Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Paris plage 2009, day 1!


It's funny - or rather sad... - that the most surprising and amusing things become usual and almost boring after several years. That is more or less how I feel about Paris Plage, the huge "beach" they install every year on the riverside of La Seine between mid July and mid August. Having said that, I still felt the urge to go there this morning and take a photo of day one of the 2009 edition ;-) I took it "through" the Notre Dame bridge.

40 comments:

  1. I look forward to seeing Paris Plage through your lens. I like this perspective a lot. It brings new meaning to the expression "peeping Tom."

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  2. I just enlarged this and now I wish I were there!

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  3. You may be blasé about Paris Plage, but we still appreciate seeingit via you. And you found a great perspective for this photo. Thanks for sharing—always!

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  4. I really like this looking-thru-the-keyhole effect! Great idea.

    I understand why you are bored with it, but I do hope you still bring us photos of the next generations of Paris Plage.

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  5. Yes, the sands of time will not erode our voyeurism.

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  6. Is this Paris? It looks more like the South of France to me. We have beaches in San Francisco, but they're not this inviting.

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  7. This is a really cool photo! (That is not the most refined description of it, but it is, nonetheless, what popped into my head when I first saw it.) Capturing the scene through the "peephole" of the bridge absolutely "makes" the photo. Well done, Eric!

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  8. Well I love it! So there. This photo is fantastic Eric. It's well worth clicking to enlarge. Zazzle here you come!?

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  9. Isn't that the truth, though. A lot of fun things loose their appeal after a while or maybe we just outgrow them. You managed to get a pretty unique shot anyway and, we, of course, aren't bored with it yet ;)

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  10. I like your keyhole shot and it looks like a little sun has arrived just in time.

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  11. I'll take any excuse to return to Paris! I don't think the temp is good for sitting out in the sun though!
    I know what you mean by something getting old; the county fair is getting that way for me. Of course, they've had one nearly every year for the last 159 years. lol

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  12. Eric ~ I love this picture, it almost looks like you took it through a key hole. Quite unique shot!

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  13. The keyhole shot really sets the stage. I see the whole perspective differently.
    Ya gotta hand it to the Mayor, he comes up with and allows such creative ideas to prosper in Paris.So do you, Eric.

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  14. Beautiful photos...Just stumbled upon your blog in my search of things to do, places to visit (usual and not so). Many places to see - not enough time. I don't imagine the Plage will be there last week of August. Oh well, I'll just have to come back to witness that..:)

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  15. Eric, you may be bored with the plage, but this shot is anything but boring! It's wonderful and inviting.

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  16. I can almost smell the coconut oil and feel the thwak of a palm frond falling onto my head... and what a gorgeous keyhole to peak through!

    Cali, congrats GF - the quickest peeping Tom today! A sand-encrusted crown? With shell decorations?

    There's a permanent beach in the Southbank precinct next to the Brisbane CBD. Popular as heck all year around - and we have real beaches within an hour's drive!

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  17. AHA! And yet, there you again, showing us something that might have become usual in a most unusual way!!!!!!


    Nothing like seeing Paris through your eyes!

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  18. I wish I was there. A taste of the Riviera in Paris... and where do the Palm trees come from? They aren't usually there, are they?

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  19. My sentiments exactly. Paris... I was there three weeks ago, before the plage... maybe next year?

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  20. That's a nice photo.
    I like the blue and the green colours that prevail (+ a bit of red-orange).
    I saw Bertrand Delanoë, the mayor of Paris, on TV yesterday and he appeared very very suntanned at the moment!!
    I'm not sure he got this suntan at Paris-plage, though! :)

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  21. I sauntered through the "plage" on my first evening in Paris last summer. It was a little surreal; jet lag, city skyline, and...the beach! Lovely, though, as is all of Paris.

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  22. How deep is the sand, a light covering or can you take a bucket and spade? I know, I'm such a child.

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  23. Yes, ET Suzy - a peeking through the key hole!

    Eric - you are tired of it, and I didn't even know about it! Glad I do now, thanks to you.

    Happy Summer, Anne

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  24. I don't know about the sand, but there will be shells for you, Shell, just really small ones!

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  25. Asian Travellin Gal - Curently in PittsburghJuly 21, 2009 at 6:18:00 PM GMT+2

    Smart great view caption!

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  26. Awesome photo, and thanks for taking it...those of us who have never had the opportunity to experience Paris Plage really appreciate it! :-) Diane

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  27. Thanks Eric! I have always wanted to see the Plage in person, what a cool idea!

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  28. What a beauty, as perfect as a painting. You don't need to PhotoShop this shot. And the clouds are just dreamy. I guess this vantage point would be that of a toddler or a baby in a stroller? Makes me feel like a little kid. :-)

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  29. If it did NOT reappear next year the rioting would be unbearable. It's now a part of the city and its people. Enjoy. Good shot.

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  31. Eric you are ... a peeper! I love this perspective which really does highlight your creativity. You've been spoilt with all the other beaches around the world but for those who are Paris-bound, perhaps this is the only beach they will ever see. I think it is lovely. I've been to the Southbank beach precinct in Brisbane that Shell Sherree mentioned. It is fantastic!

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  32. Cali ~ wise choice with little delicate shells - I don't know what I was thinking, suggesting a sand-encrusted crown. I have no excuse. Oh, maybe low blood sugar? :)

    MmeB ~ next time you're in Brisbane, we can paddle there and think of Eric's Paris Plage!

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  33. Very nice perspective indeed. For the voyeur in all of us! :-)

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  34. Very cool shot. Each year you show us Paris Plage in such inventive ways.
    -Kim

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  35. I think we all feel that way about the things we see all the time -- we become immune to the charms of our own cities! I like your unique perspective on Paris Plage this summer.

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  36. I guess I didn't realize that they'd made the beach a yearly thing. Interesting.

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  37. Hello, Sandi from London here. Eric, do and say nothing to 'put the fab Paris Plage down'... It's special for the way it gives poorer families a FREE OF CHARGE convivial meeting place to take the kids but most of all for the elderly folk who get all togged up and come down out of their lonely appartments for the evening 'knees up' soiree 'GUANGUETTE' EACH EVENING especially at the second beach at La Villete by the canal. Perhaps you should participate in the dancing or the sunlounging or the pool aerobics. Can we meet next year for a dance!
    It is to London's shame that we do not have such a convivial jolly place where our numerous lonely elderly and poor can enjoy. We have our fab parks, and (almost) something similar on the Southbank but they are not so comprehensively organised and can be lonely places too if nothing is happening. Don't take it for granted, just remember Paris in August before the plage - half closed and truly really boring and the elderly dying of dehydration in their flats in hot summers.

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  38. Hello, Sandi from London here. Eric, do and say nothing to 'put the fab Paris Plage down'... It's special for the way it gives poorer families a FREE OF CHARGE convivial meeting place to take the kids but most of all for the elderly folk who get all togged up and come down out of their lonely appartments for the evening 'knees up' soiree 'GUANGUETTE' EACH EVENING especially at the second beach at La Villete by the canal. Perhaps you should participate in the dancing or the sunlounging or the pool aerobics. Can we meet next year for a dance!
    It is to London's shame that we do not have such a convivial jolly place where our numerous lonely elderly and poor can enjoy. We have our fab parks, and (almost) something similar on the Southbank but they are not so comprehensively organised and can be lonely places too if nothing is happening. Don't take it for granted, just remember Paris in August before the plage - half closed and truly really boring and the elderly dying of dehydration in their flats in hot summers.

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