Mid-month theme - subway day

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).

Mid-month-theme: subway day

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!

Mid-month-theme: subway day

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).

Mid-month-theme: subway day

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)

Mid-month-theme: subway day

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)

La Bastille

I was yesterday invited to an art exhibition, which at present takes place in tents around...
...Place de la Bastille
... and the small adjacent port.

The autumn colours are here.

I have of course visited and been driving across or around this place a number of times and I have also made some posts (1, 2, 3) about it and its surroundings. I often asked myself, where more exactly was the famous Bastille - somehow the symbol of the French revolution - and is there anything left? I decided to at last try to find out.

If you look carefully on the ground, which I hadn’t done before, the form of the central building and its towers has been partly traced in the pavement of the place.

With the help of some old drawings…

... I then tried to put the Bastille, hopefully more or less in scale, on the Google map. (Despite some desperate research, I could not find anything already done in this respect, but of course there must be something; I’m certainly not the first one to try…)

After the total destruction, most of the Bastille stones were used for other constructions in and around Paris, some were kept as souvenirs… but I learnt that there is something left:

The wall which goes along what today is a small port for yachts still partly contains the original stones from the Bastille.

The lower part of an outer wall was discovered when they built the tunnel for metro line 5 and can now be seen.

Some stones were carried to a small square in the neighbourhood, Square Henri Galli.

So now I (and maybe you) know a bit more!

Pont de Bir-Hakeim

The Bir-Hakeim Bridge crosses the Seine River, just south of the Eiffel Tower. Tourists may often not have the time to go so far, but it’s actually one of the best places to watch the Tower and it’s also a beautiful piece of art by itself.

The bridge was built (actually rebuilt) in 1905 in two levels, allowing the passage of the then new metro, plus cars, pedestrians, bikers… It was originally called the Passy Bridge, named after the area Passy on the right bank. It got its new name in 1948 to commemorate the battle of Bir Hakeim (Libya 1942-43).

The two Scottish guys you can see on one of the pictures are probably here for the soccer game France – Scotland, played last night (0-1) or maybe on their way to the rugby match in Toulouse, where France also meets Scotland (World Championships) next weekend.

The bridge crosses the Ile des Cygnes (the Swan Island). You can use some stairs and then take a walk all along the narrow island to its extreme south, where you can find the smaller version of the Statue of Liberty.

The statue you see is a gift from the Danish colony in France (1930) and the decorations on the side of the bridge date from its creation; symbols of the French nation are fixed to the bridge.

The bridge has "co-starred" in several films, the most famous one perhaps being the Last Tango in Paris by Bertolucci with Marlon Brando; the apartment was situated in the last corner building, just at the starting point of the bridge.

Some of the original photos can be seen on my other blog , "Peter-photos".

Hector Guimard

I have already previously mentioned and shown some of the famous Paris metro entrances my Hector Guimard (1867-1942). Guimard did also a lot of other things. He was basically an architect, working during the Art Nouveau period (with names like Horta, Gaudi), but not really pretending to belong to the movement.
He lived and worked in the southern part of the 16th ardt. and here you can find a great concentration of buildings he designed, although there are a few other ones around Paris and in the province. (If you feel for a nice walk, at the end of the post you can find a list and where to find these buildings.)

Typical for Guimard and Art Nouveau is to combine the building structure and the decoration, using steel and sometimes armed beton (which both were new then). The later Art Deco built first and then added the decoration.

Guimard was in fashion for a rather short period around the turn of the centuries and a lot that he created has later disappeared. He is now again in fashion and today we seriously regret all that has got lost, including a number of metro station entrances and buildings. One remarkable creation was a concert hall (also in the 16th arrondissement, “Humbert de Romans”) which was demolished only after a few years (the owner went bankrupt).

Guimard became famous at 30 with the building of Castel Béranger. This was just before he created the metro entrances and you can clearly recognise the style.Most of the remaining buildings cannot be visited and some are even difficult to see from outside as they sometimes are in small, private, streets. This part of Paris is full of those (fashionable and expensive). I managed to squeeze in to some of them, but not the way I would have liked. Narrow streets and parked cars make it also difficult to get the views you wish.

One building was temporarily open for public, Hôtel Mezzera, from where I have also some pictures of the interior. Remarkable is that Guimard designed everything, inside decoration, furniture, lamps, stained glass windows… There were 30 Guimard buildings within the area I visited. 17 remain and they are today classified, at least for the exterior part, in a few cases also for the interior. This area was very village like when these houses were built. That gave more space for innovation than if the Haussmannian rules from the centre of Paris would have to be followed. I will revert with some other architectural innovations from the same area. It’s worth looking on Guimard’s work in detail and I would recommend that you have a look on the original photos on my other blog, “Peter – photos”.

Metro station Liège

The metro station Liège is a bit different from other Paris metro stations. It was opened in 1913, 13 years after the first metro. It’s on a line which goes basically in the sense north south. It was first baptised Berlin, closed for a couple of months in 1914 when the First World War broke out and then opened again a few months later with a new name, Liège (Luick, Lidje, Lüttich), the Belgian Walloon province and city. It’s situated in an area where all the streets have the names of different European major cities, including rue de Liège.

The station, which is very close to the St. Lazare station, is fairly small and narrow; the quays are not opposite to each other as in all other stations. It was closed again in 1939 and opened only in 1968, then with a new decoration, which also is unique for a Paris metro station. The walls are covered with motives from the Liège region, made of tiles from Welkenraedt in the Liège province. I made my "discovery" thanks to my new “blogger eyes”.

A different metro entrance

I have previously already talked about the Paris metro entrances and especially the ones designed by Hector Guimard. Most of them are there since about hundred years (the Paris metro was inaugurated in 1900).

Here is another, new and very different one, “Palais Royal – Musée du Louvre”. It was placed there in 2000 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Paris metro. It has got a name, “Kiosque des Noctambules” (Kiosk of the night-walkers), but I took my photos in daytime. There are actually two copulas, one for the night, one for the day, all made of murano glass and aluminium.

I like it a lot, but it has of course been criticized. … and you, what do you think?

You can find it just between the Louvre and the Palais Royal, another beautiful place. I will bring you there soon.

You can find the photos from this pachwork in my other blog, "Peter - photos".

Place des Abbesses

Further referring to the Montmartre patchwork the other day, here are some more details about the Place des Abbesses, where the “I love you”-wall can be found. I think it is one of the most beautiful places in Paris. It has a lot of charm and is not invaded by more or less gifted ”tourist painters” and other commercial activities. It’s visited, but normally not included as a “must” in a normal Montmartre tourist tour.

Adjacent to the central place you have a small park (Square Jehan-Rictus) with the “I love you”-wall. On the place, surrounded by bars, you can find a carousel, a Wallace fountain and one of Paris’ nicest metro entrances. Crossing the street, you will find the church Saint-Jean-l’Evangeliste.

There is some more information below, between the photos.


The church, Saint-Jean-l’Evangeliste, is rather recent, inaugurated in 1904. The architect, Anatole de Baudot (1834-1915), wanted to create a simpler kind of church. The ironwork and the concrete used for the building is partly visible and the, for that époque, innovative design can be said to be related to the “modern-style”.

The “modern-style” (Art Nouveau, Tiffany, Liberty, Modernismo…) is more clearly represented by the metro entrance, designed by one of its innovators, Hector Guimard (1867-1942). You can find several of his metro entrances in Paris, but this is clearly one of the more spectacular ones, with a glass roof. On the top picture, you can (on the lower part) discover how Hector has incorporated an M for metro in his design. (This entrance has actually been brought here from another metro station in order to have it saved.)