Saturday, January 05, 2008

Washington Statue


No, this place is not called Washington square but Place d'Iena, but the statue its middle is definitely the one of George Washington. Apparently GW was our friend during the American revolution; we provided him with gun powder (of course, our only aim was probably to drive the Brits crazy, but that is another story!) We the (French) are known for being sometimes anti American and though there are hundreds of American statues/street names/ buildings... in Paris. Not to mention Mc Donald's and Starbucks LOL!

22 comments:

  1. Not only did France support the American revolution (in order to help weaken England), as I understand it the financial burden of doing so increased the popular dislike of Louis XVI, as he was a poor money manager anyway. This was a contributing factor to his downfall and, in turn, the French revolution.

    Regarding your response to my comment on yesterday's PDP, which I just wrote minutes ago: the only think I'm on is FRIDAY! Yippee, I'm going home.

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  2. Well Eric, the Allies assisted us in the fighting of nazism during the second World War. One may have a look at this post related to the D day.
    Season's greetings for 2008.

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  3. Oooh goodness i've a little complaint at mine today too about being Americanised. This is a great photo too; hope you put the statue upright afterwards.

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  4. An interesting and educational photo. Thanks Eric! My only other experience with a Washington statue was in Boston Common (where he seems less high flying, lol). http://www.panoramio.com/photo/3002906s

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  5. I believe the reputation of "anti-americanism" or whatever you want to call it might have started around De Gaulle's time ("US go home!" that sort of thing) because it was there *long* before "this Administration" (if you know what I mean, I just get sick of seeing that name everywhere) was in charge.

    I was shell-shocked when I first set foot in the US years ago and heard people say ... " but isn't it true that French people *hate* Americans?"

    And then when I tell people here in the US that there is a Metro Station named "Franklin D. Roosevelt" right on the Champs Elysees in Paris (among other things), then THEY are shell-shocked.

    Oh, well.

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  6. Well...don't get me started as they say! LOL!! It is true as tomate has said that most people[Americans]don't know that there is a Metro station named after our only three term president,Franklin D. Roosevelt, an Avenue du President Kennedy, and other honors given to President Woodrow Wilson in Paris. There are many Americans that don't even know who Eisenhower or DeGaulle or General LeClerc was either. Sad, but true.

    We are aware that Thomas Jefferson and Ben Franklin were ardent "Francophiles" and that a Frenchman, Pierre Charles L'Enfant designed our Capital city, but we didn't know the cachet of being able to say "George Washington Slept Here" extended to France! LOL!!

    Not to mention the First Lady who restored class and style to the White House by hiring a French decorator, Stephane Boudin and a French Chef,Renee Verdon [who still lives in San Francisco by the way]. The First Lady[Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy]was a Francophile herself, studied at the Sorbonne and was very proud of her French ancestry that went back to Pont-Saint Esprit in Provence.

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  7. Good point Tomate. I'll have to use that one along with the avenue du President Wilson we have here too in Paris.

    Who knows, maybe one day you'll have a street in San Francisco named after S......!

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  8. Well Tonton, aren't you the human Wikipedia! I'm impressed (as usual)! Thanks for this.

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  9. Redresse-toi, vite! You're falling, Washington...
    French-Canadien History says that, in 1763, France let the Brits take over their New World Colony with very little fighting. Amazing that the French would want to help fight the Brits for an American Colony in 1812! I learn everyday...

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  10. this is silly, but the washington i know are washington apples that are sold in the Singapore supermarkets.

    btw, there is suddenly an influx of french apples in the supermarket here!

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  11. We also have a George Washington in our own history. Gilbert de la Fayette's son was names after the American Great Man : George Washington Lafayette.

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  12. I just finished the book "Sixty million Frenchmen can't be wrong" by Nadeau & Barlow....very interesting stuff about France and the French...I learned quite a bit and it addresses this topic as well. Have a great weekend.

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  13. Eric, I don't know if it's my PC or what, but I'm not seeing your photo any longer. I can see all of the others which seems strange, but not this one.

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  14. Ne t'inquiétes pas, Eric. Il paraît que la France n'est pas tant faible, parce que voilà ce monsieur Michel est french-ized.

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  15. A clarification, Claudia: France helped the colony win independence from England in 1776-79 (the American Revolution). We did have another war with in England in 1812, c'est vrai. England burned Washington D.C. and almost won the colony back.

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  16. Nothing like politics to stir people up a bit. It is nice to learn from each other in the DP community, no?

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  17. Thanks Jeff. As I said, I learn everyday! What I know about 1812 is that the Americans asked help from Lower Canada (the French who were now under the British). The French sided with Upper Canada (the British). I don't know why. If they had helped the American colony, maybe Quebec would now be another American state. As it is, we remained very French and, sometimes, a pain in the neck for English Canada. Vive la différence!

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  18. It's probably just that glass of wine you have in your hand, Michael ;)

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  19. michael...LOL! Very funny! Did you know that Ben Franklin used to like to "hang out" at Cafe Procope??? I think they might even have something there about him, a bust or something like that. I was a bit "out of it" the last time I was there, so I can't really remember. LOL!

    neva..that is a great book, isn't it?? Did you know it was written by two Canadians?? One of English ancestry and one French Canadian. A good read and quite comical!

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  20. a street named S... in San Francisco ... LOLOL!!!

    Hey, you know what, anything is possible in this town ;) After all, didn't our mayor Gavin Newsom give Paris mayor Delanoe a "key of the city" a couple of years ago or was that the other way around, I forget?

    Like I said, you never know in this town...

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  21. What? There are Starbucks in Paris now? Oh non, tout fout le camps. Let's hope the tall skim latte will not replace the café crème.

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