My soup - posts tagged '04th'

农历新年 (nónglì xinnián)

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 23:00:06 GMT

So it's the Chinese new year... and it's the year of the water dragon apparently, a symbol of strength and power. Since I've started learning Chinese (with a wonderful - and very patient! - teacher), about a year ago, I learned a lot about the Chinese culture and language differences (and God knows they are numerous!). FYI, marches and celebrations will mostly take place during next weekend, but I won't be in Paris, so I'm posting this photo that I took during a previous new year celebration at Hotel de Ville.

Mole art...

Sat, 14 Jan 2012 01:12:35 GMT

I took this photo at the Hotel de Sully, a stunning hôtel particulier (private mansion) that was built between 1625 and 1630 and is now the French historical monument center. It's worth a visit in general, but it's even more worth a visit right now, as they currently have an artist (Ghyslain Bertholon) performance in the gardens. What is it about? Moles... Yes, giant moles, like the one you can see in the foreground of this photo. It's odd, but pretty unexpected, therefore creative...

Last Christmas decorations...

Mon, 09 Jan 2012 23:00:03 GMT

Pretty soon all Christmas decorations will be gone, so let me show you one last one. I found it at the Hotel de ville (town hall) - and not in the court yard of the Louvre Museum, where they also have pyramids! - Beautiful isn't? Nothing else to add - except that maybe I should think of taking down my Christmas tree now... ;-)

One horse town (hall)!

Thu, 22 Dec 2011 23:00:03 GMT

I'm so behind on my work right now, that I really did not have any minute to horse around today ;-) Except for a short visit to the gym at dawn this morning (yes, people!), I did not go out at all... Therefore I did not have the chance to take my photo du jour. So let me use this one, that I took about a month ago at the Paris Town hall and that I really like. I never posted it because I have no information what's so ever about this stunning sculpture.

Press conference

Mon, 12 Dec 2011 23:35:40 GMT

Today I attended a press conference at the Pavillon de l'Arsenal - a must visit museum dedicated to the Paris architecture. The purpose of the conference was to announce the launch of a very innovative digital map (a team work of Google and Paris), in which you can see "the future Paris" in 3D. How is that possible? Simply because some of the main architectural projects have been digitally embedded into the giant interactive map that can be seen in the Pavillon. It was really fascinating, but, call me weird, I was even more fascinated by the glow in the dark green shows of Ms Dominique Alba, General Manager of the Pavillon who introduced the project to us ;-) Make sure you also see the making of.

Christmas (de)Lights

Sat, 10 Dec 2011 14:53:07 GMT

I love the Christmas period. Not only do you have lights and decorations everywhere in Paris, but also - and specifically! - into churches too. Hence this photo I took inside Nôtre Dame (the same church where I took this photo). Now is the time to think of buying your Christmas gifts everyone, you don't want to find yourself in the middle of the crowd on the very last day, do you?!

Season Classic!

Sun, 04 Dec 2011 23:02:01 GMT

I know what you're gonna say... Again! Yes again, every year it's the same, but it's still beautiful. In case you would not know what it is (which I seriously doubt!) , this the famous Notre Dame Cathedral, located in the middle of l'île de la Cité. Every year towards the end of November they erect an enormous Christmas tree in front of it (of course it's does not look so big in this photo ;-) and it's always breath taking. Last year, at the same time, it was super cold and snowy. This year, it's extraordinary mild.

Sex in the city

Sat, 19 Nov 2011 23:02:00 GMT

Sex in the city is not the title of a television series, but... the name of an exhibition that just opened yesterday (Saturday) in Paris. Like you can see, it's already very successful (sex is always a good sales boost - even though this exhibition is actually free). What's can be seen inside? Well I don't really know as I did not visit it, but a little bird told me you can see all sorts of sex toys, games, lingerie... you name it! All this to raise Aids awareness (yeah, right!). More in these videos.

Without a shadow of a doubt

Fri, 18 Nov 2011 23:02:00 GMT

I took this photo at the bottom of Tour Saint-Jacques, the tower they renovated recently and that I showed you several times (here, here, here and here!). You'd think this would be a statue of Saint Jacques, but... it is not. It's the one of Blaise Pascal, a famous French mathematician and philosopher who, among other things, invented in 1642, the first calculator (mechanical at that time, obviously...). Why is here there? Because he is said to have prevented the destruction of a church that was previously on these premises. BTW, around this tower, there is a little square, which apparently was the first square in Paris (1856).

Golden Blog Awards night

Wed, 16 Nov 2011 23:02:00 GMT

I'm just back from the... French Golden Blog Awards night that was taking place at the Hotel de Ville (city town hall). Huge event, very successful, so successful I had to wait 3 quarters of an hour outside before entering (see the little red square at the end of the line? The entrance was way beyond that point!). It was worth it though, the event was nice, the scenery was too (remember the ceiling?) and the company even more. Did I win an award? Nah, I did not, but the competition was really tough, so it's fair. Sorry I cannot show you the winners yet, because they haven't been posted on the Golden blog awards site yet, but I will (yeah, cause that's the kind of guy I am ;-))

Before and after at La Conciergerie

Sun, 18 Sep 2011 22:02:00 GMT

La Conciergerie is a very famous place in Paris. Not only is it one of the most beautiful monuments in the city, but on top of that it is known for having "sheltered" Marie-Antoinette for several months, before she was beheaded on the Place de la Concorde (Place de la Révolution at that time). La Conciergerie is also constantly covered in scaffolding (I suppose that's the price to pay for a monument that was built around the 12th century! Anyway, right now, Samsung commissioned French designer Jean-Charles de Castelbajac to make a huge fresco on it. I took these photos a few days apart from each others. See more here and in this video.

Sunset on Notre Dame

Fri, 16 Sep 2011 22:05:00 GMT

Another of this September evening light that is so beautiful in Paris. I passed by Notre Dame last evening around 7:30 on my way to my brother's and I could not help but admiring this stunning Paris landmark. Besides, for once that it's not covered in scaffolding... Have a great week-end everyone. I hope the weather is going to remain as clear as this!

Sunset over Tour Saint Jacques

Tue, 13 Sep 2011 22:31:06 GMT

On my way to dinner last evening, I passed by the Châtelet area while the sun was going down on Paris. The light was absolutely stunning... This tower - that was recently renovated as you may remember - is the only remain of a former church dedicated to Saint Jacques precisely! (See the whole story here). The other landmark you can see here is La colonne du Châtelet (The Chatelet column).

Back to my dear bridges!

Tue, 30 Aug 2011 22:04:00 GMT

That's it, after a - very - long weekend near Nîmes in the South of France, I'm back to my dear old Paris. The weather may not be as nice and the air quality may not be as good, I always enjoy going back home ;-) This is Le Pont Marie, a bridge that goes from the right bank to the Saint Louis Island, it was built by Mr Marie (Christophe was his first name) and it's one of the oldest bridges in Paris (it was built between 1614 and 1635). I think the slogan "built to last" could apply to this work of art LOL!

Dinner outside

Tue, 23 Aug 2011 22:03:00 GMT

Here is where I had dinner with a few friends to celebrate a birthday! The weather was gorgeous, the scenery (well, see for yourself!) and the food exquisite - Not to mention that since it's a no car street, it was very quiet . On the cultural side, you should know that this is the Gervais-Saint-Protais church, an exceptionnal place, both outside and inside. Now, are you jealous of me?!

Massage, really?!

Mon, 22 Aug 2011 22:58:45 GMT

Nothing to do with the recent charges being dropped in the DSK case, but with a very common practice in Paris: massages with a happy endings ("avec les finitions"), if you see what I mean... Actually, most of the time, you hear about a Chinese salon that was closed by the police for - no, not massage malpractice! - but for prostitution. I must say this is the first time I came across such an advertisement; hard to think real massages happen at the end of this line...

Paris Plage sprinklers

Wed, 03 Aug 2011 22:01:02 GMT

Yesterday, an anonymous commenter requested Paris Plage photos... And since your wishes are my command(!), well, here you go ;-) Besides, can you picture a summer on PDP without a shot of the Paris Plage sprinklers? Enjoy (especially if you live in a hot country!).

Yummy!

Mon, 01 Aug 2011 22:20:33 GMT

It may not be the perfect summer dish, but since it's not really summer at the moment in Paris, well, there are no rules any longer! That is why I did not hesitate to choose this Mille feuilles de Poire au foie gras at the restaurant where I had lunch, at Place du marché Sainte Catherine. Yummy! But not really light... If you want to try this (or almost) on your end, here is what I found for you (in French)!

A real diner in Paris

Thu, 28 Jul 2011 22:08:00 GMT

A-ma-zing! if you're American, if you're in Paris and if you feel a little home sick, I have the perfect place for you! It's called Happy Days diner, and as its name let's you guess, it's a diner! But just not like a French imitation, a real one: with Formica tables, pastel colors, an old jukebox, an old US gas pump... You expect Fonzi to walk in any minute LOL! I know that you don't come to Paris to eat at a diner, but frankly this place is really worth a visit (there are actually 3 in Paris so far, I took this photo at the Hotel de Ville one).

Paris Plage at night

Mon, 25 Jul 2011 23:05:39 GMT

Since the weather is a little better at the moment, I went for a walk at Paris Plage last evening. Very nice! And yes, there is - or there seems to be - much more sand this year. I saw the famous Sleeping beauty castle provided by Disney Resort Paris and a few other things, but I did not go all the way to the end. I will. The bridge in the back is Le Pont Marie, a superb bridge that goes from the Ile Saint Louis to the Quai de l'hôtel de ville.

Hurrah, the sun showed up!

Fri, 22 Jul 2011 22:08:01 GMT

Hard to believe, we saw a ray of sun today... It was even warm at lunch time! So warm that some people even ventured at Paris Plage. As I told you, our yearly beach opened 2 days ago, and like every year it breaks a couple of records: twice the amount of sand as last year, Sleeping beauty castle, giant deck chairs... and a lot of daily events. I'll show you more along the month of course.

Paris by night

Mon, 04 Jul 2011 22:21:49 GMT

I'm just back from an evening out in Paris. On the way back, the weather was so nice, I took "Le chemin des écoliers" (the long way round) and I did not regret it! Need I say more?

Optical Illusion at Paris town hall

Tue, 28 Jun 2011 22:02:00 GMT

Fa-sci-na-ting! I passed by the Paris town hall today, where they currently have an open air exhibit about Paris trees (there are 485 000 of them!). On top of the various - very interesting - explanations, they also installed an anamorphosis work of art by François Abelanet. Anamorphosis? Let me borrow Wikipedia's definition: " it's a distorted projection or perspective requiring the viewer to occupy a specific vantage point to reconstitute the image." Well, since an image is worth a 100 words, click here, you'll see that what you get in this photo is not really what you see! More, in French, on the Paris Website.

Stunning ceilings

Mon, 06 Jun 2011 22:08:00 GMT

Yesterday evening I attended the Parisapps meetup, an event that took place in the Paris City Hall town hall during which the five best mobile apps dedicated to Paris got featured. It was interesting (have a look at them and at all Paris applications, here if you're interested). What was also interesting was the cocktail they served afterwards stunning ceiling of the ballroom we were in. This is just a small bit, as the whole ceiling (painted by Henri Gervex and Aimé Morot) is 50 meter (164 feet) long!

Bonjour de Paris!

Sat, 28 May 2011 22:51:42 GMT

Here you go, here is the family picture of the 6th PDP picnic! As always it was great fun. Lots of new faces and lots of nice encounters. More tomorrow with the video (if the camera worked!). Right now, it's time to go to bed ;-) Love you all.

Street Fishing!

Tue, 24 May 2011 22:05:18 GMT

Add "ing" to any English word (dancing (a night-club), lifting (a facelift), teasing (a marketing operation to get attention)...) and put it in the middle of a French sentence and you'll start a trend! I just found a new one; it's called Street Fishing and, according to an article I just read, it's a new trend... Frankly there have been fishermen along the Seine fror quite some time, but if "they" say it's a new trend, well why not?! FYI, street fishing is what the participants in the picnic may do this Saturday as I finally decided it would take place at the usual location. See more, here.

Notre Dame x2

Sat, 14 May 2011 22:04:00 GMT

OK, I agree, this photo is a typical touristy photo, but I thought it was perfect for a peaceful Sunday ;-) Pretty soon I'll be heading back to my favorite city (I'm in Pittsburgh right now), but I won't have time to go to the Seine embankment when I return, as I will have to dive into work right away... Not to forget the preparation of the PDP picnic!

Face the music

Wed, 04 May 2011 22:06:00 GMT

Here is a cute graffito that I photographed on one of the boxes of "a bouquiniste" (booksellers of used books installed along large parts of the embankment of the Seine). This little symphony may only have 2 notes so far, but who knows, one day, it may end up like this! That's all folks, just the results of my today's meandering ;-)

Feels like summer...

Tue, 26 Apr 2011 22:09:00 GMT

About 23° Celsius (73.4 F), that is +6°C compared to a normal year, that's what the temperature was like today in Paris! You see scenes that normally take place in summer, like these people on the Ile de la Cité gathering after work! This abnormal weather is nice of course, but is also starting to cause drought problems; not so much in Paris, but in the provinces. I really hope the weather is going to remain like this until the PDP picnic though ;-)

Paris Marathon 2011

Tue, 12 Apr 2011 04:46:39 GMT

Like every year the Paris Marathon took place today. And like every year PDP was there! Luckily the day was absolutely gorgeous and it was a real pleasure waiting for the runners on the "quais" (river banks). Not surprisingly this 2011 marathon was won by Kenians (Benjamin Kiptoo in 2,06 hours for the men and Priscah Jeptoo in 2,22 hours for the women), but the first French was not very far (Abdellatif Meftah in 2,10 hours). BTW the 6th annual PDP picnic will take place towards the end of may, beginning of June. Can you help me picking up a date by answering the poll in the righ column? Thank you.

'Facade lift'!

Sun, 03 Apr 2011 22:08:00 GMT

You may find it hard to recognize this very famous Paris landmark and though, yes, this is La Conciergerie, the same building I photographed here, in 2009. Much less breath taking, don't you think?! Alas, due to the pollution in Paris, buildings need to be cleaned regularly, and there is no other way than hanging a huge scaffolding against them. Now, the big controversy is: should they but this giant ad on it while they're doing the work? Highly controversial of course and political too: the green party wants to ban them, the government does not because it helps contributing to the renovation costs. I personally like them when they are creative, like the one I photographed here. In this particular case I think Dior could have done better!

Start the week "en fanfare"!

Sat, 26 Mar 2011 23:36:44 GMT

When I saw this band today I immediately thought of a French expression that goes "faire quelque chose 'en fanfare'" (to do something triumphantly, or at least with a lot of positive energy). Fanfare means marching band, like this one I photographed at Place de l'Hotel de Ville. So let me wish you to start the week "en fanfare", like the one we're going to have in Paris where the sun is going to shine all week ;-)
BTW, I just had dinner with someone the regular visitors to PDP all know: Alexa (who is currently visiting Paris ;-) Great to see her again after meeting her first in NYC in 2008.

Lady in red

Mon, 07 Mar 2011 23:31:44 GMT

What's nice when the weather improves is that people start invading terraces again. This gave me the occasion to take this snapshot, right in front of Théâtre du Châtelet... Like you know I always try to avoid showing people's faces which is an interesting constraint when you want to take a photo ;-)

Happy Valentine 2011

Sun, 13 Feb 2011 23:08:00 GMT

I spent most of my Sunday working and I did not even have the time to go out and take a photo for Valentine's day... I dug into my stock (and God knows it's huge!), but could not find anything as good as this or this... In despair(!) I found this, a photo that I took after the last PDP picnic in June and that I already partially published. Anyway, let me wish a happy Valentine's day to all lovers and more particularly to these two who will probably look familiar to you ;-)

Ice rink 2011!

Mon, 10 Jan 2011 23:07:00 GMT

I know you probably have the feeling you already saw this photo on PDP last year - and possibly the year before - but I swear, this is a brand new photo ! I took it at the Hotel de ville where they installed the ice-rink like every year. I took this photo through the transparent plastic walls they have around it. Cool effect.

Quand l'appétit va...

Fri, 07 Jan 2011 23:06:00 GMT

We have a famous saying in France that goes "quand l'appétit va, tout va!" ("when your appetite is fine, everything else is") and, well considering the huge "Gauffre" aux marrons (chestnuts waffle) that I had today, well, there is no doubt: I'm perfectly healed ;-) My God was it yummy... Now I can go back to working like normal ;-( ! Have a great weekend everyone, it's 15 degrees C in Paris (60° F) right now, not a single chance of snow.

The birds!

Mon, 22 Nov 2010 23:03:00 GMT

No, these birds did not dive on me like in The birds, the movie by Alfred Hitchcock, but I've found the scene pretty scary. I took this photo near the Châtelet, by the Tour Saint Jacques, that has recently been renewed (see this post and this post). You can also have a good look at the weather we're experiencing in Paris at the moment. Grey and cold - and even colder soon... I'm off to Lille today, in the north of France, it'll be even colder!

Going around...

Sat, 20 Nov 2010 23:07:00 GMT

This may be hard for you to see, but if you look closely in the background of this photo, you will see the lights of a merry-go-round that I photographed at Place de l'hôtel de ville (town hall). This is one of the many free merry-go-rounds of our capital - there is one in almost all arrondissement. The water in the foreground belongs to a fountain that they have over there - not the rain! Have a soothing Sunday everyone.

Busy crossing

Mon, 15 Nov 2010 23:05:00 GMT

I don't know why, but I love this photo. Probably because it shows that Paris is not just an "open air museum" like I often hear, but also a "real" city with heavy traffic and busy streets - which also means traffic accidents (there were 44 deaths on the road in Paris in 2009...). I took this photo at the crossing of rue de Rivoli and rue des Archives, right by one of the entrances of the BHV department store.

Culture on line...

Sat, 13 Nov 2010 23:03:00 GMT

Who said people prefer to surf the web than going to exhibitions or museums?! Look at this line. I took this photo on the back side of the Hotel de Ville (Town hall) where there is the entrance to an exhibition hall where they regularly have very good - and free! - exhibitions. The current one - and until the end of February - is dedicated to Andrée Putman, a very famous French designer who was born in 1925 and is still alive an well. Check her website if you want to find out more about her work.