Eye on France

What would Joséphine de Beauharnais (I guess it's her in the photo!) have thought of today's (Sunday) debate in Le Sénat, where CNN was closing its Eye on France week. I don't know, but it was interesting to hear what the 5 representatives of the nowadays French society had to answer to the questions of Hala Gorani, the host of the debate. Has France turned a new page since the election of Nicolas Sarkozy? The answer depends on which political side you stand, of course, but all along this debate, I could not help but thinking that the set CNN chose to close this week was the Senate, that is something symbolic of our past glory. What is France currently building/creating/inventing... that will be chosen by the next CNN in 300 years?

Stock Market

The stock Markets crashed quite a lot today in most places and this made me think of a photo I took recently in Le Palais Brongniart (after the name of the architect who built it) precisely located on the Place de la Bourse ("Bourse" means stock exchange in French). It is now more a historical place than a financial one for, since the early 80s all transactions are computer based. What you can see in this photo (the "corbeille" in the foreground, where stock brokers used to trade stocks by yelling "I buy" or "I sell" and the large board in the backboard where they would write the price of stocks with a choke chalk) is just there for the memories and for visitors, for now the place is used for conferences only.

Raider of the lost island...

A few days ago, I noticed this old map of Paris in a shop window. It says "Nouveau plan de la ville de Paris, capitale du royaume de France" (new map of Paris, France's kingdom capital) but it's probably 600 years old, as it mentions l'Isle Louvier (after the name of its owner, Mr Louvier!), an island that was then next to île Saint Louis . Don't look for it if you come to Paris, this island does not exist anymore, as it has been "attached" to the right bank in 1847. I had never heard of this story until today. Thank you PDP ;)

Highest Point in Paris

What is the highest point in Paris? Montmartre? La montagne Sainte Geneviève? None of those... It's 40 rue du Télégraphe, in the 20th arrondissement (148,48 m - 162.4 yards). Montmartre is only second (130 m - 142 yards). The interesting part is that this "summit" is precisely located in La rue du Télégraphe, because that is where the first telegraph was used by its inventor, Claude Chappe. I could not believe it was already 2 centuries ago, in 1791, between Paris and Lille (north of France)!

Mai 68 celebration

In 1968, in France, students started a mini revolution that became pretty successful throughout the month of May. That is why it's now referred to, by all historians, as "Mai 68". It's been 40 years now and "those who've done it" (called "Les Soixantehuitards") dream of a repeat in memory of their youth! All what's coming, though, are... anniversaries. This year, there are several exhibits, including this one that shows several photos by famous press photographer Marc Riboud who took great shots at the time. I chose this angle because you can actually see 2 photos of La Sorbonne with the actual Sorbonne in the background!

Marie-Antoinette makes it to Le Grand Palais

For some reason queen Marie-Antoinette is probably the most famous French queen in the world. Most of the people remember her 1) because she was beheaded during the French Revolution - well technically, slightly after - and 2) because she's supposed to have said "If [people] have no bread, let them eat cake". I say supposed because apparently this quote already existed in a book written in 1736 [Les Confessions] by Jean-Jacques Rousseau (a French Swiss writer). Anyway, they're currently having an exhibition about Marie-Antoinette at Le Grand Palais which has good reviews. I went last night but taking photos is prohibited, so I stayed at the entrance... Hope your Easter [for those who celebrate Easter!] weekend is doing OK, mine just started!

A night at the Senate

When you think of senators don't you picture old farts, half sleeping while having endless discussions over a new law?! Well, in fact these "wise men" seem to be much more dynamic than what we think. Thus, last evening I attended there a debate about "micro incomes" generated by blogs, ebay, adwords, etc. This also gave me the occasion to see this venerable institution from the inside - and take this photo! On top of that, they even have part of their website in English;)

Statue of Liberty

I already mentioned it several times here - and you may know it anyway - but the statue of Liberty that you can see in New York has been given to the Americans by the French as a gift. Several mock ups and replicas have been made prior and after, like this one I recently found in the Musée des Arts et Métiers, a fantastic museum near Place de la Republique where you can also see the first - French - planes, the first - French - bicycles, the first - French -television set (1931!) and several displays about buildings and constructions. That is where I photographed this mock up.

Bourgeois de Calais

Since you apparently all like the musée Rodin let me show you one of my favorite sculptures there: un bourgeois de Calais (a burgher of Calais). Calais is a city in the north of France which was besieged by British King Edward III in 1347. To free the city he was offered the life of 6 inhabitants (burghers) that he finally did not kill (read the captivating story here). In 1884, the city ordered Rodin a sculpture depicting this historical episode; it became the famous Bourgeois de Calais. The original is in Calais of course, but there are 12 copies throughout the world: Rodin museum, Copenhagen, London... and also studies in Stanford University that I had the occasion to photograph last June while I was in Silicon Valley.

Saint Exupéry

Even if you know nothing about French Culture, you may have heard of Antoine de Saint Exupéry (1900 - 1944) for he wrote a book that is worldwide famous: Le Petit Prince (the Little Prince). But before writing books he was one of the pioneers of international postal flight. He died during the war, trying to collect data on German troop movements in the Rhone River Valley. In 1998, fishermen found his ID bracelet, then parts of his plane were pulled out the ocean in 2000. I found this bust by sheer coincidence by the Invalides and I am ashamed to say that I never read anything by him... yet! I wish you a happy 7/7/7!
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Happy 4th of July

A special post for my American visitors today, although many of them won't see it, precisely because today is a holiday and that many seem to have taken the week off. This statue is part of a monument dedicated to the American volunteers who, as far as I understand fought during WWI. I am not quite sure why you can also see a plaque dedicated to WWII fighters on this monument but what matters is that it helps us remember. If you plan a trip to Paris and want to see it, it's located on the Square Jefferson (where I took this photo).

Through Le Pont de La Concorde

How about a little view on the Seine? I took this one from La Concorde Bridge (the one that goes from the Place de La Concorde (where they used to chop the head off aristocrats during the French revolution) and the left bank. Actually at the time of the French Revolution (1789) this bridge did not exist yet, you had to take a boat to cross the Seine. The "funny" thing is that originally this bridge was meant to be called Pont Louis XVI (after the name of the king that was beheaded)...