Saturday, February 16, 2008

Hôtel du nord


I wanted to post this photo a little later, but since several of you mentioned Hotel du nord after yesterday's post, here it is. For those of you who are not familiar with French culture, let me just say that this hotel - also located by the Canal Saint Martin, became famous because of a film director called Marcel Carné who precisely made a movie in 1938 called "Hotel du nord" . This film became extremely famous because of scene with French actress Arletty whose line "Atmosphere, atmosphere" is as famous among French people as "we're not in Kansas anymore" is among the American public! BTW, check the Hotel du nord website, it's really cool.

34 comments:

  1. Fun photo Eric! I love the Canal Saint Martin area; feels like another world compared to the touristy parts of Paris. Hope you're having nice Spring weather!

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  2. Very pretty photo.

    Love the movie clip from yesterday, even though I can't understand it. A French teacher! A French teacher! My kingdom for a French teacher!

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  3. When i saw the title, i wondered why it was familiar to me. Now i know. This is a great shot Eric, with a lot to see.

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  4. It's great to see typical parisian places. The movie clip added a touch of humor and nostalgia for some people, I'm sure.

    Jeff you love Paris so much, how come you're not enrolled in a French course? Are you waiting for Eric to introduce you to a female French teacher?!! ;-)

    Katie: I know time flies but it's not spring time already. Is it?

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  7. Me again, isn't it fun to remember famous quotes from famous movies?

    Your quote from The Wizard of Oz reminded me of other famous words we never forget, like
    "Houston, we have a problem"

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  8. Or "I'm ready for my close up, Mr. De Mille"

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  9. BTW here you can actually hear the famous quote
    we're not in Kansas anymore>

    Sorry, I got carried away!

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  10. Monica - yes I guess I'm a bit confused about the seasons, but the forecast for the weekend in Paris is near 50 and sunny. Sounds a wee bit Spring-like to me! And I guess Eric's photo of those lovers on the bridge just radiated so much heat that I forgot it was February!

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  11. Lynn I was going to write that!

    How about "Go ahead, make my day

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  12. Katie I know what you mean. Besides, this photo of Hotel du Nord façade showing people having a drink outside on the sidewalk is all spring like!

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  13. Or "Show me the money!!!!!"

    ok, I'll stop now.

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  14. Monica, you forgot "here's looking at you, kid" and of course "we'll always have Paris" and so many more from Casablanca.

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  15. Anonyme: how could I forget..

    More from Casablanca "Play it, Sam"

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  16. I love this facade. Thanks for the link yesterday, Eric - I enjoyed watching the clip! Hope you're all having a great weekend!

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  17. Je n'ais pas un empire d'exchanger pour un professeur, mais je voudrais le temps pour étudier la langue francaise.

    J'ai le besoin, n'est-ce pas?

    Okay, that took ten minutes and I still didn't say what I meant. Did it come out funny? Or close?

    I like the photo, Eric. I love the tour you take us on each day. I knew about the Canal but didn't get there. Before our trip I learned my way around Paris on Google Earth, and had my ideas of where I wanted to go. But there were three other people on the trip and I didn't always win!

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  18. juste pour la vérité historique, ce qui n'enlève rien à la qualité des photos, des sites choisis et et à l'intérêt des commntaires, c'est Arletty.

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  19. i love the colors, the light and the subtle shadows.

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  20. It is not often that I get to see a truly creative website but your link to this is one of those. While some of the links did not work once I got there, those kinds of annoyances didn't bother me. I also use a large monitor and the site is obviously built for people using smaller monitors and larger screen sizes as I could not read the menu or the copy with the video clip. But I wanted to tell you that I appreciate the link and was fascinated by what I found. Thanks.

    Abraham Lincoln
    Brookville, Ohio

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  21. I understood, Petrea, perfectly - and i hope that donkey will get off your foot very soon.

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  22. Let me imagine a love story behind the three last photos, Eric gave us to see, that we could easily link : first, he/she meets her/him (see the Valentine's day photo), then they have a full day together walking in Paris, speaking, taking photos with an amazingly light on a romantic bridge (yesterday's photo) and today, want to be closer at the Hotel du Nord, dreaming of old Paris and old movies with great actors, like Arletty was indeed!! Atmosphere, atmosphere!!!
    Not too bad, isn'it? ;)

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  23. Time flies when you visit PDP ... surfing the hotel du Nord website, the creators' website (***) listening to the famous sentences and re watching the picture with the love story attached (he parked his car near the canal, he said she would easily recognise him as he put a sweet rat on the roof of the car. She was puzzled but decided to meet him anyway)... yes it could be spring soon

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  24. You got it, ... perfectly. How lovely it is to think of this sweet rat on the roof of the car. She is puzzled and in love ... Time flies, that is true. Spring is soon.

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  25. Merci Lynn. I started to respond in French and found myself in dangerous territory!

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  26. What amuses me is that those famous movie quotes are often mis-quotes.

    Ingrid Bergman never said "Play it again, Sam".

    Judy Garland never said "Toto, I don't think we're in Kansas any more".

    Mickey Rooney never said "Let's do the show right here!"

    But Bravo to Eric and Monica for actually getting theirs right.

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  27. No no i'm joking of course, Petrea! Your French i understood perfectly he he. Better than mine, i think!

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  28. Oh Eric...Merci!!! I love the photo of the Hotel du Nord, it makes me want to run to the airport and get on a plane..destination of course, Paris!!

    The "you tube" link was great!! It is very hard to find the video..I still need to go to the Alliance Francaise to look for it.

    Est ce que j'ai une gueule d ' atmosphere "...oh yes, dear Arletty you most certainly do!!!

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  29. Eric:Thanks for the GREAT link to the picture of the working lock. Needless to say, your picture was far superior to mine.
    Again to Jeff: I think I also mentioned to you that Hotel du Nord was right down the "street" from the apt. I had a 10 euro lunch there. Yum!

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  30. Thank you for this glimpse at the atmospheric Hotel du Nord, Eric. And I've enjoyed the famous lines from films in the comments and to know about "Atmoshpere, atmosphere." in the French psyche. One line that came to my mind was "I couldda been a contender."
    -Kim

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  31. Nice clip, but Marcel Carné didn't film on location. He recreated the Canal Saint-Martin in a studio lot, just the way he created the Boulevard du Crime for "Les Enfants du Paradis". Don't know why. Jean Renoir filmed on location.

    A tip of the hat to Julie Delpy for staging the climactic scene of "Two Days in Paris" adjacent to the canal.

    Also, the Canal was designed under Napoleon, but not completed until the Restoration. The since the Canal feeds water into the Seine, there are fish in it. I think it was stocked a few years ago.

    Take the Canauxrama tour if you can.

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  32. Also, "atmosphere" I think, in the jargon of French film making, means "scenery." I could be wrong, but it makes the Arletty comment both more understandable and, given that she was in the middle of a hugely expensive set, ironic.

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  33. I strolled the Canal several times during my stay in the 10th a few years ago. I stayed in a hotel on Rue Richard Lenoir. I love that area of Paris.
    \

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