ParisDailyPhoto

Return to the Cité du Patrimoine

2008-07-07T00:03:00.001+02:00

About 2 weeks ago, I took this photo and said I would tell you all about the wonderful museum outside of which I took it. Now is the time... It's called "La cité de l'architecture et du patrimoine" and it allows you to see the most beautiful sculptures/doors/gargoyles... of the main French religious buildings since the very first ages in one single place. And it's not just paintings of photos but actual casts of originals. It's very impressive (have a look at this or this or this to have a global view), moving and beautiful. I chose to show you one of the many "Pleurant" (Mourners?) that are part of Jean sans Peur's tomb.

Paris Monsoon?!

2008-07-06T00:18:00.003+02:00

I often get emails from people visiting Paris asking me "I'm coming in [month] what should I pack?" I never know what to reply as, in Paris, you can never tell in advance what the weather will be like. Take this early July period, for instance... In theory, it should be warm an sunny, and though we're experiencing some heavy rains. And the week to come does not look too good. Tough luck, I'm going to Brittany (Bretagne) tomorrow (Monday) to follow the Saint-Malo>Nantes stage of Le Tour de France. I'd better take my umbrella!

Parisian institution!

2008-07-05T00:01:00.000+02:00

I never showed you a very important part in the Parisian culture: Le Concierge! Located at the entrance of buildings (generally in a small apartment on the ground floor, like in this photo that I took rue des Saint-Pères), he - or more often she - takes care of the property, dispatches the mail to the dwellers, takes out the trash and monitors who gets in and out. Before, there was almost no Parisian buildings without a concierge, but now, they are considered too expensive and a lot have been "outsourced". Browsing the web I found out that the term concierge evolved from the French Comte Des Cierges (keeper of the candles!).

One more thought

2008-07-04T00:07:00.002+02:00

I'm just back to Paris after a pretty tiring trip but I could not help going to the town hall where a lot of Parisians - and press - gathered to celebrate the release of the most famous French(/Colombian) hostage. I just saw a long interview of Ingrid on French television and I can tell you that this woman is really something; even after she's been treated like a dog (her words) for 2,321 days, she has the strength to say that she feels no hate for her abductors... Anyway I don't want to bore you with this story, especially since, like some of you mentioned it, there are still other people held by the FARC in the jungle. Let's also have a thought for the American hostages ( Marc Gonsalves, Thomas Howes and Keith Stansell) who landed in San Antonio today. They will celebrate the 4th of July in their homeland for the first time in 10 years...

Ingrid is free

2008-07-03T00:20:00.003+02:00

24 February 2008.

29 december 2007.

24 February 2006.

For the first time in PDP's history (I guess!) let me repost 3 photos; the ones I posted on various occasions to remind my visitors of Ingrid Betancourt, the Franco Colombian lady who was abducted by the Farc more than 6 years ago. Tonight we heard she was freed yesterday. I'm so happy, I could cry.

The old lady has a new dye!

2008-07-02T00:17:00.000+02:00

Some of you mentioned it already in yesterday's comments (I guess it's been pretty much everywhere in the news), on June 30 at 11 pm the Eiffel Tower turned blue and grew 12 yellow stars... Why? Because those are the colors of the European flag and because France is to take its presidency for 6 months (FYI, there is no actual European President - yet? - but a pretty complicated organization...). Cool idea (the blue Eiffel Tower) I must say and very much appreciated by Parisians - and tourists - apparently. Talking about Europe, I'm heading to Brussels for the next two days, I'll try to keep in touch with you, but it's not going to be easy...

Theme day: No!

2008-07-01T00:06:00.002+02:00

Paris Gay pride 2008

2008-06-30T00:10:00.001+02:00

Between 500 000 and 700 000 (depending on the sources) people took part in the Paris Gay Pride last Saturday (it usually takes place on the last Saturday of June). Of course, it's primarily a political movement (this year's theme was "homophobia at school"), but it's also a very festive moment, full of music, colors and costumes. Needless to say it's a super occasion to take great photos (see here my little Animoto) . FYI, Homosexuality in France has been made legal since 1981 and same sex partners can sign a civil union contract pretty similar to a marriage except that it does not allow them to adopt children.

Paris' protector

2008-06-29T01:56:00.003+02:00

I realized today that I never showed you a very important historical character in Paris: Sainte Geneviève whose statue can be seen at the entrance of Paris - on the Seine (see this photo). Geneviève was born in... 422 and according to the legend she saved Paris from a few enemies (Attila and the Huns, Childéric...) and that is why she is now the "official protector" of Paris ;) I'm not sure that many Parisians know about her though...

Rahman

2008-06-28T00:02:00.001+02:00

How about a nice little Graffiti to finish the week? I took this photo rue Saint Bruno, in the 18th arrondissement and I like it, because of the father and son passing by in the middle of the picture. Browsing the web I found out who Rahman is: he's a singer from the Ivory Coast and he is also a "slammer" (call me totally old fashioned but I'm not sure what it is exactly...). I'm glad my week is over, I'm going to relax this weekend and take tons of photos of course.

Cool encounter

2008-06-27T00:09:00.004+02:00

I already said it several times, PDP allowed me to meet dozens of nice people - often from very far away. But last night, I met someone who lives in Paris: Robin Maltete, the son of... René Maltete a French photographer who used to be friend with Doisneau and many other artists of that time. Do check some of his photos in the web album his son Robin made, I'm sure, you will love its humor. Robin contacted me after he saw the white dinner party photo on PDP; we started exchanging emails, then he invited me to his place, where I photographed his - lastest - camera (Robin is also a photographer). Not a very usual one; it uses an 8 x 10 inch film and has none of the sophisticated features you can find on modern digital models!

Fontaine Trévise

2008-06-26T00:28:00.001+02:00

Last night (Wednesday), I received a text message from Kinneret (the lady who wrote a nice article in Hebrew about PDP). She said "If you want to take a cool photo, they are currently shooting a historical movie on Cité Trévise". I was having dinner in the 14th arrondissement when I got the message, so it took me about an hour to go there and, of course, it was already too late; the crew was packing and the actors long gone. I still got to see for the 1st time this wonderful little place - which from what I found out was built around 1840- with its romantic nymphea fountain in the middle though. When I think I live only a couple of blocks away!

Children of the world

2008-06-25T00:06:00.001+02:00

I'm currently very busy because of my work, but I still try to save some time to make interesting discoveries. Hence these wonderful statues showing "the children of the world" (Naomi the African, Jim the American, Felipe the Mexican [in the foreground in this photo]... - see the 21 of them in this little Animoto video and on the "official site" [in French]) made by Rachid Khimoune, a French artist of Berber origins. Really beautiful. Some of you may think I could have showed this earlier, as apparently these statues have been there (in the Bercy area) since... 2001! But I swear, I never saw them before! The other interesting part is that each of these statues has a replica located in its "country of birth". A definite must see if you come to Paris.

The big town hall in the Prairie!

2008-06-24T00:13:00.002+02:00

They did it last year, they've done it again this year... 'It'? A 2 878 square meter (0.7 acre) garden right in front of the Hotel de ville (Town hall), a location where, normally, not much grows, except concrete! This year, on top of the 6 000 different species of plants they also managed to install a pretty cool pond in which more plants are to be found. This temporary garden can be seen until August 17, so if you're visiting Paris this summer you should definitely pay the hôtel de Ville a visit. Here are more photos taken by the Paris communications department.

Eat for food!

2008-06-23T00:16:00.003+02:00

A picnic in the sun, right on the esplanade of the new National library (la bibliothèque nationale de France), may sound nice enough but if I tell you that on top of that the food was provided by a bunch of famous chefs and that the entrance fee was only 5 euros you will probably understand why this unusual picnic - organized by Alexandre Cammas and Emmanuel Rubin, two restaurant critics and founders of Le fooding movement - attracted so many people. And all this for a good cause: all the money goes to Action contre la faim (action against hunger).

Fête de la musique 2008

2008-06-22T00:14:00.001+02:00

OK, you may think it's not very original to post a photo of the Fête de la Musique as you probably experienced it yourself in your own country (if you look at these posters, you'll see that it took place in more than 100 places all over the world). You may not know, however, that it was "invented" in France (by Jack Lang, a former French culture minister) in 1982. Principle? Very simple: on June 21 (which is also the longest day of the year in the north hemisphere) everyone can play music in the street, in gardens, places... or churches' backyards like in this photo, that I took near Saint Séverin church. It looks like the virgin Mary too, is enjoying La fête de la musique!

Sacré Coeur

2008-06-21T00:04:00.000+02:00

OK, enough museums and auction sales, it's Le week-end! How about a classic view of Paris? Not that classic actually, I took this photo of Montmartre and le Sacré Coeur from far away, and more precisely from La Défense where I attended a pretty unusual art opening in the offices of Eurogroup (look for Sponsorship>Artist Residency, if you want to know more). Did you know that Montmartre means Mont of the Martyrs because that is where several Christians got killed during the 3rd century?

True gems!

2008-06-20T01:06:00.002+02:00

See the pearls on the upper left of this box? They belonged to Marie-Antoinette... And this obscene sapphire in the little black box? Louis the XIVth used to wear it! I know it's hard to believe but most of the French crown jewels (at least the ones that have not been stolen or lost for good during the French revolution) are to be found in this not much to look at box. How do I know? I've been fortunate enough to see them last evening at the French Mineralogy museum! But don't be jealous, you too can visit the place, even if you're not in Paris, thanks to the incredible website that this museum just released. Not only does it allow you to visit the virtual gallery, but also to "play" with some stones (10% of them for the time being) in 3D. Cherry on the cake; the website is even in English! Watch the trailer here.

Buy a little piece of Paris' history...

2008-06-19T00:04:00.003+02:00

Today, let me take you inside a palace: Le Royal Monceau! It's not the most luxurious hotel that we have in Paris (yet?!) but the reason why I'm posting about it now, is that today (Thursday) all its furniture (including paintings, chandeliers, silverware, bathrobes...) will be auctioned by the famous French auction house Cornette de Saint Cyr. And guess who went there especially for you to take photos?! It was fun actually, even if it was really crowded (I had no idea so many people would be interested in the place). FYI, the Royal Monceau will be closed for more than a year after this, enough to let famous designer Philippe Starck turn it into the next hypest place to stay in Paris ;)

A must see Museum

2008-06-18T00:45:00.002+02:00

If I tell you I photographed this masterpiece in a museum, which one do you think it was? The Paris Modern Art Museum? The Beaubourg Center? The Cartier Foundation? All wrong! I took this photo in the computer museum, a pretty new place, located up top the big arch of La Défense. This place is like heaven for geeks, believe me. Not only can you see what a computer looked like in the 40's (well, OK, maybe they did not really qualify as computers...) but also discover - or rediscover, depending on your age - the first PC, the first laptop, the first Apple Macintosh... I had a blast! More here.

12 hours for the Franco-Israeli relationships

2008-06-17T00:19:00.000+02:00

In Paris, there are 2 main Jewish quarters: the "Pletzel", located in Le Marais and Le Faubourg-Montmartre where I took the photo of these clever posters, advertising for an upcoming event called Les 12 heures bleues (the 12 blue hours) - organized by the French Jewish Student Association. It will be the occasion to debate about the relationships between France and Israel, to listen to Israeli music, watch Israeli films... Talking about Israel, let me encourage you to visit this site and scroll down a little. I'm sure, you'll recognize the guy in the photo ;) And if you can read Hebrew, the experience will probably be even better!

Mass at Notre Dame

2008-06-16T00:02:00.002+02:00

A few weeks ago, Rahul, a true Paris lover from Bombay/Mumbai, started chatting with me about France, India and... movies. He convinced me to open myself more to the Indian production and even said "I'll have you discover a few films..." And he kept his promise. Saturday evening, I got a call from, Diti, a friend of his, who happens to be visiting Paris at the moment. She said "Rahul will kill me if I don't manage to give you his gifts (2 DVDs)." Now you're probably wondering how this photo can possibly fit into this story?! Well, it's simple: Diti and I agreed to meet at Notre Dame on Sunday morning and since we kinda missed each other, I went into Notre Dame (during mass) and took this photo. Don't worry I finally managed to get my DVDs!

Outside Le Trocadéro

2008-06-15T00:05:00.001+02:00

Yesterday (Saturday) I went to "La Cité de l'architecture et du patrimoine", a museum I will tell you more about later. After my visit, I had a coffee on the little terrace they have right outside one wing of Le Trocadero (and yes, the weather was nicer than expected!). Here is the scenery I could see when looking at the sky. Pretty cool.

C'mon we are in June!

2008-06-14T00:03:00.003+02:00

This has got to be the rainiest and coldest month of June I've ever experienced in Paris. Like I told you the weather during the white dinner party was really chilly and the next 5 days or so will be rainy... Wait, that is not all: the temperature are, on average, 5 degrees (Celsius) below normal (sorry PHX-CDG!!)! I realize every day how lucky we've been with the PDP picnic! Have a nice weekend; time for me to go to bed with an extra blanket!! (BTW, if you're interested, CNN posted the debate that took place in Le Senat that I mentioned last Monday - June 9. See France on the move, part 1 to 4))

Le dïner en blanc 2008

2008-06-13T01:29:00.003+02:00

I'm just back from Le diner en blanc (the White dinner party) where I had a lot of fun. Unlike last year, where I only took photos, this time I also participated. What a thrill! I received my instructions from my contact (there is no central organizer - at least nobody knows him/her - but only contacts of contacts...). I was supposed to join my group at 9 pm on Place Saint Philippe du Roule. Around 9:15 pm, someone - who obviously knew where the dinner was going to take place - took the group to... the Champs Elysées. Within the blink of an eye the whole lower part of the avenue was covered in tables, chairs, candles... and people dressed in white. Fascinating. Around 10 pm a band started to play music and at 11 pm sharp everyone lit sparkling sticks. Beautiful. Magical moment - even if the weather was a little chilly. Check here for more shots.