The big summer roundup

Every year around the 1st of August in France, the big summer round up takes place: people who took their vacation in July come back to their home and the ones who stayed home in July (more numerous) leave their home. That is why, last Saturday, we broke a traffic jam record! No less that 994 Km (618 miles) of congestion were counted on the French road network at midday! Stupid, isn't it?! As an illustration I used this photo that I took yesterday (Sunday) morning while the yearly "traversée de Paris en Anciennes" (old cars parade) was going through Paris. This is an old 404 Peugeot (well, not that old, my father had one!!) with typical suitcases from the 60's on the roof rack! Have a nice start of the week, whether you're home or on vacation!

Like a cobra in Paris...

Last Sunday the 14th "Traversée de Paris" took place in Paris. I was not there of course, but I took with me in Bangkok a bunch of photos from last year's race (as I generally only publish one single photo per event, I always have extra ones!). So here you go, an old AC Cobra from the 60's. The engine was made by ford and the bodywork by the Brits! And the French love it... Have a fun Sunday everyone and drive carefully ;-)

Electric car...

It's been a long time since I've wanted to show you these odd little electric cars that have started invading Paris since last year, but I never managed to take a sexy photo. This one is not super sexy, but at least it's intriguing ;-) (the ray of light comes from a car that passed by while I was waiting to push the trigger). I took it by a charging station that is normally designed for Autolib, but is also available to everyone who has an electric car (there aren't that many, so they don't take much risk!). Anyway, It's a Renault Twizy, a two seat vehicle that is small enough to park, almost everywhere. It costs about 7 500 € and has a 80 km (50 miles) range.  Not bad, but I'll stick to my scooter...

War times?

Believe it or not there are Hummers in Paris! And not just "small" ones we also have limos! Hence this one that I photographed at rue La Boétie... Needless to say that this kind of vehicles is not exactly adapted to the small streets of Paris nor to the French price of gas/petrol (6,15 € a gallon!) nor even to the Parisian parking spaces that are fitted for European size cars! Have a nice weekend.

Vacanze a Parigi!

Here is a little touch of Italy in Paris today... This cute little car is an Autobianchi cabrio (named after Edoardo Bianchi, the founder of the car company that started manufacturing this car in the late fifties), a pretty rare Italian car (apparently only 9 300 were produced!). I took the photo while I was driving my scooter which was not very easy, but I'm glad I managed - FYI, I took near the Hotel de ville (town hall).

Like in a movie...

What is a 64 Ford Mustang doing in the streets of Paris? I don't know, but I did find this one at rue Drouot, not far from the famous auction house. It may be belong to a movie set though (hence the little sepia treatment that I applied to this photo!), which would not be surprising for there are a lot of movie shootings taking place in Paris at the moment (look here, if you're interested!)

A journey to Versailles in Autolib

I already mentioned Autolib twice on this blog (here and here). It's a car sharing system that allows you to pick up a car from any station in Paris and suburbs and drop it in any station, when you return... Well, for the 1st time today I used it (to go to Versailles). The system is very well made. All you need is to scan your licence and ID and swipe a credit card in one of their stations, then choose your plan (I took a daily one for 10 €/ 24 hours and 14€/hour) and get familiar with the driving of an electric car (it's really not very different from "normal" cars). Cherry on the cake ; the whole system remembers the radio stations you memorized so that the next time you take a car, your favorite radios are already preset!

Leaving Paris...

Yesterday (Friday) was the eve of a long weekend for us: the 1st of May, which is for Europeans - Labor day. This year it's a Tuesday, so you only need to take Monday off and you can enjoy a 4 day weekend ;-) I took this photo at Porte de Saint Clould, near the motorway that leads to Normandy, a region in the north west of France where a lot of Parisians have a country house. As you can see, it was pretty busy. BTW, I never told you about "Bison futé", a public service that gives information and forecasts about traffic in France. It's even in English ;-)

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!

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!

French drive through

Something pretty unusual happened next to my home today... A car backed into a restaurant! Nobody was injured or anything, but the owner of the place must have been pretty frightened by this very pushy customer! One of the guys contemplating the scene while I was taking the photo said to me "you know, it was a woman who got confused between the brakes and gas pedal!" My guess is that he did not really know...

En route!

OK, let's forget the cold and the snow for a little while... I don't know why I have soft spot for these little Italian cars called Cinquecento (Fiat 500 in French). They don't make these "classic" models anymore, but you can still see some in the European streets, including Paris of course. This one is even more unique as it has a little boot/trunk attached to the back (where the engine is located, actually). Very neat...

Autolib is growing

I already told you about Autolib, the short car rental service that allows you to take a car at one station and drop it at another one, near your destination throughout Paris and the suburbs there were 250 stations when they launched the service on December 5, and at the end of 2012, there should be 1 200 stations and 3 000 cars!). The proof is that the station that is right in front of my apartment (in this photo) now offers 4 cars whereas it was always empty before. I'm dying to try (I've never driven an electric car), but I have found no need for one so far.

New parking tickets

Increasing productivity is a concern that has no limits. Even when it comes to parking tickets! Hence these new electronic parking tickets that have been introduced in Paris over the last months. No more papers to fill, the license plate number and the reason why the ticket was given are entered directly into a portable terminal and drivers are noticed via a simple note like this... To pay, you simply need to go online, enter the number that is on the notice and hand out your credit card! Simple, efficient and... very cost effective! According to studies, it reduces the ticketing time by 2!

Toyota takes over the Louvre!

Funny scene I came across this morning at rue de l'Amiral de Coligny (the one that leads to the PDP picnic location!) right by the Louvre; no less than 157 little Yaris Toyota exposed to the public. I don't know exactly what they planned to do with them though. Give them away after a giant sweepstakes?! Maybe I should have stayed! PS: this is NOT a sponsored post! There are NO sponsored posts on PDP!

Yes, it's a Dodge!

What's a 1952 (so I think) Dodge with a Washington State licence plate doing all the way in Paris? I don't know, but I swear I did take this photo at rue de la Grange Batelière, in the heart of the 9th arrondissement ! Just for the record, this car gets 22 miles to the gallon and a gallon in Paris costs about 5.70 € (roughly $8.20!) so, do the math! But I suppose this is not really the concern of the owner of this car ;-)

Old cars pollute too much

Look at this car. Beautiful isn't? It's an old Citroën Traction Avant, a very famous French car that was built between 1934 à 1957. There are still a few ones running in France (and everywhere apparently!) including Paris. But pretty soon, they might disappear from our scenery, as the French Ecology Minister is planning to ban all cars that were manufactured before 1997 from getting into Paris and 7 other big cities in France. The goal being to drop the level of pollution. Probably a good idea, but I will regret these old cars.

Dinner out!

I was having a drink at a terrace near the Saint Michel area last evening, when this all dressed up couple in this shiny original Fiat 500 pop out from nowhere. No doubt they were heading to a chic dinner party somewhere in Paris. I could not help but taking a photo. Aren't they cute? FYI, the (original) Fiat 500 is one of the tiniest cars you can find (length: 2.97 m (116.9 in) - width: 1.32 m (52.0 in) and height 1.32 m (52.0 in)), it was made in Italy between 1957 and 1975 and you can still see several in Paris (more about it on Wikipedia).

French cars

Don't go thinking this is one of the latest French car models (!) it's a very old one from the 50's - in excellent condition I must say - that I photographed Saturday at rue de Richelieu. Those of you who remember the TV series Columbo (starring Peter Falk) may even have recognized his car (well, his was a cabrio, but same brand and same model: a Peugeot 403). It seems that French cars don't have a super reputation outside of France unfortunately, that's what a survey carried out by several automobile magazines throughout  Europe (and Brazil and China) showed recently. I think it's unfair! (But I don't have a car, so who am I to judge!)

Mini !

Even if you're not European you probably know "the Mini", a car that was invented by the British in 1955-57 and got famous throughout the world in the 60's. Well, we still have a few ones in Paris, like this one that I photographed in the 16th arrondissement. I've read that 80% of its length was dedicated to passengers, and only 20% to the engine, which is quite a challenge (and probably was even more at that time)! They (that is BMW, the company that bought the brand in 2000) still make Minis nowadays, but a model that has very little to do with the old one.