The tourist season!

The photo is not really good and I surely don't have the intention to make fun of this charming lady, but when I saw her on top of the Champs Elysées, I could not help but smile... I don't know where she's from exactly - probably central Asia or Thibet - but she certainly beats all these fancy Parisiennes with her style! Maybe not the easiest piece of garment to wander on the Champs Elysées, though, but who cares! Welcome in Paris, Madame...

Japanese Tourists

I often heard Americans "worrying" that Parisians may spot them right away because of their sneakers, caps, white socks... you name it. As if it mattered... Anyway. I thought of that when I saw these Japonese Japanese tourists at the Louvre the other day. No Parisians would ever consider using an umbrella to protect himself from the sun! Sunny days are much too scarce in Paris, we surely don't want to miss a single ray, when the sun is shining LOL!

Montmartre Sales

I photographed this scene at the Sacré Coeur, the large church on top of Montmartre. During the tourist season (which is basically 365 days per year!) you can see lots of "Vendeurs à la sauvette" (street hawkers) that sell everything from fake Vuitton bags to silly little stuffed puppies like in this photo. Of course this is highly illegal, but the Police cannot chase them every minute and they always have someone on the watch. I must confess it made me feel uncomfortable, because it gives this place a kind of Souq atmosphere which is pretty far from the high-end, sophisticated fashion capital Paris likes to think it is... NEWS FLASH: a bus just fell into the Seine, and an American tourist caught it on "tape".

Tourists are back in Paris!

Yes! Ladies and Gentlemen... Tourists are said to be back in Paris - and in France in general. Well, we'll know for sure at the end of the year of course, but "they" say that due to the slight drop of the Euro, people from outside Euroland are more likely to come back. In 2009 "only" 74 million visitors had crossed our border (that is 6% less than in 2008) and among them -10% Americans and - 17% British! France still remained the #1 tourist destination in the world though! I took this shot near Montmartre (you can see the Carousel in the background) last Saturday and, believe me, it was full of tourists...

Paris Bus tour

People often ask me "I'm coming to Paris, what should I do?" I never know what to answer of course (there are so many things to do in Paris...), but, if it's their first time here, I always recommend to start with a bus tour. It is a very touristy thing to do, but it helps having a rapid look at all the important things to see, to which you can always come back later. As far as I know, there are three tour bus companies in Paris : Cityrama, LesCarsRouges, ParisVision. I cannot tell you which one is the best, but maybe some of my visitors may...

Folies Pigalle

"Pigalle" is a pretty famous area in Paris, known for being the red light district of the city, even though it has very little to do with other cities such as Amsterdam. However, long after its glory (basically between 1850 and 1970) Pigalle still has a little bit of this raunchy flavor that people from out of town enjoy experiencing when they visit the capital! And Parisians do too, even though they act naive when passing by all these sex shops and cabaret entrances. Last night I went to a Hungarian restaurant close to this place thinking it would make a nice change from yesterday's church photo! BTW. I finally managed to post the LA PDP party photos.

To all unknown soldiers

If you already visited Paris and went under the Arc de Triomphe you probably know the story, but I think it's worth telling. So... Under this arch, there is a tomb, dedicated to all soldiers who fought during WWI (right behind the flowers in the foreground in the photo). To make it more universal, the journalist Gabriel Boissy came up with the idea that an anonymous soldier should be buried there. To do so, they picked 8 coffins of soldiers who were never identified and asked the Private Auguste Thin to choose one by dropping a bouquet of flowers on one of the coffins. The soldier was transfered to the Arch of Triumph on November 11, 1920 and every day, at 6:30 PM they revive the flame that burns next to the tomb.

Paris Bike Tour

I found something that will prove useful if you come to Paris and want to discover the city "differently": English speaking organized bike tours. The Fat Tire Bike Tours (that is what they are called) have apparently been going on for 9 years but it's the first time I noticed one of their bikes in the street. I never tried them either, so if anyone had, please give us some feedback. I love the Paris Tips section of their website, it's always fun to see what foreigners are interested in ;)