekend I left the city of lights for a relaxing few days in Torino Italy.

Torino is a city in the north west of Italy best known as the birth city of Fiat and it was the first Italian capital. The region around the city produces wine, cheese, and hazelnuts, which are then transformed into yummy gianduiotti chocolates (topic for another post). One of my favorite places in the city is Porta Palazzo probably the largest outdoor-markets in Europe. Here a whole week worth of fresh fruit, vegetables and fish can be bough for under 10 euros. It's a lovely chaotic place where the vendors scream to sell their products.

A bit further down the road is an ice cream parlour called Gelateria Popolare. This small shop sells gelato made with real fruit. The flavours are always varied and range from classic cream and lemon, to orange with cardamon and faire trade coffee. While I was there I had camera problems, so I did no take as many pictures as I would have liked.