Contemplation

I'm not religious, but from time to time, I appreciate a little contemplation, like on Saturday, when I attended the Christening of the daughter of friends of mine in the Swedish Church of Paris. A very moving and merry moment. Have a great Sunday everyone.

Ghost of a chance...

Odd isn't it? There is no one under this shirt (or rather shirts for there are two), just a pole, like the many ones we have in Paris to prevent cars from parking on the sidewalk. How on earth did these shirts end up there, I will never know, but I really love the effect! Now I have to be frank I did not take this photo myself, but my friend Martine Castro did while she was wandering on the Boulevard Pershing in the 17th arrondissement. I, did not resist stealing it from her ;-) (with her permission).

Cartier building

I don't know if you remember my post from last year (Cartier without Bresson), well they did it again this year! Only this time you get to see a broader view (but do visit the previous post to as you might want to see the little film they made for their 165th anniversary again). BTW there seems to be a special 50% off promotion on Zazzle today with code 50OFFPRODUCT, if you're interested in purchasing a ParisDailyPhoto calendar (either this one, or this one or even the brand new black and white one), it may be the day!

By the pale moonlight (II)

I took this photo last evening, while I was going back home. The reason why I stopped is not so much because of the arch that I photographed a zillion times, but because of the moonlight in the background (on the left of the arch). To be fair, it was much more impressive for real than in this photo!

Wind Power!

Don't go thinking I took this photo in the country somewhere... I took it in Paris, in a public garden located in the 17th arrondissement near the Pont Cardinet area. Of course this wind "turbine" won't produce any electricity, I suppose it's just a scenery equipment, but in other parts of France they do. We have a production of almost 8 000 MW through wind power, which compared to Germany (31 000 Mw),  or the US (60 000 MW) or... China (75 000 MW) is not much, but we're progressing... 

Firemen training tower

You think these two buildings have more or less the same height? Well, they don't! The "old" one is a 6 or 7 typical Paris story building, and the "modern" one is only 11 meter (36 ft) high. The latter is actually a  sculpture made by Chinese artist Wang Du and is dedicated to the Paris firemen (it's actually a replica of a training tower) next door. For yes, the "old" building next to it is a fire station. Pretty cool ;-)

The Pereire perspective...

There is a long, well known boulevard in Paris called le Boulevard Pereire (after the name of the Pereire brothers two businessmen of Portuguese origin - their actual name was Pereira - who were very famous and influencial around 1850). Among many things in Paris, they built several train lines and one of each would go from les Batignolles area to the Porte d'Auteuil, partly along this boulevard. Since then, it has been covered (and obviously turned into gardens) but the train tracks are still there underneath; they are now used by the RER, our suburban metro. 

Shaking the Pagoda tree...

After the "forest" house I found in the 20th arrondissement, here is another odd looking building that can be found at the corner of rue de Courcelles and rue Rembrandt, a pretty chic neighborhood where you find more high-end Haussmannian buildings than... Pagodas! For yes, lady and gentlemen, this is a real Chinese Pagoda, built by a rich Chinese art dealer (Ching-Tsai Loo) in the 1930's (I've been unable to find the exact date). The place is still an art gallery nowadays, it has been recently renovated and can also be used for private parties. But it cannot really be visited, like a museum or a monument. Too bad, for the inside really looks interesting! Check for yourself on their website.

Paris solitude

I found this graffito in the 17th arrondissement  (I don't know why it's written in English) and I found it quite touching. Not only because of the funny drawing they made using the pipe hole (I'm not even sure that's what it is), but also because of the message it carries. I looked up on the Internet and found a few facts and figures: in Paris 600 000 people (about 27% of the population) live by themselves (against 14% for the rest of France). This is due to the fact that there are a lot of students, that most newcomers in France start in Paris and probably because of the increasing number of divorces and widows. And even though there are many activities in a big town, it can also be very difficult to meet people. Some probably regret it, some apparently like it!

A view on the Arch...

In December you generally have lots of company parties or so called "end of the year" celebrations. I went to one of those parties yesterday evening, the one of the Internet Manager club, the only French club I belong to! It took place avenue Mac-Mahon, one of the large avenues that go around the Arc de Triomphe. I could not help but taking a photo of course... Notice the ray of light, I think it belongs to the Eiffel Tower even though it's pretty far.

Santa Lucia concert (Swedish church)

There are about 10 million Swedes in the world. Some of them are in France and in Paris in particular where you can find many things Swedish, like the wonderful Swedish Institute in Le Marais or... the Swedish church at rue Médéric, (Svenska kyrkan) where I happen to have attended a Christmas concert 2 days ago. It was really stunning, even though I did not understand a word of what they were singing! Of course I could not help but shooting like crazy. See for yourself (and enjoy the soundtrack!)

French Public Services

Those of you who follow me on Facebook may have seen one of my yesterday updates in which I was "expressing my discontent" regarding La Poste, the French postal service. On the way out I came across this mailbox and I could not help thinking: this is a provocation LOL! To be fair, French public services (have a look at this British site for more, that is all I could find in English) are not that bad, on the whole, they are just like French service in general ;-)   

Champagne for everyone!

From time to time, I've decided to give you shopping tips (and still focus on the photo of course, for those of you who are not interested in shopping or don't plan to come to Paris LOL!). The first one of this series is La Boîte à bulle, a new store you can find at 67 rue de Levis (a street known for it's market) in the 17 th and in Levallois (in the close suburbs of Paris). They sell 3 kinds of - very good - Champagne (brut, rosé and blanc de blanc) that they source from the Champagne region (of course), in the East of France. The store looks really great and Matthieu Lécussan (in the photo), the young entrepreneur who started this business recently, can tell you absolutely everything about Champagne!

(Good) Coffee to go

The concept of "coffee to go" is not very common in Paris. Of course we now have Starbucks and some cafés around the corner will give you a paper cup if you ask for one, but it's really not usual to see someone sipping his coffee in the metro or his car. Things may change though, thanks to people like Arnaud Viratelle (in this photo) who owns a little mobile coffee stand by the train station at Place Pereire (which is actually called Place du Maréchal Juin). The coffee is organic, not expensive (in Paris, 1 euro a cup, is a deal!) and the service is very nice, like the owner or the place. So, if you're in the neighborhood, pay him a visit.

On the case...

Can you smell blood on PDP today?! Well, you should, for besides the Queen Jubilee in the UK, the French news is full of the story of Luka Rocco Magnotta, a Canadian porn star who is said to have killed a man, made a video and sent the victim's dismembered body parts in the mail (read more here)! Even worse - after all this - he took a flight to... Paris! Some witnesses say that he stayed in the Batignolles area (a quarter of Paris where I used to live 10 years ago!), others that he is currently in the suburbs... Anyway, I could not help but live dangerously (LOL) and went back to my old neighborhood to take this photo. If tomorrow's PDP photo is of one of my body parts, you'll know why... ;-) In the meantime I'll be singing this... UPDATE: He was caught in Berlin today!

Paris Elevator

Here is a very typical Parisian thing: an elevator from the beginning of the century (the 20th). You find them in most Haussmanian buildings and some of them are really nice. This one, that I photographed in the 17th arrondissement even has a little bench on which people can sit during their journey! You have to keep in mind that when they were first installed, they were pretty slow; some of them where not even electric, but worked with a pretty complex hydraulic system, not always very reliable (I remember an old uncle who told me he got once trapped in one that would never stop going up and down!).

My beloved Paris!

Everything comes to an end, especially vacation! After a few days in beautiful Marrakesh, I'm back to my beloved home town (I need to vote on Sunday, remember!). The weather is awful, but I'm sure it won't last... And most important: the 2012 best baguette baker has just been chosen! I have to visit his bakery! FYI, this is an ad I photographed on a taxi; it promotes a new 2 page edition dedicated to Paris in Le Figaro daily paper.

April theme day: cobblestones

Due to the hacking of the servers that host the City Daily Photo portal, it is down at the moment, so that we were "in the dark" regarding this month's theme day. Thanks to Julie in Sydney, we have a workaround, even though there will undoubtedly be less participants this time - but I'm sure you will survive ;-) ... The theme day for this month is "Cobblestones" which was a piece of cake for me, as in Paris, we're not short of cobblestones, every though they are regularly covered with tar, that is considered much safer (especially when it rains when it becomes very slippery...). I posted several photos of them, but for today, I took a very very traditional one.

Giant dog

Here is a dog that won't leave any nasty droppings on the pavement... I found it in the 17th arrondissemen, inside a little courtyard. from what I could see, he belongs to Aastroem Munier BBN, a communications agency ;-) FYI since 2002 dog owners must pick up after their "Medor" (Medor is kinda like "Rocky", a generic name for dogs), ,so the streets of Paris are not that polluted anymore (well at least in some neighborhoods!)

Rotten July!

People often ask me what to pack when coming to Paris? I never know what to answer as the weather is always very unpredictable... Hence last April and May, when we suffered an unusual and terrible drought and now July which is really windy, rainy and a little cold too (and probably not good for business). Only positive point: nice weather to take pictures ;-) Need I introduce you to the Arc de Triomphe? I did not think so!