Saturday, March 31, 2012

Ring a bell?


I happened to attend a conference at the Senate today and on the way out I noticed an unusual element: a bell! I came closer and saw that it was given to the Senate by the Savoy region representatives to celebrate their 150th anniversary of being French. As a matter of fact, Savoy is a region in the South of France that together with the city of Nice used to belong to Italy before it was annexed to France in 1860 in exchange for military support against Austria (read all about it here). Of course this reminded me of another bell that played a large role in the history of another country ! - With more cracks though ;-)

Friday, March 30, 2012

Marianne by Liox


Far from the art fairs that are currently running in Paris now (I will come back to them later...) I just discovered a new artist today. His name is Liox and, among other things, he loves to paint "Marianne" (that is the name we give to the lady who represents the French Republic - the equivalent to Uncle Sam in the US). I found two of these portraits near Saint Germain, but you can find many others (and buy them too!) on his website. I love them, but of course, I'm French, so I'm a little biased! Have a wonderful Friday, Paris will still be sunny and beautiful today!

Thursday, March 29, 2012

Pollution over Paris


There is a downside to the nice weather we're experiencing in Paris at the moment: pollution. Apparently the air quality has been bad for more than the acceptable amount of "bad days" per year and there is a serious health risk for the elderly. The authorities even recommend not to run nor to make any effort to minimize the air inhalation. Only positive aspect: it gives a nice little haze to the sun in photos and provides a good excuse not to go the gym and run LOL! Note to all CityDailyPhoto Blogger: while the portal is down (and I hope it'll be fixed soon), please refer to the nice page Julie (from Australia) made.

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Directions for bad drivers?


Do you know how to get to heaven? Well, in Paris we do! Just follow the sign that says "Ciel". It's just a little to the North of Chatelet and Forum des Halles Centre G. Pompidou" LOL! Of course it's a joke, but a pretty creative one I thought. Somebody took the initiative to create a new sign to show us the way and attached it to an official direction indicator. I happened to be there in time before they removed it, as I'm sure, heaven knows, the Police don't have the same sense of humor.

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

The hidden treasures of Doisneau


Am I lucky? Yes, a little bit! Yesterday evening (Monday), I had the opportunity of going to the opening of a great exhibition, where several unknown photos by Doisneau were presented! How is that possible? Well simply because he took a zillion shots and it's only recently that his daughters decided to dig them out from where they were sleeping... Stunning as always, but you have to go to the Artcurial gallery (at the bottom of Les Champs Elysées) to see them all ;-)

Monday, March 26, 2012

In Seine?


Yesterday morning (Sunday) at the Pont d'Iena (the bridge that goes from Le Trocadero to the Eiffel Tower), I witnessed a pretty unusual scene: swimmers in the Seine! I was not there by coincidence though, only because a communication agency had organized the event and sent a press release to let the media know! This operation was in fact conducted on behalf of the ice cream maker Miko (a French brand that now belongs to  Unilever) to "celebrate" the time change, leading up to summer). Pretty clever and fun. Dangerous and forbidden too! That is why they did not really swim, but really just splashed about ;-)

Sunday, March 25, 2012

Time to change... time


Twice in the year we can play God and have a little influence on the time... A limited influence of course, but still! At 2 am it'll be 3 am and when we Europeans wake up we'll have lost one hour of sleep! But there is a reward: we'll have more light in the evening during the next 6 months. To illustrate this change, I saved a photograph I took a few days ago, on my way to the gym. Probably an Ikea clock! Happy Day light saving time everyone.

Saturday, March 24, 2012

Sun, sun and more sun!


I guess the song is going to have to be changed to "March in Paris" LOL, for it's the second year in a row that "March is the new April, or even May or June LOL". Look at the weather forecast for the coming days... Plus 8 degres C on average, compared to a "normal" year. FYI, I took this photo at rue Montorgueil, a very famous pedestrian street located in the 2nd arrondissement. Have a good weekend everyone.

Friday, March 23, 2012

Racing car on the Champs Elysées


We had a beautiful day in Paris yesterday, so on the way back from a lunch in the 17th arrondissement, I decided to drive down the Champs Elysées then suddenly I saw this car my mirror... I drove as fast as I could, stopped on the lower part of the avenue and waited for it... Luckily the traffic vanished when I pressed the trigger! Et voila... Again I have no idea what this car is, but I have no doubt that, like a couple of days ago, with the Aston Martin, many of my readers will enlighten us!

Thursday, March 22, 2012

Photographing Paris...


I was in a pretty bad mood yesterday evening, so I took off and went for a ride in Paris! Of course I took my camera with me. When I crossed the Pont de la Concorde, I saw this guy, obviously waiting for a better sunset on the Seine. I simply saw a good occasion to take an interesting photo. Good timing...

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Paris red light district


I already posted about this Paris "landmark" once, but it was along time ago and it's still amazing to think that at the age of the Internet, Video On Demand and other cutting edge technology, there is still room for a good old brick and mortar "sexodrome"! For those of you who have never been in Paris, this building is located in the 18th arrondissement, around La Place Pigalle (named after Jean-Baptiste Pigalle), not far from Le Moulin Rouge where a sort of Red Light District still survives. They claim to be "the largest adult entertainment center in Europe", but I haven't checked the info myself!

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

First ice cream of the year...


It's not summer yet, but it's already warm enough to think of having an ice cream in the sun. That's what a friend of mine had today at Amarino, a now rather famous Italian place that gives all its  ice cream the shape of a flower. A nice change from Berthillon and Häagen Dazs LOL! Come on people, it's time to pack your suitcase and to come to Paris...

Monday, March 19, 2012

Val de Grace Church


Here is a church I've never shown you even though I pass by it several times a year. This time I stopped and took a photo... It's called l'Eglise du Val de Grace and it's the church of a former royal abbey and at night, it's really beautiful. It was built during the 17th century dans was designed by famous French architect François Mansart. You can read everything about it on Wikipedia, and pay it a visit if you come to Paris. I've never been inside, but I'm sure it's worth it (has any of my visitors seen it?).

Sunday, March 18, 2012

Friendly brunch, New York style


One thing I love about PDP is that it allowed me to meet a lot of people from all over the world. Some I feel close to, even though I've only met them through my comments box (!), some I've met during my trips to New York, San Francisco, Australia or New Zealand, some I've met during casual drinks in Paris (here too) and of course some I've met during my annual PDP picnics. Last, but not least, some I've met on "special occasions"!). Throughout all these years I even made several true good friends. The two who invited me yesterday's morning (Saturday) to a typical New York brunch at their apartment in Paris (for they live in Paris at the moment) are among them: Lynn (aka PHX2CDG on PDP) and Eric (Aka Mr PHX2CDG!). A very happy moment (with not enough food as you can see in this photo!). Those who are familiar with PDP will also have recognized 3 other PDP regulars: Guille, Michael and... Monica (from Brazil), who "happened" to be in Paris too. I consider myself as very lucky.

Saturday, March 17, 2012

It was an Okay day...


It was almost summer in Paris today and it really felt good! I took advantage of it to have lunch at the Okay café, a pretty secluded restaurant located at the end of Le canal de l'Ourcq where you can easily forget you're in the middle of Paris! Well when I say middle, it's not exactly true as this place is located in the 19th arrondissement, an area which is pretty ex-centered. But, I would still recommend it. Especially for its stunning wooden terrace...

Friday, March 16, 2012

Car ride


I'm not a big car fan, but sometimes, when I see one with a nice or original shape, then I'm tempted to take a photo. That's what I did last evening at Place Saint Germain, where Tribes, the event I told you about  Wednesday, took place. FYI this is an Aston Martin, but that is all I can tell you about it!

Thursday, March 15, 2012

Inspiration


I am just back from a very inspirational evening. I attended the second session of a new series of conferences called "Tribe, to be inspired", where you can listen to people who do things not "only for the money". Quite a change LOL! I did not know what photo to take and then I saw this game of shadows on the wall near the stage and thought it looked cool... It was interesting, but tiring, so I'm off to bed now!

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Anti nuclear energy demonstration


It's been a while since I've shown you a demonstration (with the French elections coming up in April/May people don't think it's worth demonstrating for the government may change!). This one passed right in my street, so I did not have to go too far to take the photo ;-) It took place a couple of days ago on the anniversary of Fukushima, to protest against nuclear power (in France about 80% of the electricity is of nuclear origins).

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

An evening in Québec!


First of all, thanks a million for all your nice comments yesterday; I've done my best to answer everyone, but I had to go to bed at some stage and I may have missed a few of you ;-) On a different note, last evening (Monday), I have been fortunate enough to be invited to the Théâtre du Rond Point des Champs Elysées to a very Québecois evening: a musical by René-Richard Cyr, based on a very famous play by Michel Tremblay called "Les Belles-soeurs". The whole Québec was there, including the 1st Minister, Jean Charest! A delightful moment in Canadian French which is always nice to hear (Canadian French is more or less the equivalent of American English compared to British English).

Monday, March 12, 2012

7th year anniversary!


Had someone told me that I would be posting a photo of Paris every day, on a blog without missing one single day, I would have laughed (out loud, of course!). And though, here we are 7 years later! About 7 years ago I was offered a digital camera and since I did not know what to do with it, I started this blog, which lead to great encounters and discoveries... To celebrate, let me offer you this sunset that I took a couple of days ago in the 20th arrondissement, from a place called La Bellevilloise where I attended a product launch. The bell tower you can see in this photo belongs to Notre Dame de la Croix, the 3rd largest church in Paris.

Sunday, March 11, 2012

Smells like spring...


OK the guy in the photo is not exactly in a T-shirt and shorts, but we're almost there! I've been waiting  for a ray of sun a good reason to go out of my shell (and leave my computer's desk!) for quite some time now and I think we're almost there... Look at what's coming up next week in Paris! Have a peaceful Sunday everyone.

Saturday, March 10, 2012

Still standing


Some of you may have seen these very impressive images from 2 days ago (Thursday)... A fire started in the underground parking lot (2nd level) of the Place Vendôme and no less than 52 cars and a scooter (not mine!) burnt down... Needless to say this fire was not really easy to put out. Today I went there and the police was everywhere, and so were the cars owners...  waiting to hear if theirs was toasted. News networks were there too, expecting to catch on tape the towing away of a few burnt cars...

Friday, March 09, 2012

Driving down the Champs Elysées


I had a business meeting near La Défense today and on the way back I chose to drive down the Champs Elysées, even though the traffic was pretty bad. At the roundabout (le rond-point des Champs Elysées), I saw this and I thought it could make a good photo. Turns out that it does! Well so I think... Facts and figures: in Paris, there is 1 policeman (not only for traffic, of course) per 371 inhabitants on average, with a lot of differences between arrondissements.

Thursday, March 08, 2012

Happy Women's Day!


I know this concept of "a day" to think of a special cause or target group is a bit silly (what do we do the rest of the year, forget about the cause?!), but I suppose it's better than no day at all! And since I have a lot of female visitors, I figured I would dedicate this post to them today! Men will have to wait for their day... er... wait a minute... there is no men's day, is there?! . FYI 53% of the Paris population are women and like in the rest of the country they still suffer from huge inequities. Our Latin roots I suppose... My photo today comes from the carnival that took place in February and that I already told you about here.

Wednesday, March 07, 2012

When in Paris...


I found this stunning sculpture (a replica) in the Paul Painlevé Square, by the Sorbonne university. It shows a scene of the Roman mythology, according to which the city of Rome was named after Romulus, one of the two brothers (the other one was called Remus) that were left to die by their uncle and suckled by a she-wolf! I really wondered why there would be such a statue in there and then I read that there is a twinning between Paris and Rome! And precisely, this statue was given by Rome to Paris in 1962... Grazie!

Tuesday, March 06, 2012

Magic!


I couldn't resist... I used the fish eye camera I was lent again LOL! And I don't regret it, for I came up with a extremely festive photo - well, so I think! Like you can see, it allowed me to capture in the same shot the Eiffel Tower and the merry-go-round that is located on the opposite sidewalk. I promise, I won't abuse the fish-eye, but this time I really think it's cool ;-)

Monday, March 05, 2012

Where is Waldo?


Where is Waldo? Or should I ask "Où est Charlie?" as that's what he's called on this side of the pond, well, search no more... He is currently in Paris, and more precisely by the Bourse Metro station, where I found him this weekend! I thought it was a fun way of starting the week, that's all! ;-)

Sunday, March 04, 2012

Pont Royal!


I know you're going to say I'm spoiled again, but this is what I saw last evening when I came back home. This bridge is called Le Pont Royal and it leads to the Flore Pavilion that I already shown once here. It's the 3rd oldest Paris bridge; it was built in 1649 "the first time", as it burnt in 1654, then was destroyed by the current in 1656, then again in 1684! Or course at that time it was not made of stone, but of wood, which apparently was not really suitable for a bridge LOL!

Saturday, March 03, 2012

The rat race...


How about a pretty conceptual photo for the weekend?! Quite the opposite of yesterday's one actually. I took it on the very busy evening of the Musée du jeu de paume exhibit openings I already mentioned. It's a shot  from above (obviously) of the staircase that leads to the lower exhibition halls. I love the "fly over a cuckoo's nest" effect... That's all for today folks!

Friday, March 02, 2012

Empty metro


Not very glamorous, but very unusual scene today: the Paris metro without anybody in it! How did I manage to take this? Simple, I took it at "dawn", when no one was in it! It felt very weird actually for normally you have to fight to get a spot (well, not me for I drive my scooter, but I've experienced it!). Facts and figures? Well... In 2009 no less than... 1,479 billion people used the metro - that is roughly 4 million a day! Not bad for an area that counts about 10 million inhabitants!

Thursday, March 01, 2012

Fairy electricity


The City Daily Photo theme day for today was "Electricity" and I must say I really did not know what to post. A bunch of electric wires? Not very aesthetic... And then I crossed the Seine on the way back home, just a few minutes ago. Tthere it was! Without electricity this scenery would not exactly look the same, would it? Have a look at what the "fairy Electricity" (as we often call it in France) can do  in other parts of the world...