Official commemoration

Yesterday morning the big vet day commemoration took place on the Champs Elysées in Paris. Like always on these occasions they installed a huge French flag in the middle of the Arch of Triumph and the President of the Republic went up the avenue to revive the flame of the unknown soldier. And for me, it was a good photo op! BTW, have a look at this website, where they collected many objects that used to belong to soldiers of WWI. Quite moving.

Veterans day

For once allow me to repost a photo for today is November 11, the day we celebrate the end of WWI, which, even though we no longer have alive veterans from that war, is still commemorated. I thought it was a good occasion to remember Maréchal Foch, the one who signed the armistice with Germany on November 11, 1918 and who's statue is at Champs de Mars, near Ecole Militaire. Maréchal Joffre, a French general known for regrouping the allied armies to fight the Germans during the famous Marne battle in 1914.

Enlightening the World since 1886...

Yesterday was the anniversary of the day when U.S. President Grover Cleveland dedicated the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor in 1886. As I'm sure you know, the NYC Statue of Liberty was offered by the French citizens to their American friends in recognition of the two countries’ commitment to liberty and democracy and their alliance during the American Revolutionary War. The one I photographed (on the Isle des cygnes) is one of the 3 replicas that we have in Paris.

French Indochina rememberance monument

Here is a pretty odd "monument" that I found in the 12th arrondissement; it's dedicated to the French veterans of the Indochina wars. Indochina was the South Asian area where France had colonies (namely in Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia) and fought to keep them (hence this monument). I think it's pretty ugly, to be honest, but historically interesting (they even planted palm trees even though the Paris weather is not exactly palm tree friendly LOL!).

Commemoration of Paris Liberation

Sorry the photo is not really good, and though the show was absolutely fantastic. The show? Yes, to commemorate the 70th anniversary of Paris Liberation from the Nazi, the town hall ordered a splendid light show projected on... the Hotel de Ville. Really impressive, even though the heavy rain kinda spoiled it a bit. Paris was liberated on August 25, by the allied troops with the help of the French resistance fighters. A late aunt that passed away a few years ago told me that it was a very happy day, but also pretty dangerous as there were many snipers everywhere. 

The end of WWII

Today is May 8 and exactly 69 years ago it was the end of WWII and France will celebrate it of course... This year I will not post a photo of de Gaulle, but of (Sir) Winston Churchill who also played a major role during World War II - especially towards France. Here is a statue of him, which is located not far from the one of de Gaulle ; it was made in 1998 by Sculptor Jean Cardot.

Commemorating WWI

Yes it's a map and yes people are walking on it! Why? Because it's meant to be that way! To commemorate the 100th anniversary of WWI, the Senate - withe the help of map maker Michelin - put a giant map in the Luxembourg gardens on which it is possible to see the major battles that took place in the North-East of France. Very clever idea, even on a rainy day like yesterday! On the Luxembourg grids that surround the gardens, you can also see photos that were taken on the battle fields by photographer Michael St Maur Sheil. More (in English and in French).

Remains of our industrial past

High labor cost, price of real estate... When it comes to manufacturing products, a country like France can only compete in high-end industries (nuclear power, planes...) or in niche markets. This building is a very good example of this phenomenon. It's located in the very center of Paris (at rue du Louvre) and it used to belong to a huge post-war industrial group (Boussac-Saint Frères) that went bankrupt in the 70's. Workers used to actually make bâche there (protective coverings) which is today totally unthinkable since the price of this beautiful building is probably worth more than the profit that 50 workers could produce in a 100 years!

Taxi police

You probably don't know it, but in Paris, there is a special Police department dedicated to taxis ! It's called Les Boers (a slang word which origin is not really known) and they make sure taxis don't cheat (for example choose the night rate instead of the day one) nor even pretend to be taxis whereas they're not (more common than you would think...). Most of them are honest, but it's comforting to know that the police is watching! I took this photo of an old taxi at an exhibition that the Préfecture de Police de Paris (The Paris police) curated to celebrate the 75 anniversary of the Boers.

Henri IV in the sun

I already showed this statue to you, but I never get tired of it! It shows Henri IV, a French king that reigned until 1610, when he was murdered by what you may call a "terrorist", even though the term probably did not exist at that time! This statue can be seen on the Pont Neuf and it's definitely a must see.

No vacation for bread!

Congés annuels means "Annual leave" in French and as you can guess I took this photo in front of a store - a boulangerie, more precisely. Nothing extraordinary as most shopkeepers close in August except that this one mentions the Paris Prefecture de Police (Paris Police Department), which is quite unusual. I investigated... and found out that in Paris, boulangers (bakers) cannot choose freely when and how long they can close! Why? For a historical reason... Before, bread used to be the main type of food that people could afford. On October 21, 1789, a Paris quarter became short of bread and the only open baker did not have enough bread to feed everyone. He ended up... hanged but the angry - and hungry! - Parisians. Since then the organisation of bread supply (including annual leaves) is ruled by the Paris police department.   

Tribune Officielle !

Tomorrow is Bastille Day (Le 14 juillet), the day we celebrate the French Revolution (which took place in 1789). There are several events on that day, but the most symbolic one is probably the huge military parade that passes down the Champs-Elysées from l’Arc de Triomphe to Place de la Concorde where the President of the French Republic and his government (and a few selected guests!) stand - and where they can enjoy this view (without the rain this year!) . I passed by the Pace de la Concorde today and took this photo ; needless to say that the whole area is heavily monitored by the police and that I was afraid they would stop me for taking a photo, then I saw tourists doing it...

Irreversible damage

Last night, the Hotel Lambert, located at the tip of Ile Saint Louis partly burnt (you can see part of it in the background). It's a real tragedy - even if no one died, which of course is the most important. It was one of the oldest (1640!) and most beautiful (It took 5 years to the painters to decorate the inside) buildings in Paris. The place was being renovated and it's possible that an electrical problem caused the fire. Some people also suspect that it may have been intentional, as the Hotel was bought in 2009 by Cheikh Hamad Abdallah Al-Thani from Qatar and that the type of renovations he wanted to make (including, from what I read, a car elevator!) was not exactly of everybody's taste...

18 June Appeal/Call

In France the 18th of June is a very famous anniversary date that everyone knows about. It celebrates l'appel du 18 Juin (The Appeal - or is more a call? - of 18 June) when, in 1940, Charles de Gaulle, the leader of the Free French Forces, addressed the French people on Radio London to let them know that the war against the Germans was not over and urged everyone to resist the occupation. This is why this famous speech is also often considered to be the origin of the French resistance. Since today is June 18, I thought I would tell you a bit of our history, while showing you this magnificent statue of de Gaulle that I featured several times already (not with this sky in the background though!).

French army monument

Gee what a long day! Work, plus launch or Portraitsparisiens (thank you very much for all your nice comments and "likes"!) not to forget plumbing problems (I will spare the details!)... I did not have the time to take a single photo today. So here is one from my "collection", that I never showed you, even if I like it. It's a monument to the "glory of the French army", located at Trocadero. It's actually what we call a "bas haut relief", that is a hallow depth sculpture often located against a wall, like in the present case. It's a beautiful monument, made by Paul Landowski to commemorate the WWI (1914-1918) French army. Also, a special thought to my American visitors who live on the East coast of the USA and who are going to have a rough time with Sandy...

Paris Liberation

You think this photo was taken 60 years ago? All wrong, I took it yesterday - and yes, I did pimp it a little! - at an event organized by the Paris town hall to commemorate the liberation of Paris (from the Nazi occupation) that took place on August 25, 1944. On top of the many (too many?!) speeches and singning, they also had several people dressed up like in the forties and vehicles (jeeps, motorbikes...) that contributed to the liberation of Paris. It was cool and moving to see (more historical info on Wikipedia if you're interested).

Ring a bell?

I happened to attend a conference at the Senate today and on the way out I noticed an unusual element: a bell! I came closer and saw that it was given to the Senate by the Savoy region representatives to celebrate their 150th anniversary of being French. As a matter of fact, Savoy is a region in the South of France that together with the city of Nice used to belong to Italy before it was annexed to France in 1860 in exchange for military support against Austria (read all about it here). Of course this reminded me of another bell that played a large role in the history of another country ! - With more cracks though ;-)

Galerie des glaces

Once again, I haven't been able to go out today, so I dug into my treasure box and found a photo I apparently never showed you. I took it at the Chateau de Versailles in 2010, during a private visit I was fortunate enough to take part in. Those of you who visited the castle will naturally have recognizes Les Galerie des glaces (the hall of mirrors), a stunning hall that is 239.5 ft long and 35 ft wide! An amazing place, that France could surely not afford nowadays ;-)

Peaceful moment

L'Ecole nationale supérieure des beaux-arts (the National Fine arts school), is a school before all, and it's normally not a place to visit, but if you manage to sneak in, you'll see amazing things. Hence this Venus which original is apparently at the Vatican. The place is absolutely amazing, with lots of interesting buildings which history you can see here (in French only...).

Without a shadow of a doubt

I took this photo at the bottom of Tour Saint-Jacques, the tower they renovated recently and that I showed you several times (here, here, here and here!). You'd think this would be a statue of Saint Jacques, but... it is not. It's the one of Blaise Pascal, a famous French mathematician and philosopher who, among other things, invented in 1642, the first calculator (mechanical at that time, obviously...). Why is here there? Because he is said to have prevented the destruction of a church that was previously on these premises. BTW, around this tower, there is a little square, which apparently was the first square in Paris (1856).