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September 02 2010
Magic Wand
If the shape of these baguettes remind you of something, well don't be surprised. Yes, they are shaped like penises! I found them in the gay area of Paris, in a boulangerie called Le Gay choc (choc is a play on words between chocolate and shock). Big tourist attraction, needless to say. I did not get to taste them, but I see no reasons why they should taste different than regular baguettes... A little harder, maybe?! Tss, Tss ;-)
August 28 2010
What's cookin'?
What's cooking? Well, probably croissants and baguettes, paints au chocolat and pastries... as I spotted these guys - probably on a break - just outside the Boulangers-patissiers (bakers) chamber which happens to be on L'île Saint Louis since 1845, one of the best locations in Paris. As you can guess, among other things, it's a training facility, so that is probably what these people were doing: getting trained. I wonder what they do with the leftovers !
August 23 2010
Rider on the storm...
... Well OK, it's not really a storm but a little rain, but I did not resist borrowing my title from the Doors! Anyway I took this shot today rue Beaubourg, and, as you can see, the rain has returned in Paris. Some people don't care, they just open their umbrella, even if they're on a bike ;-) Cute.
August 22 2010
Back to school...
That's it! The end of the summer vacations is close. A lot of people have started coming back, as many start working today (Monday 23) to prepare La rentrée (back to school), a very important moment for business. I thought this sign was very appropriate and pretty aesthetic in a way. It's funny to see that this shopkeeper was probably too lazy to make a new sign on a computer: he obviously erased the one of last year and changed the dates manually!
July 24 2010
Tour de France
Today (Sunday) the Tour de France arrives in Paris. I don't know if I'll have the strength to go the Champs Elysées, crawl through the crowd with the hope of taking DA photo! What amused me, though, is to see yesterday (Saturday) all the tourist shops carrying the Tour de France merchandising items such as T-shirts, mugs, caps, you name it. I did not know the Tour was so popular that it's now souvenirs material... I'm not a big fan of this event, but I really admire these guys (I heard that some of them spend 7 to 8,000 calories a day!) Follow the Tour live on video here, the arrival should be at 3:30 pm, Paris time).
July 22 2010
Rover at the Town hall?
This will probably remind my British visitors of something! I found these big plastic balls in front of the Hotel de Ville (town hall). They are actually targeted at kids who take great pleasure in moving them from the inside. I must say I was tempted too - but I'm way beyond the age limit! They are probably part of the Paris Plage program - which goes now much further than the river banks, but I could not find anything about them on the Web...
July 19 2010
Soaking in culture!
I passed by the Louvre today and it was really hot - I'm talking hot!. The tourists are suffering too, so they found a nice way of admiring the Louvre and its pyramid, while refreshing themselves a little... I found it was cool - and I'm surprised they let them do that as a sign makes it clear that jumping into the water is strictly prohibited. As for me, I'll wait for Paris Plage which is due to open today (Tuesday 20th of July)!!
July 12 2010
Little Quiz...
For once, let me offer you a little quiz... You will probably have recognized is a fireman on top of the so-called Fireman ladder. In your opinion, what is he doing? A) Rescuing a cat, B) fixing a bulb on the street lamp, 3) None of the previous. Don't cheat! And when you give up (we say "give your tongue to the cat!" in French), click here and find out... I took this photo yesterday morning (Monday, July 12) in the 18th arrondissement, precisely at this Firemen station.
July 05 2010
Under Siege...
Scary? Yes, a little bit... Did I photograph this in a mask shop? In a Halloween costume store? Nope... This face, ladies and gentlemen is... a seat! Yes a seat! It's called Nemo, it's made by an Italian designer called Fabio Novembre and it is really cool! I found it in a store near the Arc de triomphe (21 avenue de Friedland) called Etat de siège ("siège" means "seat") and Etat de siège also means "under siege"! Really cool anyway. BTW, check this little video, you'll see Nemo better... Oh, BTW, it costs 1 000 €, which is not that bad I think.
June 25 2010
Chinese restaurant
I'm just back from a farewell party in the 19th arrondissement and on the way out, when I left, I came across these illuminations in the window of a Chinese restaurant (rue de la Madone) ! I could not help but smile thinking it's was a little tacky, but also very marketing oriented: how to draw the attention to your restaurant at night! I doubt your comments will be as clever as the ones of yesterday with this photo, but this is just for fun...
June 12 2010
Touching graffiti
I don't know about you, but I NEVER see anyone posting graffiti on walls. Who the hell are these people, and when do they go out to write their stuff! These are the questions I once again asked myself when I saw this graffiti a few days ago in rue de Richelieu. Anyway, part of me thinks it's really silly to dirty a wall like this and part of me couldn't help smiling when I saw it, thinking of what caused the person to claim such an ownership! BTW, you see the little man in the mirror? Well guess who this is LOL
May 31 2010
Thema Day : funny sign
Today is June 1st, therefore a theme day within the City Daily Photo community and today's theme is: "funny signs". I must confess I really did not have anything to post, for signs rarely crack me up! However, I found near Saint Sulpice, this cute little sign (a Catholic association called "Pour l'unité" apparently) that shows the three wise men. Nothing extraordinary, nor "funny" and surely not a good photo, but at least I can say I participated in the theme day!! As usual visit the other CDP around the world; they may have funnier signs than mine! Click here to view thumbnails for all participants
PS : don't forget the PDP picnic this Sunday (June 6) at 1 PM. More details on this Facebook Page. The weather is going to be gorgeous.
May 30 2010
Soon, the world cup!
Unless you live under a rock (or maybe if you're American and don't really follow everything that is soccer related) you probably know that the World Cup will soon start in South Africa. To be honest I don't think the French team will stay in the tournament very long... To much money and sex and not enough soccer I'm afraid ;-) There is even a supermarket chain who recently advertised saying "You TV set refunded if the French team wins the cup!" That says a lot. In the meantime I found this young, promising player training hard in the Jardin des Buttes Chaumont. So cute! BTW, if you want to follow the World Cup, go to Footbalistic, they are friends of mine.
PS : don't forget the PDP picnic this Sunday (June 6) at 1 PM. More details on this Facebook Page. The weather is going to be gorgeous.
May 18 2010
Cool bike parking
Due to the promotion of bikes in Paris, the Town hall had many many bicycle parking spaces built in the streets of Paris. But there are never enough spots! And since there are a lot of bike thefts (there is even a website where you can place an "wanted" post!) people find the most unusual ways to attach their bike to the next solid thing they can find... Needless to say this is highly forbidden, but since there is are licence plates on bikes, the risk of getting a ticket is very very limited!
April 26 2010
I love rien, I'm Parisien!
Here is a sticker I've been willing to show you for a long time, but never managed to photograph it the right way. Last evening, I did. Here is the story. Parisians have the reputation of being very blasé, of having seen and done everything and of not being very sensitive to anything. A guy (Stéphane Lecourbe) had the idea of turning this reputation into a slogan: "I love rien, I'm Parisien", which not only rhymes perfectly, but also sounds pretty funny. I cannot say it's a real success yet, but you still see a few bumper stickers like this one quite often throughout the streets of Paris. And I'm sure that if it was marketing more seriously it could be a big hit. If you're interested, click here...
April 19 2010
Crack deals in Paris!
Let's start the week with a smile... I took this photo near the Franklin Roosevelt Metro (just outside the one of yesterday) and I could not help but laughing when I saw it. These green men belong to the city cleaning services. According to the Paris town hall site, they sweep 2 400 kilometers (1 500 miles) long of sidewalks and empty 30 000 garbage cans every day, and they also use big machines to clean the streets. And sometimes these machines get jammed and they have to fix them, and show us their... er... muscles!
April 14 2010
How to become a real Parisian...
If you want to know what being a real Parisian means, you have to ask "Professor Olivier Giraud", a young French man who spent five years as a restaurant manager in Palm Beach, Florida before he realized he would be much better off as a comedian in France. And I concur... (Well not that I know what he is worth as a restaurant manager!) as I went to see his show last night (with PHX, Guille, Michael...) and had a real good laugh. The show is in English (sometimes with a heavy French accent), and makes fun of the French as much as the Americans (and the Germans!). If you come to Paris, you HAVE to see it. Have a sneak peak in this little video.
March 29 2010
Metro Palais Royal
That's it! As of today, I'm a "real Parisian": I have a metro pass! A lot of people (ie Guille, PHX...) made fun of me when they heard it was such a big deal for me to take the metro, but what can I say, I hate it! Not only because it's crowed, but because it's very slow (well compared to riding a scooter...) Anyway, to "celebrate" I took a photo of what is probably the most photographed metro station in Paris: Palais Royal. It's famous because it was (re)designed by Jean-Michel Othoniel, as the "Kiosque des noctambules" (Kiosk of the night-walkers) in 2000 for the centenary of the Metro. Only this time I tried to take a different angle (see a broader view in this very very old post!).
March 26 2010
Who wants to play hopscotch with me?
When I saw this hopscotch (la marelle in French) at first, I thought some kids had drawn it on the sidewalk. But when I looked closer I realized that it was an advertisement! The usual earth/sky is replaced with Paris/Cannes and there is a web address on the side of it. I managed to decipher it (teamdacr.com), but it leads to a dead site, so I'll never know what they advertise for (apparently a team of designers and writers, but it's pretty unclear). Anyway, the idea is good and, as you can see, it rained today in Paris! Have a nice week-end everyone ;-)
March 12 2010
Snow again?
I told you how cold it is still in Paris at the moment... So cold it could snow again! But no, this white stuff is not snow, it's simply Styrofoam that was dumped into the sewer at rue de Richelieu. It's fun, and quite good for a photo, but in fact it's pretty polluting as Styrofoam is extremely resistant. Precisely the town hall just released the latest survey about Paris cleanliness. The 4 000 Parisians sample seems to be happy with the way Paris "shines" (63%), but for the first time 15% said that polluters (such as the one responsible for this!) should be fined. Just one slight detail though: how do you find them?!
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