Water games at La Défense

I had a meeting at La Défense today, the main business district of Paris. It's a quarter I really like because of the stunning architecture of the buildings (mostly skyscrapers), because it's a pedestrian area and because you can come across a lot of sculptures and other forms of art. Hence this Agam Fountain (named after  Yaacov Agam) made of enamel from Venice. The "cloud" in the background belongs to La Grande Arche, but you probably already recognized it...

NBA Tour in Paris

You know that they often use the front of the Hotel de Ville (town hall) for various exhibits (garden, heart race, French tennis open...). Well this weekend was dedicated to basket ball... And more precisely the Adidas NBA tour. Basket ball is more and more popular in France (the French basketball federation has 456,056 members) probably because Tony Parker (the husband of Eva Longoria) is French (even though he was born in Belgium and has an American father and a Dutch mother!) and has been in the news a lot over the last 5 years. I took this shot during their impressive rehearsals and I was not lying on the floor(!) but on a step of a staircase that leads to an underground parking!

Paris London a bike...

Let me introduce you to Jackie, a young lady whom I photographed yesterday (Saturday) at the bottom of the Eiffel Tower just after her arrival from London. This would not be that extraordinary if she had not made the journey on a bike! Why did she do that? To raise money for a good cause of course. I really look up to people like her, so when she emailed me in June to ask me if I could be there on the day of her arrival, I did not think twice. Congratulations Jackie and, people, it is still time to make donations... (Do listen to her interview too, it's here).

Tomate Party

Here is my little tribute to my "oldest" follower (well, I guess) for when I saw this poster, I could not help but thinking of Tomate Farcie (stuffed tomato) who is a regular commenter to PDP! In this particular case Tomate has nothing to do with food, nor gardening, but with "music" and dance. If you're interested - and I'm sure you are! - it'll start at 6 am (yes AM!) on Sunday morning at the Plaza Madeleine at 8 place de la Madeleine. Have fun! (Why on earth do I suddenly feel so old?!)

African art at the cloister

There is a lot more than funny shaped baguettes in Le Marais ;-) There is also a lot of art. Hence, this African art exhibition in Le Cloître des Billettes (the Billettes cloister) - a sublime place built around 1430 ! - I love African art so I'm a little biased of course, but I'm sure you will all agree that these sculptures are positively stunning. I wish I had won the lottery and could afford to buy them... See the little video here if you want to know more about this exhibition and about Marie B who made them.

Magic Wand

If the shape of these baguettes reminds you of something, well don't be surprised. Yes, they are shaped like penises! I found them in the gay area of Paris, in a boulangerie called Le Gay choc (choc is a play on words between chocolate and shock). Big tourist attraction, needless to say. I did not get to taste them, but I see no reasons why they should taste different than regular baguettes... A little harder, maybe?! Tss, Tss ;-)

Market

Today is the 1st day of the month, therefore a theme day within the City Daily Photo community. Today's theme is pretty easy, as we have plenty of those in Paris: open air markets (check here for a complete listing and here for a map). Instead of showing you a colorful fruit and vegetable display, I chose this "sauerkraut", a typical dish of Alsace (a region in the East of France, close to Germany) that we call in French Choucroute. I took this photo at the Place Monge market in the 5th on the stand of a pork butcher... . See here, what the markets in London, Dubai, Moscow, Tokyo... and all the other cities part of the City Daily Photo community have to offer.

Gypsies...

If you visited Paris, you probably noticed what we call the "Roms" (Gypsies), that is an ethnic group who originates from India and who settled down mostly in Eastern Europe. They are very poor and not really welcome anywhere (including their home country) but with the opening of the EU borders a lot of them emigrated to the West, including France. They are now in the middle of a political battle as the government is trying to send them back to where they are from (Romania mostly) and the opposition is accusing the Government of being inhuman.

Medecine History Museum

If you come to Paris, do pay a visit to "Le musée de l'histoire de la médecine" a very interesting museum you can find in the former Medicine Faculty, in the heart of Le Quartier Latin. It's fascinating to see the old instruments, the dummies and the odd tools they have used to cure people throughout the ages. One thing I can tell is that I'm happy to live in the 2000's (mind you in a 100 years, somebody will probably write the same caption saying "I can't believe they had to operate on people to remove the appendix in the 2000's!"). By the way, here is a  little Animoto I made after the photos I took there.

What's cookin'?

What's cooking? Well, probably croissants and baguettes, pains au chocolat and pastries... as I spotted these guys - probably on a break - just outside the Boulangers-patissiers (bakers) chamber which happens to be on L'île Saint Louis since 1845, one of the best locations in Paris. As you can guess, among other things, it's a training facility, so that is probably what these people were doing: getting trained. I wonder what they do with the leftovers !

Nice Chairs

A heartfelt thanks to all of you who have made lovely comments yesterday. I'm very touched. I thought of another quiet scene for today and a very Parisian one. I took it at a café terrace in the 9th arrondissement near my home, but I forgot the name of the place... Not very important, I just love this shot. Have a nice weekend everyone ;-)

Rest in peace

Some of you have been following my regular trips to Trouville, where my Aunt Francoise was living (see two photos I posted in 2006 here).  Well, she came to the end of her journey on Earth at a very respectable age of 97(!) and is probably with her fellow angels now. I'm not sad, I think she had a wonderful - long! - life and took hold of all the things that the world had to offer. I'll be in Trouville for the last time today for her funeral, as she won't be buried in Le Père Lachaise cemetery where I took this photo, but in the local churchyard.

Thalys: Time to reserve your seat...

... And when I say reserve your seat, it's really reserve the actual seat, not the sitting! Explanation: Thalys is the name they gave to the TGV (bullet train) that goes from Paris to the north of Europe (Brussels, Cologne, Amsterdam...). These trains have been running for quite some time now and that is why the SNCF (the French train company) is renewing them at the moment. And instead of dumping the seats, they... sell them on ebay! Check it, it's even in English. I must say I'm tempted to buy one...

The Crying Euro...

The Euro is not doing too well these days (that is one of the reasons why tourists have returned to Europe - and France in particular, as I already mentioned it here). I thought this sign was very appropriate. I'd like to think that the paint drippings was all natural, but I think it was made on purpose... We'll probably never know.

Rider on the storm...

... Well OK, it's not really a storm but a little rain, but I did not resist borrowing my title from the Doors! Anyway I took this shot today rue Beaubourg, and, as you can see, the rain has returned in Paris. Some people don't care, they just open their umbrella, even if they're on a bike ;-) Cute.

Back to school...

That's it! The end of the summer vacations is close. A lot of people have started coming back, as many start working today (Monday 23) to prepare La rentrée (back to school), a very important moment for business. I thought this sign was very appropriate and pretty aesthetic in a way. It's funny to see that this shopkeeper was probably too lazy to make a new sign on a computer: he obviously erased the one of last year and changed the dates manually!

An elephant at Orsay

This sculpture is called "the trapped Elephant" and it was made by Emmanuel Fremiet for the Universal Exhibit of 1878 (it used to be gilded then!). To me it has a special flavor as... before being in front of the Musée d'Orsay like today, it was located at Porte de Saint Cloud, in the 16th arrondissement. I used to pass by it everyday when I was a little boy and would try to climb on it!

Sprinkler at Paris Plage

I know you're going to say I'm obsessed with kids playing with sprinklers (remember?), but what can I say, I think they make great photos. This year, they installed some of them in a sort of jungle area, which makes it even more out of place! Great success among the kids, needless to say. Especially since the nice weather has returned and that we're expecting very high temperature this weekend. I'll be in the South again, after 4 days in Trouville where it rained ;-)

Master Chef in France!

You probably know the Master Chef TV show... If you don't, let's say it's a cookery game show, where amateur must cook a gourmet, three-course meal in under one hour. You'd think the French would invent such a game, but no, the Brits did! And they exported it to many other countries... (mostly English speaking ones apparently!). Anyway, the French 1st channel (TF1, which building I photographed) had it on yesterday evening for the first time in France and they're expecting it to be a huge success. I haven't seen the ratings yet... But I hope it'll work as it is a very close friend of mine who imported it to France ;-)

The exercise tower

Here is a pretty interesting sculpture I came across by coincidence in the 17th. It was made by Wang Du, a Chinese artist who has been living in France for 20 years now and who was ordered a monument dedicated to the Paris firemen, by the Paris town hall. It's called the Exercise Tower, and it's located right in front of one of the largest fire stations in Paris, at Place Jules Renard. It weighs 7 tons, it's 11 meters high and it's made of polished iron, just like the firemen helmets. Which makes it pretty difficult to photograph LOL!

Learn to play soccer young!

Here is a very popular game in France... We call it a "baby foot" (yes, we often create faux English words to make things sound more fashionable!) and there used to be one in every single café throughout the country. Now they have been replaced with arcades games or pinballs... I found this one at Paris Plage and loved it because it's particularly small (a baby baby foot in other words...). And I love the energy in this photo too.

Rotten summer!

I came back Sunday evening from Nice to find this terrible weather (I took this photo Monday afternoon). They say in some areas it rained in 2 days the equivalent of 2 months of rain... The poor tourists don't need to worry about getting to much sun, like a at the begining of August, but what to do in Paris when it rains (not that we're short of museums mind you!). As for me, I'm off to Trouville again (Normandy) and something tells me the weather there will be quite similar to this one ;-).

Water for 1 €

Here is a photo I've been dying to take for a long time, but I never dared digging out my camera in front of one of these guys. "These guys" are more or less illegal immigrants, all part of  a "business gang" that sells water or miniature Eiffel Towers to tourists. According to an article I found on the web, they make about 400 € a month on average, which is not much. Needless to say they are pretty camera shy as their business is not exactly appreciated by legal shopkeepers, nor the Police... I personnaly would not buy water from them, not because they are illegal, but because I'd be afraid of what is really into the bottle! Did you ever try?

Joan of Arc at Saint Augustin

There are three statues of Joan of Arc in Paris - I generally show the one by the Louvre, at the entrance of rue de l'Amiral Coligny (the street that leads to the PDP picnic area!) but for once, let me show you another magnificent one. It's located Place Saint Augustin (after the Saint Augustin church that you can see in the background) and was made by sculptor Paul Dubois, and was posted there in 1896. The 3rd statue is located at Boulevard Saint Marcel; I'll show it to you the next time I go there...

Resting in the grass

What to do on a summer Saturday in Paris? Rest on the grass of course... It is not always allowed (because the grass also needs to rest from time to time...) but it most gardens it is now permitted (I also took this photo at Parc Monceau like yesterday). FYI, here is the gardens and parks of Paris portal (only in French, unfortunately).

Roman remains

There are many Roman remains in Paris even though the Romans left a long long time ago ;-) (the end of the 5th century). Most of them are to be found on the left bank, where the Romans actually settled down originally (that is why a part of it is called the "Latin quarter"). These remains I found in Parc Monceau, in the 17th arrondissement, on the right bank, very far away from where the Romans used to live. No wonder then, that they are totally fake and just part of the garden decor made by Louis de Carmontelle then man who designed the garden back in 1778!

Reflexion

This could have been the perfect photo for a "reflexion" theme day ;-), but no, I photographed it just for the sake of it. I found this Bugatti - yes it's a Bugatti! right at the bottom of the Paris Hilton, which is not really known for sheltering homeless people ;-) The car was really the center of attraction, and I felt a little silly photographing it, just like everybody did, in the street. But at least I have an excuse: it was for PDP!

Deck chairs at Paris Plage

I went to Paris Plage today to take a few photos and my favorite one is probably this one, as it shows exactly what this event is all about: spend some quiet time by the Seine, surrounded by the magnificent scenery of the river banks in the same exact deck chairs you could have in a sea resort. I love it! And though it's time for me to take a little break by the "real" sea... And it's not going to be Normandy this time, nor Brittany, but the South... (And don't worry, I will still post a photo everyday on PDP, needless to say!).

Roman Warrior

Yes, I know, it's another boring Paris Statue... ;-) But I took it at sunset and it gives it a little flavor that you won't see that often! FYI, it's called the Roman Warrior, it's one of the four statues that are to be found on the Pont d'Iéna (the bridge just underneath the Eiffel Tower) and it was made by Louis Daumas a sculptor we know very little about...

Les toits de Paris

I don't know why exactly, but there is something really special about the Paris rooftops. First of all, because you can easily see them (buildings must not be higher than 25 or 31 meters depending on the areas - with a few exceptions though) and second because most of them are shaped the same way, and made of Zinc with orange chimneys. I love them. And I'm not the only one... They have inspired several artists, including film maker René Clair or  Hiner Saleem and of course, this very famous song by Berthe Sylva!