The Greek Actor in the Luxembourg garden

On November 17, when I posted the photo of a Rodin statue, Joe, a reader from New York asked in the comments "I was wondering if you had some information on a statue in Jardin du Luxembourg. It is a statue of a boy holding a mask up in the air...". Well, Joe, I took a photo of this man last July and here it is... In fact this Greek Actor (it's the same of this statue by Charles-Arthur Bourgeois (1838 - 1886)) does not hold a mask but a manuscript for he is rehearsing his role. The mask is on the top of his head.

Vineyard in Montmartre

OK, OK, it's Beaujolais Nouveau time but I am not a sucker for it; too much marketing and not enough quality! If I am going to drink average wine I much prefer the piquette (sour) taste of the Clos Montmartre which vineyard grows on the hill of... Montmartre. It all started with the Romans then continued with the Gaulois and the French until it became financially more attractive to grow concrete than wine... Fortunately around 1930 several artists (including famous painter Francisque Poulbot) urged the town hall to keep some land for the vineyards. Thanks to them, nowadays you can still find 1 900 Cep de vignes (plants) and the Vendanges (grape harvest) takes place in October.

The city down under

About 105 years after the first Paris Métro line (still in service and still called Line 1) the network has grown tremendously. According to various sources there are about 300 Métro stops (stations), separated on average by 543 meters (the longest distance between two stations - Bobigny-Pantin-Raymond/Queneau-Bobigny-Pablo Picasso - amounts to 2385 meters!). Due to the huge number of people travelling by metro everyday in Paris (about 1, 4 million) it has become a real underground city with shops, little cafés, vending machines…

Place Rodin

I have been living in Paris for... Well, since I was born, and I never noticed this fabulous sculpture by Auguste Rodin (1840 - 1917). It is called L’âge d’Airain and is located in the center of... Place Rodin, in the 16th arrondissement. It is absolutly stunning. By the way, don't miss the Musee Rodin when you come to Paris...

Sacre Coeur at Dawn

Today I greet another guest star on this blog! His name is Jerome, he regularly adds nasty comments on this blog but deep inside he is a good person! Otherwise do you really think he could have taken such a magnificent picture? From what he told me he took it recently early in the morning from his apartment located on the 6th floor. The two domes that you can see on the horizon line belong to the Sacre Coeur basilic.

Arts et Metiers Metro Station

In the 3rd arrondissement there is a famous high profile technical school called Le Conservatoire des Arts et Métiers. For the 200 year anniversary of the school - in 1994 -François Schuiten (a Belgian comics illustrator) redesigned the Métro station that takes you there (which, quite logically, is also called Arts et Métiers) and turned it into a giant submarine with massive use of copper. The result is fantastic and it is definitely worth the visit.

Still standing!

After about 2 weeks of riots in Paris and in the Provinces the situation is now clearly improving: "only" 200 cars have burnt last night. You can definitely come and visit us again!

Stronger together!

Do you belong to an association? If you are French it is very likely you do. According to l'Insee (Institut national de la statistique), 45% of the French belong to one. There are about 1 million associations in France (more in this study) dealing with culture, sports, charity, leisure, business... You will find a good example in this photo that has been taken by my friend Jean-Christophe near La Madeleine (a famous church). At this address (28 rue Tronchet) you find the headquarters of the National Association for workers in the Ministries, Parliament and Senate as well as a Veterans Tennis association. I am not sure all this translates very well, but don't worry, even in French it sounds weird!

Paris building staircase

I had dinner at a friend's place yesterday evening. He lives on the 6th floor in a typical 18th arrondissement Parisian building with wooden floors. Here is what you see when you finally get to the top!

November 11, the Truce

Today is a holiday in France. We celebrate the end of World War I which ended precisely November 11, 1918 at eleven o'clock. This truce (armistice) was signed by Marechal Foch in a train carriage specially fitted for this occasion (this same carriage was also used in 1940 by Hitler to sign the rendition of France). This statue of Marechal Ferdinand Foch is at the Place du Trocadero and it faces the Eiffel tower; I took it yesterday morning when the sun was just rising.

Surfing the wave... length

Yesterday was a big radio day for me! I was first interviewed by the BBC world service (go to the lower part of the page, in the middle, click on "Audio" until the 39th minute if you want to listen directly to the interview). They were interested in the role that French blogs played in the recent riots. Later at night I spoke to Loïc Le Meur on Europe2, a music station that also runs a daily show about blogs at 9 pm. Therefore, I thought that the best photo of the day could only be La Maison de la Radio - which is the building where the French public radio is located (in the 16th arrondissement).

Christmas is coming

So... Despite the situtation in Paris - and France in general - is improving a little, I think it is time to think of something more cheerful... Hence Christmas! The lights and displays are already in place in most of the shops and I chose to show you the ones of Galeries lafayette. Very cute! The kids just love them.

What's wrong with the French Republic?

Do you remember this post? Well providing what is happening in France now (and by the way don't go thinking that half of the country is on fire, only some spots!) we do need to remember the value of the Republic. I thought it was a good idea to show it again...

Folies Bergère

Created in 1868 the Théâtre des Folies Bergère (located in the 9th arrondissement) is one of the most famous theater in the world. Mistinguett, Josephine Baker, Maurice Chevalier, Yvonne Printemps, Jeanne Auber... and more recently, even California dream men (!!) staged in this theater. I thought this would cheer us up after all what's happening in Paris at the moment.

Paris is bleeding

You have probably heard about the riots north of Paris (and other French cities). Last night, nearly 1,300 cars were set on fire, and for the fist time, violence reached the center of Paris (in the 17th and 3rd arrondissements). I don't care about whose responsibility it is (we probably all share it), but I feel so sorry for the innocent people who have been caught up in these acts of violence…losing their cars, their shops and sometimes their life (one man was beaten to death and a handicapped woman burned when she couldn’t get out of a burning bus). I do not know when and how this is going to end, but I hope it is soon.

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

Paris in the middle ages

Today I offer you a jump in the past and more precisely in the middle ages! At that time Paris had about 200 000 inhabitants and was the largest city of Europe (together with Naples); as you may know, the city was mostly built on an island (l'île de la cité) on the river Seine. You could also find inhabitants on the left bank (where the Romans used to live when they occupied the country) and on the right bank where the port was located. During the 13th century a university was built on the left bank and that is where students used to go to learn Latin; since then it is known as the "Latin Quarter". By the way, this photo is actually a mock up that I shot in the Carnavalet Museum in the center of Paris (3rd arrondissement) and that I already showed some time ago from a different angle.

Shivani's flower shop

According to the Yellow Pages (well Les Pages Jaunes!) there are about 627 florists in Paris but some are really different (do you remember this shot?). I pass this one every day on the way back from work, it is called Shivani (after the name of Goddess Parvati who married Shiva), it is located 99 bd Haussmann (8th arrondissement) and it's really beautiful.

Paris in autumn

Although we are experiencing an incredibly warm weather at the moment in Paris, fall has begun and the tree leaves have started to change colours. There are 478 000 trees in Paris (including the 300 000 in the two woods around Paris: Boulogne and Vincennes) for a yearly budget of... 8 million euros! Yes, people, we do love our trees!
Isn't that a good occasion to listen to one of the most famous French songs: The autumn leaves (Les feuilles mortes)? Here is a version by Juliette Greco and one by Yves Montand that I found on the Web .

D'Artagnan without the Three Musketeers!

Even if you are not French I am sure you read (or saw) the story of The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas (1802-1870), one of our most famous writers. In this story - which takes place in 1625 - a character called d'Artagnan arrives in Paris at the age of 18 and quickly makes friends with three musketeers : Porthos, Aramis, and Athos. Well, if you wander around at the crossing of Avenue de Villiers and Boulevard Malesherbes in the 17th arrondissement you get to see a magnificent monument by Gustave Doré, dedicated to Alexandre Dumas. On one of its sides you can see d'Artagnan almost in the flesh! Very impressive.

All Saints' day in Pere Lachaise

We do not have Halloween as such in France but on November 1st we celebrate a Catholic feast called All Saint's day. This feast is a holiday and traditionally people take advantage of it to visit a relative or a parent in the cemetery where they are buried. I thought it was a good occasion to show you more of the Pere Lachaise Cemetery, a huge cemetery inside Paris where anonymous and famous people rest in peace. I already showed Oscar Wilde tomb here but today I invite you to discover a lot of other masterpieces.