Another day at the races!

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

Cool!

There are days like this. I'm currently in Nice for the week and I'm trying my best to keep up with PDP while I'm gone. But... the electricity in the room I rented just went off, therefore I have no wi-fi and I have tried all possible networks around me to connect, nothing works! Last, I tried what they call "tethering" with my phone and it seems to work. Only it's very very slow... SO I hope you'll this photo on time. I took it near the rue d'Eupatoria in the 20th. cool isn't it?!

The little house in the Paree (part II)

Here is a very unusual house that I spotted at Place Martin Nadaud, in the 20th arrondissement. If you look carefully you'll see it has a "forest theme" : the steps are shaped like tree logs, there are several "branches" embedded into the walls and  even the entrance "grid" is shaped like a little wooden fence! I read that it was built in 1900, but nobody knows why the architect used this theme. Anyway, I thought it was photo worthy. BTW nobody really lives there, it's a day care facility. 

Valentines day is approaching!

Here is a cute little Graffito that I found somewhere in the 20th (I don't remember where exactly!). I thought it was appropriate in view of the coming of La Saint Valentin (Valentine's day). On this occasion, the Paris town hall invited all Parisians to send a love message to a specific address; the message will then be broadcasted on the 170 information electronic billboards that are to be found everywhere in Paris on Feb 14.  2 700 people participated, but only a few will have the pleasure to see their messages up on the billboards!

Spooky!

Can you guess what this is? A new Mc Donald's? A Macarons vending machine? A Morgue? All wrong... this is a brand new metro station! I found it yesterday, while I was coming back from a little gathering with the vacation rentals service ParisSharing community. It's located at Porte de Vincennes, that is in the very east side of Paris, where they recently installed a new tramway - and therefore reshuffled the whole underground public transportation. Pretty cool isn't? A quite a change from the traditional Hector Guimard's Art Nouveau style!

Green hair!

It’s been a while since I’ve shown you a Paris graffito… I found this one opposite to the place du Guignier that I featured two days ago, in the Villa de l'Ermitage, more precisely. I love the way the ivy blends with the “hair” of the lady. The drawing is signed “Bamby”, but I did not find anything about him/her on the Web.

Sewers shelter for sale...

Here is a little “place” I love. It’s located off the rue des Pyrénées in the 20th arrondissement and it really looks like you’re in a village. The shelter on the foreground (where it’s written “Service des Égouts”) belongs to the town sewer services (you can see the coat of arms of Paris above the two doors) leads to several halls, including a superb vaulted one. The place is apparently for sale, but I have been unable to check this info.

Sharing Paris...

Last evening I was invited to a little gathering organized by Paris-Sharing, one of the sites that provides vacation rentals, home exchange and B&B in Paris (of course this one does it better ;-). It took place in one of the apartments - well I should rather say houses - they have for rent. A real dream place, coincidentally located just a block away (in French we say "pâté de maison") from the Juillet street of yesterday's post. It's what we call an "architect house", with a real garden and plenty of space (check out here), which is pretty rare in Paris. The weather was perfect and the company very cosmopolitan, which was fun. I had a real nice time.

4th of "Juillet"

Today is July 4th, also known as "Independance day" in the US, and since I have a lot of visitors from North America, I thought of celebrating it on PDP! I found out that there is a "July street" (rue de Juillet) in the 20th arrondissement of Paris, so today I went there and planted my camera just in front of... number 4 (click in the photo to enlarge it)! I know it's not the finest photo I've taken, but it's just for the fun ;-) Happy 4th my dear American visitors.

Wish you were here (you too I'm sure!)

The weather is currently lovely in Paris at the moment; just the right temperature (20°C - 68°F), plenty of sun, and another holiday in the pipe (newt Monday!) this Thursday. I took this photo from the Jardin de Belleville, a park that not many tourists visit and from where you can enjoy a very nice view of Paris. I highly recommend it. BTW the dome that you can see in the background is... the dome of the Invalides Pantheon (thank you Marnie! sorry for the mistake) .

Belleville artist worksops

Every city has its artists district. I'm not talking about galleries or museum but more off scene workshops, where young, not academic artists, gather and create what might one day become very successful. In Paris, this district is located in Belleville, in the 20th arrondissement. Yesterday, they had a "Portes ouvertes" day (open doors), where everybody could walk into their workshops and admire their work. I saw many interesting things, including this rather unexpected Buddah style temple in front of a giant wall covered in graffiti. More information here.

7th year anniversary!

Had someone told me that I would be posting a photo of Paris every day, on a blog without missing one single day, I would have laughed (out loud, of course!). And though, here we are 7 years later! About 7 years ago I was offered a digital camera and since I did not know what to do with it, I started this blog, which lead to great encounters and discoveries... To celebrate, let me offer you this sunset that I took a couple of days ago in the 20th arrondissement, from a place called La Bellevilloise where I attended a product launch. The bell tower you can see in this photo belongs to Notre Dame de la Croix, the 3rd largest church in Paris.

Bikers demonstration

Bikers are not happy and they want the government to know it! Why? Because of the recent measures I already mentioned here - mostly the fact that radars won't be notified before you come across one, like it used to be. It's very unlikely that this demonstration will change anything, but it allowed me to take this cool head! FYI, there are roughly 2,5 million bikers in France in total, and according to statistics, they are 3 times more likely to be killed than car drivers. And they demonstrate against seucrity measures? Er...

A unique street

I took this shot at rue Denoyez, a street located in the 20th arrondissement that you have to visit if you come to Paris and are looking for an off the beaten track place to see. It's one of the rare streets in Paris where graffiti and all kinds of street art are tolerated by the Paris town hall. These planters, for instance, surround the poles that prevent cars from parking; they are all handmade by artists and are really unique. But there are many many other things to discover over there, so don't miss it.

Carnaval 2011

I don't know if you remember, last year I took you to the Paris Carnival... A pretty small event (read the caption I made last year if you want to know why) but still touching and interesting. This year I chose to go to the workshop where some of the participants (the ones belonging to this theater crew) make - should I say "build"! - their costumes and outfits. It was very interesting to see them put so much heart into their work. I took several photos and did not know which one to choose, so for once I made a little patchwork.

Day off

Guess what? Today is a holiday in France. We're celebrating the end of the first world war, and more precisely the armistice between the allies and Germany in 1918 (see more on good old Wikipedia if you're interested). Now that we're all united within the EU, It seems so odd to me that there were once wars between France and other European countries like Germany or England. Anyway the good news is that even though there are now no veterans left, we're still going to enjoy a nice day off! Time for me to catch up on my work though ;-) BTW, I took this photo in the 20th arrondissement, rue Fontarabie.

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.

Graffiti

Here is a nice Graffiti I found on rue Clavel. I know nothing about it, I haven't been able to find anything about it on the web... But I like it. In this street there is also a theater called le Theâtre Clavel, of course!

Saint Jean-Baptiste de Belleville

Few tourists go off the beaten track, that is outside the very center of Paris (within the first 9th arrondissements let's say). And though there are treasures to see further away from the center. Hence this superb church located on rue de Belleville (number 139) - precisely called Saint Jean-Baptiste de Belleville - which is one of the first neo-Gothic churches in Paris. It was built between 1854 and 1859 and was conceived by Jean-Baptiste-Antoine Lassus. If you want to see and visit it you just need to go to Metro station Jourdain.

Sewers

Paris, the city where even the sewers maintenance service have a cute little house! I found it at Place du Guignier in the 20the arrondissement and I could not resist. I read on this excellent site called "Paris Cool" that it would be for sale, but I doubt it. According to this site, you can find a large vaulted room underneath. Note the Paris coat of arms under the Service des égoutes sign: a boat with a latin motto "fluctuat nec mergitur" (floats and never sinks!).