Il faut se méfier des mots (Beware of words)

Benjamin Vautier (known as "Ben") is a Swiss artist who lives in France (in Nice) and who is extremely famous here. In Belleville (a well-known quarter in the 20th arrondissement) he made this work. You may not realize it on this photo but the two guys (there is one up top on the roof, look closely!) that you think are installing this giant chalkboard on the building are actually puppets! I simply love it!

Shadows in the wine district

Of course there is not much to see of Paris on this photo but I like it. I took it last Sunday while I was having a walk in Bercy Village, in the eastern part of Paris (the 12th arrondissement). Bercy Village is a rather "new" shopping mall, open air, located in the old wine district. They kept a lot of the old installations, including the railways (that you can see on the photo) that were used to take the wine from the storage area to the delivery boats on the river Seine or to the trucks. And if you go there - I highly recommend it - make sure you don't miss the gardens... More information here (click on "Welcome" for the English version).

The Mannix of Paris!

18 rue du Louvre in the 1st arrondissement, there is the office of Duluc, a private investigator which - almost - all Parisians are aware of. Why? Because it has "always" been there, because the name Duluc sounds funny, like the one of a comic strip character and because... of this sign! Duluc Detective was actually founded in 1913 by Jean Duluc (at a different address at that time) and is now run by Martine Baret. She and her 5-team members investigate on lost people, employees morality, adultery... If you speak French and want to know everything about Duluc, take a look at this interview on the new Parisist site.

This, once, was a little house...

The 13th arrondissement used to be, at the beginning of the century, the place where a lot of French companies (Panhard, Say, Thomson...) had their factories. Quite logically that was also the place where a lot of workers "chose" to live (one did not commute at that time!) - in small modest houses. In the 60's and the 70's the factories left for the suburbs (or the other side of the world!) and the little houses were soon replaced by tall buildings in which one could fit more people. Here is a typical example.

From Paris to London under the sea

If you come to Paris, you might as well spend a couple of days (or even one day!) in London which is about 200 miles away. And if you do so I suggest you take the Eurostar, a very fast train that will take you there in about 2 hours 30 minutes. This has been made possible thanks to a tunnel (the Eurotunnel) that was built between France and England between 1987 and 1993. The first commercial service of the train started November 14, 1994 and since then about 70 million people have used it.

The attic of the world!

Like all large cities Paris has a flea market. Actually several (Montreuil, Vanves...) but the largest and by far the most famous is Porte de Saint-Ouen in the north of Paris. These flea markets origins go back to the time where there was a wall around Paris - to protect it - called "Les fortifications" (which erection started in 1840). At that time Chiffoniers (rag-and-bone men) used to browse the city garbage at night and dig out everything that was sellable. They would then bring their treasure to the main city gates (Montreuil, Vanves, Kremlin Bicêtre and Clignancourt) hoping to sell some of their stuff to travellers. Soon, they decided to group together and gave birth to… Les puces (Flea market).

Put this photo on a card, mug, t-shirt, bag and more here!

Hautes herbes (high grass)

Not far from the Louvre with Saint Germain L'Auxerois Church in the background, you can see this sculpture by Béatrice Guichard called hautes herbes (high grass). What makes it beautiful and unexpected is that it is really in the middle of the sidewalk just like actual grass. I love it.

Rivoli Squat (chez Robert, electron libre)

This building is very famous in Paris. It stands in a large shopping street called La rue de Rivoli, in the middle of Paris and it's been squatted since November 1999 by several artists (that is why they call it a "Squarts"). It was possible to "visit" it freely and possibly buy the artists' work but since March 1st, 2005, for security reasons - among others... - it has been closed to the public. The situation is pretty tense for this has been widely exposed to the medias and no politician will take the risk to kick the artists out. If you want to discover the artist works, go to their site (in French).

Lost in translation

I took this photo in the shop window of a shoe shop. In French, this sign says that men shoes are to be found on the first floor (more literally: Men showroom on the first floor). In English, as you can see, the meaning is slightly different... And trust me, I checked, nobody was performing on the floor!

August: Paris is closed!

No longer the summer season, not yet the fall season... Mannequins don't know how to dress!

Good bye "Paris Plage"

Everything comes to an end and Paris Plage has to close down to let the cars go back to their territory on Monday... Within one night all the sand is going to be removed, the palm trees sent back to their greenhouses and the beach combers to their job! I thought I would show you this last one: I took it in front of the town hall where they installed beach volley facilities. Is there more beautiful a scenery to play beach volley?

Tow Truck

As a sheer coincidence today I came across a tow truck. I thought that would be perfect for today to complement yesterday's picture!

Tow Away Zone

Here is a street sign pretty common in Paris... If, like 180 000 people per year, you get your car towed away and taken to La fourrière (car pound) by the Police you will have to pay a ticket (35€), of course, but also possibly "parking" fees (10€/day) if you do not come right away to pick it up. Of course, you will also be charged 126€ for the actual fourrière fees. La fourrière was originally used for animals (in the 17th century, for example, the Police could take your horses to the fourrière if they caught you feeding them in the street!). Now there are 10 fourrières in Paris and they are mostly used to store cars that block traffic.
If you speak French, pay a visit to this site, it will tell you everything about the fascinating history of Paris car pounds!

Refurbishing while keeping original flavour...

Following to the photo I posted yesterday here is an example of what they are doing in Paris in order to provide modern housing while keeping old facades. This one belongs to an old hotel (called Hotel de France, as you will see if you look more closely on the facade) and it is located on Boulevard de la Villette in the 19th arrondissement.

Another side of Paris

Paris is not the "city of light" everywhere... far from that. According to a foundation (the Abbe Pierre foundation) there are about 86 000 people without a home, 200 000 living in squats, camps, cheap hotels... 500 000 in temporary housing, 1,9 million in places with no bathroom or shower and 600 000 families have to share the same room. In total more that 3 million people are currently experiencing housing difficulties out of a total of almost 10 million people - including the suburbs (2 142 800 within the strict limits of Paris).

Who needs a telephone booth any more?

OK, this is not typical Paris a scene but very common though. And I still find it funny that with cellular phones (called portable phones in French) any place can become your own private telephone booth!
The first French mobile phone network was created in 1956 but only a few people (500!) could use it. In 1986/87 the first cellular network (called Radiocom 2000) was installed, shortly followed by a second one (SFR) after the government started deregulating the telecommunications market. But it's only after 1991 when they started installing the first digital Networks (GSM) that the mobile phone became really popular. Now almost everybody has one (75% of the French and 98% of the working population).

Old Postcards

These are a bunch of postcards that I shot in a tourist shop. They show old ads that, I am sure, will look familiar to my French visitors - especially the ones up top promoting Banania, a chocolate drink for breakfast. Although I was very young, I do remember this ad campaign "starring" an African - or more precisely what French people thought an African would look like at that time (part of Africa was still a French colony when they first released it).
I realized only recently how prejudiced this advertising campaign was and it stroke me again when I saw these post cards.

Paris Plage at night (again!)

It has been quite a while since I have been showing you a Paris plage scene... Well here is one shot taken from the road above the banks just under a street lamp. I love the colours.

Sacre Coeur Basilic

OK, not very original, but once in a while I think I can show a little "I was there" kinda picture. For if you have been to Paris you could not (and if you come one day, you will not...) miss Montmartre, a little hill on the north of the city. And at the top of Montmartre guess what there is? A church!
What makes the Sacre Coeur (it's its name!) interesting is that it's pretty recent (they started building it in 1875, completed it in 1919 in 1910 and inaugurated it in 1919) and its architecture is really different; that is nothing at all like the Gothic or Roman style but more Byzantine like the ones you find in Turkey, for instance. Very - I am talking very! - touristy there, but there is a good reason for that: it's beautiful!

Petite Ceinture (train line around Paris)

You are looking at an old train line called La petite ceinture (the small belt) that they started building around Paris in 1851 in order to link all train stations of that time (Batignolles, Orleans... even the meat market in La Villette!). At the beginning of the century, though, the Metro started competing so badly that they had to close it for good and replace it with a bus line called PC (for Petite Ceinture, of course!). As you can see the line is still there and part of it is still used. That is why it is closed to pedestrians. If you're interested - and speak French - pay a visit to this excellent site.