The view from the gardens. It's hard to see from Blvd St. Germain because of the fence and trees, but beautiful inside.
If you do a bit of reading about Paris, you’ll know that it was originally a Roman town. For example, Rue St Jacques is built over an original Roman road (lead to Rome one supposes). And right nearby, on Blvd St Germain at Blvd Saint-Michel you’ll find a site most people refer to simply as Cluny. Read the rest of this entry »
The Pantheon is a building with an interesting background. It was originally commissioned by King Louis XV in 1755. He had a serious illness, and apparently made a deal with God that he would build a church if he recovered, and sure enough when he did, he commissioned what was originally called Abbey Sainte-Geneviève.
An imposing front entrance. Doesn't feel like a church at all, but then it was altered from its original drawings a number of times, so who knows what the original plan was.
Our little corner of Paris around Place Maubert was a study in contrasts. At one end of our street was the Notre Dame, the Seine and the luxe apartments on Ille St Louis – the very heart of Paris.
If you live here on Ille St Louis you either inherited it or you came into a lot of money. A wonderful place to live.
Let’s get a few very obvious observations about Paris out of the way. Paris is a wonderful city for walking, for being a flaneur or a boulevardier, if you prefer. Geographically, downtown’s twenty arrondisements are quite compact, and if you’re feeling energetic, you could walk right across the city.
Gents, if you generally spend between $750 and $2,000 on a pair of shoes, this is your store. On Blvd St. Germain in the 6th.
The fascination with Vincent Van Gogh carries on through 2012. Near the top of my pile of books to read is a new Vincent biography, Van Gogh: The Life by Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith. You might ask yourself why we need a new bio, especially one that weighs in at 976 pages.
Looking forward to starting in on Van Gogh: A Life.
If you’ve seen the mock-doc Exit Through the Gift Shop, then you know about the street artists Banksy, Shepard Fairey and the narrator, film maker, turned artist, Thierry Guetta, aka Mr Brainwash.
Allegedly, Thierry’s brother (at the end of this doc, you’re not sure what to believe) who is known as Invader, is the creator of the little mosaics of Space Invaders and Pac Man that have invaded cities around the world.
This one was the closest to our apartment. Nice message!
Many of my friends have been to Paris, but when I ask them, did you go to the top of the Eiffel Tower, inevitably the answer is no. I’m always amazed, but really shouldn’t be. After all, this was my 4th trip to Paris, but first time up the Eiffel Tower.
The colours of the tower change with the light. Like many things, it looks best closest to dawn or dusk.
Why don’t people go up? It seems like such a cliché. The lines are always miles long. There are too many other things to do in Paris.
Well friends, here’s my advice – unless you’re deathly afraid of heights, go. It’s worth it in every way. Read the rest of this entry »
One of the true joys of Paris are the bridges over the Seine. Within the city, there are 37 of them, including three pedestrian-only bridges.
Of course, some are fairly utilitarian and wouldn’t rate a second glance no matter where they were, but then there are those only Paris could offer.
A view from the water taxi. Well worth it, if only just to go under all the bridges.
By far, the most elaborate over-the-top concoction is the Pont Alexandre III which connects the Grand Palais (site of Anish Kapoor’s Leviathan show) and the Petit Palais on the right bank with the Hôtel des Invalides on the left bank. Read the rest of this entry »
Beautiful typography over the entrance way.
As if the Louvre wasn’t big enough on its own, within the building there’s another completely separate museum, the Musée d’Arts Decoratif. The entrance is right off Rue Rivoli, and really, it’s not to be missed. They always have at least one interesting show that’s worth seeing. It must be tough being a museum director in Paris – put on something less than spectacular and you’ll be totally ignored – there’s just too much competition. Read the rest of this entry »
We’d been to the Musée d’Orsay on previous trips to Paris and when it was time for lunch or a snack we always headed up to the restaurant / cafeteria on the 5th floor, not necessarily for the food, but for the stunning room behind the giant train station clocks. It’s a room like no other. I didn’t have a shot of this room – closed for renos – so I found this one from VP. You can see all of VP’s travel shots here.
Not bad for a cafeteria! Wait till you see the other restaurant.
