2013 Veterans' day

Today is November 11, the date we celebrate the end of WWI even though there are no more alive veterans from that war. The previous years, I posted several times about Maréchal Foch, the one who signed the armistice with Germany on November 11, 1918, but this year I chose to show you the Pathéon  in front of which they hung French flags. As you can see, it was a beautiful day in Paris...

Baby anyone?

I saw this at a brocante (a secondhand market) yesterday and it really made me smile. Visiting brocantes and vide-greniers (garage sales) is an occupation that a lot Parisians enjoy doing during the weekend and that is why you can find several of them in each arrondissement. I'm not a big fan, 1) because I never know what is good to buy or not and 2) you need to bargain and I really hate that. But I enjoy looking, at least to take photos (which is not really appreciated actually...)

The "Parizienne" dog!

Look at this beautiful doggy! I photographed him at Place du Marché Saint Honoré, in front of a restaurant called La Parizienne (with a "z" and not an "s"). Having a - real - dog in Paris is not easy, even though about 200 000 people have one: you need to pick up after him and you can get a ticket (up to 450 €!)  if you don't keep him on a leash in the street on in public gardens. 

A bust not to bust out of the river banks!

Nice bust isn't it? I found it on the quai - the left river bank - not far from the Eiffel Tower. To be honest I did not know who this man was until I read the plaque underneath the bust; he's Habib Bourguiba, the founder and the first President of the Republic of Tunisia until November 1987 (before him Tunisia was a former French colony. The bust was made by Turkish sculptor Macunluoglu

A view of Le Louvre

I'm currently attending the Webdeuxconnect conference, a French event for geeks like me! and since I'm locked in for two days I cannot take my daily photos. So here is one from my stock. I took it last month when I took this photo and I thought the sky was really stunning. On the right, you can see the Louvre.

Red address!

I'm sure you all played Monopoly at least once in your life. Like you probably know, the game is published in many languages and countries and of course, the city and street names are different according to each version. Not surprisingly, in France, the chosen city is... Paris (even though there are also regional editions). A couple of days ago I had a meeting at Avenue Henri Martin, which is one of the most expensive streets on the French Monopoly (a red zone!) and I could not help but remember my youth! And since the city sign is pretty cool too, I thought it would make a cool photo.

The Luxor Obelisk

It's a very very classic view of Paris, but what's less classic is to be able to photograph this square without a single car (I had to wait for quite a long time!) and with this very dramatic sky (I did not have to wait for that LOL). For those of you who would not know it, the big pole in this photo is The Luxor Obelisk (Obélisque de Louxor) that was originally located at the entrance to Luxor Temple, in Egypt. It was offered to France as a gift in 1829 and installed on the Place de la Concorde on October 25, 1836.

More sunny reflexions

When I show you the Paris Modern Art museum, I generally tale the photo from the other side. But this time, I was fascinated by the way way the sun would make its way through this magnificent building. This "Palace" that is what it's called, was built around 1937 for the International Art and Technical Exhibition. It then was turned into a museum in 1961 and is a definite must see if you come to Paris!

Sunday morning in Paris

I love Sunday mornings in Paris... Traffic is very scarce, a lot of streets are turned into pedestrian areas until 1 pm and most people you can see are runners, bikers... and even roller skaters. I photographed this one last Sunday on the Pont Neuf, just at sunrise. Have a great Sunday everyone, whether you do sport or not!!

Eiffel Towers traffic!

If you ever visited Paris, I'm sure someone offered to buy a small Eiffel Tower in the street. This someone was probably from Africa or Pakistan and he was near a tourist attraction - like at Trocadéro where I took this photo two days ago. It may sound silly, but this is actually a huge business and all these sellers are illegal immigrants working for a sort of "miniature Eiffel Tower mafia" that exploits them and  makes huge profits. Last summer no less than 60 tons of such Eiffel Towers have been confiscated and several people arrested. Of course, this does not mean the traffic has stopped, it's obviously still very much alive...

Celebrating the dead

Today is the first of the month and for once I will not take part in the CDP theme day! Why? Because today in France is La Toussaint (all saints' day), the day Western Christianity celebrates the dead people. And, well, even though I'm more eager to celebrate the living than the dead, I thought this photo of this tomb (a famous French writer), was just perfect for today. Enjoy life everyone, it's precious. I took this photo at Le Cimetière de Passy, by the way.

Sun bathing at Le Trocadéro...

We're having a wonderful weather in Paris at the moment and it's a pleasure to take advantage of it to take photos. Yesterday, I passed by Le Trocadero and instead of taking another shot of the Eiffel Tower, I looked for another angle. So here you go! The statue is the one of La Jeunesse (the Youth), by Alexandre Descatoire

The Galliera palace has just reopened...

A long long time ago, I posted this photo of the Galliera Palace (after Duchess of Galliera), a stunning building that was built between 1878 and 1894 and that now shelters the fashion museum of Paris. In 2009 it closed for renovation and it just reopened about a month ago. It's an absolute must see if you come to Paris, not only for what you can see inside (at the moment there is an exhibition dedicated to designer Azzedine Alaïa), but also because you can enjoy a nice walk and rest in the garden around it.

Walking towards freedom...

I'm not sure if I've already shown you this monument (it's one dedicated to Polish poet Adam Mickiewicz that was sculpted by Antoine Bourdelle and given to France by Poland after WWI). Regardless, the real reason why I chose to post this photo today is, of course, because of the light. In Paris, it's located along the Cours Albert 1er, along the river bank.

Flags!

I don't resist showing you another of these installations they made for La Fiac, the art exhibit I was telling you about a few days ago. This one is on the passerelle Léopold Sedar Senghor, the bridge that goes from Le Louvre to Le Musée d’Orsay. It's made of no less than 193 flags... These flags are the ones of each nation sitting at the UN, only they have been redesigned with "camouflage" motives. The press kit uses a lot of fancy words to describe this art piece by Société Réaliste, but I mostly saw a cool photo set: grey sky, colorful flags and passers by! More on the the Galerie Poggi site.

It's fall/autumn!

The weather is amazingly beautiful in Paris at the moment, but tree leaves have started falling, it's getting darker and darker every evening and we're even changing time today. No doubt, summer is gone! I took this photo on the Cours Albert 1er, near where I took this one.

Open air modern art fair

It's the Fiac in Paris at the moment, a very important modern art fair that takes place every year around the same period. The cool thing is that in addition to the actual fair that takes place at Le Grand Palais, they also have lots of art happenings around Paris. Including inside the Tuileries gardens where I took this photo yesterday. The piece of art is by Hector Zamora, a Brazilian artist and it's called, well, simply bricks on a metal bicycle!  

The classy carpenter

Those of you who've been following this blog for a long time know that I live in one of the covered passages of Paris (sort of shopping malls that were made during the 19th century to allow the chic Parisiennes to go shopping without fearing the rain!). Today, I came across a carpenter who was apparently fixing some wood  stuff above a book store and well, I really liked his looks. I did not have my "real" camera with me so I used my phone, which explains the terrible quality, but I still like the scene!

Va Va Voom!

I was on the Champs Elysées yesterday evening and I saw that there was smoke coming up from the sidewalk. I though to myself : "wow, this is smokin' hot" (yeah... I know...) so I stopped and well, discovered there was also a nice red car not far from there ;-) So here you go. I know it's not really Paris centric, but I kinda like this photo ;-)

Soon to be destroyed...

I don't know if you remember, but I already showed this building. Only it was slightly different at that time... (I have been unable to find my previous photo!). Anyway, it's a building facing the Seine in the 13th arrondissement  which is going to be destroyed soon. Before they tear it down they opened it to street artists. And it has become a true phenomenon. You have to wait in line up to 8 hours to get in! It's amazing... There are 9 more days left, so hurry up. There is a superb website that allows to see more of all this, visit it, it's really worth it.