Monday, December 19, 2011

From the Alexander III bridge


Yesterday I watched an excellent documentary about the guys who created two of the most famous car brands in France: Louis Renault and André Citroën (watch it in catch up TV if you can in your country). Not only was the story interesting (especially for us French), but on top of that you could see some footage from the beginning of the century (the last one!). They even showed the inauguration of the Alexander III bridge at the time of the 1900 world exhibition, when the economy of France - and of the Western world in general - was really booming. One of the most fascinating aspects of this bridge, was that it was fully lit by stunning art deco art nouveau street lamps. One of which you can see in this photo that I took early in the morning....

34 comments:

  1. Oh, oh, oh!! I just saw the tower in the back!!! What a great photo!! My exclamation mark just wore out. ; ))
    This is just fantastic. I wish I could see the tv program. But, helas, that is probably not to be.

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  2. Those lights are terrific. I clicked on the image to see it even more clearly. The glass is remarkable. If any of the glass breaks, it must be difficult to replace.

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  3. Gor-geous. And the misty Eiffel Tower in the back distance... *sigh* ...such loveliness. Enjoy your holidays! Merry Christmas!

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  4. Merci beaucoup, cher Eric! This is my favorite bridge in the world. It is so incredibly beautiful - I love all the gilded accents and the ocean theme. The cherubs are darling, but my favorite is the giant poisson on the far end. Every time I visit Paris, I have to have a photo taken of me about to kiss the fish. I know, I'm a bit of a dork... I used to use one of those pix as my avatar when I posted here as "Pont Girl"

    This photo is great - love the misty Tour Eiffel!

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  5. this IS my favorite picture of the year.....the simplicity of it grabs me...... as well as the shades from the black to the grays to blues....the ornate quality of the lamp as opposed to the straight line of the tower......it's lovely

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  6. Ah ha! Monnica is Pont Girl, as I suspected when she was talking about the poisson sur le pont.

    Everything about le Pont Alexander III is magnificent, fabulous, gorgeous, and romantic.

    Et, pardon mon ami, mais le pont est Art Nouveau, pas Art Deco. C'est ne pas grave, c'est beau.

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  7. I just realized that three of the commenters before me are people I've met in person: Carrie, Monnica and Jeff! Plus I feel like I know Christie, and I might as well know all the others. Merci, Eric, it is thanks to you.

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  8. Oui, c'est moi, Jeff ;-).

    Petrea - you are so right - it is thanks to Eric & PDP that many of his Southern California fans have met in person. I was so sad to have missed out on meeting Jeff at the last So. Cal. PDP gathering. Next year???

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  9. Those lamps are most beautiful and your photograph captured them wonderfully. I also wonder what would happen if any of the glass should break. I hope there are spare parts!

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  10. Beautiful of course Eric. :-)

    On the documentary Eric, I agree, it was excellent and worth watching regardless of your level of French, if not just for the awesome film footage. Did you know that there was a moving electric sidewalk along the bridge?

    Here is the link that I think will work in other countries (according to some friends overseas who have tried).

    Louis Renault et André Citroën - Histoire immédiate - Les Documentaires - France3

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  11. Yes Monnica...so glad to know that you were Pont Girl!

    Jeff, it could be confusing about the lamps. During the World Expo engineers, architects and many others were demonstrating new ideas. As Art Deco was about to come into fashion, could they not be a precursor? Frankly, I have no idea, just throwing it out there.

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  12. What a great and mysterious photo this is.
    I just adore these lamps, they're so beautiful.

    Just like Petrea I feel as if I know all you wonderful PDP'ers, also the ones I haven't met.

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  13. This is so very fine, like a dream. What a shot, Eric. One of the most captivating and beautiful. A contender for next year's calendar?

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  14. Mysterious. I think the hues of color make it look so romantic. Beautiful picture.

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  15. Wow Eric - you have real composition control in this photo. You certainly have talent.

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  16. LUV the pic, Eric!! In regard to art nouveau being called art deco, I know that French postcard dealers often do the same thing. I thought perhaps it's a French or European thing:)

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  17. Michael - thanks for the link - I couldn't see it on the other one. As for the style of the lamps, I have to agree with Jeff - art nouveau is frilly and nature based while art deco is geometric and spare, so these are old nouveau!

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  18. I love this bridge and this shot Eric. La tour hidden in the fog is an extra bonus.

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  19. When I first saw these lamps, Art Deco cried out to me.
    "They're Art Nouveau!"

    Thanks Art.

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  20. I too love those lamps on the bridge. I did a 4 foot painting of one of them a few years ago. Sorry I can't show you. Since the "financial crisis" most of my paintings have been in storage.

    I'm going to check out the history of cars TV shows. I really appreciate the links.

    Last night I watched the French American classic "Little Boy Lost" a 1953 Paramount Pictures B&W drama starring Bing Crosby, Claude Dauphin, Christian Fourcade, Gabrielle Dorziat, and Nicole Maurey. I had forgotten all about rickets. I remember in the 1970's a friend of mine told me that when he was a boy in Lille, France, after WWII, he had rickets. My 3rd husband also had rickets when he was a boy in Paris, France. That was a nasty war.

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  21. Have you noticed for those of you who are Facebook users how frustrating Blogger is that you can't just "like" somebody's comment? I don't mean the entire post (Eric's still working on that), but just a single comment.

    I've gotten so used to being able to send a little "like" somebody's way in Facebook with a quick click and I notice it more and more since it's not here.

    So, for the first and last time only because it's the holidays, here you go...

    LIKE ->Carrie
    LIKE ->Jack
    LIKE ->Christie
    LIKE ->Monnica
    LIKE ->Donna
    LIKE ->PerthDailyPhoto
    LIKE ->Jeff
    LIKE ->Petrea
    LIKE ->Petrea
    LIKE ->Monnica
    LIKE ->Joanna
    LIKE ->Bettina
    LIKE ->Lydia
    LIKE ->Sunshine
    LIKE ->Anonymous
    LIKE ->Trishia
    LIKE ->Carrie
    LIKE ->Virginia
    LIKE ->Drummond
    LIKE ->Lois

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  22. I'm with Donna - this is my favourite photo of the year too. :)

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  23. LIKE >Michael

    I'm watching the "Louis Renault et André Citroën" documentary. It is soooooo interesting.

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  24. Wow, Michael, you went to some trouble. I LIKE you whether you do that or not, but I appreciate it.

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  25. Superb shot, and great post! Thanks very much!! :D

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  26. The lamps are stunners, and the glass ~ well, what a treasure. And the misty background is so romantic. A foggy day here doesn't come close to rivalling it.

    And I'm reminded again {thanks, Petrea!} of how many lovely blogpals I've met here at PDP, virtually if not in person. I'm very grateful to you, Eric.

    Michael ~ nice work. ;)

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  27. I love the composition of this photo, the old girl looks mysterious shrouded in the fog.

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  28. Next to your fog-bound shot of Sacré-Cœur, this is one of my favourite PDP photos of 2012!

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  29. I admire the valuable information you offer in your articles. I will bookmark your blog and visit here often.

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