Just outside the Paris Auto Show there was a nice small cafe that I had lunch at. I started with quite the appetizer, a plate of tasty oysters.

Then it was onto my main course, steak tartar and fresh greens salad. For some of you that aren’t carnivores the raw meat may look a bit unappetizing but my mom used to make me tartar sandwiches when I was young so this was definitely a treat and it tasted so good. I highly recommend trying it if you never have.

Parked outside our cafe was this odd looking car called the Zest. It was obviously decorated in a very unique and well, interesting, manner. The owner, who was an older Asian woman, has taken the art of pack ratting to her car.

On the topic of car (yet again), we never got the original Smart car which is way cooler than our smooshed version.

After lunch we took a quick stroll around the block and had stopped off at a fresh market. Check out the incredible variety and availability of meats at this stand! i wanted to buy something so bad but that meant me having to carry it around at the show which wouldn’t happen. Stinky!

If meat wasn’t your flavor there’s always fish. I need to find some markets like these locally.

Tempting but maybe some other time. Don’t you just love the dark red pigment to these peppers?

Pizza Hut delivery Scooters. Perfect for any city.

Before we knew it we had walked far enough to take the subway back to the auto show.

My feet were holding up pretty good considering the amount of walking I was doing.

I haven’t ridden the subway since I left Toronto and this one wasn’t much different other than the newer trains.

You can find coverage of the Paris Auto Show on practically every automotive website out there so here are my 6 favorite photos I took from the show in no particular order.

Several of us (journalists) couldn’t resist the urge to drive into the city and veer off the planned route to have a quick peak at the Eiffel tower. While Jonathan and I were staying the weekend most of my colleagues were heading back on Friday so this was their only chance to see the tower up close.

By some stroke of luck we happened to score parking just outside the park that leads up to the tower.

I didn’t take too many interesting pictures of the tower since everyone’s seen it a million times. Here’s my best and only one.

And a happy me in front of it..err I should say several hundred feet from it.

This toddler was oblivious to the large vertical standing structure to the left of him. Instead he was more interested in the grass and dirt beneath his feet.

I’ll leave you with a direct look up at the tower standing underneath it where the construction takes precedence of the shape and beauty of the structure.

Before actually spending time in Paris, a good portion of our day was spent roaming the countryside of France getting to experience it and the Lexus CT 200h.

There’s something that makes the coffee that the Europeans brew so much better than what we have back home. I’m not a big coffee drinker by any means (maybe because the of the substandard taste in North America) but i was consuming the coffee like it was water on this trip, with quite a lot of enjoyment I must add.

Add a perfectly made crispy apple pie and all of a sudden I couldn’t stop myself from eating several servings!

Life is slow in the small villages outside Paris, a stark contrast to the high paced life in the city. An old lady enjoys the view on a still moist bench in the village’s square.

Her view is of this castle up on the hill. Remarkable, don’t you think? I am always blown away that such structures were build hundreds of years ago. The attention to detail is as good and precise as it is today.

Even the wall is as straight as an arrow.

I’m not sure what this statue sticking out of the wall is used for but it’s craftsmenship is, like everything else, very impressive.

The car geek in me couldn’t resist taking a photo of this Peugeot 205. I vaguely remember this type of car from my short childhood in Poland. Europe is filled with older model hatchbacks such as these. I would have probably owned one in my lifetime if I hadn’t moved away, they’re crappy and slow but that connection with my childhood makes me want one.

How about this house? What can I say, it looks in superb shape and has a door that is really narrow.

Someone doing something inside a house but outside in their yard…I think.

Dockside I’m approached by a rather curious cat.

And then I sneak up on this quite colorful duck.

We pack up and leave the village heading to another. Just like in North America, the roads are being worked on in parts of the country as we encounter many construction zones in our travels.

What you don’t often see back home is this. A man carrying a baguette, in a suit. Oh how I already miss eating baguettes with deli meats and cheeses.

At the end of the cobble stone road is a house.

While walking around aimlessly we stumble upon this massive church and decide to go have a peak inside.

Chairs, lots of them. Instead of church pews the entire floor was lined with chairs.

The stained glass was as equally impressive as the statues scattered inside the church

I think this hold is a placeholder for glass jars that house candles inside them.

Oh how do you create such intricate masonry that spans 100 meters into the sky and several hundred wide? Time, lots of it.

I would feel bad if I didn’t comment on the 2011 Lexus CT200h hybrid before I get into my Paris posts as after all Lexus is the reason I was able to visit Paris. If you know me then you know that I like my automobiles fast and faster BUT and I capitalize that because I also do care about the environment and realize that hybrids are a great step towards improving the vehicles of today to be cleaner and more efficient.

I really didn’t know what to expect from the Lexus CT200h because it wasn’t exactly a sports car but it wasn’t a point a to b car either. It was so to speak a hybrid as it brought some soul to the driving experience with a good practical twist. The rear seats and hatchback design provide ample room for passengers and storage but let’s get back to what matters most, how it drives.

The CT200h is by far the best hybrid I have driven to date and it is actually quite peppy in the acceleration department, by no means fast but very adequate. The fact that it can get over 40mpg and be entertaining to drive gets a huge thumbs up in my books and if I were in the market for a hybrid this would be it no questions asked. Heck if I had to buy a car right now I would really consider the CT200h.

It’s Sport mode makes it fun enough to drive at a brisk pace and the EV mode, where it runs only on battery power, makes stop and go traffic a bit entertaining since you can see how long and far you can drive in EV mode before draining the entire battery and having the car revert to being powered by its engine. I found myself trying to get the best MPG any time I drove the CT 200h which isn’t exactly a bad thing.

I know I may sound a bit biased since Lexus did fly me all the way to Paris to sample this vehicle but in all honesty it’s a fantastic car that I highly recommend. Plus, it looks really good in my opinion. With some nice wheels and lowering it would be a real head turner.

I’ve neglected the blog for the past several weeks but not because of my laziness. I’ve been traveling and spent a week in Paris, France where I took many, many photos that I intend to post up here very shortly. Unfortunately, my jet lag has been forcing me to sleep very early at night and has given me no time to sit down and post up some photos here.

Never fear, more posts are coming shortly. I promised myself that today would be my last day of going to sleep at 9pm and that I would start being productive again.