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January 16 2012
Galerie des glaces
Once again, I haven't been able to go out today, so I dug into my treasure box and found a photo I apparently never showed you. I took it at the Chateau de Versailles in 2010, during a private visit I was fortunate enough to take part in. Those of you who visited the castle will naturally have recognizes Les Galerie des glaces (the hall of mirrors), a stunning hall that is 239.5 ft long and 35 ft wide! An amazing place, that France could surely not afford nowadays ;-)
January 14 2012
Peaceful moment
L'Ecole nationale supérieure des beaux-arts (the National Fine arts school), is a school before all, and it's normally not a place to visit, but if you manage to sneak in, you'll see amazing things. Hence this Venus which original is apparently at the Vatican. The place is absolutely amazing, with lots of interesting buildings which history you can see here (in French only...).
November 18 2011
Without a shadow of a doubt
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).
November 10 2011
11/11/11!
Today is November 11, the day we celebrate the end of WWI (this year it's also a palindrome date, but that's another story). We have no more alive veterans from that war, so in theory no more reasons to continue celebrating its end, but I think it's good we still do so. 1) because it's a holiday ;-), 2) because it reminds us that about 100 years ago (and 60 if you consider WWII) there were still wars between European countries. Something that is now totally unthinkable. This, by the way, is a statue of Maréchal Foch, the very one who signed the armistice with Germany on November 11, 1918. You can see it at Champs de Mars, near Ecole Militaire.
October 17 2011
A modern man
I took advantage of the last day of sun (they said it would start raining today) to take a photo of a statue of Vauban, located in the Invalides gardens. Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban (his full name) used to live under the reign of Louis the 14th (to which he was an adviser) and is known for having designed almost unbreakable fortifications in many places in France (about 100). From what I read he also suggested to change the tax system, which created a big scandal at that time. What he did sounds strangely similar to what some of our today's politicians (we're are in pre-election times at the moment) suggest: protect France (not with fortifications, but with tariffs), change the tax system... Tools and methods change, but the problems to solve remain the same throughout the centuries !
June 10 2011
Arts et Métiers Statue of Liberty
Thursday evening I attended an event at the Arts et Métiers museum, a great museum I already mentioned several times here, where they have all these cool inventions on display (the first "car", the first telephones, cameras...) including mock-ups and photographs of the Statue of Liberty (which you probably know, was made by Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi in France and given as gift of France to the US on July 4th, 1884. Recently the photographs have been restored, that is why the organized this event that the US Ambassador to France attended. See more photos here.
March 14 2011
The oldest quarry in Paris
This is probably not the nicest view of Paris I posted on PDP, but it's a very unusual one. This, ladies and gentlemen, is nothing less than the oldest quarry in Paris... (not, it's not the catacombs!). It's located in the 13th arrondissement, at Rue Gustave Geffroy near an old river called La Bièvre, that used to run through Paris. It was used to extract stones to build Roman houses when Paris was still called "Lutèce" (around 50 BC). There is not much to see, nor to discover, so now they are going to build a child day care facility on it... More - in French in this video.
October 29 2010
A window to the past
I'm a big fan of Mad Men, the television series that depict the life in an advertising agency in the 60's. And today, when I passed by this open door, I immediately thought of this because of the "Dactylo" sign at the end or this entrance corridor. Dactylos means typist in French, in other words people (well mostly women...) who used to type on a typewriter what their male boss used to dictate them... Now everyone has computers, blackberries and so on, so everyone knows how to type ;-)
August 14 2010
Joan of Arc at Saint Augustin
There are three statues of Joan of Arc in Paris - I generally show the one by the Louvre, at the entrance of rue de l'Amiral Coligny (the street that leads to the PDP picnic area!) but for once, let me show you another magnificent one. It's located Place Saint Augustin (after the Saint Augustin church that you can see in the background) and was made by sculptor Paul Dubois, and was posted there in 1896. The 3rd statue is located at Boulevard Saint Marcel; I'll show it to you the next time I go there...
June 23 2010
De Gaulle Portrait
More of de Gaulle! They installed a huge portrait of him on the Hotel de Ville building and it's really impressive. What's even more impressive is that this portrait is actually a mosaic. It made of 1038 other portraits, the ons of the Compagnons de la Libération, that is people who played a role in the liberation of France during WWII (this includes members of the resistance, but not only). Click here to see a close up of the portrait and take a look at some of the mini portraits.
June 20 2010
Old French phone
Look what I found at a brocante this weekend... Yes it's a phone (I think it's better to tell my younger visitors what this instrument was, as they probably don't know that in the past(!) phones had a rotary dial and - I know it's hard to believe - a cord that was plugged into a socket in the wall! And no, you could not take it out in the street to place and receive calls wherever you wanted! LOL). Anyway, it does not make a nice photo, but it makes a nice memory, so... The chair is also very typical of the 60's. Have a good Monday everyone, I hope the phone you use at work does not look like this one!
June 18 2010
Appel du 18 juin
Today was a celebration day in France. We celebrated L'Appel du 18 juin, a call that General de Gaulle made to the French in 1940 (read all about it here) to urge them to resist to the Nazis instead of surrendering. And last evening, by sheer coincidence! I happened to have dinner at Le Café de l'Esplanade, a restaurant located just at the corner of Les Invalides where they were having a "Sons et lumières" (audio and lights) to celebrate this famous episode of the French history. I took this shot during the show.. pretty scary.
June 15 2010
The oldest house in Paris?
It's been a while since I've been willing to show you this house... Why? Not really because it's pretty, nor because it makes a nice photo, but because it has a long history. This house used to belong to Nicolas Flamel, a famous "Paris bourgeois" who lived in the middle ages (between 1330 and 1418 approximately). He was a scrivener - among many other things - and became wealthy after marrying Pernelle, a rich widow. A lot of stories revolved around him (that he was a alchimist, that he achieved immortality...) but above all, he was mainly generous, helping the poor to survive in these difficult times. You can read more about him on Wikipedia of course and if you come to Paris, you can see the house for yourself at rue de Montmorency in the Marais. BTW, Nicolas Flamel is also mentioned in Harry Potter (he is said to be the friend of Dumbledore!)
November 24 2009
Lunch at Drouant
I work a lot these days, but I have compensations... Hence, this wonderful lunch I had today at Drouant, a very famous restaurant near the Opera. Drouant is known for the quality of its food of course, but much more than that. It's also known as the place where each year the jury of l'Academie Goncourt announces who the winner of the Goncourt Prize is (see my previous post on this restaurant for more). This year it was Marie Ndiaye. As for me, I did not win any prize, but I had the best risoto...
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