PHO

New site (2)

2008-03-24T21:22:00.000+01:00

Referring to the below post, answering some questions and possibly making it more clear: This site will still be here, but not anymore in operation. All new posts will be on my new site, which you can find HERE.

New site

2008-03-23T16:02:00.008+01:00

This site has now been in operation for exactly one year. Some 350 posts. Thanks for all your visits!

I thought it was time sto start a new one.

So, if you hopefully wish to continue reading my posts, please go HERE!

La Butte aux Cailles (1)

2008-03-21T00:01:00.001+01:00

Yesterday, I talked about water sources, including one at La Butte aux Cailles (the “Quail Hill”), Place Paul-Verlaine. La Butte aux Cailles can be found a few paths from Place d’Italie (13th arrt.). In the surrounding you can find a lot of dull modern apartment buildings from the 60’s and 70’s, but this little area has been well preserved, probably due to difficult ground conditions.

A small river, Bièvre, used to pass by at the bottom of the hill (today the river is underground), limestone mining and dyeing industry seems to have been rather dominant and on the hill you could find a number of wind mills. The area was annexed to Paris in 1860. Important battles took place here during the Paris Commune (1871). It remained a working class area until rather recently, but... there is soon no more "working class" living in Paris - too expensive. This is in my taste a fabulous little area, a small Montmartre – without tourists. (Sorry, I have nothing against kind tourists, but…).

There are a number of things to say about La Butte aux Cailles and I will do it in two or three episodes.

You can reach the “Butte” in different ways, but I chose to climb some stairs just in front of the metro station Corvisart. The birches have got their first leaves. (See top picture.) You reach a small playground. I then headed for the central place, on top of the hill, Place Paul-Verlaine, where we find our spring water and the public swimming bath, built in 1924 (see yesterday's post). This is also the spot which was reached by the first ever human flight, by a “montgolfière”, coming from La Muette (16th arrdt,) some 9-10 km (6 miles) away. (See my post February 08). You can find a small memorial.Opening to the place is also a school, founded in the middle of the 19th century by the Sisters of Saint Vincent de Paul. It was originally thought for the professional education of girls of modest origin. They were taught the ladies' professions of those times; they prepared even dresses for Queen Victoria! Today, it’s just a “normal school”. The place is full of narrow streets, small houses, small private gardens … and of course bars and restaurants. I will come back to all this, but in the meantime, let’s celebrate Easter! (See you Monday – or Tuesday!)

Happy Easter!

Some of these pictures can be found on my photo-blog!

Water

2008-03-20T00:01:00.003+01:00

Water supply is of course an issue for a big city.

Paris, within the city limits and not counting the suburbs, is actually not that big in surface and has hardly more than 2 million inhabitants. It becomes really big only when you include the suburbs.

Anyhow the city consumes something like 500 000 m3 (= some130 000 US gallons) of drinking water per day, which if I have calculated correctly corresponds to some 250 litres (around 65 US gallons) per person and day, of course not all swallowed.

In ancient times, water came from a few local sources and fountains and was also partly brought to Paris in aqueducts and partly taken directly from the Seine where a first hydraulic pump was installed during the 17th century (called “La Samaritaine”, which gave the name to the department store which later was built there). Water was carried to people’s homes by water carriers – the last ones disappeared around 1910. In my yesterday’s message I talked about the Bassin de la Villette as a fresh water reservoir where water was brought in via the Canal de l’Ourcq. This did not last long. The water distribution was finally correctly organized during the second half of the 19th century and houses began to get water supply at home.

Today the water comes from different sources up to some 150 km (100 miles) away, but part comes also from upstream the Seine.

You can also get pure spring water in Paris – and for free! Some 600 or 700 meters under the ground you can find some 25 000 years old fresh water from an underground river and you can still get hold of it at three places in Paris, quite distant from each other (see the map). It holds some 25-30 Centigrades (some 80° Fahrenheit) if you drink it immediately, but if you live fairly close you would probably bring some plastic bottles and then take them to your fridge. Many people do. If you are interested in the water quality, it’s checked regularly and you can find an updated report on the spot.One of the sources can be found at the Buttes aux Cailles, Place Paul-Verlaine, 13th arrondissement. It gives enough of water also to feed the local swimming bath. (I will soon come back to this area.) Another one is at Square Lamartine in the bourgeois 16th arrondissement.… and the third one is in the much more popular 18th arrondissement, Square de la Madone, today surrounded by a number of Chinese shops and supermarkets. (We are getting a number of China towns).

Another nice possibility to get rid of your thirst, free of charge, is to drink from one of the numerous Wallace fountains (of which I already made some posts). The water here comes from the normal distribution system, not from the underground river.

Bassin de la Villette

2008-03-19T00:01:00.000+01:00

The Canal Saint Martin (my post yesterday) ends (or starts) with the Bassin de la Villette. This is the largest open water space in Paris. At the opposite end, this basin meets the Canal de l’Ourcq which brings the water to the canal system from the river Ourcq, some 100 km (60 miles) away. The basin is actually in two parts; a larger one (700 x 70 m = 2300 x 230 ft) and a second more narrow one (730 x 30 m = 2400 x 100 ft). They are separated by a hydraulic lift-bridge from 1885, still functioning and causing some traffic jams when it nowadays occasionally has to be opened (or lifted). The larger part of the basin was in the beginning of the 19th century, just after its construction, surrounded by green areas and it was popular to come here for picnics in the summer and for skating in the winter. (Yes, the climate is getting warmer – no ice here anymore.) It served as an enormous reservoir of drinking water. During the second part of the 19th century, the basin became more and more industrial and the port activities were at a time considerable (same volumes as in the port of Bordeaux). Some of the old administrative and warehouse buildings (partly tagged) are still there.Nowadays, both basins are basically surrounded by modern apartment and office buildings, but around the larger part of the basin you can also find some more distracting activities. There are two multiplex cinemas, one on each side of the basin, belonging to the same company - offering a boat trip from one quay to the other. There are some installations for kids to play, some statues (including a laying Eiffel-tower-like one), some cafés and restaurants, some barges used as theatres… Part of July-August the Paris-Plages is now also installed here with a lot of “beach-activities”, as along the Seine river (see my post from July 21, 2007). This is also the base for a number of sightseeing boats, which can bring you along the Canal Saint Martin or elsewhere. (My photos from a relatively cold March day show fewer activities.) At the end of the basin, where the Canal Saint Martin begins (or ends) you will find a round building, the “Rotonde de la Villette”, which dates from around 1787 and was part of the wall “Fermiers Généraux” (served as office), built around what was those day’s smaller Paris, to enable tax collection for food, beverages, building material etc. entering the city; a very unpopular tax which was stopped a few years later, immediately after the Revolution. (See my post of January 18.) The building will now be transformed into some kind of small cultural centre.

Some of these pictures can also be found on my photo-blog.

Canal Saint Martin

2008-03-18T00:01:00.004+01:00

You can follow the trace of Canal Saint Martin on this map. The starting (or ending) point is close to Place de la Bastille. I already talked about this part, the so called Port de l'Arsenal, in some previous posts (1, 2). After La Bastille the canal goes underground, more or less until it reaches a point near Place de la République (the dotted line).

This is where you will find the more romantic part of the canal (with trees, pedestrian bridges...). Further up, the canal becomes more industrial (or rather used to be) and finally it reaches a basin, Bassin de la Villette (of which I plan to talk tomorrow).

Napoleon (sorry, it's he again) decided in 1802 to have the canal built. One of the purposes was to bring (relatively) clean water to Paris, the other was of course to use the canal for transport of merchandise. The port handling took basically place in the extreme ends of the canal, Port de l'Arsenal and Bassin de la Villette. The canal was finished in 1825, has nine locks enabling to compensate for 25 meters (80 ft) of level difference.

Part of the canal was later during the 19th century covered, (of course) due to Haussmann and the wish to open for large avenues and boulevards. More or less a total loss of traffic brought again the idea in the 60's to cover also the rest of the canal. Fortunately this never happened.

Today you can have a boat ride or take a pleasant walk on the quays - and there are plenty of places for refreshment.

Along the canal you can find the - at least for Frenchmen - well-known "Hôtel du Nord" - still there - which, with the pedestrian bridge in front of it, is the place of some famous film scenes; "Hôtel du Nord", Marcel Camus, 1938. The film was however made with studio decoration. A scene from "Amélie Poulain" was shot on the spot.

You can find most of these pictures on my photo blog.

An (almost) normal Saturday

2008-03-17T00:01:00.000+01:00

Today, just a report on last Saturday.

The cleaning service in Paris includes collecting the garbage on a daily basis. Early morning the green trucks arrive. I like the atmosphere in the local street Saturday morning – and also on Sunday morning – when you find the population which normally is working or in school during the week. Saturday morning there is also a local open market.After shopping, I made a small detour to “my” park. The tulips have now taken over the reign after the narcissuses. The weather was sufficiently nice to enable a pleasant pause on a bench. Some people got married. On the way home, I found that a small demonstration took place. The controversial Church of Scientology is present in our quarter. A group, calling itself “Anonymous”, held a worldwide protest action day Saturday (L. Ron Hubbard’s birthday), including here. It was a calm and peaceful demonstration, but obviously the church does not appreciate criticism and had asked for (strong) police protection. The protesters are in general bearing masks, wishing to stay anonymous, claiming having received menaces. (There is much more to be said about this, but here is perhaps not the forum – I tried a rather “neutral” statement… however, if you wish, feel free to express your opinion.)
In the evening I assisted at a local gathering with a nice meal and some nice music, performed among others by Russian and Kabyle (Algerian ethnic) representatives living in the area. (I did not bring my camera.)

Mid-month theme - subway day

2008-03-15T00:24:00.001+01:00

Normally I don’t make any post during weekends, but the 15th of each month is the day for the « mid-month-theme » - subway – which I share with bloggers in NYC and Stockholm. This month’s theme is “ticket system”.

We just learnt this week that within the next two or three years there will not anymore be any personnel selling tickets in the different Paris metro entrances. The machines, which are already there, will be the only way to buy your weekly, monthly, yearly subscription or possibly some loose tickets. "Smart cards" (called "Navigo") are already in use. In the beginning of the 70’s the last “poinçonneurs” (metro employees who punched your tickets) disappeared… (If you have saved a ticket with a small punch hole from these days, you can sell it at a good price). Today some of the metro trains don’t even have a driver…

You can find today’s posts – and some other subway related posts – by using the following links:

New York City Daily Photo – Stockholm by pixels – PHO (Paris).

Rue des Francs-Bourgeois (2)

2008-03-14T00:01:00.003+01:00

Before we are leaving rue des Francs-Bourgeois, there are two other buildings to which I would like to draw some attention.

One of them is the Crédit Municipal de Paris (no. 55). This is one of the oldest financial institutions in France, created in 1777, which among other things acts as a pawnshop – it will (possibly) lend you money in exchange for a deposit of some more or less valuable merchandise, and when you (possibly) can pay back, they will return your belongings. This kind of institution has several nick names, like “Mont-de-Piété” (after a charitable Italian institution, “Monte-de-Pietà”). Another name for it is “Chez ma Tante” (“At my Auntie”); normally you would not too openly admit that you had to borrow from this institution, you would more easily pretend that you got some money from your auntie. Another version for this expression is that one of the royal princes did not want his mother to find out that he had pawned his watch, so he just said that he had forgotten it at his aunt’s house. The place has still 600 visitors per day and a lot of famous personalities have passed the gate – in the past even Victor Hugo, Emile Zola, Claude Monet... When the not reclaimed belongings are later auctioned, you can make some good business here.

An additional interesting thing can be found in the court yard: The trace of the 13th century Philippe-Auguste city wall (which we have already followed in a number of posts). The other building I wanted to mention is the “Hôtel de Soubise” (no. 60), built in the beginning of the 18th century (top picture). It replaced another mansion built during the 13th century and which during the 15th century became the residence of the Guise family, fervent Catholics, and this was where e.g. the Saint Bartholomew”s Day massacre was planned (1572), leading to the death of thousands of Huguenots. You can still see the old entrance to the previous building on the back side (bottom right picture on the below patchwork). The present building was in 1808 (Napoleon again) taken over by the French state and is since the place for (today, part of) the National Archives and also a museum. Only here – and in adjacent buildings - are today stored some 100 km (60 miles) of documents, the oldest form the 7th century. When walking along this street at lunch time together with a friend on our way from Place des Vosges, we made a small deviation, turned to the left at rue Vieille du Temple and found (at no. 30) a small restaurant, "Au Petit Fer à Cheval" (the Small Horse Shoe). The menu and the place looked nice, so we decided to give it a try. I can now say that it was nice. The restaurant dates from 1903, the marble-topped bar in the entrance has the shape of a horse shoe and behind the bar there is room for maybe twenty guests. The restaurant has obviously at a certain moment been restored with some type of 1925 decoration, but it all gives a very authentic impression, the waiters look like the waiters used to look like, the place got full and I believe only with more or less regular guests! Traditional dishes, nice atmosphere and reasonable prices! Some of these pictures can be found on my photo blog.

Before “closing” for the weekend, I wished to show some more details from the Paris spring development (photos from yesterday). Have a nice weekend!

Rue des Francs-Bourgeois (1)

2008-03-13T00:01:00.002+01:00

On your way from Place de Vosges to e.g. Centre Pompidou, you could take rue des Francs-Bourgeois, which is the central and a very ancient street in the “le Marais “ area. There is a lot to see also in the crossing and neighbouring streets, but today – and tomorrow – we will just follow this one.

The name of the street, which means “exempt citizens”, was given during the Revolution and because of the existence of a mansion in the street where in the 15th century some poor people who didn’t have to pay taxes to the city were given a place to live.

Along the street you will find a large number of mansions (“hôtels particuliers”), most of them several hundred years old. Many of them are closed to public – today mostly occupied by different administrations - and you can only with a bit of luck see what is behind the gates and the facades. One of the nicer mansions and open to public is Hôtel Carnavalet (see below), built in 1548, which used to be the home of Madame Sévigné (her birthplace was Place des Vosges, as I mentioned yesterday). It’s today the Museum of the History of Paris. It’s certainly worth a visit (free of charge), is magnificently decorated (to a great part with interiors from different epochs and often coming from other palaces) and shows a lot of interesting documentation. The street is full of boutiques – often old bakeries or butchers which, fortunately, in some cases have kept the old ensigns and part of the decoration. Here almost everything is open even on Sundays, so it’s a nice shopping street. ... and if you are hungry or thirsty, you will easily find a place. I always advise you to look to the right and the left, into the small side streets, alleys and inner yards (when they are open); this is what adds to the charm of many of these old streets. As an example, if you look on the lower left corner of the below patchwork, you can see an alley, called “Impasse des Arbalétriers” (arbalète = cross-bow) where in 1407 the brother of King Charles VI was killed, which led to about 15 years of civil war, or at least brutal struggle, between the “Armagnacs” and the “Burgundians”.

As usual, you can find these pictures "full size" on my photo blog.

Place des Vosges

2008-03-12T00:25:00.003+01:00

We are now in the area called “le Marais” and will start with a look at the central place, Place des Vosges. Here used to be a royal residence (Hôtel des Tournelles) with a garden where the king Henry II was killed in a tourney in 1559, after which his widow, Catherine de Medicis, got the building destroyed.

Henry IV decided to build a square, which was finished in 1612 (after his death) and then became a very fashionable place, originally called Place Royale. It got its present name, Place des Vosges, in 1799 to honor the first French provincial department to pay taxes to support the Revolutionary army.The place looks a bit empty and dull on the pictures I took last week; as a comparison you can see a photo I took last summer.

It’s a true square, 140 x 140 meters (460 x 460 ft), all the buildings are in the same style with the same design and measures, except two pavilions with slightly higher roofs, designated as the King’s and the Queen’s pavilions. No king or queen ever lived here, but a lot of aristocracy and other prominent people. Among those, you can mention Sully, Cardinal Richelieu, Madame de Sevigné, Victor Hugo, Théophile Gautier, Alphonse Daudet...

Under the arcades you find today a number of art galleries, shops and a few cafés and in the middle of the place you can find a statue of Louis XIII - the original one was melted down during the Revolution and replaced in 1825.Behind no. 9, where you find the top restaurant “l’Ambroisie”, you will find another open garden or square (the gate is normally open). It’s surrounded by the Hôtel de Chaulnes and the Hôtel Sully, today housing respectively the Academy of Architecture and the “Caisse nationale des Monuments Historiques”. As usual, some of these pictures can be found on my photo blog.

I made an extra post today - see below!!

Extra post

2008-03-12T00:14:00.001+01:00

Leena (leenam) asked me to show some updated spring pictures from “my” park. These ones were taken yesterday. If some of you would feel jealous, I can maybe comfort you by showing the last patchwork – it was raining.

Rue de Seine (2)

2008-03-11T00:04:00.001+01:00

Yesterday I concentrated on the more historical facts around Rue de Seine. What’s happening around this street today?

The first part of the street, closest to the Seine (as well as some surrounding streets) is today full of high class art galleries. You can find and buy works of a number of well known artists – of course not only -, if you have the funds for it. What I would also recommend is that you look to the right and the left and you will find a number of small attractive side streets – and behind some more or less closed gates – some very nice court yards. Many of these are also dedicated to art and art business. There are a few small hotels and cafés in this part of the street, but you will find more of them, some restaurants and some attractive food shops higher up on the street, the more “modern” part (18th – 19th century). (05) You can find some of these pictures on my photo blog.

Rue de Seine (1)

2008-03-10T00:01:00.004+01:00

I thought I had finished with the Quartier Latin, Saint-Germain-des-Prés and the 6th arrondissement for a while, but HPY asked me for some news concerning Rue de Seine, so I went back! The street may not have anything very spectacular to show at a first sight, but I would say it’s clearly worth a visit.

Rue de Seine, or at least the part of it close to the Seine, is one of the oldest still existing streets in Paris, dating from at least the 13th century, now and then under different names. You can use it on your way from Saint Germain des Prés to e.g. the Louvre, or the other way, on the way from the Louvre. You cross the pedestrian bridge “Pont des Arts”, which connects the Louvre and the “Institut de France” which is the building where different French academies, including the famous “Académie Française”, meet under the “coupole”. The building dates from 1688.

Rue de Seine starts just behind the “Institut”. (In Paris, the street no. 1 is always for the building closest to the Seine.) This first half of the street (top picture) is the oldest and the historically most interesting part. The upper part was opened only during the 19th century, connecting with rue de Tournon, opening in front of the Palais de Luxembourg, today housing the French senate. (Here, a comparison between 1734 and today.)Just behind the “Institut”, you will first find two small squares with some statues, including the ones of Voltaire and of Montesquieu. This first part of the street was formerly occupied by some castle like buildings (including for Queen Margot, the first wife of Henry IV). The present buildings are mostly from the 17th century and many of them have been inhabited by - at least in France - well known personalities, like Saint Vincent de Paul, d’Artagnan, Armande Béjart (Molière’s widow), Beaudelaire… For our Polish friends I would like to make a special mention for Adam Mickiewicz who lived here when he published his famous” Pan Tadeusz” (1834). During the 17th century you could find not less than ten “jeu de paume” courts along the street. (Maybe a parenthesis to recall some details regarding the “jeu de paume”, the predecessor to lawn tennis and some other ball games: The points were already counted 15, 30, 40 and the word “deuce” comes from the French "à deux", indicating that two points must be won consecutively to win the game. Also the word “love” obviously comes from “l’ouef” – the egg - , the oval shape of the egg being a symbol for "0." Finally, the word “tennis” of course comes from “tenez” = take it, be ready…, which was the word the gentlemen (ladies hardly played those days) used to indicate that they were serving.)

There is more to be said about this street and its today’s life. I will revert to that tomorrow.

Some of the above pictures can be found on my photo blog.

Saint-Eustache

2008-03-05T20:37:00.002+01:00

Some of you suggested that I should now offer you a lunch or dinner at “Lipp”. I’m sorry, but immediately after Saint-Germain-des-Prés, there will be another church - Saint-Eustache, some 500 years younger; the construction started in 1532 and lasted for about 100 years. The facade was rebuilt during the 18th century and the church was restored in 1844 after a fire, by Baltard, especially known for the creation of “les Halles”, the central market place in Paris, torn down in 1972-73.
As you can see, the church is situated very close to what still is called “les Halles” and it’s also close to rue Montorgueuil (on which I recently posted), which starts at the back end of this church.

The church represents a mixture of gothic and renaissance style.

Molière was baptized and got married in this church and Louis XIV received his communion here. You can find a lot of paintings, including by Rubens. Among the tombs, you can find the one of Colbert, great statesman and minister of finance, who managed to keep the French finances more or less afloat despite big expenditures by Louis XIV for wars and for the building of Versailles.

The church’s musical tradition is very strong; Lully and Rameau performed here and the premieres of Berlioz’s “Te Deum” and Liszt’s “Messiah” took place in this church. Rameau is buried here. I don’t know if Mozart played at Saint Eustache, but he organized the funeral of his mother. A lot of concerts are still given. The organ has been completely rebuilt in recent years and is considered as one of the biggest and best in the world.In front of the church you can find a different kind of sculpture, called “l’Ecoute” (see photo bottom right on the first patchwork). If you want to know something more about it, I can refer to a recent post by Cergie.

Some of the pictures can be found on my photo blog.

I have visitors around I may not find the time to post tomorrow, nor to visit your blogs as I usually try to do, … so I wish you already now a nice weekend!

Saint-Germain-des-Prés

2008-03-05T00:11:00.002+01:00

After strolling around a bit in the area, we have now reached the church Saint-Germain-des-Prés, which used to be part of an abbey with the same name. Just in front of the church you have one of Paris’ most well-known cafés, "Les Deux Magots", and very close you find also "Café Flore" and the famous brasserie "Lipp". The name “…-des- Prés” (= “… in the Fields”) indicates that the abbey was not in the centre of the city when it was founded, as we can see on this old picture where there are no other buildings all the way down to the Seine bank (the old Louvre on the other side of the river). The abbey was outside the "Philippe Auguste wall" (of which we saw some traces at Cour-du-Commerce-Saint-André and at Saint Paul and which I traced on a map in a previous post).

The origins are very old; the abbey was founded already in the 6th century (now and then destroyed – the Normans again). In 990 it was decided to rebuild the church, starting with the tower – the one which is still there, the oldest one in Paris. The construction of the complete present church was basically finished in 1163 with a roman older part and newer gothic part.

The church and the abbey remained as a basic intellectual centre until the Revolution. We can see how in the 18th century the abbey covered a large area. Fires, the Revolution and urbanization destroyed most of the surrounding abbey, but the church (in the red circle) survived and was restored during the 19th century.

Along the church wall you can still find some traces of the connection between the church and the rest of the abbey and one abbey building remains, the abbot’s red brick residence, which you can see here photographed from Place de Furstenberg. The interior of the church has some original stained glass windows from the 13th century. You can find the tombs of, among others, Descartes and John Casimir (Jan Kazimierz), a Polish king (only their hearts are now left here).

A few of these pictures can be found on my photo blog.

Place de Furstenberg

2008-03-04T00:01:00.002+01:00

On our way to the church Saint-Germain-des Prés, I would propose a stop at one of the smallest – and nicest – squares in Paris, Place de Furstenberg. Once again, this is a very calm place, where you can find some exclusive shops and art galleries.(The negative side of taking photos during the winter months is that the leaves on the trees are missing; the positive side is that you can see buildings which in a couple of weeks will be hidden.)

The name of the place comes from William Egon von Fürstenberg, who had been archbishop, cardinal etc. and ended up his career at the Abbey of Saint-Germain where he died in 1704.

In one of the corners, you will see an arch (top photo). If you use it, you will reach an inner court, where you will find the apartment where Eugène Delacroix spent his last years and died in 1863 (bottom left on the patchwork). Today it’s his museum.

I show here a famous self portrait of Eugène and the “Liberty Leading the People” which you can find at the Louvre (and, in copy, at Versailles).

The place has been painted by many artists, including, among more recent ones, Salvador Dali and David Hockney. It has also frequently been used in cinema.

I put a few of these pictures on my photo blog.

Ceramic facade

2008-03-03T00:01:00.011+01:00

Walking along the Boulevard St. Germain - from places I showed on my most recent posts (including maps) -, heading for the church Saint-Germain-des- Prés, (or Café de Flore, Les Deux Magots or whatever) I would suggest that you stop at the small garden or ancient church yard, just behind the church, and have a look at this spectacular ceramic façade which covers the gable of an adjacent building – very few people seem to pay attention.

I had great difficulties to find any information about it, but it seems that it was originally part of the Sèvres Pavillion during the 1900 Universal Exhibition in Paris and later put here. Why here, I don’t know, possibly that we are close to the Rue de Sèvres, which leads to Sévres and the Sèvres Manufacture? I even found the names of the creators (Charles Risier and Jules Courtan), but nothing about them. I think that this “monument” would be worth some more attention!

Let’s remember that the 1900 Universal Exhibition somehow was an “art nouveau” exhibition and that the Pont Alexandre III bridge (see my post of June 7, 2007), the Grand Palais, the Petit Palais, the Gare de Lyon, the Gare d’Orsay (now the Orsay Museum) and many other buildings were created for this occasion. (Most of the pavilions were of course considered as temporary and disappeared after the exhibition.) During this Exhibition, the first metros started to run. … and the second Olympic Games took place in Paris.

(A few of these pictures can be found on my photo blog.)

Before closing for today, I wanted to show you some further spring progress in “my” park, although the weekend weather could have been better.

The weather was anyhow good enough to allow Paloma and Mattias to have some outdoor fun in the Jardin du Ranélagh.

My new “toy” is fairly new on the market and draws some attention to it!

Addendum:

Thanks to Maxime we have answers to my questions above:

Charles Risler was a Parisian architect who also designed the pavilion for the department store "Au Printemps" for the same Universal Exhibition.

Jules Félix Coutan has made several sculptures around Paris which can be found e.g. at the Palais de Justice ("La Clémence"), Opéra Comique ("Cariatides"), the National Library ("La Calligraphie"), the Bir-Hakeim Bridge ("La Science", "Le Travail"). One of his monumental works ("Les Chasseurs d'Aigles") can be found at the Orsay Museum. (You can se the Bir-Hakeim sculptures on one of my previous posts.)

Another Charles Garnier building

2008-02-29T00:01:00.003+01:00

When walking from the Cour du Commerce Saint André and Cour Rohan (see my two preceding posts), along Boulevard Saint Germain in the direction of the church Saint Germain des Prés (or the cafés Les Deux Magots and Flore etc…) you can find a building created by Charles Garnier,

… who of course is particularly known as the architect of Opéra Garnier (see my post August 2, 2007). This is a very much more modest building.

Actually, Charles had some difficulties to find new jobs after the Paris opera house, much criticized those days, much praised later, and he had to wait two years after finishing the opera to get this job in 1877.

However, he then, later, also created the casino (Wikipedia photo), opera and Hôtel de Paris in Monte Carlo, the casino and the spa hotel in Vittel, a theatre in Paris (Marigny) and several other buildings.

He also created the tomb of Jacques Offenbach in 1880 (see my post April 24, 2007).

This building on Boulevard Saint Germain (no. 117), completed in 1879 is not one of the most well known among his creations, but is certainly worth having a look at. It was built for the “Le Cercle de la Librairie”, where all syndicates and professional associations representing the publishing and editing industry met until 1979. Today, after some interior modifications, the building houses L’Ecole Nationale du Patrimoine (the National School of Patrimony) which should give a good guarantee that the building will be kept in good shape.

It’s not open for visits, but I managed to get in - thanks to a tolerant door man - and to take a few pictures also of the interior stairs. I put the original pictures on my photo blog.

... and it's again time to wish you a nice weekend!

Cour de Rohan

2008-02-28T00:01:00.003+01:00

If you are visiting Cour du Commerce Saint André (my post yesterday), I would propose that you also make a small deviation to Cour de Rohan which you easily reach by taking a small alley, some kind of secret passage, just opposite to (the backside of) the Procope restaurant. This opening did not originally exist as here was the Philippe Auguste wall, which I also referred to in yesterday’s post. You can see some old stones on the house illustrated on top. Originally, you had to enter here from the other side – still possible.

By the way, the name should rather refer to Rouen than to Rohan as this is the way to a mansion formerly supposed (but not confirmed) to have been used by the archbishops of Rouen.

Once you have entered, you will meet a rather authentic several hundred years old surrounding. There are no shops or restaurants here, just private homes. The entrance gate may be closed during weekends and evenings. When it’s open, very few people (good for the inhabitants) dare to pass the gate, which leads to three successive and irregularly shaped courtyards. It’s extremely calm, although so close to a very busy area. A wonderful place to live if you accept the idea of not bringing your car to the front of your house!
In one of the courtyards, you can find the only (?) in Paris remaining “pas-de-mule”, or “montoir” (horse-block?), a tool to help you to mount a horse.

Part of the scenes of Vincente Minelli’s film, Gigi, were turned here (Leslie Caron’s home in the film) – now 50 years ago.

You can find some of these photos on my photo blog.

Cour du Commerce Saint André

2008-02-27T00:01:00.002+01:00

Most tourists and other visitors of the Quartier Latin, would walk up (or down) Rue Saint André des Arts, not all will deviate to see also the narrow passageway Cour Commerce Saint André. Even fewer (hardly anybody) would visit Cour Rohan. I will talk about Cour Rohan tomorrow, today just a few words about Cour du Commerce Saint André.

One entrance to this partly covered narrow street is from Rue Saint André des Arts, the other one is from Boulevard Saint Germain. The oldest known Paris wall, the Philippe-Auguste wall (built 1190-1213, see my post Jan 8, 2008), used to pass here and there are still some traces, however inside an existing building (the Catalogne tourism office).

Anyhow, the street has some kind of 18th century atmosphere, is covered by centuries- old cobble-stones, has a lot of charm and a number of historical references.
The first experiments with the guillotine (on sheep) took place in this building (no. 9).

The oldest still existing Paris café*, Le Procope – opened in 1686 - , has its (today backdoor) entry here. Among its regular visitors you can mention Racine, Molière, Voltaire, Diderot, Balzac, Napoleon and his marshals, George Sand, Victor Hugo, Oscar Wilde, Thomas Jefferson … Benjamin Franklin (who is said to have “fine-tuned” the American constitution here)… a lot of ancient times’ actors (the old Comédie Française was just across the street) .. and the Revolutionary Robespierre, Marat, Danton….and Guillotin.

Marat also printed the Revolutionary newspaper “L”Ami du Peulple” in this street (no. 8) and Danton had his home at no. 20 which corresponds to a part of the street which disappeared with the construction of Boulevard Saint Germain. Danton’s statue now stands where his house used to be.

*/ As a small extra note – I referred to Le Procope as a “café”: Did you know that the word “restaurant” comes from the French word “restaurer” (to restore)? It was used for an eating establishment for the first time around 1765 by a Parisian soup-seller. The first restaurant in the form we know it today (sitting down, ordering from a menu…) was founded in Paris in 1782. Previously eating places were basically for travelling people who paid a flat rate for what the inn owner wanted to serve.

A few of these pictures can be found on my photo blog.

Saint Sulpice

2008-02-25T23:48:00.003+01:00

The Saint Sulpice church is situated on the east side of Place Saint Sulpice, not far from the Luxembourg Gardens. The place as such is quite nice and in the middle you find a fountain, created by Ludovico Visconti in 1844, just renovated.

Saint Sulpice is the second biggest church in Paris – after Notre Dame. The present church which replaced an older one from the 13th century was mostly completed in 1732 (the facade a few decades later). (Half of the church facade is under renovation, so I show only the other half.) From the interior you can note a beautiful pulpit, the Chapel of the Madonna (statue by Pigalle) and some wall paintings by Delacroix (too dark to be correctly photographed). The church is known for its organ, which is supposed to be one of the best in the world, created by Arisitide Cavaillé-Coll in 1862, but still with a lot of material from its original construction in 1781. Cavaillé-Coll is considered as one of the world’s best organ builders ever. The church has also always employed top class organists (and composers). The organ is frequently used for concerts and recordings.

The church is also known for its gnomon (from 1749). It was requested as part of the original church construction. The purpose was to determine the time of equinoxes (and hence of Easter). A meridian brass band crosses the floor and ends up on the gnomon, a marble obelisk. The sunlight comes in through a small lens on the opposite side of the church. The fact that this was also used for different scientific experiences may have saved it from destruction during the Revolution (when the church temporarily became a “Temple of Victory”). The church was made even more famous thanks to the "Da Vinci Code". I have already in a previous post indicated that the “French Prime Meridian” and this Saint Sulpice meridian have nothing to do with each other. The church is situated some hundred meters from the “French Prime Meridian” (referred to as the “Rose Line” by Dan Brown). Furthermore, relating to the "Da Vinci Code": The church does not stand on the place of an old pagan temple and the symbolic “PS” you can find in the church refer to St. Pierre and to St. Sulpice and not the invented “Priory of Sion”.

Some of these pictures can as usual be found on my photo blog.

Ingrid Betancourt

2008-02-25T00:01:00.003+01:00

Ingrid Betancourt, French-Colombian citizen and former Colombian presidential candidate, has been in captivity in the Colombian jungle since February 23rd 2002. She was kidnapped, together with her vice presidential candidate, Clara Rojas, by FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia).

Clara Rojas and the ex-Colombian Senator, Consuelo Gonzales de Perdomo, were liberated last month through intervention by Hugo Chavez, the Venezuelan President.

Ingrid is still in rebel custody together with many others, mostly members of the Colombian Army, but also some civilians, including three US citizens. Ingrid has become an international symbol for all these hostages. (Photos from official site).

Ingrid’s two charming children, Mélanie and Lorenzo, living in France, her mother, her husband, her ex-husband and a large number of personalities, are campaigning for the liberation of Ingrid and the other hostages; a liberation which has become a major objective also for our French President, Nicolas Sarkozy.

Last Saturday was thus the sixth anniversary of Ingrid’s kidnapping and another manifestation took place in front of the magnificent Paris Town Hall (at present with an ice rink in front), where her portrait is permanently exposed, with an updated indication of the number of days she has been in captivity – today Monday, 2193 days. Short speeches were made by her children, by the liberated ex-Senator Consuela Gonzales and by the Paris Major in presence of different personalities. Thousands of people assisted and after the manifestation we were all asked to make a “human chain” around the Town Hall.

The family members and the liberated Colombian senator were later (again) received by the French President - and his new wife, Carla Bruni. (Photo AFP).

The last couple of days, the French Foreign Minister, Bernard Kouchner, has had meetings with the Colombian and the Venezuelan Presidents, Chavez and Uribe.

Let’s hope that there will soon be a happy end, not only for Ingrid but for all the hostages; some of them have been in captivity for more than ten years.

(It was not easy to make decent photos behind the thick wall of official photographers and camera men.)

… and yesterday the spring was here and my daughter tried my new toy!

No smoking... smoking?

2008-02-22T00:01:00.001+01:00

You shouldn’t smoke! Some people still do!

In France, the interdiction against smoking in cafes, bars, restaurants and nightclubs came into force in January this year. In the immediate it seems that the turnover at these places on average has decreased by some 5% due to lost customers and there are of course some demonstrations and other manifestations against these measures! Experience from other countries seem however to prove that customers will come back after a while and that new customers (non-smokers, families with kids…) will more than replace this loss. Let’s see!

You are still allowed to smoke outside! So what is inside or outside? As France is very good in creating laws and rules, but often is even better in finding out how to escape from them, you can now see a large number of places arranged so that you can pretend that customers are outside; terraces under some kind of awning, with cellophane walls etc… and, for the winter, with gas or electric braziers! For some suppliers of such equipment, the new ban has been very good business!

It's already time to wish you a nice weekend again!

Another Lavirotte building

2008-02-21T00:01:00.006+01:00

I have several times talked about “art nouveau” (Guimard and others). A couple of months ago, I made a post on « Ceramic buildings », presenting among others two buildings by one of the foremost “art nouveau” architects, Jules Lavirotte (1864-1928) (Example from Avenue Rapp on the left).

Very close to the large and nice Parc Monceau and its spectacular gates, on Avenue Messine (8th arrdt.), we can find another example of a Lavirotte building.

This one which has been recently renovated is some six years younger than the ones I showed last time and is not so “extreme” in its design (1907); the “art nouveau” had possibly already passed its fashion peak. There is not any coloured ceramic anymore but you can still find some rather extravagant glazed earthenware and some typical ironworks on the balconies.
The “signatures” of the architect and the sculptor responsible for the decorations are very typical for “art nouveau”,

... so is the mosaic street address.

You can find some of the pictures on my photo blog.

Extra news

Although I’m a happy metro user and walk a lot, I decided to invest in an additional means of locomotion. This is a modern version of the Solex, very popular in France in the 50’s and 60’s. Today’s version is electrically powered and is designed by Pininfarina.

Montorgueil (3)

2008-02-20T00:01:00.002+01:00

Leaving Rue Montorgueil, there is much more to find round the corner, e.g. some very narrow streets, some other nice shops and restaurants... See especially the surprising cork-tree. There are different stories about the reason for this tree here, the simplest one is probably that there used to be a cork manufactory here. I would however especially like to draw the attention to some covered pedestrian passages. There are some 25 similar pedestrian passages in Paris. I have already posted about Passage Vendome, Prado, Jouffroy, Panoramas and Brady. Here we can find two other ones.

The first one is today quite modest and has no shops any more, but some interesting workshops. It’s called Passage Bourg l’Abbé and dates from 1828. The nice architecture is still there, you can find some old shops signs – which don’t describe the present activities – and a beautiful clock and barometer. The second one is called Passage du Grand Cerf. It dates from about 1830. Previously this was the place for a restaurant with the same name (Big Stag) which until the Revolution was the departure and arrival point of mail-coaches of the “Messageries Royales”, destroyed in 1825. This is the highest of all Parisian passages (some 12 metres = 40 ft) and you can find some surprising shop signs. It has been renovated the last decades and you can today find some nice shops, although it’s not the most visited one of the Paris pedestrian passages. ... but it’s a beauty for the eyes!

Some of these pictures can be found on my photo blog.

Montorgueil (2)

2008-02-19T00:04:00.003+01:00

I’m coming back to Rue Montorgueil. Among a lot of nice shops and restaurants there are a few that are worth a special mention!

The pastry shop "Stohrer" was founded in 1730 by a retired “pâtissier” at the court of Versailles. Nicolas Stohrer invented, among other nice and sweet things to eat, the (at least in France) famous “Baba”, a brioche soaked in Malaga wine and filled with “crème pâtissière”. Stohrer is also the creator of the version “Baba au Rhum”. I guess that also the “Puits d’Amour” (Well of Love) is worth mentioning among his inventions. The original recipes are still made here, but there are also some more newly invented ones. Some 30 bakers are employed! The present decoration dates from 1864 and is executed by one of the decorators of Opéra Garnier (Paul Baudry). The shop is beautiful and is now classified as a historical monument. You can also note the ornament above the side entry gate! There is a very nice looking restaurant (which I have not tried), “L’Escargot” (The Snail) which dates from 1832. Their specialty is as the name indicates snails in different forms. Many celebrities have been dining here, including Sarah Bernhardt and part of the interior decoration comes from her home. At last I would like to mention “Au Rocher de Cancale” (The Rock of Cancale), knowing that Cancale is in Brittany; in former days this used to be the major street for oysters and other sea food. You can see the façade on the top photo. It may be interesting to know that during the 19th century the average yearly consumption of oysters among the adult population in Paris is estimated to something like 25 dozens! Oysters normally did not even appear on the menu, they were just some kind of cocktail snacks. Consider then also that oysters could then not be transported during the warmer months (the months without “r”)!

The restaurant moved here from a across the street in 1846 and the name of it is mentioned by Balzac (who was one of its customers) in his “Comédie Humaine”. The interior of the restaurant has some wall paintings by Paul Gavarni. (In the meantime, the present restaurant has been used for other activities and unfortunately part of the original decoration was destroyed… but a lot remains.)

Some of these pictures can be found on my photo blog.

Montorgueil (1)

2008-02-18T00:01:00.003+01:00

(I mentioned in a preceding message that my PC seemed to give up, making some “funny” noise. I managed to buy a new one and to get it more or less functioning, so after all I made my Monday post!)

In some of my previous posts about e.g. Rue Saint Denis and Rue Réaumur we have already been very close to what is called the area of Montorgueil. There are several things to see around here, but let’s start with the street from which the area has got its name. Rue Montorgueil is one of the older Paris streets (13th century), has had different names before it got its present name during the 17th century; the name in English would actually be Mount Pride Street or something similar - it was the way to a rather lousy area which was called Mount Pride (Mont Orgeuilleux) by mockery.

You can join this street e.g. from les Halles, the old food centre of Paris, transformed to an underground shopping and cinema centre, maybe not the best one in Paris, but there are plans for rebuilding and modernising.

Rue Montorgueil is basically pedestrian and has today become very fashionable. Most of the buildings are old and so are also many of the shops, bars and restaurants. I will revert to some specific shops and restaurants and also tome side streets and covered pedestrian passages in one or two future posts; today we will just have a general look on the street and I also show a few examples of some old fashioned shop and restaurant facades and signs.Please note that the street is busy during the day, but very (too?) calm late evening.

Some of these pictures can be found on my photo blog.

Problem?

2008-02-17T11:40:00.000+01:00

My PC is making some "funny" noise and behaves not quite normally. I guess it's time to have it changed. It's possible that there will not be a new post here tomorrow...

Mid-month-theme: subway day

2008-02-15T00:03:00.001+01:00

The 15th of each month is the day for the « mid-month-theme » - subway – which I share with bloggers in NYC and Stockholm. This month’s theme is “above ground”.

Most of the Paris metro lines are crossing the Seine under water, but some of the first lines (the one you see here is from 1905) were built with bridge crossings - easier and at the time considered as less risky than to make under-water-tunnels.

In September last year I showed a metro train on the Pont de Bir-Haikem. The above photo was taken last week, showing a train on the same bridge, in the opposite direction, towards the Passy area (16th arrdt.). I repeat that this bridge has the particularity of being built for trains, cars, bikes, pedestrians… and, in my opinion, the bridge is really beautiful.

You can find today’s posts – and some other subway related posts – by using the following links:

New York City Daily Photo – Stockholm by pixels – PHO (Paris).

I wish you a very nice and relaxing weekend!

Hundred (or more) years ago - once more

2008-02-14T00:03:00.000+01:00

Once more, I will make a comparison between some postcards from about 100 years ago, concentrating on the area where I live.

For some possible visitors from the near neighbourhood to my blog I have indicated where the photos have been taken (and where I live - the empty circle): 1) Rue des Moines. On the left, we can see a school building, still in operation. One modern building has been added on the right side. The old photo seems according to the stamp to be from 1905.2) Rue Truffaut. All buildings seem to be the same. 3) Rue Brochant. No new buildings to be seen. Only the trees have grown, but have less leaves today. It will hopefully be “repaired” in a few weeks.4) Rue Brochant. A bit further down the street, compared to the previous one. Trees have been added. 5) Place Charles Fillion (Place des Batignolles) with a view towards Rue des Moines. One modern building added on the right. Unfortunately the church, Sainte Marie des Batignolles, is covered by tarpaulins. Being “refreshed” at the moment. The photo is taken just in front of the entrance to “my” park, Square des Batignolles. 6) End of Rue des Batignolles (Place du Docteur Félix Lobligeois) with a view towards Rue Legendre. Only minor changes. The photo seems according to the stamp to be from 1907. Once more the church (this time the front side) is hidden by tarpaulins. If you are interested, I have already made some similar comparisons: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.

Jardin du Ranelagh (3)

2008-02-13T00:01:00.000+01:00

This is the last “chapter” referring to the Jardin du Ranelagh and La Muette. (It will be a bit long, but I wished to finish.)

I already mentioned that what remained of the old royal castle was destroyed in the beginning of the 20th century. The heirs (the family Franqueville) sold the land in different parcels and the area became full of bourgois apartment buildings and also, facing the park, a number of private residences. Some of these residences – “hotels particuliers” - are still occupied as private homes, some as embassy residences. This is one of the most expensive areas of Paris.
On part of what was sold from the old castle area, Henri de Rothschild, built a new castle, a new Château de La Muette, ready in 1922. Rothschild was an active person in many fields; he financed Pierre and Marie Curie, also wrote plays and novels under the name of André Pascal and gave a lot of elegant dinners and receptions here, until he was forced to move out due to the beginning of World War II. In 1940 the building became the headquarters for the German Naval Command and in 1945 the headquarters of the Allied Powers. In 1948 Rothschild sold the property to OEEC which originally was created to administer the Marshall Plan and later became OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) which still resides here. Thirty countries which are supposed to accept democracy and a free market economy are represented by delegations led by an ambassador. Important renovation work of the castle has been ongoing the last years, including also annexes (for a staff of about 2500).

Some of the buildings are older and were already neighbours to the royal garden. One of them, later owned by the family Marmottan, was in 1932 donated to the French State and became a museum, Le Musée Marmottan. . Different donations by e.g. the heirs of a major sponsor of the impressionists (their doctor) and by one of Claude Monet’s sons have contributed to make this museum to the world’s richest in Monet paintings.
It’s also here that you will find the perhaps most famous one, the one that gave the name to the impressionist movement, “Impression Soleil Levant”. (See my post mentioning the first impressionist exhibition - Grands Boulevards 3). You can also find a large number of works by Manet, Morisot, Renoir, Sisley, Degas, Pissarro… . The museum which too often is neglected has also one of the world’s most outstanding collections of illuminated manuscripts from the 12th to the 16th centuries as well a great collection of furniture, statues and paintings from the Napoleonic period.

Together with Paloma, I passed by the park again yesterday. The weather was much warmer than during my previous visit and a lot more kids were playing. A few of the pictures used in the three posts about the Jardin du Ranelagh can be found on my photo blog.

Spring?

2008-02-12T00:01:00.000+01:00

I will once more delay my additional post about the Jardin du Ranelagh. I felt that I just had to show you what the spring looked like in ”my” park (Square des Batignolles) yesterday. It seems that as well the trees as the flowers and the people (and maybe also the birds) had decided that the spring is here. However, we are only in the first half of February and the winter may be back. Anyhow we have had some fantastic days.Wisely enough, the orange tree was still inside the small orangery and the banana tree had kept its winter clothes.

Chinese New Year

2008-02-11T00:01:00.000+01:00

Last Friday I indicated that the last post on the Jardin du Ranelagh would follow today. Well, it will probably be tomorrow.

Yesterday I watched (together with kids and grandkids) a parade, which took place in the (major) Paris Chinatown (13th arrondissement), celebrating the Chinese new Year. The weather was perfect and the streets where more than crowded. A great success!
It was quite noisy with a lot of explosions!

Afterwards it was time to go shopping for e.g. a delicious Peking (Beijing) roast duck!

I already said it last week, but I repeat:
Xin Nian Kuai Le 新年快乐 and Gong Xi Fa Cai 恭喜发财!!!

I would also like to mention that I received another blogger award! An “E” for Excellence! It was given to me by Jessica. I would definitely recommend that you visit her very nice site! It’s called “artsmarts4kids” and is as the name indicates, basically but far from only, made for a young public; it gives a very good introduction to art and artists! There are so (too) many of you to whom I would like to give the same award, but for the moment I keep it egoistically just for myself!

Jardin du Ranelagh (2)

2008-02-08T00:01:00.000+01:00

Some more information about Le Jardin du Ranelagh and La Muette (see yesterday's post):

There used to be a railway line passing by here (see map yesterday), part of a circular railway system which was created during the latter part of the 19th century, called “Petite Ceinture” (Inner Circle), which surrounded Paris and also was connected to the major stations like Gare du Nord, Gare Saint Lazare etc…. It was partly underground and partly in open air. This was the last part of this railway to close, in 1985, but a station situated just in front of the park is still there, now as a nice restaurant, ”La Gare” (see top photo). The bar is upstairs and you eat downstairs on which used to be the platforms.

Surprisingly some state visitors were officially welcomed at this small station. You can see a photo of the arrival of Alphonse III, King of Spain, in the beginning of last century.

Part of what was the railway line could possibly become underground parking places; part is today an open wild walking space.

The park was involved in a historic moment in 1783; the first ever human flight was launched at the upper end of the park. The “montgolfière”, which had been invented by the brothers Montgolfier left from here and landed after some twenty minutes and some 10 km (6 miles) in the south-east part of Paris (Buttes aux Cailles). It was piloted by Pilâtre de Rozier (who two years later became the world’s first air accident victim, trying to cross the Channel), accompanied by the Marquess d’Arlande.

There will be a third and last post on this park on Monday. In the meantime, I wish you a nice weekend!

Jardin du Ranelagh (1)

2008-02-07T00:06:00.001+01:00

We are now going to visit a park or garden, which is called Jardin du Ranelagh. This is in an area of the 16th arondissement which goes under the name of La Muette. My kids learnt to bike here; we are close to where I used to live until about a year ago.

The name La Muette refers to an old royal castle which once existed here and the name Ranelagh today given to the park comes from an English lord (see below). There is quite a lot to say about this area and the park, so I will make it in two or three episodes.

First a few words about the disappeared castle. It was originally built during the Middle Ages as a hunting residence (this was then far from the city) and was rebuilt several times, the last time in 1743. Among it occupants you can name Queen Margot (married for a while to Henry IV), the future Louis XIII, the Duchesse de Berry, the future Louis XVI and more especially Marie-Antoinette who spent much time here. The main building was destroyed in 1793, but the wings remained and were occupied until the beginning of the 20th century. One of the owners was a piano manufacturer (Erard) and later his heirs. The great park was sold in parcels, including an important part to a Rothschild, who built another castle (now OECD headquarters) in part of the old castle park. Also the rest was sold and the area got full of bourgeois apartment houses and “hotels particuliers” (private residences). Here below I have tried to compare what the area looked like during the 18th century and what it looks like today. One street, rue de Passy, which today is a busy shopping street, still follows the same trace. I will talk about the railway and the still existing station in a following episode.

We can see that part of what used to be a royal park is still there, now as a public park. Obviously it was here in the outskirts of the park, that Lord Ranelagh opened a “rotonde” where concerts and other amusements took place, sometimes attended by Marie-Antoinette and friends.

Let’s now talk about what the park is today: A nice green area, where children can play, where their parents or grandparents can sit on a bench, and where - depending on generation - you can play football (soccer) or at bowls, go on a pony ride, do roller skating, take a tour on a merry-go-round…and - a nice summer day – do sun bathing and picnicking. There are a few statues, including one of Jean de la Fontaine and one of Victor Hugo.

The day I visited the park last week was sunny, but cold and windy, and the activities were limited. Hardly any clients for the pony promenade, the responsible for the merry-go-round hesitated to install the wooden (sorry, today plastic) horses, the marionette theatre was closed...
… and I made an extra post today, see below!

… and at last, today starts the Chinese New Year, the year of the rat, 鼠 , so Xin Nian Kuai Le 新年快乐 and Gong Xi Fa Cai 恭喜发财!!!

Extra post

2008-02-07T00:02:00.000+01:00

The taxi drivers and owners demonstrated yesterday all over France, including of course in Paris. Circulation was completely blocked at some central points, like here at Porte Maillot; better not be in a hurry for the airport.

There is a proposition to abandon the present licence system, which limits the number of taxis. A taxi licence gives the owner a protection… and costs a fortune in Paris. As a taxi owner you wish of course to keep the licence - and the money you have paid for it - and to avoid additional competition.

As a user you may have a different opinion… Where are the taxis when you need them?

Anyhow, this “strong” method has obviously already given some result; the government yesterday evening promised not to apply the proposed measures. This is all according to the French method. Nobody is perfect.

And in the meantime the news media had something to tell and some improvised food providers could make some money.

Aquarium visit

2008-02-06T00:01:00.000+01:00

I picked up Paloma (For possible first time visitors; my grand-daughter.) at her school (kindergarten) today and we went to the newly reopened aquarium at Trocadéro.

It’s not an enormous aquarium, but it has the advantage of being centrally located and you can find some 15000 sea animals, 500 different species in 43 basins. Inside there are some cafés, some small cinemas (for nature or sea related films), a place for concerts, a playground for kids…We had a very nice afternoon together!

Pont de Mirabeau

2008-02-05T00:01:00.000+01:00

From the Pont de Mirabeau, the Mirabeau Bridge, you have a splendid, somewhat distant, view of the Eiffel Tower and the (copy of) the Statue of Liberty (see previous posts).

Le Pont de Mirabeau was named after one of the greatest personalities during the French Revolution, the Comte de Mirabeau (1749-91). The bridge is also clearly linked to another name, the poet Guillaume Appolinaire (1880-1918), who wrote a famous poem, “Sous le Pont Mirabeau coule la Seine…“ (“Under the Mirabeau Bridge runs the Seine…”). The bridge has often been referred to also by other French artists and is somehow a very “romantic bridge”.

The bridge was constructed 1893-96. It links the 16th and the 15th arrdts. It’s a bit further down the Seine than where most tourists go, but it’s one of the most beautiful bridges in Paris. The bridge is decorated with four colossal bronze sculptures.

On what is called the link side of the river (“Rive Gauche”), you have a few of the modest skyscrapers which were allowed to be built in Paris (15th arrdt.). On the “Rive Gauche” side of the bridge, you can find the old station “Javel” which was built for the Exposition Universelle in 1889, to which the Eiffel Tower was erected as an entrance arch. From this station you can still take a local train towards the Eiffel Tower - and further along the Seine – or, in the other direction, towards Versailles. Some of these pictures can also be seen on my photo blog.

Ile Saint Louis (3)

2008-02-04T00:03:00.000+01:00

Let’s finish the tour of Ile Saint Louis by a visit to the narrow main street, rue Saint Louis en l’Ile. This is where we find the church with the same name, but also a multitude of shops, restaurants, bars.

Several of the commentators on the previous posts on Ile Saint Louis have immediately referred to “Berthillon”, Paris’ most famous house for ice-cream and sorbets. This manufacturer and retailer has its primary store here, but you can also find their products in almost all the bars along the street – and elsewhere. Their products are said to be completely natural; milk, sugar, cream, eggs and different flavours.

Among the restaurants, there are several good ones, but also some tourist attractions, like “Nos Ancêtres les Gaulois”, where you eat and drink as much as you like for a fixed price. The menu is supposed to offer more or less Asterix – Obélix type of dishes.

There is also what must be considered as a top restaurant, “L’Orangerie”. It used to belong to a popular French actor (J-C Brialy), but was in 2006 taken over by Michel del Burgo, who was chef at the three macaroons (stars) restaurant “Le Taillevent”.

There are certainly other quite good restaurants (“L’Ilot Vache”, “Le Relais de l’Ile”, “Les Gourmands de l’Ile”…), but unfortunately I haven’t tried them all. Maybe some of the readers have some recommendations?

You can also find a multitude of boutiques and a few surviving old-model grocery shops, butchers etc… (see top picture).

Please not that I added two extra posts today – see below!

Bonus 1

2008-02-04T00:02:00.000+01:00

We made a family walk yesterday. The weather was cold, but the spring tried to show some signs.

Bonus 2

2008-02-04T00:01:00.001+01:00

On the way home from our Sunday walk, I passed under the Eiffel Tower.

Ile Saint Louis (2)

2008-02-01T00:57:00.000+01:00

Next episode on Ile Saint Louis will be to visit the central street of the island, but today let’s make a quick visit to the church “Saint-Louis-en-l’Ile”. It replaced a chapel where (the later saint) Vincent de Paul was active.

What is a bit special is that the church is completely squeezed in between other buildings on the island’s main street and not so clearly visible from the outside, except for the tower and the clock on the wall.

The construction of the church started in 1664 and was basically finished nine years later, but several modifications took place and the church was officially inaugurated only in 1726. As most other churches, this one suffered also from the Revolution and it was restored during the 19th century. This is a typical Jesuit type of church in baroque style.
The interior of the organ was also destroyed during the Revolution, but it’s now (2004) completely rebuilt in a combination of old material and modern technology. It is said to be an excellent one. The church is actually known for a summer music festival and is also in general frequently used for concerts. The doors are often closed for repetitions.

A few of these pictures can also be seen on my photo blog.

Have a nice weekend! See you Monday with the last Ile Saint Louis episode.

Ile Saint Louis (Post # 300)

2008-01-31T00:04:00.000+01:00

Ile Saint Louis which is just east of Ile de la Cité is a combination of what previously were two smaller islands and it started to be really inhabited only in the 17th century. I have again made a comparison of what the island looked like around 1730 and today. Actually, still today most of the buildings are from the 17th century including a beautiful baroque church. The narrow central street is full of restaurants and shops. As there is quite a lot to see and visit, I will make three different posts on this island, today rather making the tour of the exterior streets, river banks and small parks at the extreme ends. To give you a more clear idea of the surrounding geography I made this additional plan. Close neighbours are, in addition to Notre Dame, one of the most famous Paris restaurants (Tour d’Argent), the Arab World Institute (clearly worth a visit), la Bastille.

Coming from Ile de la Cité and Notre Dame, you will use a pedestrian bridge, mostly occupied by some street musicians.

On the island there are a lot of remarkable buildings including, on the eastern corner, the Hôtel Lambert with a lot of famous successive owners (today a Rothschild). During the 19th century it belonged to a Polish prince and was some kind of centre for Polish emigrants. Chopin was a frequent guest and most of his “polonaises” were created for the annual “grands bals” held here. The “hôtel” was designed by Louis Le Veau (or Le Vau) who during some 25 years was Louis XIV’s chief architect and contributed at Versailles, Vaux-le-Vicomte, Vincennes, Louvre, Institut de France (French Academy)…Another building designed by Le Veau is the Hôtel de Lauzun (or Lausun, front gate closed), now belonging to and restored by the City of Paris. You can here see the gate together with some others. The island has had a lot of illustrious occupants, in the beginning mostly French nobility, but later also Marie Curie, Baudelaire, Daumier, Blum, Chagall, Pompidou… and still has (no names here).

One of them was Camille Claudel, who lived and worked here during 14 years after she had left Rodin and until 1913 when she was forced to leave for a mental institution where she spent her last 30 years. The gate was closed, but a nice lady let me in to take a photo also from the court yard. The apartment cannot be visited; today occupied by a well known personality (no name).

Some of these pictures can also be found on my photo blog.

This is my 300th post (on this blog) in 315 days - my first post was made March 22nd last year.

La Conciergerie

2008-01-30T00:01:00.000+01:00

Not so much spectacular to show in images from La Conciergerie – part of the Palais de Justice - but the place is very much linked to French history.

The name of the building is related to the French word for a caretaker or door-keeper (concierge), still often found in French apartment buildings, mostly a lady living on the ground floor and checking if you have the right to enter or not. In this case, there was certainly a need for a door-keeper as this became the Paris’ first and most famous prison.

This part of the present Palais de Justice was built as a fortress 1284-1314. When by the end of the 14th century the kings moved out from was then the Royal Palace (Palais de la Cité) to the palaces of the Louvre, Vincennes and others, this part became the seat for the Parliament (Parlement de Paris), the judicial power and also a prison.

Totally you can see four towers, the first one the square Clock Tower and then the Caesar Tower, the Silver Tower (where the royal jewelry may have been kept) and the “Bon Bec” (= medieval slang for tattler) Tower, where the confessions were obtained.

In the basement is a gigantic room which originally served as the Palace refectory, but during the revolution housed the male prisoners (with an extra wooden deck to make place). Some prisoners could be better lodged, against payment.

La Conciergerie is of course especially known for its role during the Revolution, when thousands of prisoners were kept here, usually not for long. Most of them were condemned quite quickly and then brought to the guillotine. Famous prisoners here were e.g. a lot of members of the royal and noble families, but also revolutionary like Danton and Robespierre … and of course Marie-Antoinette.

The place of her cell was transformed to a chapel, known as the Expiatory Chapel a few decades later, when the royalty came back to power.

The floor and the window are still there. The window leads to the Women’s Courtyard.

Marie-Antoinette’s cell has been reconstituted just behind the wall of the chapel, but here everything is false.

You can find the list of the 2780 people who were condemned to death and guillotined during the Revolution. By a coincidence, the name of the (former) King and Queen are close to each other on this alphabetic list. La Conciergie served as prison until 1914.

Sainte Chapelle

2008-01-29T00:01:00.000+01:00

In order to visit the Sainte Chapelle (Holy Chapel), you have first to enter the Palais de Justice and go through a security control, similar to that of today’s airports. It’s worth it!

This is in my mind one of the world’s most beautiful buildings (inside) and somehow an extreme example of gothic architecture. It was constructed in the middle of the 13th century during the reign of Louis IX, who became Saint Louis due to a number of crusades and other by the Church well appreciated actions. The chapel was built to house a number of relics, like Christ’s Crown of Thorns, a piece of the Cross… The king paid four or five times more for the relics than it cost to build the chapel.

The chapel is built in two levels, both fabulously decorated. It is difficult to get a good total view as the chapel is squeezed in between other buildings.

The lower part was the parish church for the inhabitants of the Royal Palace. (The top picture is from this lower part.)

The upper part, then with direct access from the Palace, was for the King and whoever he invited and that’s where the relics were saved.

Of course the 1789 revolution had some unfortunate consequences for the chapel as for most religious buildings. The relics disappeared and the chapel was partly dilapidated. However, during the 19th century the stained glass windows which had been dismantled were restored (most of them have the original glass), the different statues which had been saved were put back and the whole decoration was restored as close as possible to what was thought to be the original one.

I would advise you to visit the place a sunny day to see the full splendour of the windows (As you can see from the outside photos, the sky was nicely blue the day I went). An alternative is to go an evening when concerts often are given.

As usual you can find the original pictures on my photo blog.

I got a "Best Friend" award from Noushy Syah yesterday! Sincere thanks Noushy!

Palais de Justice

2008-01-28T00:01:00.000+01:00

We have already visited the Pont Neuf and Place Dauphine, which are on the extreme western end of Ile de la Cité. Just behind Place Dauphine you will find the Palais de Justice. (I guess that all these names need no translation.)

Ile de la Cité was the original centre of Paris and where you now find the Palais de Justice were previously situated the seat of the government during the Roman times, the Royal Palace during the medieval times and then later the “Parlement de Paris” (developed out of the previous council of the Kings), a prison and a Hall of Justice. From those times remain not so much; most of the present Palais has been built during the 17th and 18th century, but there are some nice remains including the Conciergerie (prison) with its old towers and the Sainte Chapelle (Royal church). I will come back to these in some following posts.

I have made a comparison between Ile de la Cité in 1552 and today (Google). The scale on the old map is perhaps not perfect, but it gives us an image of what the island looked like those days. Pont Neuf and Place Dauphine were created only some 50 years after this map.First some general views of the Palais - which today is the seat of local and national courts of justice including the highest court of appeal. It covers some 200 thousand sq.m. (50 acres), has 24 km (15 miles) of corridors, 7000 doors… It houses some 4000 magistrates and civil servants, not mentioning the thousands of more or less voluntary daily visitors.The clock you see in the top is from 1585 (it works) and it replaces what was the oldest public clock in Paris which was put there some 200 years before. You find it on the square tower called “Tour d’Horloge”, the Clock Tower, which was built as watch tower.Tomorrow, we will visit the fabulous Sainte Chapelle.

As usual, you can find some of these pictures on my photo blog.

Grands Boulevards (3)

2008-01-25T00:01:00.000+01:00

Time for the last part of the Grand Boulevards, including the Boulevards des Italiens, des Capucines and de la Madeleine. (See maps on previous posts.)

This boulevard changed name several times, but the present name comes from the “Opéra Italienne”, now called the “Opéra Comique”, a theatre created at the end of the 18th century and mostly used for lighter type of operas, operettas… From the boulevard you only see the back side of this theatre.

In the upper part of Boulevard des Italiens you find some bank buildings, including the headquarters of Crédit Lyonnais (LCL). The building, enormous when it was built at the end of the 19th century, was seriously damaged by fire in 1996, but restored. Among other things you can admire the clock on the façade.Another building here, today also occupied by a bank, called Maison Dorée (the Golden Building) housed during the second half of the 18th century the most exclusive and expensive Paris restaurant, visited by kings and all kinds of prominent personalities. Here was also held the last impressionist exposition in 1886 (for the first one see further down) and the first “art nouveau” exhibition in 1895.

At the end of Boulevard des Italiens and the beginning of Boulevard des Capucines, you will find a concentration of cinemas and restaurants, including one of the typical Paris brassieres which remain open all year, 7/7, 24/24, Le Grand Café des Capucines, opened in 1875. Do you feel for some nice oysters at 5 p.m. or 5 a.m.?To continue on Boulevard des Capucines we will first cross the Place de L’Opéra with a view of Opéra Garnier to the right and Rue de la Paix and Place Vendôme to the left. We will find the Grand Hôtel with Café de la Paix.Further down Boulevard Boulevard Capucines, at no. 14, downstairs, in 1895, the Lumière brothers made their first paying audience to what can be considered as the debut of the cinema and shortly later Roentgen demonstrated his invention of X-rays.

At no. 35, in 1874, Renoir, Pissarro, Sisley, Cézanne, Morisot, Degas, Monet… organised their own exhibition with few visitors. The Monet painting “Impressions…” gave the name to the movement “Impressionism”.

Close to here you have also the oldest, still existing, and most famous music hall in Paris, Olympia, opened in 1889 by a Mr. Oller, who also created Moulin Rouge. Among the performers here: Edith Piaf, Jacques Brel, Charles Aznavour, Gilbert Bécaud, Amalia Rodrigues, Céline Dion, Judy Garland, Led Zeppelin, Petula Clark, Luciano Pavarotti, Dionne Warwick, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Jackson 5…

We have now reached the end of the Grands Boulevards and, after a short walk on Boulevard de la Madeleine, we will find the Madeleine Church with a view of Rue Royale and Place de la Concorde.

The impressionists made several paintings around the boulevards. Here you can see a Renoir from Boulevard des Italiens and a Monet from Boulevard des Capucines.

Happy walk during the weekend! See you Monday!

As usual, you will find some of these pictures on my photo blog.

Grands Boulevards (2)

2008-01-24T00:20:00.000+01:00

Let’s continue the walk along the Grands Boulevards, this time from Place de la République about half way to the end point, the Madeleine Church. We will follow the boulevards St. Martin, St. Denis, Bonne Nouvelle, Poissonière and Montmartre. (You can find maps on the previous posts.)

First I would like to show some normal street views, day and night. We are now approaching the part of the boulevards that still today offer some real nightlife with theatres, cinemas, restaurants…A few facades were there already when the boulevards were opened after 1670.There are a number of theatres along these boulevards, most of them from the 19th century. Sarah Bernhardt played and directed as well at Théatre de la Renaissance as at Théatre de la Porte Saint Martin (the middle top photo), where also Edmond Rostand presented the Cyrano de Bergerac. At the as a historic monument classified Théatre des Variétés (the photo to the right) a number of Offenbach’s comic operas were performed for the first time.I have already referred to the perhaps most famous Paris - and Europe’s biggest - cinema, Rex, inaugurated in 1932 as some kind of “Radio City Hall”. The main theatre can house some 2800 people and is not only used for films, but often for concerts.Along our walk we will also see two Arches of Triumph, Saint Martin and Saint Denis, both built under the reign and to the glory of Louis XIV. They were then on the border of Paris, on the way you then entered Paris from the north via rue Saint Denis (see post January 3) or rue Saint Martin. There are some nice and typical Paris streets to the right and to the left of the boulevards…… and you can also find some interesting pedestrian passageways:

Passage Prado, opened already in 1785, but covered only in 1925. Today it houses a number of Indian, Pakistani and Afro type of shops, hairdressing salons, a hotel… Passage Jouffroy, neighbour to our Mme Tussauds (Musée Grévin), created in 1847, with more fashionable shops, hotels…Passage des Panoramas, the most elegant of the three, in its present shape there since 1834 with some very old shops, restaurants…and neighbour to Théatre des Variétés, meaning that it was especially in fashion during the glorious Offenbach years (see above).Pissarro made a number of paintings from a hotel room at Boulevard Montmartre.

One small curiosity: When I looked closer on the photo of the street sign of Boulevard St. Martin, I noted a number of bullet impacts, obviously quite fresh, not yet rusty!

And tomorrow we make the last part of the Grands Boulevards.

Some of the above pictures can be found on my photo blog.

Place de la République

2008-01-23T00:09:00.000+01:00

Before continuing on the boulevards, I propose a stop at Place de la République (for the plan of Paris, see preceding posts.).

This place was basically created during the second half of the 19th century. The present large buildings you can find on one side of the place replaced some theatres including the then famous “Diaporama”, where Daguerre – one of the photography inventors – presented his shows. One of the buildings was originally a big department store (Magasins Réunis) and is now occupied by a hotel and some shops. In the other large building you find the quarters of part of the Garde Républicaine (the French equivalent to the British Horse Guards).

On the opposite side of the place you can find a modest version of a pedestrian passageway, Passage Vendôme, one of many that were created around 1820-30, the forerunners to our present shopping centres.

The place is of course mostly known for the monument, “La République”, which was inaugurated - before it was quite ready - for the first official celebration of the 14th of July as a national holiday in 1880. A new inauguration took place when it was completed in 1883. It was created by two brothers Morice.

On the top, you have “Marianne”, one of the symbols of the Republic. Why Marianne? It seems to have been a popular name at the time of the Revolution among the working classes…. Why a woman? Because the Republic is feminine in French (La République) and women were perhaps also supposed to be less concerned about power and more about people’s well being…. Why the Phrygian bonnet? It was worn already by former slaves during the Roman Empire as a symbol for their citizenship….The monument is rich in decorations: You have also three sculptures representing “Liberté, égalite, fraternité”. Although “Liberty, Equality, Brotherhood (– or Death)” was an essential message already during the 1789 Revolution, it became an official motto only a few decades later. Once again these are feminine words in French and represented by women.
There is also a reference to the “Suffrage Universel”, the right for everybody to vote, established by France, as the first state in the world, in 1848. Of course, it was then limited to men only – French women had to wait until 1945!!

A last remarkable thing with the monument are 12 bronze reliefs around the base. They are made by A-J Dalou (who competed for the whole monument but instead made the monument for Place de la Nation). The reliefs tell the story of the establishment of the Republic (of course only the bright side of it). I thought that to show these reliefs in detail would be a good opportunity for me – and some of you – to memorize the major Revolutionary events. I made a separate post here below showing these reliefs with a few explaining words. I leave you the choice to look at this post as a supplement, if you have the courage.

Tomorrow we will continue with some more boulevards.

Some of the above pictures can be found on my photo blog.

Place de la République bis

2008-01-23T00:01:00.000+01:00

Referring to the above post, here you can se the 12 reliefs by A-J Dalou, representing the major French Revolutionary events, which can be found on the base of the monument at Place de la République.

Grands Boulevards (1)

2008-01-22T00:00:00.000+01:00

Before starting a walk along the boulevards, I would like to show you this additional map from 1725 on which I have indicated some then already existing sites as well as some later ones. Today we will just make it from Place de la Bastille to Place de la République. We start thus with Boulevard Beaumarchais, originally called St. Antoine, which later got the name from Beaumarchais - inventor, musician, spy, arms dealer, revolutionary - most known as the author of “The Barber of Seville” and “The Marriage of Figaro” (“Le Nozze di Figaro”), successful plays which served as base for the Rossini and Mozart operas. He had his residence (now destroyed) on the corner of Place de la Bastille.

A bit further up on the boulevard (no.23), you can see the entrance gate to a mansion house built by and for Jules Hardouin Mansart, chief arechitect of Louis XIV, who designed the largest part of Versailles and several other castles, churches (Invalides) and places (Place Vendôme). One of the most famous French courtesans, “Ninon” (de l’Enclos) held her salon here. In France her name goes for “wit and beauty”. She had some prominent lovers and collected a fortune, but she was also a friend of Molière and left part of her heritage to Voltaire’s parents for his education.

When proceeding towards La Place de la République, the boulevard changes name to “Bd des Filles du Calvaire” - named after a convent which since has disappeared - and to “Bd du Temple” - named after the “Temple”, a fortress which used to be situated close to here, especially well-known for having been a prison for the Royal family during the Revolution.

In the junction between these two boulevards you can find the “Cirque d’Hiver” (“The Winter Circus”) built in 1852, with J.I. Hittorff as architect. (He also, among many other things, designed the fountains on Place de la Concorde and the buildings around Place de l’Etoile.) The place is still in use for a lot of events, still basically circus, and can seat some 2000 people. Toulouse-Lautrec made several paintings here.

All along these three boulevards you will find a large number of shops specialised in photo equipment for professionals as well as for amateurs. Boulevard du Temple has another specific link to photography. This is where for the first time in history a person was photographed. The photo was taken by Louis Daguerre in 1838. As the exposure time was about ten minutes, only two persons involved in shoe shining and remaining fairly immobile (lower left corner) can be seen. There are also some shops specialised in music instruments, motor bikes (Harley Davidson)… … and a number of other interesting shops, cafés and restaurants.Boulevard du Temple used also to be called the Crime Boulevard, not really due to the number of crimes here, but to the type of theatre plays that were performed in a number of theatres situated in the northern part of this street. They are now all gone with the exception of a relatively small one, from which you can here see the modest entrance, Théâtre de Déjazet (from 1859). A lot of French stars have performed here and for the cinema lovers it may be interesting to know that “Les Enfants du Paradis” (“Children of Paradise”), by Marcel Carné and Jacques Prévert, a French “classic”, to a large part was filmed here. When we later will proceed along the boulevards, we will find a lot of theatres, most of them private and with a fairly popular repertoire, what very appropriately is called the “Boulevard Theatre”.

You can find some of these pictures on my photo blog.

Sunday afternoon...

2008-01-21T00:03:00.000+01:00

Today I had the intention – and had yesterday started to prepare - a post on the Grands Boulevards, as promised. However, I decided to make a short break and first report on my Sunday.

We decided after lunch to meet with children and grandchildren in front of the Grand (Ferris) Wheel which was temporarily installed on Place de la Concorde, just in front of the Tuileries Gardens, a couple of weeks before Christmas. It will be dismantled today, as well as – quite late – the Christmas decorations on the Champs Elysées. We had first a walk in the Tuileries Gardens. Both Paloma (now five years) and Mattias (now 16 months) were happy to be able to walk and run around freely. After a warm chocolate (and coffee for me), and the daylight disappearing, we decided to make a tour on the wheel. This gave me the opportunity to take a photo of the Champs Elysées in the opposite direction, compared to the one I recently took from the Arch of Triumph. When leaving the family, starting to walk, I stopped at the Madeleine Church (five minutes from Place de la Concorde), as I was surprised by a small demonstration with banners and torches organised in honour of the poor King Louis XVI, who was guillotined on Place de la Concorde 215 years ago (January 21st, 1793). There are still some fervent royalists around! Some of these pictures can be found on my photo blog.

Tomorrow we will start the walk along the Grands Boulevards… promised!

Walls

2008-01-18T00:02:00.000+01:00

This post will be a bit different; no photos at all! This is a preparation for what normally will follow next week. You have all the weekend to digest this one, if you have the courage!

My intention is to make a few posts about the « Grands Boulevards », meaning a number of avenues you can follow from Place de La Bastille to the Madeleine Church – or vice versa, via Place de la République, Opéra Garnier etc…. Along the “Grands Boulevards” you can find a lot of theatres, cinemas, restaurants…; Paris has not only one city centre for entertainment and nightlife, but several. These boulevards are following the trace of an ancient defence wall.

Before starting the “visit”, I thought it would be worthwhile to give a short history lesson (again). I have tried to trace on a Google map where the different Paris walls have existed. I’m afraid that only a few of you may possibly find this interesting, but I do it anyhow (sorry).

You can still find a few traces of the “Philippe-Auguste wall” built around 1200 in some older buildings and even part of the real wall (my post on “St.Paul etc…”).

This wall was replaced during the latter part of the 14th century. La Bastille was then part of the defence and some stones of La Bastille can still be found (my post on “La Bastille”).

In the beginning of the 17th century this wall was rebuilt and extended and became the “Louis XIII wall”. It did not last for long. The son of Louis XIII, Louis XIV, decided some decades later, in 1670, to demolish this wall, “open” the city… and replace the wall by the “Grands Boulevards”.

You would think that this was the end of the walls. However, a new wall, called “Fermiers Généraux”, was built 1785-88, but the reason was this time purely commercial; taxes to be paid at different gates. The “Fermiers Généraux” was a corporation of “tax farmers” who collected taxes for the monarchy, including on food, beverages, building material etc. brought into the city. Note that the wall was completed just before the Revolution, was hated by most of the habitants and that the tax collection was stopped immediately after the Revolution (and that most of the “tax farmers” were guillotined). The last traces of this wall had disappeared around 1860 in connection with the opening up of new large streets and boulevards (Haussmann).

The last wall, the “Thiers wall”, was built 1841-44 and now again for clear defence purposes. It was destroyed after World War I and replaced by some kind of ring road boulevards, “Boulevards Exterieurs”, also called the “Boulevards Maréchaux”, still today more or less following the Paris city limits.

I wish you a nice weekend! (Happy reading!)

Hundred (or more) years ago

2008-01-17T00:02:00.000+01:00

Now and then I like to compare illustrations from Paris in the past with Paris today and I have concentrated on the streets around where I live, in the Batignolles area, 17th arrdt. Here are two more of such comparisons.

This first one is based on a postcard, probably from the very beginning of last century, of Rue Legendre close to where it crosses Avenue de Clichy. The vehicles used for public transportation have changed… and a few other things, but a lot remains as it was. You can see that the building which partly was visible on the extreme right has been replaced by a modern building and the idea from the city architect was then obviously to make space for a wider street one day. It will probably take quite some time before the street can be made wider. The second comparison is based on a drawing, which probably is from 1870-1880(?), of the crossing of Rue Lemercier and Rue des Dames. There was then obviously a store owned by someone with an English name, but I have not managed to find any trace of this “H. Didsbury” store, today replaced by an “Ultra Kitch” shop. I imagine that if someone finds my photo in some 120 or 130 years, he or she will not find any trace of the “Ultra Kitsch” shop. … and of the buildings?

Especially for the attention of some possible more local blog visitors, I put in a map to show “where”.

La Pagode

2008-01-16T00:01:00.000+01:00

Sometimes you find some for Paris surprising architectures. Here is an example of an oriental looking pagoda, which actually is a cinema, logically called “La Pagode”.

It’s a bit “hidden” in an area of Paris which is not so much spontaneously visited by cinema-goers (57 bis, rue de Babylone, 7th) - not far from the Rodin Museum. It was built some more than 100 years ago and first used as a private ballroom, later made public. In the 1930’s it was transformed to a cinema.

During the 1970’s it became rather an art movie theatre. In the 90’s its future seemed quite dark, but it has in the meantime been officially “classified” and the present owner has an obligation to keep it as a cinema. The films showed now are “normal” ones, not necessarily art movies.

There is a lot of renovation work needed and partly ongoing and you can see some plastic covers on the roof. There is a small garden in front of the building, which was open when I passed. The grey weather and the naked trees made the pictures a bit dull, but on the other hand it made the building more easily visible and I had no shadow problems.
The movies proposed when I passed did not incite me to pay a ticket and I was not sure to be able or allowed to take any pictures inside anyhow – a pity as the major theatre (a smaller more modern one has been added) is quite spectacular. I show you instead a picture “stolen” on Google.

Mid-month-theme: subway day

2008-01-15T00:03:00.000+01:00

Each 15th of a month, I’m participating in a common “mid-month-theme” about subways (underground, metro, tunnelbana…) together with bloggers in New York and Stockholm. This month’s theme is “people waiting”.

One of the “rules” with which I have to struggle is to choose only ONE photo. I have chosen this one which shows a metro platform, Place-de-Clichy, line 13, around 6 p.m.. I could have chosen another photo from another station at 1 a.m. with a much less populated quay.

You can find today’s post and some other subway posts by using the following links:

New York City Daily Photo – Stockholm by pixels – PHO (Paris).

Place Dauphine

2008-01-14T00:03:00.000+01:00

When you cross the Pont Neuf (see my previous post), you are almost at Place Dauphine. It’s a calm, car free, square – actually almost a triangle – seldom overcrowded; a place to have a flat (not cheap), to have a walk, to sit down on a bench… and there are a few restaurants, cafés, shops… and a small hotel (GMG stayed there in 1969 during a hitch-hiking tour – see his comments on my pervious post). French people know in general that the couple Simone Signoret and Yves Montand used to have a flat here.

Place Dauphine was created - on the edge of Ile de la Cité - on the initiative of Henri IV about simultaneously with the Pont Neuf. It got its name in honor of the crown prince, the “dauphin”, the future Louis XIII, father of Louis XIV.

Originally, the place was surrounded by 32 similar buildings in red bricks. Only two buildings remain more or less as they were, the ones on each side of the small passage from Pont Neuf. All the other ones have been rebuilt or replaced but there is still a quite unique style and atmosphere.

From the comparison of the 1734 and today’s maps you can see that one side of the square used to have a number of buildings that were demolished in 1874 to open the view to the back side of the then newly built part of the Palais de Justice. When I took these photos some ten days ago, the Christmas decorations were still there. You can see Henri IV on his horse between the Christmas tree branches. You can see some of these pictures on my photo blog.

Yesterday, I got a nice “You make my day” award from SusuPetal, a very creative Finnish poet, artist…. with blogs in English, Finnish, Swedish. Sincere thanks SusuPetal!

Pont Neuf

2008-01-11T00:01:00.000+01:00

The Pont Neuf, meaning the New Bridge, is actually the oldest remaining bridge in Paris crossing the Seine. It was opened in 1607 by one of the most popular French kings, Henri IV. It was the first Paris bridge made for traffic only; no houses built on it, which until then was the tradition. It was also paved and surprisingly wide, some 28 meters (92 feet). The bridge is still as it was from the beginning, no major alterations, and the traffic on it is still heavy.

I have tried to direct a Google map in the same angle as the “Turgot map” from 1734. We can see that one difference in the landscape is the prolongation of Ile de la Cité, where a natural sandbank developed and later was transformed into a small park or square, which has got the name of Vert Galant (the nickname for Henri IV, meaning the “green” or “lusty” gentleman; he was known for a number of love affairs).

The equestrian statue is also of Henri IV. It was ordered by Henri’s widow, Marie de Médicis, and was erected in 1618. (You can vaguely and with good eyes distinguish the statue also on the “Turgot map”.) It was destroyed during the Revolution in 1792. With the change of regimes and the monarchy being back, it was then rebuilt in 1818, exactly as it was… and, as I mentioned in a previous post, by using the bronze of the Napoleon statue of Place Vendôme (… and then the Napoleon statue had to be remade when the regime changed again).

You can find some of these pictures on my photo blog.

That was all for this week! Have a nice weekend!!

The Rodin Museum

2008-01-10T00:03:00.000+01:00

Referring to the previous post, the surgery has been done; I feel fine… Sincere thanks to all of you for your kind messages!! As you may guess, I have to avoid too much walking around Paris for a while, but I have some photos in advance.

Auguste Rodin (1840-1917) has his own museum in Paris, one of the most visited ones. The museum is very nicely situated, close to the Invalides. It’s a big mansion house or a small castle, called Hôtel Biron, surrounded by a beautiful garden, originally built for an 18th century wig-maker who had made a fortune. It was later taken over by different noble personalities and was for a while the home of the Papal legate, later the Russian ambassador, before becoming a convent during the 19th century. It was confiscated when the Church and the State separated in 1905 and was supposed to be demolished. In the meantime it was opened to different artists like Jean Cocteau, Henri Matisse, Isadora Duncan who had a dancing school here, Rainer Maria Rilke … and Auguste Rodin who occupied a large part of it the last nine years of his life - although his real home was elsewhere (Meudon in the outskirts of Paris).

Rodin, 68 when he moved in, was then already a famous and rich person, after a tough start in life. He then negotiated with the French State to take over his works and whatever he had collected on condition that the building and the garden would be transformed to a museum in his name. The museum was opened in 1919, two years after his death.

Rodin spent much time and energy on decorating the building and especially the garden, both full of his own works, but he also collected art, including paintings by Monet, van Gogh, Renoir, Munch… still visible here.

Difficult light conditions, a lot of people around… complicated my picture taking and I clearly feel that I cannot not show the Rodin sculptures to their full value. (I had to borrow “The Kiss”-picture from Google.) You have to go there!

Rodin started to work on a portal (for a Decorative Arts Museum that never opened) from when he was 40 and to the end of his life, 37 year later. It’s called “The Gates of Hell” and can be seen in the garden. Many of Rodin’s best known sculptures, including the famous “The Thinker” started as designs for this portal.

The Rodin museum normally also exhibits the fantastic works of Camille Claudel, with whom Rodin had a passionate relationship for some fifteen years. When I visited the museum recently her works were in Spain for a temporary exhibition.

Short interruption (hopefully)

2008-01-07T21:11:00.000+01:00

This is a second - late - post for today; could possibly count for tomorrow.

I made a stupid false step a couple of weeks ago. The doctors now decided that I need a meniscus operation, an “arthroscopic surgery”. It will take place tomorrow. I trust that I will be back blogging in a day or two, but there will probably be a short interruption…

In the meantime, I show you some door knobs and door handles. You normally and mostly find such in the middle of wooden doors from earlier than 1900. I found most of the ones you see here close to where I live; there is a mixture of some just ordinary ones and some more exclusive ones. One is e.g. from the door where Sarah Bernhardt lived; one is from where I live… Guess who has (had) the more fashionable one.

Place du Châtelet

2008-01-07T00:01:00.000+01:00

Châtelet means “small castle”. The name of the place comes actually from a fortress which was built here in the 9th century to defend Paris from the Vikings. From the beginning built in wood, it was rebuilt in stone during the 11th century. Its military function soon disappeared and it was later rather a prison and law-court. The fortress was later surrounded by different buildings and you can only see the top of it on this illustration from 1580. … as you can also see the top of the tower of the Saint Jacques church. The tower (from 1522) is still there (under restoration, so again you can only see the top), but the church is gone.

The Châtelet fortress was destroyed in 1802 and Napoleon I (I’m sorry, it’s he again) decided to convert the place to an open place, including the construction of a column, later placed on a fountain, the one we can see today. It got the name “La Fontaine du Palmier” (The Palm Fountain) because of the palm leaves that can be seen in the top of the column, just under the statue “Victoire”. The column is full of names of different Napoleon victories (of course).

The place got its present aspect under Napoleon III. Two theatres were built, Théatre de la Ville (or Théatre Lyrique) and Théatre du Châtelet, both from 1862, and the fountain was slightly moved to be in the centre of the place. The theatres have changed names several times. Theatre de la Ville got the name of Sarah Bernhardt from 1899 to 1923, when she was in charge and regularly performed here. They now belong to the City of Paris.

The comparison between 1876 and today shows hardly any difference except for the express road (Voie Pompidou) which was built along part of the river in the 1960’s (transformed to Paris Beach in August each year).

The bridge in front is called “Pont de Change” and dates from about the same time as the renewed place (1860).

To find the place on the Paris map, I suggest you go to my previous post about Rue St. Denis. Some of the above pictures can be found on my photo blog.

Square des Innocents

2008-01-04T00:03:00.000+01:00

The Square des Innocents was for many centuries the site of the major Paris cemetery. When it was created, it was of course outside the centre, along the road to Normandy and the north, today’s rue St. Denis (see plan in my previous post), but it was soon surrounded by the growing city.

Some wealthy people got individual graves, but most people were buried in mass graves. In 1786 it was decided - despite the walls that had been built around and some other basic precautions - that this could not last. The major Paris market place – Les Halles – was the immediate neighbour and one started to have some ideas about infections etc. The cemetery was closed and some two million skeletons were displaced to the catacombs.

Today, this has become a nice square with a beautiful fountain in the middle. The fountain, in a different form, was created in the middle of the 16th century by the architect Pierre Lescot and the sculptor Jean Goujon, who also were behind the architecture of the Louvre when the transformation from a fortress style was commenced. The fountain was in the beginning rather a relief placed along the church you can see here (the engraving is from 1550), was moved and transformed to its square fountain form in the 1780’s when the cemetery became a market place.

The declaration of the first French constitution took place here in 1791 (based on the revolutionary declarations of 1789).

The market was closed in 1858 and a real square was prepared. The fountain was again slightly displaced.

You can here get some ideas of what the place looked like in 1550 and in 1865.

… and what it looks like today. In the background you can see the St. Eustache church. You can find these pictures in their larger form on my photo blog.

See you Monday! Have a nice weekend!

Rue Saint Denis

2008-01-03T00:00:00.000+01:00

Rue Saint Denis is normally not part of the immediate family tourist attractions in Paris. It always had, and still has, a reputation related to prostitution and linked activities. The last decades it has also been a street full of sex shops, but all this seems now to be declining and there are a lot of more “normal” activities.

It’s one of Paris’ oldest streets, already traced by the Romans. It used to be the main road in direction of Rouen and Normandy and on the way of course also to the Royal Abbey of St.Denis and its basilica where almost all French kings are buried, as from Clovis (511).

It started to take the form of a street with houses and churches during the 12th century. It used also to be the official road of entry to Paris of new kings (and road of exit of deceased kings) and also of royal visitors. An Arch of Triumph was added during the 17th century. Queen Victoria was the last royal visitor to make her official entry under this Arch (in 1855), which actually served as a model for the Arch of Triumph at Place de l’Etoile.

From the Google map, you can see where to find the street, which starts at Chatelet and ends at the Arch. It is surrounded by some remarkable places to visit like the Place des Innocents, which used to be a cemetary, and the Centre Beaubourg (Pompidou). I will revert with posts about these places soon.

To “prove” the long existence of the street I added a few old maps, the first one from 1525, the second one from 1705 and the third (in relief, the famous Turgot map) from 1734.The street has different shop arcade openings, more or less fashionable. If you look behind the facades you can, especially in the northern part, also see some quite old court yards today to a large extent occupied by clothing manufacturers and wholesalers.There are some old interesting buildings and some interesting facade decorations.The street is now to a large extent pedestrian, full of bars and restaurants, and the night life, especially in the southern part of the street, is very active.
There is a famous Monet painting from Rue St. Denis (1878).

You can find the large sized pictures on my photo blog.

2008 has started (bis)!

2008-01-01T21:26:00.000+01:00

As already said in the below message, there will not be any new post tomorrow. I will be back January 3. Promise!

2008 has started!

2008-01-01T03:46:00.000+01:00

I had a doubt and it was confirmed that there would again this year not be any fireworks around the Tour Eiffel (completely prohibited in Paris for security reasons), so the decision was finally to go to Montmartre - which also is closer to where I live – of course bringing the compulsory champagne bottle.

The crowd is normally concentrated especially to the Champs Elysées – Tour Eiffel area, but Montmartre was also invaded. About all languages were spoken. The weather was OK; however 2007 ended with a few rain drops. (So far it has not been raining in 2008.)

We had the right to see a demonstration with the theme “No to 2008 !”. A nice crowd invaded the place in front of Sacré Coeur with banderoles and music claiming that they wanted to stop the change of the year. They preferred to keep things as they are and avoid the risk of a lousy year. This has been claimed by them now for a couple of years, but so far without success and also the year 2008 did actually arrive at midnight.

So, sorry, I cannot bring you any photos of the Eiffel Tower with fireworks. We could however from far see the special sparkling lightning of the Tower, which now is offered for five minutes every hour, after dark.

I thought I should quickly bring you these photos with a repeated wish for a HAPPY NEW YEAR!

You can fin the originals of these pictures on my photo blog.

This post requested some efforts. I did it before going late to bed... I think I will leave it here for two days, before making a new post!

Happy New Year !

2007-12-31T00:03:00.000+01:00

My intention is to be back with normal posting soon (in a day or two).

First, I would wish to thank you for all your comments to my proceeding (Christmas) post and for all your kind wishes!

I don't know if there will be any fireworks around the Tour Eiffel tonight – they have been prohibited for a few years – but I plan to be there, so if… I will try to take a few shots.

In the meantime, I will use these fake fireworks to illustrate my sincere wishes to all of you for a Happy New Year!!

Break for Christmas

2007-12-21T00:02:00.000+01:00

I believe I will now make a break again. I’m a bit annoyed with my network connection, but there are also some other priorities the next couple of days. Before receiving family on Christmas Eve and visiting family on Christmas Day, I have still some final shopping to do (illustrated by the below pictures), some preparation of my flat, some…… , actually quite a lot.

I will try to be back with a post or two before the end of the year, but I take the opportunity to wish you all a Merry Christmas (God Jul, Hyvää Joulua, Joyeux Noël, Feliz Navidad, Frohe Weihnachten, 圣诞快乐, Buon Natale…)!!!

Also on behalf of Paloma who prepared the Christmas card!

Connectivity problems

2007-12-20T20:24:00.000+01:00

Just to say that if there is no post here tomorrow, it's for technical reasons... I hope I will get a connection. Now and then it works!

Place de l'Etoile - Arch of Triumph (bis)

2007-12-20T00:04:00.000+01:00

I’m continuing my post from yesterday.

The decision to build the world’s biggest Arch of Triumph was – of course - taken by Napoleon I, but it took some 30 years before it was at last completed in 1836, with delays and modifications due to different changes of regime in France.

The construction is extremely heavy (about 50 000 tons), something like five times as heavy as the Eiffel Tower. It’s 50 meters high.

The Arch was finally dedicated to the army victories during the French revolution and the following Napoleon wars. It has today become a more general symbolic place for all kinds of national events, e.g. the celebrations of the end of the two World Wars. The 14th July parade has the Arch as a starting point (direction Place de la Concorde). Most state visits include posing of flowers on the grave of the Unknown Soldier, who is buried here since 1923.

When it was getting darker (and even colder) I took some photos of what you can see around (see also the top picture).

When again down I could not resist and took a further shot of the Christmas illuminated Champs Elysées… … and of course some pictures of the Arch itself. I then went for a warming coffee… and discovered again the Arch.

Some of these photos can also be seen on my photo blog.

I have some repeated connectivity problems. If I'm not visiting your respective blogs in the usual way, please excuse me. The service provider should (again) visit me Friday.

Place de l'Etoile - Arch of Triumph

2007-12-19T00:00:00.000+01:00

So far, with my different posts about Paris, I have very little talked about the more famous landmarks, thinking that they are known anyhow. I will now make an exception and talk about the Arch of Triumph at the Place de l’Etoile.

In a certain way, I chose the wrong day and hour to visit the Arch – Monday late afternoon / evening; it was the coldest and windiest day since long, the daylight was fading away…

Anyhow, I walked up the some 300 steps (there is a lift, but only available for officially physically handicapped people which I’m not - yet). I took some pictures in all directions. Due to the fading light, the photos are blue.

Place de l’Etoile is a meeting point for 12 avenues, which of course explains its name, the “Star Place”. Officially, it was renamed in 1970 in honour of Charles de Gaulle.

Between each avenue there is a “hôtel particulier” (private residence), today of course rather occupied by offices. The place exists in different forms since 1670 and is today 240 meters wide (perfect circle). The Arch came some 200 years later.

L’Etoile is one point on the “historical axe” between the Louvre and the new office centre (la Défense) with another Arch-like office building which can be seen at the horizon of the Avenue de la Grande Armée…

The place was modified to give the Arch of Triumph a dignified surrounding. The “hôtels particuliers”, all in the same design, are from about the same date as the Arch (1836). Some of the avenues got their final and prolonged layout during the latter part of the 19th century (Haussmann again).

… This is now already too long. I will continue tomorrow!

Local shopping...

2007-12-18T00:01:00.000+01:00

Different areas of Paris are like small villages with their own local life. Christmas decorations are not quite as glamorous as around the large boulevards or the big department stores. This is the main street of Batignolles, the part of the 17th arrondissement, where I live, with the parish church, Sainte-Marie-des-Batignolles at the end of the street.

One of the advantages I have is that I can find all kind of shops, cafés, restaurants, banks, pharmacies…, not to mention the indoor market, just round the corner. What here follows is an illustration of what I find by walking some 150 meters (I let the non-metric bloggers convert to yards) south, west, north or east from my flat. I believe there is something like 70 pictures in the below collages. The dentist and the orthopedist are just two stairs down, my doctor is 75 meters away… You may understand why I don’t need a car any more.

Meeting with other bloggers - again

2007-12-17T00:06:00.000+01:00

Between a few bloggers we had the pleasure to meet again (last time in July).

“Cergie/Marguerite” (Lucie), “HPY” (Hélène) and I met at “L6” (Lyliane)’s place, in Normandy. The « excuse » was to celebrate Lyliane’s birthday.

Lyliane had prepared our party seriously and we (including accompanying partners) spent a good part of last Saturday eating seafood (oysters, other shellfish, shrimps…), “Sauerkraut”, cheese (a lot of them), dessert… with adequate drinking before, during and after (except for the drivers of course). A typical French luncheon lasting a few hours! And we did talk blogging (not only)!

Blogging is nice and part of the pleasure is to meet with other bloggers! We will certainly meet again and with a bit of luck some others will join!

Great thanks to Lyliane for receiving us all so well!

Mid-month-theme: subway day

2007-12-15T00:02:00.000+01:00

Normally I don’t post during weekends, but here is an exception as it “must” be done on the 15th day of the month. It gives me also the chance to wish you a nice weekend!

For the second time, I participate in a common “mid-month-theme” about subways (or underground, métro, tunnelbana) together with New York and Stockholm. This month’s theme is a “sign” to be found in a metro (subway…) station.

This one was taken in the “Louvre-Rivoli” station, which is a bit differently decorated and “signed” compared to most other Paris metro stations – a bit more “classy”; the station is full of (copies of) statues and other pieces of art exposed at the Louvre.

You can find today’s posts and some other subway posts by using the following links:

New York City Daily Photo - stockholm by pixels - PHO (Paris)

Göteborg

2007-12-14T00:09:00.000+01:00

I spent a week in Sweden, more precisely in Gothenburg (Göteborg in Swedish), to visit my old mother and some friends. The weather was rather typical for the end of the autumn; grey, some light rain / fog, temperature a bit over freezing… Gothenburg is on the west coast, rather south in Sweden, and does not so easily get any snow.

The city is not yet four centuries old. Its place on the map at the mouth of the Göta River, squeezed in between what was Norway and Denmark until 1658, and difficult ground conditions led to several unfruitful attempts to build a town here.

The city plan owes a lot to the Dutch. The town used to be full of canals and many of them are still left. Its major importance has been to be a port, the leading Nordic one, and the port used to be part of the city life. Most of the Nordic immigrants to the States left from here.

The port activities are now closer to the open sea and what you still can see close to the centre is now rather like a museum. Gothenburg was also a leading shipbuilding centre until the 60’s.

Today, it’s still the home of e.g. SKF (the world’s largest bearing manufacturer) and of Volvo (which originally was a subsidiary to SKF), but the city is less and less industrial and is now e.g. the biggest Nordic university town. Totally some 500 thousand people live in the city, some 900 thousand with suburbs.

The apartment buildings I show below, close to the city centre, are mostly from the 19th or the very beginning of the 20th century (and my mother still lives in one of them).You can find some of these photos on my photo blog.

Santa Lucia, Santa Claus...

2007-12-13T00:03:00.000+01:00

Just back from Sweden and today being December 13, I thought I should again make a post related to the day and the season – also as a special homage to our dear blogger friend Cergie, also known as Marguerite, whose real name is Lucie.

December 13 is the day of Santa Lucia (Sankta Lucia, Saint Lucy, Sainte Lucie…), much celebrated in the Nordic countries (although rather being protestant than catholic). Before the Gregorian calendar was introduced in the 16th century, St. Lucy's Day fell on the winter solstice in the northern hemisphere and was thus the darkest day of the year. Together with advent, it means today really the beginning of the Christmas celebrations.

Originally celebrated privately at home, later at working places, you find since the beginning of the 20th century also nationally or regionally elected “Lucias” visiting shopping malls, old people’s homes.... Santa Lucia is represented by a young girl or lady in white clothes with a crown of candles, ahead of a procession of other women holding a candle each. (Painting by Carl Larsson, via Google.)

This is of course a symbolic illustration (pic via Google) of light overcoming darkness and the candles originally symbolized the fire that refused to take the real St. Lucy's life when she was sentenced to be burned. Santa Lucia and her accompanying girls or ladies are supposed to perform the originally Neapolitan Santa Lucia song - with adapted words. In general some specific cakes and “glögg” – the Nordic version of mulled wine (heated red wine, cinnamon, cloves, sugar, raisins, almonds…) - is served. Santa Lucia is not an official holiday, but work may not be very extremely efficient in Sweden today.

Related to Christmas, this brings me to say something about some decorations (whereof this is a detail) which can be found on a building, close to where my mother lives in my native Gothenburg (Göteborg). This house, built in the late 19th century, used to belong to the editor of the leading local newspaper, a certain Mr. Hedlund. One of his close collaborators was a writer called Viktor Rydberg, who in 1871 wrote a by all Swedes well known poem about the “tomte” (Christmas gnome).

The poem was illustrated by a 17 year old art student, called Jenny Nyström and her “tomte”, which you still can find on Christmas postcards, is clearly the model for the Swedish version of Father Christmas.

It is supposed that Haddon Sundblom, born in Michigan to a Swedish-speaking immigrant family, may have got some inspiration from her when he created the famous Coca Cola version around 1920.

He was of course also inspired by the different already existing American Santa Claus images, more particularly by the one created by the German born Thomas Nast in 1863.

The house decorations we see here below are in any case clearly inspired by the Jenny Nyström “tomte”, but they represent rather the different activities of the family owners - editors, journalists, photographers…

Some more night shots

2007-12-05T00:45:00.000+01:00

Before I leave for Sweden (I will hopefully be back and able to post again December 13), here are some more night shots. Two from Place de la Concorde, one of the Champs Elysées and one of the roof of the Grand Palais (along the Champs Elysées). It was raining and I took the photos with my trembling hands… Anyhow.

See you (rather) soon!!

Place Vendôme at night

2007-12-04T00:00:00.000+01:00

After taking some photos of the illuminated department stores, I thought I should have a look on the Christmas decorations on the nearby Rue de la Paix and Place Vendôme. This is where you find exclusive jewellery shops like Cartier, Van Cleef & Arpel, Piaget, Chaumet… the Hotel Ritz… and the Ministry of Justice (see yesterday’s map).

A bit less spectacular as decoration, but very classy of course.

Part of the decoration was spotlights on the Napoleon column in the middle of the place. As it was slightly raining and the clouds were low, Napoleon’s shadow could be seen in the sky (see top picture).

Place Vendôme was laid out by Louis XIV in 1702 already. Later John Law, the Scottish banker who invented paper money, took over the project and the square was complete in 1720. Law had just the time to move in to his own apartments before he had to flee, bankrupt. He ended his life as a gambler and died poor in Venice.

The column, erected by Napoleon, is said to have been made out of cannons won during different battles. Both the statue and the column have been taken down a few times, depending on regimes. It stands there as it is today since 1874. The present statue is a copy; the original one was used to provide bronze for the statue of Henry IV on the Pont Neuf.

You can find a few of these photos on my photo blog.

It is (not yet) Christmas!

2007-12-03T00:05:00.000+01:00

No ‘still painting” posts any more! The flat is now (almost) ready to receive the furniture. I have finished my part this weekend, but my son and his wife are still busy refreshing the wooden floors…

Late Friday evening I took a walk around the city to check some of the Christmas decorations – just installed.

The two department stores, Au Printemps and Galeries Lafayette, situated very close to each other on the same street, Boulevard Haussmann (8th arrdt.), are of course competitors, including e.g. who has the nicest glass dome (see my post June 26), but of course also right now who has the nicest “Christmas dress” and the most nicely decorated shop windows. The top picture is one of these windows. You can find some of these pictures on my photo blog.

Still painting - day 10

2007-11-30T00:00:00.000+01:00

I trust and sincerely hope that this is the last “painting post” – only some fine tuning still needed.

I took the same photo as “day 7”, when I left my son’s flat – this time when I arrived yesterday morning. The tower (or what you could see of it) looked this time less attractive, the sky was grey… and it was without any real regrets that I went to my painting session.

Next week, I hope to be able to make a few real posts again, but December 5 I will leave for about a week in Sweden. My old mother “requires” my presence.

I wish you a very nice weekend! I will grab my camera and will hopefully find something to tell you on Monday!

Still painting - day 9

2007-11-29T00:03:00.000+01:00

Still another day of painting. Some of you believe that we are redecorating a huge apartment; quite logical if you consider the time we are spending. Well, it’s not that huge - a three bedroom flat, but a lot of frustrating preparation jobs to be done before we could start with the more colourful phase, involving several layers of paint…. Sorry, but all this takes time. Kitchen, bathroom etc. are also completely transformed, fortunately by professionals.

On the way to my painting session, I could not resist against taking another tree photo; the morning sun on the golden leaves attracted my eyes. There are still a few trees where the leaves have not yet decided to fall.

Still painting - day 8

2007-11-28T00:04:00.000+01:00

Yesterday morning, on the way to the metro, walking through « my » park, I thought for a second (or maybe two) that I should find an excuse for not painting; the sky was so blue, the birds were singing… , but of course my sense of duty took over!

I hope that by the end of the week it will all be ready. Everything is going slowly, but according to schedule.

Still painting - day 7

2007-11-27T00:12:00.000+01:00

This is what I saw last evening when I left the flat I’m just helping to repaint.

I’m happy we are not repainting the Eiffel Tower: 60 tons of paint are needed = 0,6% of its total weight. It’s done on average every seven years and it takes more than a year for 25 painters. Next campaign starts in 2008. I’m not applying for the job!

Still painting - day 6

2007-11-26T00:05:00.000+01:00

Yes, still painting. We have for a couple of days more. It’s surprising the number of paint layers you need before you feel happy with the result. I really start to feel that I would prefer to leave the paint brushes and have some time to work with my blog again and to visit yours, but…

Still painting

2007-11-23T23:22:00.000+01:00

Yes, the painting goes on. Far from finished. In the meantime, thanks for all your encouraging comments!

... and, sorry, I forgot to wish you all a nice weekend in the previous message!

Along Rue Réaumur (2)

2007-11-23T00:19:00.000+01:00

Here comes the second part of our strolling along Rue Réaumur, leaving the 3rd arrondissement for the 2nd.

The buildings here mostly date from the very last years of the 19th century. The architects seem to have been allowed some more freedom than what you usually find with the pure Haussmannian style. Several of the buildings have partly a metallic structure. You can sometimes find a touch of Art Nouveau.

Several newspapers used to have their headquarters in this area, some on this street. Most newspapers are now in the suburbs.

No. 100 previously housed “France Soir”, which used to have an important circulation of some 2 million, but today has left the premises (now “just offices”) and has become a very insignificant newspaper. Originally, the building was occupied by an other newspaper called ”L’Intransigeant” (still visible on the entrance hall mosaic) and for a few years after WW II by the during the war clandestine “Combat” (with names as JP Sartre, Albert Camus, André Malraux..).

Another important newspaper, Le Parisien (Liberé) occupied no. 124 as from the end of WW II until the 70’s. (This newspaper belongs to the same group which organises Tour de France and also owns the sports newspaper “L’Equipe”.)

Along the street you will also find a different type of metro entrance, Le Sentier, which you access via a building. Even the metro sign is here different from the today used one, which is the one you see here. In the surrounding streets you will find a concentration of textile and clothing manufacturers, retailers and wholesalers.

You also cross the charming Rue Montorgeuil, a pedestrian market street.

Rue Réaumur ends (changes name) when we reach the Paris Stock Exchange (la Bourse), which also goes under the name of Palais Brogniart. It dates from the beginning of the 18th century.

Some small details:

- When I took these photos last week, it was quite cold. You can see how even the pigeons were freezing and searched warm air from the underneath metro.

- There is an obvious lack of decent apartments for the less fortunate Paris population. Just opposite to the Stock Exchange, there was an occupation / demonstration ongoing. … in the meantime I continue painting. Sorry, for still being rather absent as blogger.

You can find most of these photos on my photo blog.

Aujourd'hui... rien!

2007-11-22T00:04:00.000+01:00

Aujourd’hui… rien, Today… nothing !

This is what Louis XVI wrote in his journal for the 14th of July 1789, the day of the Bastille.

Actually, what he meant is that nothing had happened during the daily hunt. He learnt about the Bastille only later in the night and then asked “Is this a revolt?”. Rather phlegmatic about it all.

Actually, what I mean is that there will not be any real post today. Still painting… for another week or more.

Along Rue Réaumur (1)

2007-11-21T00:08:00.000+01:00

Still painting, but here is something which I more or less prepared end last week:

Rue Réaumur (3rd arrdt.) stretches from the Temple to our Stock Exchange (la Bourse). It was opened in different steps during the 19th century – Haussmann again. Réaumur was an 18th century scientist, today perhaps best known for the temperature scale which was widely used around Europe before being replaced by the centigrades (Celsius).

The street starts thus at the Temple, today just a square, but this is where an old fortress from 1240, later prison, used to stay. It’s particularly known for having hosted the royal family during the Revolution and Louis XVI was taken directly from here to be guillotined at the Place de la Révolution, today Place de la Concorde.

There are some interesting buildings to be seen along the street, most of them from the period 1850-1900. There are actually so many that I prefer to make only half of the street today.

Some specific words about a few of these buildings:

No. 51 used to be the first big Felix Potin shop, opened in 1860 (rebuilt in 1910). Felix Potin may not say very much to a foreigner, but it became an important chain with 1200 grocery shops all over Paris. The last one closed in 1996.

No. 82 hosted a big department store, “A Réaumur”, until 1961. The founder, J-P Gaubert-Martin somehow invented the “prêt-à-porter”, catalogues and post orders.Walking this first half way of Rue Réaumur, you cross some interesting streets, worth a small deviation. To the left you can find Rue Beaubourg and you can distinguish the modern art museum, Centre Pompidou. When you cross Rue St.Martin you can find the 15th century St.Nicolas-in-the-Fields (St.Nicolas-des-Champs) church to the left and the National Conservatory of Arts and Crafts (with museum), previously the 12th century abbey and priory of St.Martin-in-the-Fields (St.Martin-des-Champs), to the right with the St.Martin Arch of Triumph in the background. In between you can find the Jean-Paul Gaultier fashion house and a musical theatre, La Gaité Lyrique. Later you will cross Rue St.Denis, also with its Arch of Triumph – to the right - and a number of sex shops to the left.

Some of these photos can be seen on my photo blog.

(A said, I continue painting, so I don’t know when I will post next time. Excuse me also for not visiting your sites regularly.)

No post today...

2007-11-20T00:04:00.000+01:00

There will not be any post today, not necessarily by solidarity with the Writers Guild, but my blogging activity has been disturbed by the fact that together with my son, we are just now painting walls and ceilings in his (+ family) new flat.

Maybe tomorrow!

Added later:

To avoid any misunderstanding: I wanted to show the maybe best examples of wall and ceiling paintings. However, what we are doing will probably be better represented by this picture!

Weekend occupations

2007-11-19T00:02:00.000+01:00

The weekend was busy, so the post today will be a short and easy one.

One item on the agenda was the baptizing of my grandson Mattias (one year old). You can see the happy parents - my son Patrick and his wife -, Mattias’ sister Paloma and my daughter Stephanie (Patrick’s sister) plus a few friends…

Patrick (+ family) just bought a new flat and for some reason they expect me to help them with the decoration before they move in beginning December. That will give me limited time for preparing new posts, look at your blogs and to comment, but I will do my best. Let’s see!

The last leaves...

2007-11-16T00:04:00.000+01:00

The last leaves… There have many pictures of autumn leaves lately – and by qualified photographers, but I could not resist.

So yesterday I took some pictures in what I use to call “my park” (Square des Batignolles, Paris 17th arrdt.), some two minutes walk from my flat. It has been quite cold in Paris the last days, some +5°C (or about 40°F) during the afternoon. Even the birds must have felt a need to warm up. They had all gathered at the same sunny end of the small lake for a nice common siesta.Some of you may remember that I have now and then reported on the growth of what may be a banana tree. The first leaves were visible in the beginning of April. The leaves had grown considerably until they were cut at the beginning of this week … and I never saw any bananas. What remains of the tree has now got some winter clothes.A few of these photos can be seen on my photo blog.

Now, I wish you all a nice weekend! The weekend will be busy, but I plan to be back on Monday!

Mid-month-theme: subway day

2007-11-15T00:23:00.000+01:00

I was kindly invited to join a common “mid-month-theme” about subways (or underground, metro, tunnelbana…), previously shared between New York and Stockholm. This month’s subject is "the exterior of a metro (subway…) station by night".

One photo should be chosen to illustrate the subject. I had to fight with myself not to include a few more according to my habits. (As a compromise, you can find a few more photos on my photo blog.)

This one was taken a few days (nights) ago at the metro station Place de Clichy, one of the stations decorated by Hector Guimard around 1900.

You can find today’s posts and some others linked to the metro theme by using the below links.

New York City Daily Photo - stockholm by pixels - PHO (Paris)

A bank succurcal

2007-11-14T00:05:00.000+01:00

I refer to my post on Rue Fortuny last week. When leaving this place you arrive at a square, called Place du Général-Catroux (17th arrdt.), once called the place of the Three Dumas.

On this square you will find the statues of Alexandre Dumas, father/père (The Count of Monte Christo, The Three Musketeers…) and son/fils (The Lady of the Camelias…)*. There used also to be a statue of the grandfather, also called Alexandre, bastard son of a Tahitian slave and a noble Frenchman, who became a General in the French Army in 1793. This statue was destroyed by the Nazi occupants in 1942.

There is a remarkable building here, built as a private home (hôtel particulier / mansion) for Emile Gaillard in 1884, who was governor of the French National Bank (Banque de France) and a great art collector. Some years after his death, the building was bought by the French National Bank. Despite its size and prestigious style, this is however not the Bank’s official site and major building in Paris, just a succurcal.

The building is normally hidden by the trees, but as some of them had now lost their leaves; it was possible to get a more general view.

One small detail that you can find above some windows; a “G” for Gaillard. Some of these photos can be seen “in full” on my photo blog.
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*/ I have previously posted on the graves of Alexandre Dumas fils and of “The Lady of the Camelias” (Marie Duplessis), both at the Montmartre cemetery.

Other statues - Luxembourg Gardens

2007-11-13T00:04:00.000+01:00

We don’t all have the same taste – fortunately! Some of you did not really like the sculptures I showed yesterday. I prefer to keep everybody happy, so here are a few other ones!

When you start to really walk around the Luxembourg Gardens, you will discover hundreds of sculptures. Here are a few examples. If you want more, I can go back!

Pigeons always seem to like to sit on the top of statues. What seems more surprising is that here you can also find seagulls in the same position. I believe this is the only park in Paris where you can regularly find seagulls. Why are they here?

One of these statues is the Statue of Liberty. I already had this statue in one of my posts. This one is not a copy; it’s rather one of the originals, preceding the making of the “real one” and about 15 years older. It was given to the city of Paris by its creator, Bartholdi.

I put only a small selection of these pictures on my photo blog – there were too many of them. If you feel that I made a bad choice, please tell me and I will add one or two more!