In bed with Charles Pigeon...

Let me start my "retrospective" with a little quiz... Where did I take this photo? In a museum, in an art exhibit... (I already posted once about it, so if you're a long time PDP follower you may have guessed). I remember well when I took this shot for at that time I used to work in the 14th arrondissement of Paris and used to go through Montparnasse everyday. For, yes, this incredible sculpture is located on the top of a tomb at the Montparnasse cemetery! Click here, it will take you to my original post in which you'll have a broader view and a more informative caption.

Au revoir Paris

I had to use an Eiffel Tower photo for my last day in Paris! When you read this post I'll be on a plane to Malta, where I'm going to relocate for "a certain amount of time". I'll tell you more when I have more time, for, as you probably noted I haven't been very responsive lately due to the amount of stuff I had to cope with for my move. I passed ET it today, as I was heading towards my father's home to kiss him goodbye. Not an easy moment. Anyway, Malta is just 2:40 hours away from Paris, so I'll be back sooner than later! Now you may wonder what I'm going to do with PDP... Well for now I have decided to continue until the end of the year. I'll use some old unpublished photos. Stay tuned.

Car rental

I had to ship my scooter yesterday, with the rest of the move, and today I had to deliver 5 huge boxes to a freight company in the suburbs (yeah, not the most glamorous thing tho do on the eve of your departure!). I had to go to Gare de l'est (East Station) to rent a car and for the first time I tried Hertz on Demand (you rent your car by the hour). Pretty good I must say... No advertising intended, just a quick share of my last days in Paris...  Happy Thanksgiving weekend to all my American followers of course!

Empty!

Here we go... I stayed in this apartment for 10 years and as of today it's totally empty! I'm so exhausted that I don't even know if I'm sad, excited or just acting like a robot... Moving is not a piece of cake, I knew it, but I had forgotten...

Cool! (not so much!)

See how relaxed this guy is? Well, that is exactly the opposite of me at the moment... The movers started their first day of packing yesterday and... well you can imagine! I still have my computer until tomorrow and then, I'll only have my laptop for at least a month! FYI, I took this photo last Friday at rue Championnet and this guy is not really relaxed, he is an athlete (there is a stadium behind him!). Sorry for not being very responsive these days, but I'm sure you can understand!

Street music

Almost every Sunday on the Place Colette (near the Comédie Française theatre), the classical group Classique Métropolitain performs in front of the passers by. Always a big success! I've been willing to photograph them often, but never did. Mostly, because I never found the right angle... This one is probably not right either, but that is the best I could come up with ;-) 

Feels like summer!

False alarm! I told you two days ago how cold and rainy it was in Paris, well, the weather gods disagree! Yesterday was a gorgeous day and everybody was out in the sun. In Nice, where I was in the morning, it was even too hot! Incredible... Maybe I should stay in Paris, after all ;-) Have a great week, everyone, I'm moving on Saturday, so mine will be quite intense!

Passers by

I originally stopped in front of this window because of the mannequins that were in it. One of them had lipstick on and I thought it was cute! I took several shots of course and one of them had these passers by in it, which I thought was more interesting than the windows I first had in mind ;-) As you can see, the weather is rainier and rainier in Paris right now, but I don't care, I'm in Nice for the weekend! A nice break from the packing I've been doing these past weeks... Have a great Sunday everyone.

Line 4

I had to have my scooter serviced yesterday so I had no other choice than to take the Métro! It's been such a while, I almost forgot how to stick a ticket in the machine ;-) I took line 4, which goes from Porte de Clignancourt in the North to Mairie de Montrouge in the South and, well, the line has obviously been renovated and the trains that operate are all shiny and modern! Still, will I miss the Metro when I leave? Nah... I don't think so ;-)) 

Studio 104 de la Maison de la Radio

This won't probably tell you much if you're not French, but if you are it will! This, ladies and gentlemen, is the entrance to the Studio 104 de la Maison de la radio, a mythical studio from where a lot of radio shows (including live concerts) are broadcasted (see the inside here). I was lucky enough to visit it yesterday, thanks to a good friend of mine who works there (in a news channel). It was pretty moving - almost as the visit of the Abbey road studios in London ;-)

Playing with the light

We don't have much sun these days, but it's still possible to play with the light. I took this photo in a covered passage located very near my home - called Le Passage Jouffroy. I like it when people stop and try to avoid my camera thinking I don't want them in the photo, whereas I do want want to play with their shadows!

Paris landmark

Here is a place I've been willing to photograph for a long time! Yesterday evening I did. It's called Le Louxor, it's located at the famous Barbès Rochechouard corner (famous for its cigarette smuggling!) and it is one of the first  cinemas/movie theaters in Paris. It closed in 1983, then was turned into a  night club, then closed for good until recently when, under the pressure of a local association, the Paris town hall decided to renovate it. It reopened in April 2013.  More here.

Philately

I love this little store around my corner... It was opened in 1899, by Theodore Champion, who was one the first to believe that trading used - and unused - stamps was a real job and that you could make money with it! Theodore passed away in 1954, but his store is still active, it now belongs to the Nordfrim A/S group, a large stamp dealer in Northern Europe.

When a French chef goes tapas!

I have a very dear friend who used to be a producer for television (before doing what she really wanted to do: be on stage! I already told you about her last year), and through her, I met Yves Camdeborde, a very famous French chef whose restaurant I visited last week. To be more accurate, I visited - and had the pleasure to eat at - one of his restaurants, the one called L'avant-comptoir, a sort of Tapas place, but very French! Very nice guy and for sure a place to visit.

I recently passed by the Cartier building on the Champs Elysées and it made me think of last year's post. Only this year, the beautiful building is hidden behind a huge screen. I don't know when the work is meant to stop, but I like it that they picked a very nice photo to print on the screen.

Like finding a needle in a haystack!

I know this is a pretty surprising photo! It's just that I wanted to draw your attention on an interesting, odd artist performance that took place in Paris on November 13. Sven Sachsalber, an Italian artist, spent 29 hours and 30 minutes in the Palais de Tokyo (the home of the Paris modern art museum) actually looking for a real needle in a haystack! I'm not kidding, check out the video!

Car Swap!

I pass by these cars almost every day and I've never taken the time to photograph them. It's not the result of an accident, but a unique sculpture (I was unable to find the name of the artist anywhere though). It's on display right at the entrance of an insurance company (Allianz) which aims to raise awareness of safe driving. I love it!

Another beautiful day

As some of you may already know, I'm going to move from Paris at the end of the month and, well, I'm currently in the middle of preparing my move, which is very time consuming! So the only photo I managed to take yesterday is this one - on the Pont du Louvre. Not very interesting, but very in tune with the stunning weather we're having in Paris at the moment. I should maybe stay after all LOL?

Official commemoration

Yesterday morning the big vet day commemoration took place on the Champs Elysées in Paris. Like always on these occasions they installed a huge French flag in the middle of the Arch of Triumph and the President of the Republic went up the avenue to revive the flame of the unknown soldier. And for me, it was a good photo op! BTW, have a look at this website, where they collected many objects that used to belong to soldiers of WWI. Quite moving.

Veterans day

For once allow me to repost a photo for today is November 11, the day we celebrate the end of WWI, which, even though we no longer have alive veterans from that war, is still commemorated. I thought it was a good occasion to remember Maréchal Foch, the one who signed the armistice with Germany on November 11, 1918 and who's statue is at Champs de Mars, near Ecole Militaire. Maréchal Joffre, a French general known for regrouping the allied armies to fight the Germans during the famous Marne battle in 1914.

The return of the Ferris Wheel

A very seasonal post, that you may be tired of: the Ferris wheel... Every year in November they install it on the place de la Concorde and they leave it until March. When you're on top, it's probably the best view on the Champs Elysées and beyond that you can have of Paris. That is if you're not afraid of heights of course, like me ;-( As you probably guessed this photo was taken from the Tuileries gardens.

Contemplation

I'm not religious, but from time to time, I appreciate a little contemplation, like on Saturday, when I attended the Christening of the daughter of friends of mine in the Swedish Church of Paris. A very moving and merry moment. Have a great Sunday everyone.

Roarrrrrrrrrrrr!

Yes, another sunset (it's been sunset week!). This one from the Tuileries gardens. The lion was made by Giuseppe Franchi.

Another day at the races!

There are several hippodromes around Paris. I already showed one of them a few weeks ago (the one of Longchamps, located on the Western part of Paris, here is the one of Vincennes, located on the Eastern side of Paris. It is mostly dedicated to the trot, a very elegant horse pace. 

Like an Italian in Paris!

No I did not take this photo in Rome nor Florence, but it's a real Italian on a real Italian scooter in Paris ;-) I could not help but dig out my camera and shoot!  

Fountain

I had a lovely dinner yesterday evening at Boulevard Richard Lenoir. On the way out, I found a nice fountain where the sprinklers come from under the pavement. Nice effect, especially at night (and if you lay your camera on the ground!). 

Winter is coming...

We had a wonderful "arrière-saison" (post summer period), unbelievably warm, but now is the time to enter the pre winter period, which is never very pleasant. It rained all day yesterday (unlike Sunday, when, I took the Sunset on the ET photo!) and it's super windy too. Unfortunately, I had to go out! But it allowed me to take this... very seasonal photo.

Sunset on the Eiffel Tower

Probably the most classic photo you can ever take in Paris, but I could not resist!

From Kazakhstan, with love...

As you're all aware, I'm sure, it's currently the week of Kazakhstan in Paris ;-)) and, well I could not miss that, of course. So I went by the Louvre where they have a big exhibition - and a stage to listen to Kazakhstan music! - and well, it was the occasion to meet NOT camera shy people, which is a nice change from Parisians... The tents in the back are Yurts, a sort of local condominium... Have a great Sunday everyone, in Kazakhstan and everywhere in the world ;-)

Remembering the dead...

It was hard to pick today's photo for I had to 1) comply with the CityDailyPhoto theme (Landmark) and 2) think of the dead, for, in France, today is La Toussaint (all saints day), a day where you're supposed to think of the loved ones that passed away. Then I remembered I had several photos that I took in the Montmartre cemetery, which definitely qualifies as a Paris Landmark and of a tomb of a famous painter  who died in 1927: Edgard Degas (originally spelled "de Gas"). By adding a spooky colo(u)r, it could also have qualified for Halloween, but it's not really a French tradition, so no need to add more constraints ;-)