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But alas, mid-August had arrived and it was time to head back to Paris...one more look out the kitchen window of the farmhouse in Quimper...

...and it's back to Paris to check out Paris Plage. From its inception in 2002, Paris Plage...or Paris Beach...has been a rousing success. It's amazing...the expressway along the Seine is closed to traffic for parts of July and August and is meticulously transformed into a beach...complete with sand, beachside cafés, concerts, pétanque courts, an olympic-sized swimming pool, exercise machines...anything and everything to make its  four million visitors forget that they are in a big city! It has improved each year...expanding to other areas of the city and including activities like kayaking and rock-climbing...all for free!

Then we were invited to a guinguette...the word itself loosely translates to "open-air dance floor", but guinguettes have come to personify a care-free afternoon of food, laughter, conversation, music, and dancing.

First you eat...lots of fried stuff...fried shrimp, fried potatoes, fried sardines...frites, frites, frites...to the tune of  strolling musicians.

You munch away knowing that in a few minutes, you'll be working off all those greasy calories on the dance floor.
 

...it's about this time that you begin to think that perhaps you really should have dedicated the afternoon to the website...but you didn't.

Another thing that we did in lieu of working on the website was attend the sixteenth version of the Concours Internationale des Feux d'Artifice...a prestigious contest held every other year in Chantilly.

Contestants from all over the world compete...with each team restricted by the same budget, theme, and background music. One, after another, for three evenings in a row, each has but fourteen minutes to try to put on the best display.

The team from Austria was declared the winner...but there really weren't any losers!

Another temptation to which we succombed was a trip to Senlis.

Just about thirty miles from Paris, the routière or bus station in Senlis gives little clues as to what lies in store...for just a short walk to the old town center brings you to a picturesque medieval village accented with Roman ruins.

Half of the twenty-something foot high protective wall erected in the third century AD is still standing and there were scenes of historical interest around every corner. 

August ended with the celebration of the Fête de Ganesha.

For the past thirteen years, the Hindu celebration of the Lord Ganesha...a diety with the head of an elephant...has created a colorful stir in one of the northern districts of Paris.

Invited to join a group of photographers to capture the event, we quickly said yes...once more putting the creation of a new issue of the website on the backburner. The parade of fruit offerings was capped-off by a tradition that involves the smashing of coconuts as a means to represent a new beginning...

...which of course resulted in everyone nearby being sprayed with "good-luck" bits of shell and coconut milk.

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