Friday, December 14, 2007

Hotel de Ville Ice Rink


Every year around the same period (December through March), they install a huge ice rink in front of the Hotel de ville (Town hall) where Parisian can skate for free (providing you have your own blades of course, otherwise you have to rent some) until midnight. I love the idea, even if I only tried it once!

26 comments:

  1. Cool shot! Very, very cool shot!!! I like that they use that area for funs and games and expos for people, year round.

    Do they still have the AIDS awareness thingy going on, on the BHV side?

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  2. I love the effect of this picture. The fencing makes it look like it is snowing.

    Sorry to hear that you're sick, Eric! Feel better soon. I got my PDP calendars yesterday - gorgeous photos!! I was glad to see some of my favorite PDP photos from the past!

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  3. Dear Eric, feel well soon, friend! I love this shot and am glad to see one of the ice rink. I was wondering if you would show it to us this year.

    I have a request for your Zazzle products. . .I would really love to have note cards of your shot from the church floor just in the entryway that shows the woman at prayer and the modern crucifix and some chairs (hope you know the one from this description). Wishing you warmth!
    -Kim
    Seattle Daily Photo

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  4. We have something like this in downtown San Jose every year. I haven't tried it yet, but it's fun to watch!

    I have to share this: I met the yummiest young waiter at lunchtime who said he was from the 6th in Paris. When I told him I loved Paris, he told me he was single! You Frenchmen sure do know how to make an old married lady forget her own name.

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  5. Oh Eric I have a terrible cold too this week... I know exactly how you feel... :(
    I even had a fever last tuesday, now I'm beginning to feel better. Hope you feel better too!

    Talking about feeling better, this picture does it for me! I love the effect and anything in front of Hotel de ville is always cool. Paris is such a dynamic city all year round!

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  6. What an awesome photo...I can't ice skate well but I love to watch it!

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  7. Wahoo! Let's go skating! (No, never been before) hee hee hee

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  8. I had no idea that this existed! Thanks for the photo and information.

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  9. Born in northern Illinois but now living a bit south of there, this photo takes me back to the winter days of ice skating at the neighborhood outdoor rink (usually at a city park). I agree, cool shot and in Paris, too. Get well Eric...we've all been fighting a bronchial respitory flu in my family and it, it...ahchewww...is horrible!

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  10. Suzy said, "You Frenchmen sure do know how to make an old married lady forget her own name."

    I'm laughing like crazy Suzy! Excellent. So...did you partake in the French tradition of having a little secret garden somewhere with this "yummy waiter"?

    Too cold for me to enjoy Eric. Give me a beach with water skis before a set of shoes with a thin metal thing on them that hurts when I fall! LOL

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  11. Another stunning photo... I love looking at your blog. Helps me hold to my dreams (yummy waiters, too :-))

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  12. i love the christmas time mood on this picture
    for your cold i can only advise you a uk waissai or a norwegian gloegg ... take the last ;-]
    if it does not work there are the side effect or you could try a sauna only healing effects
    inge
    we would do everything to have our daily picture
    http://www.cooks.com/rec/doc/0,173,147168-247194,00.html
    http://www.norvege-fr.com/recette-details.php?id=49

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  13. Great shot Eric. We had this in Tewkesbury and Cheltenham recently. I'll see if it's still on and take a rival pic!

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  14. They've put an outdoor "ice rink" at one of the local malls here in Richmond, VA--and considering how it's been in the 60s and 70s here (F) there's no way we'd be able to have real ice. It's some sort of plastic thingie that honestly scares me. :) I love to skate (I used to play ice hockey) so it's always fun to have a chance to skate somewhere new.

    I've been sick for the past month also. The infection is just migrating around my head. Hope you all feel better soon too!

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  15. this is fantastic - it has a very painterly quality :)

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  16. And that enormous igloo thing is funny to see too. I'm a scaredy cat when it comes to ice-scating but manage to rollerblade reasonably. Nice shot.

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  17. My best wishes to all who are ailing out there. It's winter in America, and you're ailing all over the world (paraphrasing Gil Scott Heron). Me, just hobbling around on crutches with ice packs, but it's getting better all the time. Makes me wish I could skate! Stay warm, everybody in the cold areas, and yes I am glad for the weekend also.

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  18. Eric is sick? Monica is sick? Jeff is on crutches? Tsk, tsk, tsk.. that's not good at all!! Well you all get well soon! Hopefully you can all get some extra rest over the holidays, just a week away now. Hang in there!

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  19. Jeff is on crutches? What happened guy? Rushing into the store sales and somebody push too hard near the sales rack? Don't worry, you can still order my gift online! ;-)

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  20. I have enjoyed watching people skate there on many an occasion, however I never skated there. I was quite the skater as a youngster[we wore hockey skates though]..there is a photo on a Boston Blog of where I used to do a lot of skating...LOL..The Frog Pond check it out!! How appropriate for a Paris blog ehhhh??

    The Hotel de Ville is a special place..how lucky all the people who blog here from Paris are to be able to enjoy it!! Watch out for skating waiters...they are usually armed[with a corkscrew]so be careful!!

    Hope you are better Eric...will the Concierge bring you up a tisane?? Maybe you will be better off making it yourself?!! LOL!! It has been cold here as well...so bundle up and rest!! Catch up on your "e books"!! ;-)

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  21. > Tomate. "Do they still have the AIDS awareness thingy going on, on the BHV side?". Yes. I will take a photo of it one day.

    Pont Girl. Thanks for your get well wishes. Happy you liked the calendar; just emailed you with a couple of questions about it ;)

    Will do Kim, will do. This weekend most likely, as I want to stay inside!

    Suzy. "You Frenchmen sure do know how to make an old married lady forget her own name." Yes! LOL

    My poor Monica... I feel much better now too ;) thank you for your concern anyway.

    Thanks Neva, Coltrane lives Ms M (LOL, on the yummy waiters!), Vivien

    I concur Michael, I'm still laughing from Suzy's comment!

    Anonymous "uk waissai or a Norwegian gloegg" huh... Did not see that last time I was in Oslo - maybe because it was in the summer?? Sauna? Sounds like a very good idea...

    I dare you Lynn!

    Marcia, I see what you mean, we had this plastic thing in a mall here too, but they stopped it years ago. I never tried it, but I suppose it's not very good. Thanks for your wishes and watch for this infection!

    Yes Sab, I wanted to take the Igloo too, but did not manage to take a good photo.

    Thanks Jeff ;) What happened to you??

    Tonton, like you say "how appropriate for a French blog" LOL
    No, the concierge will not bring me a tisane. I have no concierge !! But I have a life time supply of tisane!

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  22. No sordid affair to report here, Michael! I have too many celebrity boyfriends to keep up with to have time for a real one anyway.

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  23. Thanks anonymous!

    I'm glad you feel better Eric!

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  25. Ohh, I love outdoor ice skating. Nowadays, they do same here in Istanbul but not a huge one like this....

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