Peter's Paris

Grand Palais - again

2012-01-26T00:01:00.000+01:00

I havealready made a few posts about the « Grand Palais », but I thought Imust make another one, covering the present event “La France en Relief” (Jan.18 – Feb. 17). It takes place under the great nave, the part of the “GrandPalais” which is the most spectacular with its large glass roof.

Maybe firsta few pictures to remind you of the beauty of the place.

Exposed area number of “maps”, landscapes in miniature, in relief, manufactured between1668 and 1873. They were created basically for defense reasons, to be able toimagine how the enemy could attack and to plan how the French coulddefend their places and territory. For this reason, most of the miniaturelandscapes are made of cities and fortresses close to the borders and coasts.They proved to be of some value until the experience of the 1870-71 war againstthe Prussians when the long reaching artillery made the traditional defense organizationvoid.

During theroughly 200 years, some 260 models were made, about 100 have been saved and 26are permanently exposed at the “Invalides” (see previous post), but thisexhibition, showing 16 of them, is an opportunity to draw the attention to thebeauty of the work.

Some of themodels are really large, up to 160 m² (abt. 17.000 sq ft) and they show notonly the defense installations, but also the surroundings, cities, landscapes… withall its details – buildings, roads, trees…

Some landscapeshave been updated, e.g. when new ports were constructed, when the railwaysarrived… of course of highest importance when it comes to military actions.

Everythingis showed in a spectacular way; large mirrors, foot-bridges, telescopes… makeit possible to study the models in detail and from all angles. The picturessometimes get a bit confusing… what is mirrored, what is not?

The centralfloor is covered by a gigantic map of France, obviously representing it in themiddle of the 19^th century. People walk around looking for theirhome place, origins… I took a picture of the central copula and expected tofind the centre of France just under it. I checked and when I came home I added the redcentre point, just between my feet. I also found the little village, where weonce had a country-house. Not surprisingly, there seems to have been morebuildings those times than today.

GoogleEarth is present, offering today’s way of looking on our landscapes. This ishow the Strasbourg Cathedral appears with the two respective systems.

"Ne me quitte pas"

2012-01-23T00:00:00.000+01:00

It has been saidthat it was in this modest bar, “Au Rêve”, on the northern slopes of Montmartrethat Jacques Brel wrote one of his most famous songs, “Ne me quitte pas” (Don’tleave me, "If you go away"). He observed the apartment of the young lady Suzanne Gabriello, justin front, on the other side of the little square. (Actually, it seems that hewas the one who left her and Brel declared also that “this is not a love song,but a song about the cowardice of men”. )

The song wasfirst registered in 1959. This video shows Jacques singing it at his lastperformance in Paris at “L’Olympia” in 1966.

Suzanne was an actress and singer, mostly comic, parodying. She was born in 1932 anddied in 1992. She’s buried in the Saint Vincent Cemetery, just around thecorner. Jacques wasborn in 1929 and died in 1978. His grave is far away, at one of the Marquesas Islands,where he spent the last years of his life, sick and half retired.

The song has beenperformed by a number of artists. Here is the Nina Simone version.

... and here are some links to English, German, French versions by Frank Sinatra, Barbara Streisand, Shirley Bassey, Julio Eglesias, Sting, Ray Charles, Marlene Dietrich, Celine Dion...

I have alreadymade a post about the small Saint Vincent cemetery. As we can see on the below map it’s situatedclose to the Montmartre vineyard (see previous posts) and the cabaret "Lapin Agile"(see previous post); we can see the roof behind the wall and the tomb ofMaurice Utrillo, who painted the cabaret a number of times.

Ice

2012-01-19T00:02:00.000+01:00

My « real »post for today is below, but from a walk yesterday morning I thought I had to show that Paris had this winter's firstfrost night and that there was just enough of thin ice to support the seagulls.It’s getting warmer again.

A church again...

2012-01-19T00:01:00.000+01:00

You may think that I show too much of churches. I basically visit churches only because of their beauty… or for some curiosity.. . and we must not forget that maybe especially the Catholic Church for centuries was one of the main “sponsors” for art of all sorts. There are some 240 churches within the Paris borders, whereof 136 Roman Catholic, 16 Orthodox, 24 synagogues, 29 Lutheran / Reformed, 20 mosques… So far, after almost five years of blogging, I have “only” posted about some 40 = some modest 17%, so I guess I’m allowed to post about a few more? :-)

This one, Notre-Dame-de-Clignancourt, has at a first sight nothing particular, but…

... once you have looked behind the altar and walked up a few steps, you will find a beautiful chapel, the Chapel of the Virgin. On its altar is a statue of the Virgin, made by the same sculptor who has decorated the Medici Fountain (see previous post) in the Luxembourg Gardens (Auguste-Louis Ottin).

One curiosity is that the passage to the Chapel is decorated by two paintings by Nélie Jacquemart. Her name is of course linked to the Jacquemart-Andrée Museum (see previous post). She was a well-known painter, who one day portrayed her future, extremely wealthy husband, Edouard Andrée. No children, their home was bequeathed to the French Institute and opened to public, presenting their fabulous collection of paintings by Fragonard, Botticelli, Canaletto, Rembrandt…. Unfortunately the paintings here in the church are rather impossible to photograph (angle, light…). Sorry!

The church in a neo-roman style dates from 1863. Clignancourt was a village, part of the Montmartre commune – integrated into Paris in 1860. Until they got this church, the inhabitants had to walk up the hill, to the top of Montmartre to find the Saint-Pierre-de-Montmartre church (see previous posts), neighbor to Sacré-Coeur, which didn’t yet exist – finished only in 1914. The Notre-Dame-de-Clignancourt is opposite to the Town Hall of the 18^th arrondissement and we can distinguish Sacré-Coeur in the background. Maurice Utrillo painted the church several times, this one in 1914.

Well, the rest of the church has also some nice decorations, including the stained glass windows, created later, during the 1930’s, a Pieta....

Palais Royal ... again - a new theatre

2012-01-16T00:02:00.000+01:00

There is achange in the gardens of Palais Royal, on which I have already posted severaltimes (see here and here). I have there also referred to the Théatre Français /La Comédie Française. What’s happening now is that the 18^th centurytheatre building will be renovated over a longer period and in the meantime, atemporary wooden building has been built. It has been placed between the newlyrefurbished colonnades of the Galeries d’Orléans, which actually alreadypreviously used to be covered, until around 1930, being a shopping gallery. Thetemporary theatre will hold some 750 places.

Here is a viewof how the Galeries d’Orléans looked, “naked”.

The nowfamous Buren columns are obviously differently used by girls and boys.

Someseagulls were patiently waiting, until… Here is also a proof that birds can’tread (Pélouse interdite = Get off the grass).

Theexceptionally (relatively) mild weather helps roses not only to survive, butthere are also some buds.

Buildings with history

2012-01-12T00:01:00.002+01:00

The nice building where the main entrance now leads to a super-market – and where one of the side entrances lead to a rather newly, by David Lynch, opened club (“Silencio”), used to be the successive homes of some leading newspapers. We are rue Montmartre which with the neighbor streets used to be the “Wall Street area” of Paris (see previous post). Before the present building, there was a market here and even before that, a cemetery where Molière was buried, before he much later was brought to the Père Lachaise Cemetery (see previous post).

The building is especially known for a specific event linked to the enormous “Dreyfus Affair”, a political scandal which divided French opinions in the 1890s and the early 1900s. Captain Alfrèd Dreyfus was erroneously condemned for treason with the (German) enemy in 1894 and sent to solitary confinement in French Guiana. It was later made clear that all the accusations were false, inspired by anti-Semitist feelings, false documents… What really started to make things change was an article written by Emile Zola, published January 13, 1898, by the newspaper which then occupied the premises, “L’Aurore”. Emile Zola presented his manuscript to the owner and the editor of “L’Aurore”, Georges Clemenceau, and it was published - addressed to the French President, Félix Faure - on the front page the following day. Emile Zola was prosecuted for this article, condemned and spent some time in England to avoid imprisonment.

There is a lot to be said about Emile Zola. I have posted about his involvement in what was to become the impressionism (here), about his tomb at the Montmartre Cemetery (here), which was his place of rest before he was brought to the Pantheon (see previous post). ... but if you really want to learn something about him, especially about the author he was, you could go here.

Georges Clemenceau had also a rich life between being a medical doctor, journalist, politician, Prime Minister, a major voice designing the Treaty of Versailles after WWI…, nicknamed “The Tiger”, “Father Victory”…. Again, if you wish, go here for further reading.

Alfred Dreyfus could return to France after five years, but it took considerable time and several trials before he was completely exonerated. He spent his last years in the building you can see below (17^th arrdt.) and his grave is at the Montparnasse Cemetery (see previous post). To read more about him, you can go here.

Neighbour to the previous newspaper building is a bar, a restaurant, which those days used to be full of journalists, printers…

The bar, “Le Croissant”, became famous in 1914, when a leading French politician, Jean Jaurès, was shot down here. He was killed July 29, 1914. The day before, what was to become WWI had opened with the Austro-Hungarian invasion of Serbia. The day after, the German Empire started to mobilize and three days later France did the same…

Jaurès was well-known as a pacifist and antimilitarist (and pro-Dreyfus), one of the leaders of the socialist movements. He was also the founder – in 1904 - and until his death the boss of the daily socialist newspaper “L’Humanité”. (“L’Humainté” still exists, but is since 1920 the official voice of the Communist Party.) He had made a lot of efforts to avoid the war. It was a time of mixed feelings, pro-war, anti-war. The man who shot him down, while he - after having finished his job at the nearby newspaper – enjoyed his dessert, was a young pro-war nationalist.

Also Jaurès was brought to the Pantheon - ten years after his death. If you want further details about Jean Jaurès, you can go here.

Today, the bar is still there. It’s an ordinary bar, but you can find a plate on the wall and, inside, some “souvenirs” in a glass-case.

La Rotonde de la Villette

2012-01-09T00:01:00.004+01:00

This is not the first time (see previous post) I talk about this building, “La Rotonde de la Villette”, but after a long period of restoration it has recently opened to public. There is a restaurant and a bar and different facilities can be rented for meetings, expositions, cultural events …

The building was part of the toll barrier built in the 1780’s, just before the Revolution, “The Wall of the Farmers General”, which surrounded what then was Paris. Tax had to be paid for goods entering the city. A number of bars and restaurants (“guinguettes”) could be found just outside the wall, with “tax-free” prices. The unpopular taxes were abolished during the Revolutionary years, but rather soon again resumed. In 1860 it was decided that the surrounding villages – Belleville, Montmartre, Batignolles, Passy… (see map) should be incorporated and the wall disappeared. However, the payment of tolls remained until 1943, but the collect was displaced to the new Paris borders.

Until 1860, the toll had to be paid in some 60 buildings, part of the “Wall of the Farmers General”. Only four remain, Place de la Nation (“Barrière du Trone” – actually two buildings, see previous post), Place Denfert-Rochereau (« Barrière d’Enfer », also two buildings, see previous post), Parc Monceau (« Barrière de Chartres », see previous post) and this one, situated where the Canal Saint Martin and the Bassin de la Villette meet (« La Rotonde de la Villette », also referred to as « Barrière de Saint Martin »). (See previous posts about the Bassin and the Canal.)

“La Rotonde” became later a home for the municipal guard and even later – until 1921 – a salt warehouse, and then, until quite recently, it housed some municipal administrations.

A different way of presenting street art

2012-01-04T23:03:00.001+01:00

The exterior of the Palais de Justice with the Conciergerie is slowly getting renovated. In the meantime it’s partly covered by tarpaulins … and by publicity. As is indicated on the “wall”, the publicity is a way to sponsor the restoration. At the moment the publicity involves a smart phone and one of the most well known French street artists, Jérome Mesnager, has been asked to make a Happy New Year greeting in his manner.

I have quite often posted about Jérome and his friends, e.g. here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here… His white humanoid figures can be seen all over Paris and elsewhere, not only in France but also abroad.

To celebrate the event, members of Jérome’s “fan club” met this evening (Jan. 4) at a bar, in front of the “wall”, on the opposite side of the river.

If you want to see and know something more about the Palais de Justice and the Conciergerie, you can have a look on these posts (1, 2).

"Clouds"

2012-01-02T00:01:00.025+01:00

One morning last week, the only clouds over Paris seemed to have been created by airplanes.

Seeing this, I guess we must admit that air traffic controllers are useful.

Addendum, Jan. 3: It seems that I was not the only one watching the sky that morning. Nathalie, a wonderful blogger friend (Avignon in photos), visiting her mother’s country house some 40 km (25 miles) outside Paris made simultaneously the same observations. She posted about it today. Here you can compare our photos!

What I didn’t tell in my post was that an hour later, there was a heavy fog coming in. Nathalie took photos also of that!

If you want to follow what is worth seeing around Avignon and in Provence, Nathalie’s blog is certainly the one to follow… and if you go there, she's a marvelous person to meet!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!

2011-12-22T00:01:00.048+01:00

This is my 93^rd post this year, a bit less than last year, but… (You can “see” them all on the illustration above.) This will be the last one this year (the coming days will be too busy for blogging), a good reason to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

I had hoped for some nice snow photos when I was in Sweden a couple of days ago, but… So, instead I went out for some Paris pictures with hopefully some season feeling.

I headed for the traditional photo of the Galeries Lafayette Christmas tree. Seeing the crowd in front of and inside the department stores it’s difficult to imagine that we are experiencing a crisis.

Some photos from some traditional places.

I ended up at the Louvre and went down under the Pyramid to listen to a free concert by the “Orchestre de Paris”, with the now 86 year old, still going very strong, Pierre Boulez as conductor. We were some 2500 people sitting on the floor listening to Arnold Schönberg and Bela Bartok. Ovations, bravos…!!

So, once more, enjoy Christmas and the couple of days until the end of 2011! See you in 2012!

Levallois Cemetery

2011-12-19T00:01:00.058+01:00

This is slightly outside Paris, but very close. We are in the suburb of Levallois (or Levallois-Perret). As we know, Paris has a very limited surface and the immediate suburbs, like this one, are somehow integrated. Levallois was created during the 19^th century. It got its name from who can be considered as its creator, Eugène Levallois, whose tomb can be found at the local cemetery.

Visiting the cemetery, you can find the tombs of some illustrious people, who for different reasons have found their last rest place here.

One is Gustave Eiffel (1832-1923). His tomb, a family grave, has the particularity that it it’s not in line with the surrounding ones; it’s facing what makes us remember him best, the Eiffel Tower (see previous posts). Although he finished his life at his home in Paris, his workshop, where e.g. the different parts of the Tower were manufactured, was situated at Levallois; it has now disappeared. The number of parts for bridges, towers… that his company built must have been amazing. This included also the inner structure of the Statue of Liberty. (In a previous post I showed where the Statue was put together.)

Maurice Ravel (1875-132) is buried here, together with his parents and brother. He spent quite some time in Levallois, where his brother had his home. Let’s listen to and watch (the last part of) “Boléro” (choreography Maurice Béjart), which he wrote rather late in his life on the request of the dancer Ida Rubinstein. Ravel wrote a lot or remarkable pieces and considered “Boléro” to be more or less a joke, 15 minutes of repetition, but it brought him (rather his heirs) a fortune - for the moment some 50 million € (68 million US$).

Louise Michel (1830-1905) was a school teacher and medical worker, but is especially known as a leading anarchist, known as the “Red Virgin of Montmartre”, active during the Paris Commune. She was deported to New Caledonia. She came back nine years later, never gave up her revolutionary ideas, manifested in many ways, always surveyed by the Police. She wanted to share her grave with her mother.

Levallois played an important role during the beginning of the motor driven taxis. One important company created in 1905, still active under the name of “G7”, was “La Compagnie Française des Automobiles de Place », created by Napoleon’s grandson (from his relation with Marie Walewska), André Walewski. Their Renaults became famous in the beginning of WWI, when hundreds of taxis brought thousands of soldiers to the front. The Levallois Cemetery includes tombs and monuments dedicated to fallen taxi drivers.

There are also some 30 Commonwealth WWI graves. The reason why they are here is the Hertford British Hospital (now l'Institut Hospitalier Franco-Britannique), situated at Levallois and originally created thanks to a donation by Richard Wallace, especially known for the “Wallace Fountains” (see previous posts).

(I'm still in Sweden. This post is pre-programmed. Normally I should be back in time to wish you Merry Christmas!)

Quai Branly Museum

2011-12-15T00:01:00.054+01:00

Behind the glass wall you see above is a surprisingly quiet garden…

… surrounding the Quai Branly Museum (Musée du Quai Branly = « MQB ») which opened in 2006. It features indigenous art, cultures… There are actually several buildings - libraries, offices, shops, a cafeteria…

Spectacular is also the “green wall”, part of the exterior of the office part of the museum.

When the dark falls, you have a wonderful surprise.

The architect is Jean Nouvel. Here are some of his finished, ongoing, planned projects. In Paris, the most well-known finished ones are the Cartier Foundation and the Arab World Institute.

I will try to make a post about the museum interior one day.

(This post is pre-programmed; I’m back in Sweden for a couple of days.)

Another little alley

2011-12-12T00:01:00.034+01:00

Another little alley (Rue Odinot), this time in a quite fashionable area, surrounded by old private mansions, “hotels particuliers”, a ministry…

However some decades ago, the alley was a place with workshops of different kinds. Today, if you want to live there, you should calculate with a price of 15.000-20.000 € / m2 (or roughly 2.000-2.500 US$/sq.ft).

The gate is often open during the week as there is a school at the end of the alley.

Did I find the last fresh looking rose of the year?

Arch of Triumph - something more

2011-12-08T00:01:00.141+01:00

It’s very usual to take photos of the Arch of Triumph, but mostly it’s the same side which is illustrated. The Arch has however two sides – if not four, which can be seen differently day or night.

I have already several times posted (see here and here) on the Arch of Triumph, but I thought that a closer look on its different decorations may be of some interest.

It took quite some time for the Arch to be completed. Napoleon ordered it in 1806 and the works commenced, but his defeats in 1812 and later interrupted the works, which were resumed only in 1832. The inauguration took place in 1836. It has since been a central point for different commemorations and is still the place of departure for the 14^th July parade, for the celebration of the WW victories – or for the peace they led to.

So… the sculptures:

The most famous one (front side right) is probably “The departure of 1792” (departing for fighting against Austria and Prussia), often referred to as “La Marseillaise”. It was made by François Rude (on whom I have already posted).

(A tomb at the Montmartre Cemetery by Rude.)

The next one (front side left) is called “The Triumph of 1810”, by Jean-Pierre Cortot, where we can more or less recognize Napoleon. 1810 was certainly a triumphal year for Napoleon. It was when he got married to Marie-Louise of Austria, when the Penal Code was introduced and the French Empire was at its (short) maximum. Cortot has left other works still visible, including on the Place de la Concorde (see previous posts, here and here), Place des Vosges (see previous post)…

(The statue on Place des Vosges. It replaced a previous one destroyed during the Revolution.)

The third and fourth ones, on the "back side", are both by the same artist, Antoine Etex...

... “Peace” (on the left side )...

... and “The Resistance” (on the right side). Etex’s works can be found on a number of tombs, but he’s also the one who made the Napoleon statue at the Invalides (see previous post).

(Napleon at the Invalides.)

We must not forget all the other decorations of the Arch...

... the bas-reliefs, illustrating different battles (and funerals),

... the cornices on the top,

... the names of all the battles (only the ones won I suppose),

... the names of all marshals, generals ...,

... and on the ground, some plates,

... and of course the tomb of the Unknown Soldier with its eternal flame.

Really nothing to do with the above, but you may know that at least three pilots have managed to fly through the arch, the first one in 1919 (the below video), the latest one in 1991.

Chapel of Saint Vincent de Paul

2011-12-05T00:01:00.068+01:00

The Chapel of Saint Vincent de Paul (95 rue de Sèvres) is the church of the Vincentians, brothers and priests of the Congregation of the Mission. It dates from 1827. The Congregation moved here after having been driven out from their previous installations by the Revolution.

Vincent de Paul (1581-1660) is venerated as a saint by the Catholic and the Anglican Churches. His younger years included that he was taken captive by Turkish pirates and spent two years in Tunis in slavery, escaped, later worked as chaplain to Marguerite de Valois (La Reine Margot)… In 1625 he founded the Congregation of the Mission, better known as Vincentians or Lazarists (related to the “Saint Lazare Enclosure” in Paris where it all started, where Vincent lived the last 30 years of his life and where the congregation remained until, as said above, driven out by the Revolution). The Lazarists are today present in some 80 countries. Vincent was, and still is, a “popular” saint, renowned for compassion, humility and generosity. Later, the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul was created, dedicated to tackling poverty and disadvantage by providing direct practical assistance to anyone in need, today present in some 130 countries and with about a million members, including non-Catholics. In Paris, many churches are related to Vincent’s activities, including the Church of Saint Vincent de Paul (see previous post), close to where the “Saint Lazare Enclosure” was situated.

A richly adorned silver shrine contains the body of Saint Vincent de Paul (created by J-P-C Odiot , previously “jeweler” of the Napoleon’s court). On the skeleton, face and hands have been redesigned and Vincent seems to rest quietly.

Vincent was also together with Sainte Louise de Marillac the co-founder of the Daughters of Charity. Their mother house is located very close (140 rue du Bac), (also known for their "Miraculous Medal") where you can find her remains as well as the heart of Vincent.

Louis Braille (1809-52), inventor of the Braille writing system (himself blind by accident since the age of three), was also an excellent organist. He was the organist of this church the last seven years of his life.

Le Moulin de la Vierge

2011-12-01T00:01:00.167+01:00

Genie, who lives in Mobile, Alabama, but blogs about "Paris and beyond", recently returned to Paris and we made some walks and visits together, including to the Russian Cemetery (see previous post). She had got a "job" from another blogger friend, "Louis La Vache", who used to live in Paris, but now lives in the San Francisco area (his present blog is "San Francisco Bay Daily Photo") to visit a very special "boulangerie" he knew of and had posted about some five years ago, "Le Moulin de la Vierge". Here is a link to the very complete post he made, which means that I hardly have to write anything, except maybe a very short version of what "Louis" then wrote:

This used to be a bakery "since ever", until when in the 70's there was a threat that the whole area would be "remodeled" and the baker decided to leave. The place was taken over by someone, who was not at all a baker, but started to do music buisness. The beautiful bakery decorations were still there, passers-by and neighbours entered looking for bread and finally the occupant, Basil Kamir, thought "why not". After tough fights with authorities he managed to save not only the bakery, but also the building, which now stands quite alone surrounded by modern ones; both the bakery and the building are now officially "classified". ... and, furthermore, with the help by the nephew of the person who in 1893 had modernized the 1850 wooden oven in the cellar, they managed to get it to work again and it now makes the bread they sell.

The bakery looks really as what you would like a bakery to look like and the young lady who sold us some nice traditionally made bread was charming.

Despite the fact that the bakery is situated in a rather isolated area, the buisness seems to work well and there are now two or three other "Le Moulin de la Vierge" shops in Paris.

Fiat lux - again

2011-11-28T00:01:00.090+01:00

This is not the first time (see previous post) I show the Christmas illuminations on the Champs Elysées, but this year they are new, a new design, obviously less power consuming.

The “fiat lux” took place last Wednesday and our beloved Amélie Poulain, alias Audrey Tautou, pushed the button. Unfortunately I was not present, had another nice appointment, so this picture is from a local newspaper.

The design has completely changed; the trees are surrounded by circles which slowly change colour. I have a doubt with regard to the “Christmas effect”…

… compared to what has been up the last couple of years; this is what it looked like last year.

I had some difficulties to choose the top picture, more or less zoomed. … and, for once, I had to admit that I could not use my favourite automatic settings, so I tried hard, trying to avoid trembling…

… but of course I trembled a little now and then.

The other direction:

Some scenes from along the Avenue.

Half way down the Avenue, on the “Rond Point”, the decorations were also new. Further down there is again a Christmas Market, but I neglect to report about it this year, much more a market than Christmas in my mind.

Marks & Spencer left Paris some ten years ago under not much appreciated circumstances, leaving some 1700 people jobless. They are now back and opened this week a rather modest shop on the Champs Elysées. Obviously more to follow.

Nothing special...

2011-11-24T00:01:00.002+01:00

Leaving the street art inauguration (see previous post), I took a little walk in the area, looking for what I like a lot, the small hidden alleys and courtyards, sometimes behind more or less closed gates.

This area is to a great extent occupied by small workshops and shops dealing with wholesale of textiles, clothes…, as we can see on the top picture. Some old “boulangeries” have fortunately kept their design and decoration, but don’t sell any baguettes or croissants any more. But people also live here; many seem to use bikes for their local transport. (I don’t give any exact addresses here, as visits by strangers are sometimes more or less appreciated.)

There is also a small park, Square Maurice Gardette. Until about 1865 there was a slaughter-house here. You can see one of the few metal statues that survived WWII, when most of them were smelted down to make weapons, bullets…

In one of the streets a modest entrance gate indicates “Missionnaires de la Charité” (Missionaries of Charity), where you find a Paris branch of what was created by Mother Teresa.

Again... Christmas shop-windows

2011-11-21T00:01:00.113+01:00

I have already done this previous years (see last year’s post), but some blogger friends kindly asked me to take some photos also of this year’s Christmas shop-windows… so of course I did, once again concentrating on the Printemps and the Galeries Lafayette ones.

Printemps has during the last years more and more concentrated on luxury which is confirmed by what is displayed in the windows (see also top photo). This year is obviously dedicated to Chanel and their artistic director Karl Lagerfeld appears, multiplied, in one of the windows.

Some details.

Little space for others than Chanel … a little bit of Dior and Burberry.

… and what is displayed in the men’s windows is much more of a mixture. (I don’t know what I would like to wear … have not yet made by list for this Christmas.)

Galeries Lafayette had again put up their spectacular wall decorations. The windows are definitely here more children-friendly. Actually, I should have made some videos as most of the windows are animated, a lot of puppies on strings.

The “Lafayette Maison” windows were this year more or less hidden… you had to look through the bars to see what was exposed. Not well adapted to photographing.

A Russian Cemetery... Nureyev

2011-11-17T00:01:00.027+01:00

There were many Russian emigrants in France after the 1917 Revolution. Several of them lived, were as retired taken care of, in a small castle, and were as from 1927 buried in a nearby cemetery, which as from 1927 has become a Russian Orthodox Cemetery. It’s situated at Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois, a Paris southern suburb, and is shared by locals.

There are now some 15000 “Russians” buried here, most of them immigrants or descendants of immigrants, although, with the changed political situation, some have been exhumed and their remains have returned to their mother country. The cemetery is really beautiful, maybe partly helped by the nice autumn colours offered by gingkos and some other trees, which had more or less managed to keep their leaves.

Many graves have small openings, often filled with some souvenirs and by eggs, which have a great symbolic significance for the Orthodox for new life or as a connecting link between life and death. I didn’t see any Fabergé ones, although one of the Fabergé sons is buried here.

The cemetery is served by the Dormition Church.

Among the personalities buried here you may mention several authors including Ivan Bunin, who received the Literature Nobel Prize in 1933, film directors, actors and actresses, painters… and Irena Alexandrovna, niece of the last Tsar, married to Felix Yusopov who participated in the murder of Rasputin.

One person, whose remains were never found after she was beheaded by the Nazis was the resistant Vera Obolensky, but she is remembered on a memorial and was honoured by Vladimir Poutine, when he visited the cemetery a few years ago.

Two celebrated dancers have also there tombs here. Serge Lifar was a principal dancer in the Ballets Russes and a much appreciated choreographer. He was also the ballet master at the Paris Opera for some 25 years.

The other dancer and choreographer is Rudolf Nureyev. His remarkable grave is a mosaic memorial which resembles an oriental kilim rug, which Rudolf was an admirer of (see also the top photo).

To end this post, let’s see Rudolf dance with Margot Fonteyn…

... and with ~~Peggy~~ Piggy.

I had the pleasure to make this visit together with Genie, who also made a post about it.

A nice November afternoon

2011-11-14T00:03:00.001+01:00

Some odd pictures from a sunny and nice afternoon.

Easy to recognize.

Autumn colours.

Well guarded tourists.

"m&m's" I start to wonder which "m" is the most frequent one in Paris, the one for the metro or...?

I'm sure that especially the English speaking francophiles will recognise this one.

Statues, a different angle.

Street art ... again.

2011-11-10T00:01:00.001+01:00

During the 1990’s, the shop owners in Rue Cavalotti – on the fringes of Montmartre - decided to make something to hopefully escape from tagging on their front stores. They asked some urban artists to make illustrations, inspired by some famous painters.

I made a post about it in June 2007 … and another one in September 2007, where we could see that in the meantime the taggers had destroyed most of the efforts.

Now, supported by some official (including the mayoralty of 18th arrondissement) and private initiatives, the stores have been cleaned and decorated in a different way, inspired by posters for the nearby music halls, theatres, cinemas…, as they were a century or a few decades ago. (A few of them remain.) The “inauguration” took place mid-October. Hopefully the taggers will pay a bit more respect to this effort.

Another sign that urban artists are getting some official support took place end October. Again supported by among others the local mayoralty (11th arrondissement), some urban artists had decorated a number of front stores on Rue de la Folie Méricourt and the Mayor invited some urban art fans – like me - to an official “opening”. This was a normal week day and of course the stores were temporarily closed just for a demonstration. To see them, you should rather come back late in the evening or a Sunday. Some of the artists were present and posed in front of the stores … and it all ended by a nice gathering around some wine and small things to eat … and with an official nice and optimistic inauguration speech by the Mayor (also MP).

Sète, Georges Brassens...

2011-11-07T00:01:00.067+01:00

Normally, this should be a blog about Paris, but before resuming my “normal” Paris posts, allow me to make a last exception – at least for a while.

To sum up our common experiences during the Transsiberian / Transmongolian trip, Alain invited me to his home in Montpellier and to make some sailing on his boat, berthed at Sète.

The weather couldn’t have been better, considering that we were in October. In addition to sailing, we could also do some bathing and in the very clear sky admire sunsets, the moon…

… and enjoy some nice seafood. (Just behind Sète is the lagoon, Etang de Thau, where some 12.000 tons of oysters are produced annually.)

I have already posted * about Georges Brassens, an icon in France, one of the most celebrated poets, singers-songwriters. He was born at Sète in October 80 years ago and died in October 20 years ago. One of his most famous songs is called “Supplique pour être enterré à la plage de Sète” (Petition to be buried on the beach of Sète).

You can see that this video has been partly filmed in a charming little fishing port on the Etang de Thau. Today Georges' name appears on one of the small streets in the little port.

Finally, Georges was never buried on the beach, but in an ordinary family grave, however still at Sète, but not at the more spectacular cemetery, overlooking the Mediterranean (where the tombs of Paul Valéry, Jean Vilar – who created the Avignon festival - … can be found).

We also took long walks along the road Via Domitia, created by the Romans and in use for centuries, but today visible “here and there”.

*/ If you go back to this post, you can read about the little house where he lived for 22 years, sharing the life of an old couple. I passed by again the other day and could see that several people had left flowers, words...

See you tomorrow...

2011-11-03T00:01:00.020+01:00

The title refers to the sun. (On the blog I will be back in a couple of days.) Sorry for slightly different exposures, tried to find the best.

Transsiberian, Transmongolian ... the train(s)

2011-10-31T00:01:00.017+01:00

To finish my reporting on the recent Transsiberian / Transmongolian trip, here are some pictures from the train trip as such.

I have no pictures from the first night between Saint Petersburg and Moscow, but officially the Transsiberian train leaves from Moscow.

I travelled with our blogger friend Alain, who you will recognize on a few photos.

We travelled thus with different trains, as we spent a few days, not only in Moscow, but also in Ekaterinburg, Irkutsk and the Baikal Lake, at and around Ulan Bator, around Sainhand…

The trains were generally quite full, but the number of tourists was quite limited; it was the end of the tourist season. Each wagon is followed by two people, one sleeping and one working, who take care of the coal heating, to keep water hot in the samovar, to pass a vacuum cleaner, to clean up the toilets… Everything is clean and well kept.

The train never goes very fast and stops quite often at stations for maybe 15, sometimes 30 minutes, which means that you can buy stuff to eat and drink on the quay or in the station buildings… and get some fresh air. Of course there was also always a restaurant wagon.

There are also stops at the borders; the longest was five hours when leaving Russia.

Totally we made six nights onboard the train(s). The longest part was the Siberian one between Ekaterinburg and Irkutsk - three nights in a row, passing Omsk, Novosibirsk, Krasnoyarsk...

The landscape doesn’t change too much between Moscow and the Mongolian border; trees, lakes, rivers… and rather flat except some hills when you pass over the Ural and reach Asia and Siberia.

The Mongolian landscape is of course different. Between Ulan Bator and Sainshand (Gobi Desert), we travelled by a local train.

What also is striking is when you leave Mongolia, desert like, hardly any roads… and arrive in China and the Inner Mongolia; suddenly there are huge buildings, large streets, lights… and the Mongolian lifestyle has disappeared. On the way through China, you can observe a number of rapidly growing big cities, for a while you can observe the Great Wall and the last hours before arriving in Beijing, the views are quite spectacular with dams, rivers, lakes, high mountains … and a lot of tunnels and bridges.

Transsiberian, Transmongolian ... Beijing

2011-10-27T00:01:00.019+02:00

After six nights – and days – by train, with stops at a number of places (see previous posts) and after about four weeks of travelling, Beijing was the final destination. I had already visited Beijing and this time it was for a short visit before the flight back to Paris, so the few pictures I show will give a very limited view of the city.

My impression, nine years after my previous visit, was that the city is much cleaner, that the traffic is more fluid - with a large amount of recent cars, that even more modern buildings have replaced the traditional “hutongs”, that public toilets are much cleaner … and that it’s difficult to see the sun even a “sunny day”. However I saw many more electric vehicles in Beijing than I have seen in any European city, and efforts are clearly made to get cleaner air, but the problem is huge.

During the short stay, there was just time to visit the very central part – the “Forbidden City”, the Jingshan Park, the Beihai Lake (park), the Tien'anmen Square, the Changpu River Park, some hutongs, the Wangfuijing (shopping) Street with the same trademarks as elsewhere in the world… and to have some nice meals including an excellent Peking Roast Duck.

(The last picture shows the portrait of a French ex-prime minister, surprisingly covering a wall.)

I will make a last post about this Transsiberian – Transmongolian trip, with views of trains, through wagon windows, railway stations…

Transsiberian, Transmongolian ... Mongolia - part 2

2011-10-24T00:01:00.047+02:00

After a short return to Ulan Bator after our first tour of the Mongolian countryside (see previous post), we took a local train, a full day, to Sainshand, one of the little towns in the Gobi Desert in the southern part of Mongolia (see map on previous post). During the Silk Road times, there were some important cities here, but not today.

The rains are stopped by Himalaya, but some very limited rainfall in the eastern part (the one we visited), allows some livestock, to large extent camels, but also horses, muttons, goats. The annual mean temperature is -2.5°C (27.5°F) and the January mean is -26.5°C (-15.7°F), but there are extremes of 50°C (122°F) in the summer and -40°C (-40°F) in the winter. There is a great difference between day and night temperatures. There are gazelles, polecats, leopards, bears, wolves… around (we didn’t see any).

There is some ground water and a verly limited number of springs around. Anybody who passes by a spring is supposed to fill the reservoir ... and so we did.

Again driving on tracks – only – we reached the partly restored Buddhist monastery Khamriin Khiid, which used to be an important Buddhist centre with the first Mongolian theatre, a public school, a museum, a library… It was completely destroyed in 1938 during the communist “purge”, but is today again reviving and visited by a lot of locals who spend the night in the yurt camp (as we did also). The camp is surrounded by rocks with caves where monks practiced yogic exercises and meditation. A limited amount of documents and relics were saved in time and hidden before the destruction and they have today been – partly – found and recovered. This monastery is today linked to what Buddhists refer to as Shamb(h)ala - a place which could actually exist or have existed or would be a place which can be reached after long meditation. Today people come here to get “energy”, to be healed from different pains… sitting on the ground, touching the surrounding rocks…

The monks pray during the morning hours. In the afternoon one of the young ones, in a Calvin Klein tee-shirt, joined us. Our driver, who previously had taught traditional medicine (and also is a poet) helped the monk to get rid of a headache.

In the surroundings you can find several examples of petrified wood, fossilised dinosaur bones… and we also met two Swiss camping cars, with families on a three year around the world tour.

Again we overnighted with a family in a yurt. They owned a lot of especially goats and camels … and a ride on a camel was of course compulsory.

On the way back to Sainshand, we also visited the “Black Mountain”, also named Khan Bayanzurkh. A lot of locals come here and, believing that the spirit of the founder of the Kamriin Khid monastery is related to this mountain, they pray and say their wishes - however only men are allowed to climb to the top. I was a bit surprised to find two Mongolian ladies with a bag from a Swedish supermarket.

Transsiberian, Transmongolian ... Mongolia - part 1

2011-10-20T00:01:00.000+02:00

We left Ulan Bator (see previous post, including a map) for a trip towards the west. We followed first one of the few paved roads in Mongolia, but spent also considerable time on tracks. A jeep like car, with a driver and guide are needed.

We visited Karakorum (Kharakhorum), which Genghis Khan used as a major military camp and decided to make to the capital of the Mongolian Empire, then erected by his son. Considering the importance of the Empire, this was then for a relatively short period a major site of world politics, although with very simple buildings, partly yurts, surrounded by a rather symbolic wall and limited by turtle sculptures, still there. A Pope delegate visited the place during the 13th century and described it as a very cosmopolitan and religiously tolerant place, a bit later confirmed by Marco Polo. However, already after a few decades, the capital was relocated to what today is Beijing under the Mongolian Yun dynasty.

Adjacent to the city was during the 16th century founded a Buddhist monastery, Erdene Zuu, surrounded by a wall with some 100 “stupas”. As from the 19th century you could find some 62 temples inside and some 1000 monks were active here. During the 1930’s the communists destroyed almost all Mongolian monasteries, including this one and at least ten thousand Buddhist monks were killed. At Erdene Zuu, three temples and the wall were left as a “museum”. Today, new temples are added and the monastery is again religiously very active.

Far from the main road, we visited another – small - old monastery, Övgön Khiid, also destroyed, but again “alive”.

The greatest experience was of course overnigthing in a yurt, which we thanks to our experienced driver managed to find after about an hour’s drive on tracks. It was a great pleasure to spend two days and nights with the very kind little family who lived there. They had just settled on this spot and would soon move to another one, for the winter. Despite some nice temperatures during the day and some heating (mainly by dried horseshit) from the oven for the evening meal, there was ice on the water bottles in the morning… and this was in September. The family had some tens of horses, cows and hundreds of muttons and goats. Milking takes a good part of the day for the wife.

Mongolians are very generous with time, friendly, smiling, joking… A small bus had a motor break and it was quite natural for our driver to stop and give a helping hand. In the meantime, we were offered some fermented mare milk (“airag”), some dried mutton meat, goat cheese… This is also what you are offered at any yurt, as soon as you arrive or stop to say hello.

Transsiberian, Transmongolian ... Ulan Bator

2011-10-17T00:01:00.039+02:00

After Irkutsk (see previous post) and the Baikal Lake (see previous post), one choice is to continue with the Transsiberian Railway to Vladivostok … or to deviate southwards towards Mongolia and Beijing. The train then changes name to the Transmongolian. After a five hours stop for customs on the Russian side of the border, another hour and half on the Mongolian side and a night’s travel, we reached the Mongolian capital Ulan Bator (Uulanbaatar, Oulan Baator… there seems to be many ways to spell it). The map below indicates the direction of the train and the places and areas in Mongolia (yellow ovals) visited during this trip.

A few words about Mongolia:

Mongolia has a total population of some 3 million in a country which is about three times bigger than France. At least one third of the population lives in the capital.

Mongolia is thus a large country, of course very small compared to the 13th century Mongolian Empire, the largest land empire in history, which then stretched from Poland to Korea, from Siberia to Vietnam and to the Persian Gulf. We all know about Genghis Khan. After his death, the Empire was divided into four, one of his grandsons made Beijing his capital and the Yuan dynasty ruled over China for about a century, until the Ming dynasty took over. After centuries of struggle, the present Mongolia came under Chinese control until the beginning of the 20th century. Struggles between China and Russia led finally in 1924, with what was called support from the Soviet Union, to the creation of the Mongolian People’s Republic (some 55.000 Soviet troops were present in Mongolia during the 1980’s), until the perestroika and glasnost made that in 1992 the “people’s republic” was dropped from the country’s name … and the Russians left.

If Mongolia is one of the most beautiful countries in the world, Ulan Bator is definitely not one of the most beautiful capitals and is also known as the coldest capital in the world. … But the people are nice and smiling - as all over the country. So, before some posts about other parts of Mongolia, a few words about and some pictures from its present capital, knowing that the Mongolian nomad way of living has meant that also the capital moved around during centuries. My pictures show that buildings are growing all over for a rapidly increasing urban population. If many of the Soviet influenced buildings remain they are now often painted; the Mongolians like colours. The central Sükhbaatar Square is dominated by the Parliament Building – with Genghis Khan sitting on a throne in the middle. Most Mongolians are Buddhists. If monasteries were more or less demolished during the Soviet era, the religious feelings seem today very present and strong. The Gandan Monastery in Ulan Bator is the largest in the country. To listen to a concert of throat singing and traditional music was a real pleasure.

Transsiberian, Transmongolian ... Lake Baikal

2011-10-14T00:01:00.020+02:00

From Irkutsk (see previous post) we took a small local bus the about 70 km (45 miles) to Listvyanka on the southern shore of Lake Baikal. The weather was a bit colder and greyer than what we would have wished and the high mountains reaching some 2600 m (8500 ft) in the background were not easy to distinguish… but we had also some nice moments of sun. We used the grey moments to visit some of the many valleys and torrents that lead to the lake.

Lake Baikal is the world’s oldest and deepest (down to about 1600 m = 5400 ft) lake and also among the clearest ones. If you want to make the tour (hardly any roads) it would mean some 2100 km (1300 miles). It contains about 20% of the world’s unfrozen surface fresh water. Lake Baikal is a rift valley. Below the lake there are some 7 km (4.3 miles) of sediments, meaning that the rift floor is some 8-11 km (5-7 miles) below the surface, making it the world’s deepest rift, widening some 2 cm (0.8 in) each year. One day, Euroasia will be split in two..

The Lake is covered by ice some five months per year.

The biodiversity is enormous with some 1000 species of plants and some 1500 varieties of animals, whereof 80% endemic, unique. This would include freshwater seals and the salmonid Omul fish, which we with pleasure tasted a number of times.

… and of course, surrounded by autumn colours, it’s just beautiful!

Transsiberian, Transmongolian ... Irkutsk

2011-10-10T00:01:00.019+02:00

Three days and nights after leaving Ekaterinburg (see previous post), we reached Irkutsk. One major reason for a stop at Irkutsk is the nearness of the Baikal Lake (next post). The city lies at the Angara River, the major outflow from the Baikal Lake, some 70 km (45 miles) away.

Irkutsk is one of the biggest cities in Siberia, and one of the cold days we stayed there, the city celebrated its 350 years of existence. The first road to Moscow, the Siberian road, dates from 1760 and the Transsiberian Railroad reached Irkutsk in 1898. The city became important for trade with China, Mongolia…

In the early 19th century many nobles, officers, artists… who had taken part in the so called Decembrist revolt against the then Tsar Nicolas I were exiled to Irkutsk. There are many wooden houses from this period, unfortunately only a few in good shape. We understood that the possible restorations are heavily supervised and often too expensive for the people who occupy them.

Transsiberian, Transmongolian ... Ekaterinburg

2011-10-07T00:01:00.017+02:00

Still on the way eastwards… Less known than Saint Petersburg and Moscow, maybe a few words about Ekaterinburg (also written Yekaterinburg…). You reach the city just after having crossed the Ural Mountains, which also means that you have reached Asia.

The city was created during the 18th century. It’s perhaps today best known as the place where the Tsar Nicholas II and his family were murdered in 1918. The house where they lived was demolished in 1977 on the order of Moscow via Boris Yeltsin, who then was a local Ekaterinburg leader. Yeltsin later, in 1998, represented the people when the Tsar and his family got a state funeral; they are now buried at the Saints Peter and Paul Cathedral in Saint Petersburg (see previous post). On the place where their house stood you can since 2003 find the “Church on Blood in Honour of All Saints Resplendent in the Russain Land”, commemorating the Romanov family and their sainthood.

The city was named Sverdlovsk between 1924 and 1992 (and the region still has that name). You can find the statue of Yakov Sverdlov, just across the Opera House, not far from the Romanov memorial. He was a leading revolutionary personality and was obviously the one who gave the order to execute the Royal family. He could have been the Lenin successor, but died already in 1919.

Svedlovsk, later Ekaterinburg, was also a leading military industrial centre during the Soviet Communist era, and was then a “closed city”, not open to foreign tourists. It was over the suburbs of Ekaterinburg that the U-2 spy plane (Francis Gary Powers) was shot down.

Transsiberian, Transmongolian ... Moscow

2011-10-04T00:01:00.021+02:00

On our way to the east... a few pictures from Moscow.

Trip with Transsiberian, Transmongolian... Saint Petersburg

2011-10-01T11:21:00.004+02:00

Well, I'm back! I will publish a few clips. Here is a first one from Saint Petersburg.

A break in blogging again...

2011-08-31T00:01:00.018+02:00

I’m off again, for a rather long trip. I’m going by the Transsiberian / Transmongolian train all the way from Saint Petersburg to Beijing via Moscow, Ekaterinenburg, Irkutsk (the Baïkal Lake), Uulan Bator (a longer stay in Mongolia). I will be away the whole month of September - and will not be blogging, sorry! I hope to have something to report when I'm back!

Spanish vacations - more from Sevilla

2011-08-27T00:01:00.026+02:00

I feel a bit embarrassed about this last post from our Spanish vacations. As many, I have very mixed feelings about the corridas … but we went to see one. Of course the “Plaza de Toros” in Sevilla is something special and is worth a visit already for itself! It was the first circular bullfighting arena to be built – in the 18th century. This was to avoid the cornering of the actions and to give a similar view for all spectators (like the Roman amphitheatres). Before that, bullfighting mostly took place on open plaza areas. The present final shape of the Sevillan “Plaza de Toros” dates from the beginning of the 20th century. The real season is in April. We just saw a smaller “novillada sin picadores”; the bullfighters have not yet taken the “alternative” to become professional matadors. Anyhow, as said, we went there… (It started at 10 p.m., it was of course dark and my zooming gave some not always very neat photos.)

… and to end up our Sevillan visits correctly, we went again (I have been there three times the last ten years) to “Casa Anselma” in the Triana district – on the other side of the Guadalquivir River. This is a real flamenco bar. Anselma opens – most evenings - at around midnight. There are of course tourists around, but also a dominating number of locals. The artists may vary from one evening to the other and there is spontaneous singing and dancing from people in the audience, often excellent artists. There is no charge to enter, but Anselma makes sure that everybody buys a drink. … and then sings fabulously.

Spanish vacations - Sevilla

2011-08-23T00:01:00.008+02:00

Sevilla is the capital of Andalusia, on the river Guadalquivir.

Following the Romans, Vandals and Visigoths came the Moorish era, as from 712 to 1248. The Moorish architecture survived somehow also through the Christian times, the Mudéjar style.

The Moor’s Palace became in the 14th century the Castillian royal residence, the Alcazar. The buildings and gardens were developed through the 12th and 17th centuries.

The cathedral in Gothic style was built during the 15th century. Its bell tower, the Giralda, is a rebuilt minaret. Sevilla had for a long time after Columbus the monopoly for trade with the Spanish Americas. All the gold to be seen in the cathedral remains as a proof of the richness of the city. Columbus’ remains (at least supposed to be) are in an imposing catafalque in the cathedral.

I captured the rowing ladies above at the Plaza de Espana, a gigantic place and "palace" built for an Ibero-American World's Fair in 1929.

There is a lot more to be seen; it’s a true pleasure to walk through the city. I will make a second post about Sevilla.

I just realised that by registering my little video on You Tube, the image quality is better than when integrating the video directly. So, I changed to You Tube also on the two preceding Spanish posts.

You may listen to some local Sevillan music and to Alexandre Lagoya playing “Romance” (Jeux Interdits).

Spanish vacations - Granada with Alhambra

2011-08-19T00:01:00.066+02:00

More from our Spanish vacations - Granada with Alhambra at the foothill of Sierra Nevada.

The place became really what you would call Spanish in 1492 - the year Columbus made his discoveries - after having been Ibero-Celtic, Greek and Roman and for more than 700 years having been occupied by the Moors.

The typical Spanish-muslim art is of course especially visible at Alhambra with Gerealife, most of it dating fom the 13th and 14th centuries.

The remarkable cathedral was built over a previous mosque during the 16th century in renaissance style. In the Royal Chapel, the Catholic Monarchs - Queen Isabella I of Castille (1451-1504) and King Ferdinand II of Aragaon (1452-1516) are buried.

The music is - of course - "Recuerdos de Alhambra", once more with Andres Segovia at the guitar.

Vacations in Spain - Cordoba

2011-08-16T00:01:00.051+02:00

So, I'm back from vacations (although as retired, you may say that I'm always on vacation). First a little visit to Cordoba, the ancient Iberian and Roman city, which in the Middle Ages became the capital of an Islamic caliphate. In the 10th century it was the most populous city in the world. It's perhaps most known for its Great Mosque, now a catholic cathedral, and the old Jewish quarter.

We can listen to Andres Segovia playing Suite Espanola by Albeniz.

I will be back with some visits to other places around Andalusia, but I will be busy the next couple of days, helping my daughter and her partner to move to a new flat.

A short break

2011-07-21T00:01:00.056+02:00

I will be away for a few weeks. Going to Andlusia with kids and grandkids, where we have rented a house about half way between Sevilla and Cordoba. Then, a couple of days in southern France, Provence. I should be back mid August. In the meantime, I will not blog. Vacations!!

In the meantime, you may have a look on a small clip with some of my photos from 2011, so far.

Take care in the meantime! See you (rather) soon!

Carmelites

2011-07-18T00:01:00.059+02:00

What was originally a Carmelite Convent is today a Catholic Institute (University), which you can find on the corner of Rue de Vaugirard and Rue d’Assas.

Carmelites moved in here in the beginning of the 17th century. Some original buildings remain, including the Saint-Joseph-des-Carmes Church, built 1613-20, originally, as the other buildings of the convent, painted in brilliant white. It got the first church copula in Paris, but you need a helicopter to get a good photo of it.

As we can see on the plan from 1739, the convent included large gardens. Here melissa and other plants were cultivated, for the production of Melissa cordial / liqueur (Eau des Carmes, Aqua Carmelitarium), very popular during centuries, used as medicine against digestion and other problems (Cardinal Richelieu used it against migraine), still to be found in pharmacies, but in private hands and produced elsewhere since the 19th century. … and the convent gardens are gone.

The Revolution of course struck here as well. The convent buildings were used as prison for non-juring priests, refractory clergy, who refused to swear an oath of allegiance to the State. 110 of them were killed here in 1792.

The convent could resume its normal activities in 1797. Some modifications to the buildings took place. In 1845 the place was taken over by the Paris archiepiscopal diocese to become a Carmelite School and in 1876 it became the Catholic Institute it today still is, including a Carmelite University Seminary.

New red brick buildings were added during the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century.

The ornament garden is still there - see also top photo.

Montmartre Museum

2011-07-14T00:01:00.153+02:00

Well, I know, it’s July 14^th and it’s time to celebrate! Just as a reminder, here is photo I took two years ago (more of these fireworks photos here). If you take a look at Virginia's Paris blog, you will see that I was not alone, when I took these photos. I imagine that something similar will be seen again tonight. I guess I will be around.

But, in the meantime, this post will be about something else. I was invited to the inauguration of a plate, fixed on the wall of what today is the Montmartre Museum. I already posted about the museum end 2009, when there was a danger that it would be closed. It has been saved! Important improvements will be made between now and 2014. The governance of the museum and the works presented have by the City of Paris been committed to an enterprise which already with success manages other historic places in France. They will work in close cooperation with the “Association du Vieux Montmartre” (I’m a member), created in 1886, which since has built up a fantastic collection of paintings, photos… all kinds of souvenirs of what Montmartre was and is.

So, before entering, we assisted at a small ceremony in the street, in the presence of the Mayor of the arrondissement, the boss of the museum, the President of the Montmartre Republic, the Chairman of the “Vieux Montmartre” association, a representative of the Mayor of Paris… and we could see the plate. It indicates some of the names of artists who have worked and lived in what now are the museum buildings, one of which probably is the oldest still existing building on Montmartre.

Some of the names on the plate are world famous, some maybe less. At the end of the post, I will tell something more about the people named on the plate.

So, we entered into the nice gardens, heard some more speeches… and got something to eat and drink.

Exceptionally, it was possible to reach all pieces of the garden and even have a different look at the vineyards (see previous post). In the future, there will also be a direct access to the little “wild” park, the Saint Vincent Garden (see previous post).

Of course I made also a quick visit to the present museum building (see again previous post for more details, if you wish).

So… who were the artists who have been active here, for longer or shorter periods? Some are really famous, but I guess I'm not the only one who didn't know more than possibly the names of some of these personalities, so I did some "research".

Let’s take them in the order they are mentioned on the plate.

Pierre-Auguste Renoir was here for about a year and had the time to finish one of his most famous paintings, including the “Moulin de la Galette”, “Le Balançoire”, “Le Jardin de la rue Cortot” (obiously representing him and Monet in discussion).

Maximilien Luce was a painter and anarchist, most well-known for his pointillist works, like Signac, who made his portrait.

Emile-Othon Friez belonged to the fauvist movement, friend of Raoul Dufy (see below). He became more traditional with the age.

Raoul Dufy lived many years here. He was definitely a leading fauvist painter. He’s also known for ceramic and textile, fashion, designs and some very large decorations for public buildings.

Emile Bernard was a post-impressionist painter, like van Gogh and Gauguin and he was close friend with both of them. Bernard spent time with Gauguin in Pont-Aven and we can see how they then made counter piece portraits. We know that Gauguin and van Gogh spent time together in Arles. We can see below how van Gogh copied Bernard’s paintings. They went to the same art school in Paris (Cormon) (see previous post), where Bernard also became friend with Toulouse--Lautrec… and there is even a photo with Bernard and van Gogh together on the Seine banks. … and Bernard assisted and painted van Gogh’s funeral.

Francisque Poulbot was a pure “Montmartrian” and made a lot to save the Montmartre spirit. He’s known for his paintings of kids, known as “poulbots”. I have already posted about him and the - false - “poulbots” we now can find as postcards and tourist paintings.

Charles Camoin belonged to the original fauvist group, friend of Matisse.

Suzanne Valadon is definitely the person who, together with her son, Maurice Utrillo, has marked the place, living here for years. Starting as a model, she became herself a renowned painter. She has been portrayed by many of those days’ leading painters, some of them also her lovers, … and by herself.

Maurice Utrillo was thus Suzanne Valadon’s (and Renoir’s?) son. Very bohemian, often drunk, a bit crazy… he has left a very large number of typical Montmartre paintings.

André Utter was Suzanne Valadon’s second official (very young) husband. He painted, but also managed Suzanne’s and Maurice’s “business”.

André Antoine was an actor, director, theater manager. He’s considered as the inventor of more modern, realistic theatre staging. For a while he managed a theatre in Paris which still is named after him.

Léon Bloy was a novelist, essayist, pamphleteer and poet. Authors like Graham Greene, Jorge Luis Borges, John Irving… have said to have been influenced by him and refer to him in their works.

Pierre Reverdy is known as a leading surrealist poet, friend of Appolinaire, Max Jacob, André Breton, Tzara, Picasso, Braque, Matisse… He had a love affair with Coco Chanel … but then retired quite young.

Démétrios Galanis lived here some 50 years. Painter and engraver, friend of Picasso and exhibiting with him and also with Matisse, Gris, Dufy, Chagall, Braque… he was also professor at the Ecole des Beaux Arts, member of the French Academy…

A last look at the museum and the garden , Suzanne Valadon’s studio and the tree, where I believe they have the intention to put a swing, to commemorate Renoir's “Balançoire”.

Along Rue Oberkampf

2011-07-11T00:01:00.076+02:00

Rue Oberkampf is an ordinary street in the 11th arrondissement, which during the 18th and 19th century developed with a lot of small industries and was inhabited by their workers. Today, there is an architectural and social mix, with some old, disappearing activities, some popular bars and restaurants…

There is a place on Rue Oberkampf, where urban artists are allowed to “perform” in an official way. A large wall is since a couple of years officially dedicated to urban art. Every ten or fifteen days you will see a new decoration. Behind this is an association called the M.U.R. (see link to their site) (I’m a member), sponsored by the City of Paris, Centre Pompidou, Cartier, Canal+…

Watching a “performance” the other day, I made a little walk in the immediate neighbourhood and discovered some nice “passages”, alleys, more particularly the “Cité du Figuier” (fig-tree). There are many similar sites here and elsewhere in Paris. You must learn to look to the right and the left and push some gates.

The “Cité du Figuier” used thus to be full of small workshops and to be inhabited by the workers. It has definitely a lot of charm, although the workshops today are more linked to art, publishing, architect offices…

As you can see from the top photo, people who work or live here seem to have adopted bikes as a major means of transportation. The bikes are parked under the fig-tree.

In some porches you can find some old signs of previous activities and also some new illustrations.

Entering the alley, you will pass in front of the little home of the “gardienne”. Only the cat observed me.

Here are some more pictures from other alleys in the neighbourhood…

… some with an even stronger past industrial aspect.

Jesuits in Paris

2011-07-07T00:01:00.124+02:00

Some four years ago, I very briefly mentioned the what is mostly referred to as the Saint-Paul Church, but where the full name should be the Saint-Paul-Saint-Louis Church, in a post. Last week I had the opportunity to make a closer visit, together with someone who also could open the gates to the present “Lycée Charlemagne”, which used to be a Jesuit convent, of which the church was part.

Around 1580, the Jesuits started to occupy this area. A chapel was built, in 1641 replaced by the church we know today; to some extent using the Jesuit mother church, Chiesa del Gesu in Rome, as model in a baroque style. The Cardinal Richelieu held the first mass.

Originally, the Church was called after Saint Louis, but after the Revolution the nearby Saint-Paul parish church, of which we still can see some traces, was demolished and the Saint-Louis Church, became the Saint-Paul-Saint-Louis Church, toady thus mostly referred to as Saint-Paul. I made again a comparison between 1739 and today.

A small “parenthesis”: The Jesuit movement, Society of Jesus, was founded by Ignatius of Loyola (1491-1556) in 1534 – at Montmartre, in what was called the Martyrium, a small downhill chapel (rebuilt). (You can visit it certain afternoons, - 11 rue Yvonne Le Tac -,not so much to see, but there is a lot of history about the place – Saint Denis, Saint Bernard, Thomas Becket….)

The Jesuit movement has had its ups and downs. The Jesuits remained in the Saint-Paul-Saint-Louis Church and its convent until they were expelled from France in 1763.

The facade is in heavy need of restoration.

The interior, still beautiful, lost a lot of its decorative elements during the Revolution.

Today you may notice a painting by Eugène Delacroix (1798-1863) and a sculpture by Germain Pilon (1525-1590). (See previous post 1, 2, about Pilon.)

The ceiling (see top picture) is impressive. You can read the letters “IHS” (the first three letters for Jesus in Greek), the seal of the “company”, and “MA” for Maria.

Also the original organ disappeared during the Revolution and the existent one is more recent (basically 19th century). Some prominent musicians have been active in the Church, especially during the Jesuit times, e.g. Marc-Antoine Charpentier (1643-1704). His “Te Deum” was performed here in 1690, well known by Europeans, opening all Eurovision broadcasting. Another one was Jean-Philippe Rameau (1683-1764), organist in the Church.

The surrounding buildings, then the convent, thus today occupied by the well-known high-school, “Lycée Charlemagne”, date also basically from the 17th century.

Not so much left of the interior, but some parts have been saved. You can see the main staircase, with its decorated ceiling...

... and in the neighbour building some other stairs leading to...

... the apartments of the “Father Confessor”, where lived François d’Aix La Chaize (1624-1709), better known as “Père Lachaise”, confessor of Louis XIV during 34 years and who gave his name to the Père Lachaise Cemetery (see previous post). (He later, or also, lived at a Jesuit property, on the land which now is occupied by the cemetery.) A contemporary personality who “perfomed” in the Church and is buried there was Louis Bourdalou (1632-1704), particularly known as fabulous preacher, who attracted crowds, the esteem by leading contemporary and later intellectuals (Corneille, Racine, Voltaire…), often preached at Versailles… His sermons lasted long and the women obviously more or less discretely made use of “personal potties”, which in French also are named “bourdalous”. It is said that this may have given the English word “loo”.

Flowers and bees...

2011-07-04T00:01:00.039+02:00

Sorry... this is perhaps not a typical Paris subject, but at least the photos were taken in the Batignolles-Clichy Park, close to my home.

There were a lot of bees around and I wanted to get a nice photo of at least one. It seems today that insects have a better life in cities than on the countryside - less pesticides around and more and more of hives are being installed.

Basically I can put the name only on very few flowers – roses, tulips… -, so I’m quite proud that my Google research gave me the name of this one: Cynara Cardunculus (artichocke thistle, cardone, cardoni, carduni, cardi, cardon… - I hope I’m right). I found the flowers spectacular and there were bees around … , but they were always hiding, disappearing inside the big flower… Finally I almost got one, but it left rapidly and flew away.

(Surprising artichoke flower.)

So, to get my bee, I went to take some shots of some smaller neighbour flowers (not so sure about the name here, an Echinops Bannaticus, blue globe?) where the bees were much kinder and let me the time to take some photos, including the top one.

(I just use a compact Canon G11, so ...)

Addendum July 4th, afternoon:
I made some kind of research to find the names of the flowers (no comments or remarks so far), but the great mistake is obviously that at least the insect on the top and bottom pictures is not a bee, but a wasp. Abe suggested hornet, which obviously is some kind of wasp and Owen suggested yellowjacket. Thanks - you learn everyday! :-)

Medici Fountain

2011-06-30T00:01:00.049+02:00

I already posted about the Luxembourg Gardens, a long time ago (see here), but passing by the other day, I thought that the Medici Fountain was worth a new and specific post.

It dates from about 1630 and was created on the initiative of Maria de’ Medici, the widow of King Henry IV, regent of the young Louis XIII (and grandmother of Louis XIV). This was part of the decoration she wanted in the park that surrounded the Medici Palace (today Luxembourg Palace) which was built for her 1623-30. As a Medici, she was of course much influenced by and wanted things to have a resemblance with what she had known in Florence, the Pitti Palace, the Boboli Gardens….

What we today refer to as a fountain, was originally a “grotto” and it had no water basin in front of it. Different modifications took place during the centuries, but the major one, around 1860, when the Haussmannian major city plan modifications took place, including wider streets. The “grotto” had to be moved – some 30 meters (100 ft). On the plan from 1739 we can see where it originally stood and where it stands today.

When the “grotto” was displaced, some major modifications were also made. The beautiful basin was added.

Some statues in bad shape were replaced and especially, what we now see in the middle, a new group of statues, was created (by Auguste Ottin), representing the Cyclope Polyphemus, son of Poseidon (in bronze), discovering the lovers Acis and Galatea (in marble), possibly as a reference to the renaissance period, when this tale obviously was in fashion.

The 17th century composer Lully (and later Haendel) wrote music about the theme.

As the buildings which originally stood behind the grotto had disappeared, something had to be done to the empty back side. Another fountain, which originally stood in the corner of the nearby Rue Vaugirard and Rue du Regard, “Leda and the Swan”, had also to be removed because of the new large streets and avenues and it fitted quite well to the empty back side. So there it is now … in need of some restoration or cleaning.

Once more... Street Art

2011-06-27T00:01:00.053+02:00

There is so much going on with Street Art at present, so I have (the pleasure) to make another report! For the first time, a “Street Art Paris” market took place last week (June 20-22), occupying the Place Saint Sulpice, in front of the church (see previous post), which recently has got its second tower restored.

A number of specialised galleries and a great number of artists were present or represented, too many to be named here.

Here are some more examples of what could be seen.

Some of the artists were performing on the spot.

On these last photos you can see my friends from “Galerie Ligne 13” together with Jérome Mesnager and FKDL being interviewed.

Fête de la Musique

2011-06-23T00:01:00.023+02:00

The “Fête de la Musique” was organised for the first time in France in 1982. It is now celebrated in more than 100 countries. It takes place June 21, summer solstice. So, this year for the 30th time.

It brings out large crowds, especially in the evening hours and if the weather is correct. This year was a bit gray, but the evening was quite fine, just one local shower around midnight.

I made a tour of some events; you can’t see and listen to everything. All kinds of playing and singing take place in every street, in many bars and restaurants, in churches…

Here are some afternoon photos from the Luxembourg Gardens.

Some other shots from a bit “everywhere”.

There was of course music along the Seine banks, but also on many of the boats.

Early evening I went to the medieval Collège des Bernardins (see previous post) where a concert of Mongolian music was proposed. It’s of course very “special”, but I like a lot and the performing three artists, “Ensemble Enkjargal”, were just incredible! Below is a little sample of what it can sound like. There were some chairs, but most of us were sitting on the floor. A fantastic atmosphere! (I have now planned a visit to Mongolia, not only for the music, but also…)

Later in the evening I went to a concert given by the “Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France”, directed by Paavo Järvi. We listened to Schumann for about an hour. Again we were sitting on the floor. Guess where it took place? (See also top picture, where the orchestra is slightly mirrored.)

Coming back home, I could still enjoy the music from the nearby bars.

Difficulties to upload

2011-06-22T18:34:00.000+02:00

I was preparing my future post. I can't upload any photos. Am I the only one?

Street Art ... again

2011-06-20T00:01:00.118+02:00

There are a lot of Street Art (see previous posts) activities going on at present. The Street Artists get more and more support from the City, from galleries…

One City sponsored (4th arrondissement) event was the spectacular enormous self-portrait (world's largest?) by “Jef Aerosol”, covering one of the blind house facades at Place Igor Stravinsky - with its moving statues by Niki de Saint Phalle and Jean Tinguely (see previous post) - close to Beaubourg (Centre Pompidou – see previous post) and the Saint Merry Church (see previous post). I passed by when the work was in preparation and Jef was escalating the scaffolding and got interviewed by different media…

… and I returned last Saturday to watch the official inauguration. If weather and taggers permit, this will remain here at least until 2014. The gesture is “chuuuuttt!!” (shh! Hush!), meaning a suggestion, perhaps not really to silence, but rather to a respect of the environing art, music centre, church…

While waiting for the official inauguration ceremony, we had the nice surprise to listen to an improvised concert by a girl’s choir, “Cantus” from Latvia. The girls had the preceding days been singing at Notre Dame, the Madeleine Church and Versailles and were on their way to Belgium for other concerts. The choir leader received a signed gift by Jef.

Another City sponsored event (17th arrondissement) took place last Thursday, just in front of the local Town Hall. “Mosko et associés”, “Mesnager” and “Artiste Ouvrier”, peformed together for a common work, which later was brought into the Town Hall, where they expose until July 9, together with “Le Cyclop”, who in the meantime seriously improved the look of some street poles (and "Mesnager" decorated a tree).

Some pictures from the indoor exposition.

Bastille ... Revolutions

2011-06-16T00:01:00.072+02:00

I already posted about Place de la Bastille and the Bastille prison, tried to describe what it looked like, where it stood until it was attacked July 14th, 1789, what remains….

It took about a year, to have it completely demolished. It was then decided to make an open place here, celebrating liberty, and to erect a column.

However, Napoleon had the idea to build a monument in the shape of an elephant. A full scale plaster model was built, but never the real one. In 1833, it was decided to finally build the column originally planned, but now it would be dedicated to another Revolution, the 1830 July one. The column was inaugurated in 1840.

The other evening I was invited to a vernissage close to Place de la Bastille. On the way home, seeing the “Colonne de Juillet” (the July Column) reflected in some windows, including in those of the Bastille Opera, I thought I should have a closer look at it.

There are no pedestrian crossings to reach the middle of the place, so to reach it, and leave it, involved some danger, but as the serious blogger I am, I took the risk.

So, the column celebrates the “three glorious days” in July 1830, a second Revolution, which led to the replacement of Charles X by Louis-Philippe and what was supposed to be a more liberal constitution. In the meantime, there had been some 615 victims. You can read their names on the column. On the top of the column we find the “Génie de la Liberté” (Spirit of Freedom) with broken chains and the torch of civilisation. (Louis Philippe had to leave in 1848 after a third Revolution and the names of some additional 200 victims were added on the column.)

Hector Berlioz composed for the inauguration of the column the “Grand Funeral and Triumphal Symphony”. (You can listen to part of it in a version by the London Symphony Orchestra / Colin Davis – the illustration is the famous painting representing the 1830 Revolution by Delacroix – “Liberty Leading the People”.)

Not quite a revolution, but close to the place – on which they were not allowed - there was a little crowd of “indignés”, imitating the “indignados” of Puerta del Sol in Madrid.

Not bothering too much about such matters, there was already, in the early evening, a crowd of young people in the nearby famous rue de Lappe, previously famed for a number of cafés owned by natives from the Auvergne region, later more known for javas, musettes… Now remains one typical Auvergne restaurant and the “Balajo”… and a lot of clubs, bars and shops according to today’s fashion.

Addendum, June 16, afternoon:

Claude reminded me kindly about this song by Arisitide Bruant (1851-1925), recorded around 1910. The poster is of course by Toulouse-Lautrec.

"Arts et Métiers"

2011-06-13T00:01:00.081+02:00

In my preceding post I promised to come back with a new visit to what used to be the Saint-Martin-in-the Fields (Saint-Martin-aux-Champs) Abbey with origins well before the year 1000. I already posted about the “Arts et Métiers” museum, which today occupies part of what used to be the abbey. The Revolution of course made an end to the religious activities here. The National Conservatory for Arts and Crafts, referred to as "Arts et Métiers" was created and in 1798 started educating technology and different engineering sciences here and so still does. The museum activities (see previous post) started in 1802. Today, I will concentrate on the non-museum-buildings. Most of them have been added during the latter part of the 19th century, but I think it’s interesting to find what remains from the abbey times.

I tried here to describe this by comparing a 1739 plan of Paris with today’s Google Earth.

Remain the Saint Martin Church (1), which today is part of the museum (see again previous post), the Saint Nicolas Church (2), now on the other side of the street (Rue Réaumur) (see previous post) and the abbey refectory (3), which today is the school library. We can also find traces of what used to be the 12th century towers and the walls surrounding the abbey, (4), (5) and (6), the latter now hidden in a building, again on the other side of the street (see previous post).

Although not as spectacular as the Sainte Chapelle (see previous post), the 13th century refectory, the present library, could according to some sources have the architect in common – Pierre de Montreuil. See top photo.

Here are some other photos from the present “school part”, including from the almost empty café.

A professional photographer with assistants obviously used the premises for some fashion shots.

What used to be a lyrical theatre

2011-06-09T00:01:00.082+02:00

As you may have seen in a previous post about Rue Saint Denis, there are a lot of passages, galleries. I we take a walk through the Passage de Ponceau, which has been there since 1826…

… we will arrive on Square Emile Chautemps, and if we cross this square, we will arrive at “Arts et Metiers”, on which I also already posted concerning its museum. In a future post I will talk about the other parts of what used to be the Saint Martin in the Fields (Saint Martin des Champs) Abbey.

Today, let’s make a stop at the Square Emile Chautemps, named after a 19th century politician. It’s a very nice and calm square, planned and decorated by Messrs. Alphand and Davioud, as so many other parks, squares and monuments in Paris, created during the 18th century Haussmannian period. There are some nice playgrounds for as well kids as elderly people. There is a monument to celebrate some victories during the Crimean War (1853-56).

Behind the leaves, we can discover a theatre, Théatre de la Gaîté. It dates from around 1870. Jacques Offenbach directed the theatre for a couple of years and several of his works premiered here. The concert hall had some 1500 seats.

The interior was to a large extent destroyed during the latter part of the 20th century and some unfortunate efforts to transform it to some kind of “Magic Planet” were soon abandoned. Recently, the City of Paris decided to transform the theatre to a centre for digital art and contemporary music. It was opened in March this year.

As you can see, the interior looks today quite different from the lyrical 18th century theatre it used to be.

One thing has more or less been saved as it once was - the foyer, the lobby.

Before taking the direction of “Art et Metiers”, maybe a word about the little statue of Marc Seguin, who constructed a first European suspension bridge, later administered some 186 toll bridges all over France… and especially designed steam locomotives. He helped George and Robert Stephenson by a multi-tube boiler of his invention - which increased locomotive speed by some seven times – to, with “the Rocket”, win the famous speed contest “Rainhall Trials” in 1829 with a top speed of 30 miles (48 km) / h.

Recycling

2011-06-06T00:01:00.000+02:00

Under the metro station Palais Royal, with its very special entrance design ...

... there is a corridor linking metro lines 1 and 7. This is where you for a couple of months can find an exhibition about “recycling”.

I had to take my photos through reflecting windows, but I feel that there were some good ideas exposed.

So, the bottle capsules on the top photo were used to manufacture the chair you can see below. Would you like to have it in your home?