Statue of a Grisette in Paris 11th arrondissement

Don't go thinking this picture was taken somewhere in the country. I took it right in the middle of the 11th arrondissement, in the Jules Ferry garden. The statue represents a "Grisette" (that is what young female workers were called at that time) in 1830 and it was made in 1909 by Jean Descomps. For your information, in 1830, the average annual working time of a worker (male or female) amounted to a little more than 3 000 hours. Nowadays it amounts to 1 620 hours.

La Géode in La Villette park

If you come to Paris, I suggest you pay a visit to le parc de La Villette, (La Villette Park) a vast 55-hectare green area located on the north-east of Paris. You will find many interesting spots including La Géode that you can see here. La Geode is a... movie theatre entirely devoted to the projection of large scale films on its giant 1 000 m2 hemispheric screen.

The French say "no" the the European constitution

Today the French had to vote for or against the European Constitution. 55% of them rejected it.

Lock on the Canal St Martin

OK, OK you probably heard that Amsterdam, Bruges (in Belgium) or Venice were THE cities of canals... Well all wrong! It's Paris ! No I am just kidding, we only have a couple of canals here but it's enough to spend a pleasant afternoon on their banks. Yesterday I walked down one of them - the Canal Saint Martin in the 10th arrondissement that runs from La Villette all the way down to the Seine River - and I have been lucky enough to see one of the locks in action (I could not help shooting a little video - a Premiere on Paris daily photo!). Hope it will work and that you'll enjoy it.

Metro, hard Rock Cafe and other signs of civilisation!

When different cultures mix... I won't say where I took this photo because some people will complain it is still in the same neighbourhood! - but I like the idea of gathering on the same picture the Metro (Paris public transportation - by the way if you come to Paris you will find this address very useful) and the Hard Rock Café. Today is Saturday I have two days to wander around the city and bring you more pictures...

Paris Hilton!

Yes, people, for us Parisians, the simple life is here: a couple of hundred meters from the Eiffel Tower... For those of you – evil! - who could think I may have taken this photo in order to get more hits from Google I will simply say: absolutely not! If it were so I would have used words such as naked, nude, breast, blonde… in the caption!

Parenthèse Végétale in Le Printemps window shop

Definitely a must see if you come to Paris before June 6th. It's an exhibition called Parenthèse Végétale – (literally Vegetable Parenthesis) and it takes place in the window shops of Le Printemps, a big department store located on 64 Boulevard Haussmann (9^th arrondissement). The various sceneries were composed by Mélanie Drevet et Christophe Ponceau and they stage grass, farm animals, trees, etc. A fantastic work. To know more, pay a visit to Le Printemps site. View original picture.

By the way, this photo is the first one I took with the new camera I bought yesterday!

Vertical garden

In 2006, not far from the Eiffel Tower (quai Branly, in the 7th arrondissement to be exact) a new museum will open. It will show Arts from Africa, Asia, Oceania and the Americas. This photo shows one of the buildings that will be part of this museum (which will occupy 39 000 square meters!) and on which Patrick Blanc had planted a vertical garden... this unique garden is made of over 15 000 plants of 1500 species and spreads on a surface of 800 square meters. By the way, I did not take this photo myself (I still did not have the time to buy a new camera!) but a friend of mine (Stéphane Lelouis) did. Many thanks. View original picture.

Eye catching eye!

I took this photo on the Avenue de la Grande Armée one evening on the way back from work. The eye you can see is actually part of a commercial that runs on a giant screen in a window shop. It's quite impressive.

Fontaine Stravinski near Beaubourg Center

On the side of the Beaubourg Center in the 3rd arrondissement you cannot miss this fountain which is really extraordinary (well according to me...). It's real name is "la fontaine Stravinski" (and not Beaubourg Fountain as everybody calls it!) for it is located Place Stravinski and it was created in 1982-83 by Jean Tinguely and his wife Niki de Saint Phalle.

French policemen on a bicycle

This all terrain brigade was created in 1997 to monitor the two woods (Boulogne and Vincennes) around Paris. They have been so successful that now you can see them everywhere in Paris. Here I took them in the 15th arrondissement, in the Citroën gardens right before one of the two green houses.

Artist on the Pont des arts

Artist on the pont des arts (arts bridge).

Frenchmen with berets - but no baguette!

Who said French people don't wear berets anymore? Ok, these two "samples" might not represent the younger part of the French population but still!

Added on June 08, 2005:
I am told these are not berets, but regular caps. Sorry for the confusion...

Selfportrait

I lost my camera last Friday so I have to live on my stock until I buy a new one or... use the one of others! Precisely, last week-end I had a picnic around Paris with some Friends and they took this picture. For once today I am IN the picture! (And so are my friends in the reflection!)

Detail of the beer drinking statue

It uses an antique tool to hold the can!

Thirsty statue before the town hall

Even statues can be thirsty! Today I offer you two pictures for the price of one! I took them just by the Hotel de ville (Paris town hall) - where, of course, as you can see in the background there is also a giant Paris 2012 Olympics sign. For any weird reasons this statue holds two "chop sticks" in it's hand and someone slipped a can of bear in between...

Crossing the street in Paris

People on a zebra crossing by the Galeries Lafayette.

Old bicycle in the Peugeot window shop

If you walk down the Avenue de la Grande Armée on the 16th arrondissement side you will see this bike in the Peugeot windowshop which was originally built in 1899 - precisely by the Peugeot brothers. Although it's hard to see on this photo what makes it very innovative is that the transmission between the pedals and the back wheel is made through a gear system and not a chain. Now Peugeot is mostly a car manufacturer...

Grands Boulevards

I took this photo on the Grands boulevards which marks the limit between the 9th and the 2nd arrondissement.

Bistrot du boucher (Butcher's "diner")

I had dinner in this excellent restaurant with a couple of friends yesterday evening and I had a very nice time. It's located in the 18th arrondissement just nearby the Cimetière de Montmartre (Montmartre graveyard) where a lot of famous French writers and artists are burried.

Clothes make the Mannequin...

Mannequins in a Celio Window shop near the Gare Saint Lazare in the 8th arrondissement.

Traffic light

Trafic light!

Yes or No to the European constitution ?

That is the question... that French people will have to answer to at the end of May (May 29 to be exact) and according to most recent polls there is no majority in favor of one camp or the other.

The most typical Mc Donald's in Paris

McDonald's. Ok, ok, it may be weird to take a photo of one of the symbols of global cuisine in a place city like Paris but now it is also part of our daily life - and it's always crowded! - despite what Parisians may think of it. And this one is very typical because it was installed in a former Alsacian (a region in the east of France) restaurant. It's located on 119 rue Saint Lazare opposite the Saint Lazare station.

Blowing the blues away

Here's a shot I took near the Printemps and Galeries Lafayette department stores where this funky little jazz band was playing. You can tell by their look that this was no ordinary band. I'll include the name of the band once I find it, but for now you'll have to imagine with those funky sunglasses, accompanied by the beret, what they might have sounded like!

Asian razzia!

This photo was taken in front of a fashion outlet along the Boulevard Haussman in the 8th arrondissement and I just couldn't resist. The image is repeated every day, where tourists of all nationalities come to enjoy the likes of Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Yves St. Laurent, and so on.

Free the French hostages!

Like several countries throughout the world, France currently has two hostages in Irak: one journalist (from Liberation) called Florence Aubenas and her Iraqi interpreter Hussein Hanoun al-Saadi. They disappeared on January 5, 2005 and we have very little news from them. That is why people have started displaying their portraits everywhere as you can see here. It simply says "free the hostages"...

Grande Arche (big arch) in La Défense

I took this photo at La Défense, the same day I took this one. La Défense is the name of a modern business area located just about a mile away from the north western limits of Paris and it is mostly composed of magnificent skyscrapers. You must pay a visit to this quarter if you come to Paris. (No, I don’t work for the tourism office, I just think it’s worth visiting new buildings as much as old stones!)
If you do, you will see this Grande Arche (big arch) built by Danish architect Otto van Spreckelsen in 1989 for the 200th anniversary of the 1789 French revolution. It is a 106 meter high cube and it's made of concrete frame covered with glass and marble. If you have the chance to go up top you will see a gorgeous view of Paris up to the Louvre Museum.

Another panoramic view... This one is of the Pont de la Concorde that links the Place de la Concorde (where people were beheaded by the guillotine during the French revolution...) to the Assemblée Nationale (Parliament) that you can see on the right. At the moment, this bridge is lit at night with the coulors of the Olympic rings for our Olympic bid. Sorry, the quality of the photo is not very good.

If you're European you probably know this car. It's called a Smart and it is taylored for European cities streets size! That is why you see a lot in Paris. Moreover, because it is small and cute, advertisers use it as an adverting medium! The principle is very simple : if you own a Smart and want to make money with your car, you just need to contract with one of the many companies that offer this service (Carlogo, Lybertydrive, Autocrea, Carpub, Upskin) and wait... They will contact you a couple of weeks later, check that you meet the requirements (you must make at least 700 km par month, park your car outside, etc.) and send you to a workshop where the ad will be installed. Each campain runs a month and depending on the programs you can expect to make between a 100 to 300 euros a month.

My friend Jean-Manuel will say I take too many "postcard" pictures but I don't care, I just love this one! I took it yesterday evening on my way back from my father's. The two buildings on the left and right are part of the Trocadero, a palace located on the Chaillot hill and originally constructed by Napoleon for his son.
The nowaday Trocadero - that you can see on the picture now - was built for the world's fair in 1889. It hosts two museums - marine and man and offers in its center the most beautiful view of the Eiffel Tower of Paris. To be frank, I have been living in Paris for many years now and I very rarely - I am talking VERY rarely - stop here to look at the scenery. Though it's really magnificent.

I took this photo last Monday just opposite the Place Colette (where I already took this photo) on the way to Les Blogs party at l'Alcazar. I could not help stopping and burn this future movie scene into my memory card (!). I don't know was film they were shooting but if somebody has the info, please let me know.

Yes, we also have Gospel in France! Last Thursday I went to listen to one of the choirs (Gospel Dream) in Saint Germain church (6th arrondissement) the oldest church of Paris - opposite to famous Les deux magots café. Very nice evening: magnificent scenery, very good singers, outstanding trumpet player... And an incomparable change from television!