Not in my name

France recently experienced a terrible event: Hervé Gourdel, a 55 year old French citizen was kidnapped and beheaded the next day by so called Muslims in Algeria. To show their support and condemn the execution of this manman, hundreds of "real" Muslims gathered yesterday near the Grand Mosque. "We French Muslims say no to barbarism, stop to terrorism," said Dalil Boubakeur, head of the French Council of the Muslim Faith. We kinda knew that already, but it's better to express it loud and clear! 

Big naked man

This is something I'll probably miss when when I move out of Paris, but the thing is that, often, when you walk down a street here, you come across a piece of art (and I'm not talking about the buildings!). Whether it's permanent like the many statues I already showed you or temporary like this one. It was made by Chinese artist Hong Biao Shen who studied until 2007 at Panthéon-Sorbonne university after his Fine arts studies in Beijing. It is now on display at rue Soufflot near the Pantheon, but it's not meant to stay there. Students think it should and they started a petition to "keep the big naked man"! Watch the story in this beautiful video.

Sunblock!

I showed you the outside of L'Institut du Monde Arabe, a Paris building (mostly a museum) dedicated to the Arab world, several times, but I never showed you the inside, and especially the clever windows that open or shut automatically like a camera lense (or a human eye!) according to the outside light. Here you go then... A shot that I took on the last floor (Parisians will know that I did not take it yesterday as it rained almost all day!).

Botanical garden

The Paris botanical garden is one of my favorite gardens in Paris. It's large (28 hectares), never too crowded, offers a lot of shade when it's too hot, and has a lot to offer in terms of plants (including two giant green houses) and animal life. In one of its ends there is a museum (sheltered in the building that you can see in the background) with lots of interesting stuff (including the French Mineralogy Museum, where I was lucky enough to photograph the French Crown jewels once).

Another sky view of Paris

There are many high points and roof tops from where you can admire Paris. Recently I showed you the one of Galeries Lafayette or Printemps, today here is the one from the rooftop of L'Institut du Monde Arabe. It's located on the Eastern part of Paris, where there are slightly less monuments to see, but you can still enjoy a nice view on the Ile Saint Louis and on the back of Notre Dame (in the background in this photo). The entrance is free and if you feel like having a drink, there is, of course, a little Lebanese café/restaurant at your disposal...

Already Fall (Autumn)?!

I had a walk in a Paris garden yesterday and I noticed that there are already many leaves on the ground. I then saw that many tree leaves were turning yellow everywhere even though it's only August 10! I don't know why, but it's really early in the season - probably a result of the current bad weather. Have a great Sunday.

More doors

You know my love for doors, well here is another example. I found this one at place du Panthéon! The little blue sign on the left (on the street lamp) means that there is an electric car charging station nearby, which is still pretty rare in Paris, unfortunately. 

Kissing by Saint-Etienne du Mont

I took advantage of my being at the Pantheon, to visit teh Saint Etienne du Mont church, a church that is located right behind Le Pantheon and that I had never visited before. On the way out, there was this couple kissing like crazy and I thought it would make a great photo if I was quick enough. I did not grab the exact moment that I wanted to grab, but it's not that bad ;-) Have a love-ly Saturday everyone.

The largest renovation work in Europe!

This is Le Panthéon, a building I showed you many times, only usually without this "little white hat" nor the black and white frieze composed of faces (don't forget that a pantheon is a building where famous people are buried). The thing is... that it needs to be totally renovated and it will take no less than... 10 years and cost about 100 million euros! Right now they're working on the upper section which should be finished by 2015. And if you still want to visit the inside, no problem,  it's still open! Have a look at the "trailer", if you're interested.

A must eat at!

No, this photo has nothing to do with today's picnic! for the food will be much less sophisticated, but I happen to have walked by this Paris landmark restaurant two days ago and well, I could not help but take a photo. La Tour d'Argent may not be the best restaurant in the world, it may have lost a few stars along the years, it remains a unique place with a breath taking view on Notre Dame (take a look at it on their website). Besides it probably has the best cellar in Paris and a new chef (Stéphane Haissant) has been in charge since 2006. Definitely a place to visit if you can afford it.

Playing with fire on the Quais...

It's an amazing show that I witnessed yesterday from the Ile Saint Louis: a bunch of artists were literally playing with fire in front of a crowd. It was beautiful, much more than what this photo suggests. I searched on the web and did not find anything about them though. PDP picnic - still scheduled for Sunday, but I still have very little visibility about the weather, so I don't know about the location yet. Stay tuned.

Mythical Orient Express

If you come to Paris before the end of August and want to see what the original Orient Express train looks like, you only need to go to the IMA (Institut du monde arabe) and visit the exhibit they're having at the moment. The Orient Express is still a mythical train for us Europeans. It used to go from Paris to Istanbul (Constantinople before 1930)  in "as little as"  80 hours or so! No wonder it stopped in 1977... The SNCF (French railway company) wants to reopen the line eventually and turn it into a high-end "cruise".   

Street talent

Some street painters are really talented! Look at what I found at the end of the Pont d'Austerlitz. I think the  big brown cabinet shelters the electric wiring of traffic lights (there is a big crossing nearby with lots of traffic lights) and this painter - I think it's right to call him or her a painter!- used it beautifully. I thought it was a good way to start the week ;-) Update: thanks to a reader (Eugen Sitta), I now know who painted this: Christian Guémy aka C215.

Who painted that?

More and more graffiti artists don't paint directly on the walls, they first draw or paint on paper and glue it to the walls of Paris. Nothing gets damaged, they have plenty of time to finish their work and their piece of art is not lost when it's covered by another one, or cleaned par the Paris anti graffiti "police"! I know nothing about this artist, but I wish I did, for I really love this image. Have a great Sunday everyone, even if the weather goes crazy in some parts of the world!

Thesis viva!

Let me invite you to one of the oldest schools of Paris, Le Collège Sainte Barbe. Located on the Montagne Sainte Geneviève, near the Panthéon, it was built in... 1460 and is now closed. Well, not totally... The whole building was renovated between 1999 and 2009 and has been turned into an administrative building, a library and a place where students can defend their thesis. That is precisely what I witnessed yesterday, when one of my nieces (in this photo) - who's also my God daughter - had her thesis viva. A great and moving moment. Needless to say she did extremely well ;-))

2013 Veterans' day

Today is November 11, the date we celebrate the end of WWI even though there are no more alive veterans from that war. The previous years, I posted several times about Maréchal Foch, the one who signed the armistice with Germany on November 11, 1918, but this year I chose to show you the Pathéon  in front of which they hung French flags. As you can see, it was a beautiful day in Paris...

Singing in the rain (and in Paris!)

I took this photo at Place Saint Michel, a place known by all Parisians for being THE perfect meeting point in Paris ! And since a lot of people meet there, it's also a perfect place for singers of all kinds to perform in front of a crowd (well, of course, when it rains, the audience is less large!). I was in a hurry when I took this photo and I did not even take the time to find out about the name of this band, which is not very nice, I agree... But, well, it's too late;-). I wish you a very musical day!

Electric car...

It's been a long time since I've wanted to show you these odd little electric cars that have started invading Paris since last year, but I never managed to take a sexy photo. This one is not super sexy, but at least it's intriguing ;-) (the ray of light comes from a car that passed by while I was waiting to push the trigger). I took it by a charging station that is normally designed for Autolib, but is also available to everyone who has an electric car (there aren't that many, so they don't take much risk!). Anyway, It's a Renault Twizy, a two seat vehicle that is small enough to park, almost everywhere. It costs about 7 500 € and has a 80 km (50 miles) range.  Not bad, but I'll stick to my scooter...

Celebrating the end of Ramadan

This morning I had an appointment in the 13th arrondissement and on the way out I passed by the Grande Mosquée de Paris (the big Mosque of Paris), that I already showed you here. The place was absolutely packed, because of Aïd el-Fitr, which celebrated the end of Ramadan. Everybody was all dressed up and looked happy; it was really fun to see. Islam is the second religion in France, after Catholicism. It's also the fastest growing one, mainly due to immigration from Africa and to conversions (even though it's difficult to know for sure as the French Republic prohibits the performing of census based on religion, ethnic origins - or skin color). Also, France being a strict secular state, it is not always easy for all religions to find a space...     

So long café gourmand...

Good news, I was freed last evening! Still haven't been operated though (which means I'm going to have to go back soon...) but at least I feel good - although totally wiped out of course. In the meantine I must refrain from eating anything that has fat in it, which includes a lot of things ;-) Including this delicious Café Gourmand that I photographed before my "departure" and that I did not use because I did not like the framing too much. But tonight, God knows why, I'm OK with it! (BTW with this gallbladder thing I forgot to wish a happy 4th of July to all my American visitors, so let me catCh up today!). And for everyone: have a good weekend!