I'm late posting tonight because I was at a very interesting networking party. When I left I realized that I badly needed gas, so I started looking for a gas station (they are hard to find in Paris, especially at night). I ended up passing by Gare de Lyon, where I took this photo of the Station clock, which is located up top a tower that was built with the station in 1900. This is actually one of the 4 dials that compose this clock which is considered to be the largest public clock in Paris. It has been working since 1902 with a little interruption between 1999 and 2005 due to a big storm that caused it to stop. (Here is a broader view from Wikipedia).
This is a gorgoeus shot, Eric! I think I always thought that tghe clocks in the Gare (oops, Musee) d'Orsay were the biggest.
ReplyDeleteMake that "the" clocks. Glad to hear you were doing something interesting until this hour. Now va faire dodo!
ReplyDeleteAmazing photo Eric! I've only ever heard 'up top' once before, from a friend in Ohio. Interesting that you use it. This is another one for Zazzle, n'est-ce pas?
ReplyDeleteDid you ever miss a thing? :) Great pic endeed! Thanks.
ReplyDeleteI think I saw two gas stations in Paris. This clock is beautiful. Love that the facets show up so well.
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ReplyDeleteI gasped when I saw this. A perfect picture. I never thought about gas stations in Paris. They must not have too many of them, but then they're slowly disappearing from San Francisco. Thanks for posting this even though it was so late.
ReplyDeleteIt's quite an arresting shot. And when you enlarge it, you get to see the subtly stained glass. A beautiful clock and so well-photographed. I love it in the black of the Paris night.
ReplyDelete"Up top" may be a midwestern American thing, Lynn. I've said it myself and I grew up in Illinois. I am constantly amazed at Eric's way with the American vernacular.
Wow, Eric! It is beautiful, but you were out late. Hope you had a great time and get some rest!
ReplyDeleteWonderful shot! And such a "timely" photo ;>)
ReplyDeleteJust went back and saw ET Suzy's comment about the people from the plane that landed in the Hudson River finally getting their things back. I know someone who was on that flight and she told me that you wouldn't believe the things that survived (like her passport) and the things that didn't (half of a pair of earrings). She told me that the passengers were each given $5,000 almost immediately, and will probably get another $10,000 (on condition that they promise not to sue). Her reaction: sue for what? because the pilot saved their lives? (Just wish the Rio-Paris flight could have landed the way that one did.)
ReplyDeleteWhat a beauty. Wow, what a clock. Another masterpiece of a photograph by "Tennin". Sorry, I couldn't resist. I love the way clocks look. I never wear a watch, but I buy them because I like the way they look. And, I was reminded last week that I paint them. I have a painting in Paris called "Woman with a Watch". I was talking to someone in Paris, and I was saying I don't wear watches, but I like the way they look. And they said, And you paint them. And then it registered, yeah. I paint them. Anyway, what I mean to say, is that, this is so much something that I would paint. But now I do not have to because Eric photographed it, and said it all. Merci*
ReplyDeleteHey Alexa, What is with you and the GF thing ;-) You make us look bad; like you are the only one waiting for Eric's photo du jour. LOL You are the champ! I must admit.
A shout out for Monica if you are checking in. I know you said you have limited time on the internet, but just in case you are around, HI!
Lois -- and just how many watches do you have (that you don't wear)? As for the GF thing: half the time, I'm not even trying (but the other half I probably am).
ReplyDeleteMonica -- what Lois said! Thanks for logging on and saying what you said. Hope that you'll comment whenever you can and let us know what a great time you're having in Paris.
Tout simplement parfaite... Très graphique. Elle rentre dans mon top ten direct.
ReplyDeleteMy feelings of worry, when I read about the crash and before I knew Monica was safe, were not virtual but very real. I know many of you felt that way. You are all real people to me.
ReplyDeleteI picture you all. I see more than your profile photos. I hear your voices through your comments, and through the things you say I imagine things like where you livew and work, and what your families are like. I've imagined Monica's job at the hotel, her life in Rio. I'm not a wacko, it's just that my brain works this way, giving each person an image when they're communicating here on PDP. I don't just see the typed words. I see the person as I imagine them, and they become whole to me. You, all of you, become so.
I've met a few of you in person and that alters the picture but not much, because you create the picture by putting your personalities in your comments. This way the people here are not virtual but real. The friendships are real, too.
I love the Gare de Lyon. I have many wonderful memories of the gare and also the famous restaurant there, "Le Train Bleu", which was one of the first restaurants I ever had a meal at as a young man in Paris..many, many years ago. I always try to return there when I am in Paris and especially if I can take a guest who might be visiting for the first time. The shot of the clock is so poignant and in a way quite romantic. Merci!!
ReplyDeleteGas stations in Paris? I never saw one. I love this clock, Eric, and the train station itself. Thx for posting this shot! The clock pops right out of my screen.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful comment, Petrea. I think a lot of us do the same thing, and that's why we get along so well.
Alexa, OMG! I didn't know you knew a Hudson River survivor. She must have a great story to tell.
Beautiful clock and a great shot with the darkness around it.
ReplyDeleteAlexa, I love the ones at Musee (gare)d'Orsay too. They're so beautiful and I have a lot of photos of them.
Petrea, such a lovely comment. I feel the same way too; PDP'ers are real friends and for some strange reason we come to care about each other ;-) That's great !
I've learned British English but the American influence is so huge that now a days my English is a total disastrous mix, lol.
Thank you, Petrea, first for explaining so perfectly the way you feel about blogger friends, then for putting my mind at ease : I though my own impression that "virtual friendship" existed was just an expression of my imagination.
ReplyDeleteSublime et fascinante.
ReplyDeleteUne photo digne d'un film de Hitchcock, à la fois apaisante et angoissante.
Encore un coup de maître...
Thanks, Petrea, for the American usage explanation.
ReplyDeleteAlso, for putting in words so eloquently the way I feel about the bloggers here. Most of my 'physical' friends do not blog and don't understand it at all, referring to 'people from the internet' like it's some sort of other planet where automated personalities are produced! We are real people, living real lives and get on well as if we had met in a restaurant or a dinner party and extended our friendship for the 3 or more years it's been.
I was quite tearful at first, convinced, as I was at first, that Monica was on that flight. As you say, I know her. I know lots about her and her of me. We're all friends here - just via a different medium, unknown to many, still.
Eric, wow. Just ... wow.
ReplyDeleteAlexa, congrats GF and what a pretty crown today.
Such beautiful thoughts expressed here over the last couple of days. Such relief that Monica is safe ... and sadness for those who aren't.
PDP is a special place.
Petrea -- thanks for expressing so eloquently—and in such a heartfelt, personal way—what I'm sure most of us have been feeling since hearing about the lost AF flight and then learning that Monica was NOT on that flight (as I think many of us had feared). Most of my non-blogging family and friends think I'm half nuts when I talk about my "friends" from PDP and the rest of the blogging community—like I'm talking about characters who don't quite exist in the real world.
ReplyDeleteI too care very much for all of you. I'm grateful to have "actually" met some of you already, and look forward to meeting all of you one day.
Fantastic photo...bravo!
ReplyDeleteI look forward to meeting everyone too, Alexa. This is why missing the PDP picnic makes me cry!
ReplyDeleteI have a little comic taped next to my computer that says:
ReplyDelete"I love my computer, because that's where my friends live!!!"
Petrea, the picnic itself had its crying moments. For instance, I walk in, say hello to Thib and Eric, look up, there's Guille arranging the food table. She looks at me and says: "You're late. You look tired." Yeah, well, good to see you, too after a year!
ReplyDeleteIt is a family, indeed...
Alexa, absolutely. I'm sure some of my friends think I'm completely bonkers, talking of 'friends' on here. They really think we aren't real, just strangers who bomb in and out and never to be seen again. One said to me "so why do you bother? Does it earn you MONEY?" "No..." I said. "So WHY?" they asked. I felt like saying does seeing your friends at the pub every Friday and getting off your face earn YOU money? but... I didn't... They just don't get it. I'm starting to think I don't get them.
ReplyDeletei love, love clocks and this shot is...timeless.
ReplyDeleteAlexa, how many watches? Not too many. I went to a watch sale in a show room once. Wow, there were a lot of nice watches. I bought several. Never wore them though. I gave them to my daughter. hahahaha
ReplyDeleteMaria, I love clocks too. I first realized it when I was a kid watching the film "The Time Machine".
So, this clock in Eric's photo, is it a big as London's Big Ben?
Nope! (she boasted) ;)
ReplyDeleteI have to admit, I thought that the clock at Musee d'Orsay was bigger. The Gare de Lyon is a great train station, though. Arrived there in 2007 from Cannes. If I ever have the money, I'd love to eat at the classy restaurant there...Le Train?
ReplyDeletePetrea...beautifully expressed sentiments and I agree wholeheartedly.
ReplyDeleteAlexa...you were born to wear a crown.
Jeff...too funny, so would you "quit being late already!"
Eric...whenever I think Gare de Lyon and the 12th arr, my mind is quick to conjure up images of the painters, poets, philosophers, and wordsmiths etc of the late 19th century and their "Mardistes" (Tuesday eve intellectual gatherings where philosophy, art, poetry, writing... would be discussed by your Mallarme types). I would like to imagine that les Mardistes are still holding court somewhere in Paris. ;-) Perhaps a Parisian could elaborate on this.
Oh oui, this clockface. Well, let's say that Hitchcock would be Dialing "M" for artistic "Memories", not murder, pour cette visage d'horloge. Elle est belle.
Hello, I've been a bit of a stalker on this site for well over a year now. I've commented on some photos here and there, and this one again compelled me to comment. It is such a great shot. Very beautiful. I'll be heading to Paris next week, and will be looking forward to seeing the clock with my own eyes. It's been about 13 years since I was last there, so I am very excited.
ReplyDeleteBon vacances, Stacy!!
ReplyDeleteDon't bother speaking French to the waiters and shopkeepers, they'll just speak back to you in English.
Welcome to Paris Stacy ;)
ReplyDeleteBTW, for once I'll disclose a little Photo secret. As you can see this is a perfectly round dial. And though, because I took the photo from the street there was originally a visible distortion.
ReplyDeleteI had to "reround" it a bit ;-) But I love the final result.
Thanks for the welcome Eric & Suzy. I'm looking forward to my trip.
ReplyDeleteThis rather reminds me of looking at the full moon Eric - which I did tonight btw.
ReplyDeleteI am really surprised about the excellent job that you have made in this blog, which contains very important and amazing content about the Largest Clock from Paris, it allows everyone to express a variety of opinions.
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