Thursday, April 24, 2014

The Gare du nord is 150 years old!

The Gare du nord (North station) was open on April 19 1864, it had 8 tracks and people at that time complained because it was too "gigantic"! Little did they know that 150 years later it would be ranked as the 3rd largest station in the world (after Tokyo and Chicago) with no less than 180 million passengers per year. It offers connections with several urban transportation lines, northern France cities and... London with the famous Eurostar. Last, but not least, it's a stunning building that we owe to its achitect Jacques Hittorff.

15 comments:

  1. Beautiful! Both the building and your photograph.

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  2. I am not very familiar with this station. I walked in front of it once. As William wrote, it is a magnificent building!

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  3. And I'll add another "magnificent". I've changed train lines at Gare du Nord and taken the Eurostar from there, but I don't think I've ever been outside of the station to take a look at it.

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  4. Great photograph, it really captures the scale of this magnificent building

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  5. Extraordinary photo, obviously... :-) We owe you your great eye and a great website !
    Thank you very much !

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  6. This building is beautiful! I remember going there a few times ;-)

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  7. What on earth am I going to do when you stop your wonderful info day after day?!
    Eric, I live now for more than six years very nearby Paris and have never ever been IN the Gare du Nord (except for changing lines etc).... I always and very often use the Gare de Lyon though.
    What a gorgeous building this is and I didn't know about it's huge size and importance - Beautiful pix in the HRD mood - very suitable for a train station. Merci beaucoup!!!

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    1. Yes Kiki, it's not the best area in Paris (a bit of drug dealing not far from it), but the building in itself is magnificent.

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  8. We're hoping that this will be the first thing we see in Paris next year! :) I will echo the sentiments of all these above with yet another "magnificent!"

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  9. I'll see your 'magnifique' and raise you a "super!" Have been here so many times (years and years ago) and I'm sure I didn't appreciate it. I do now though!

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  10. Awwww. Thanks everyone. Actually it's the gare which beautiful, not my photo!

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  11. Il y a une éternité que je ne me suis pas pointé le nez chez-toi (ie sur ton blogue), et je vois bien tout ce que j'ai manqué.
    La qualité des photographies s'est grandement améliorée. Tant dans l'approche des sujets (toujours aussi variés) que dans la technique, qui elle s'est diversifiée selon les sujets.

    La gare du nord est effectivement un immeuble magnifique, auquel ta photo rends justice.

    J'étais à Paris l'été dernier. J'ai cru qu'elle était devenue plus cosmopolite qu'il y a cinq ans. Ma seule perception, peut-être, ou le fait que j'y étais en plein coeur de l'été, ou parce que je me suis baladé dans les quartiers non-touristiques, incluant deux banlieues rapprochées (Montreuil et Ivry-sur-Seine). En fait probablement un amalgame de tout ça. Mais j'ai grandement apprécié toutes mes visites. Aussi nous avons habité un appartement rue du Faubourg du Temple, sur la place de la République,question de faire ça comme des parisiens ! Quel bonheur !!! Se balader le long du canal St-Martin du petit matin jusqu'au au soir bien avancé.

    Je vais revenir, et ça ne prendra pas tant de temps, et je vais lire aussi tout ce que tu y raconte.

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