Fireman's wedding

Passing by Saint Eustache church last saturday I saw this unusual scene. It was in fact a fireman's wedding and all his colleagues were waiting for him and his now wife to get out of the church.

Henri Miller" sculpure

Standing in Les Halles quater right in front of the Saint Eusytache church is this sculpture by Henri Miller of a giant head and hand.

Saint Germain des Près Church

Known as the oldest church in Paris (competing for the record with Saint Julien le Pauvre), this church is the heart of the Saint Germain des Près quarter.

Quai de Béthune

The Quai de Bethune is on the "Ile Saint louis", the island on the Seine river next to the "Ile de la Cité" where Notre Dame Cathedral stands.

Soldes

Summer saleshave started in Paris !

Place des Voges

The Place des Voges is one of the oldest square in Paris (inaugurated in 1612) . Located in le Marais this square is a real beauty for the eye. Under the vaults you can find shops and expensive restaurants and you can enjoy the grass in the center of the square where stands a little garden.

Organic Food

A little organic food restaurant in Le Marais

Déjeuner

Outside lunch in Paris

Real Fête de la Musique pictures

As StyleSpy noticed in comment of yesterday's post, the clothes were not very "summer" clothes. Indeed the picture was not taken on sunday during the Fête de la Musique but I took this picture of these musicians often playing at the Palais Royal subway station to ilustrate the Fête de la Musique to which I was going to participate all day.

So today I decided to break the CDP rule of one picture a day and show you how diverse the Fête de la musique can be in Paris.

Need a taxi back home ?

Fête de la Musique

Today is summer day and in France summer day is also the day of the "Musique Fair". Everybody who can sing and/or play any musical instrument can go on the street, in parks, cafés, churches ... and perform.

This "Fête de la Musique" was created in the 80's and is now celebrated in more than 110 countries worlwide. Does you country have a "Fête de la Musique" today ?

Wine shop

I like this wine shop's name : Red White and Bubbles

T.G.I.F !

Here is a little cocktail from a place called "la rhumerie" on the boulevard Saint-Germains to celebrate the week-end !

Rhum can be French as the French West Indies islands (Guadeloupe and Martinique) produce an excellent rhum.

Carrousel

An old carroussel near Beaubourg Center.

Le Panthéon

This huge building named "Le Pantheon" was originally built as a church. It was turned into an edifice devoted to the memory of famous men , on the occasion of Victor Hugo's funeral in 1885 (see the writtings "Aux grands hommes, la Patrie reconnaissante" meaning "To the Great men, the thankfull nation"). More than 70 "Great men" are buried there like Marie and Pierre Curie, Louis Braille, Émile Zola ...

The building is located on top of the "Sainte Geneviève Mountain" in the center of the Latin quarter an historical and very nice part of Paris.

Cows

Seen in the Parc de la Villette in the north of the 19th arrondissement. No real cows in the city but I like these !

Another bilke ride

Yesterday was a nice hot and sunny day in Paris so we decided to take our bikes and ride. Our goal was to start in Paris along the Saint Martin Canal and follow the canal to the city of Meaux in the east suburb. I had once did half of the way to Meaux but never did it to the city.

It was great! We've ridden trough very different aspects of the canal and after 20 km we've found ourselves in the complete countryside as you can see on this picture. No cars, no noise, only birds and fields.

We did not ride the way back but took the train to Paris in which it is allowed to take your bike along. After 40 minutes we arrived at the Gare de l'Est and rode back home.

62 km on a bike for a Sunday, not bad don't you think ?

Nightime in the Latin Quarter

It's week-end so let's party in the Latin Quarter !

Boulangerie Patisserie

Some old baker shops (boulangerie in French) where so beautiful that even after been transformed into a clothes store they kept the signs.

Cloclo

"Cloclo" was the surname of "Claude François" a very famous French singer who died by accident in 1978 at the age of 39. He is still very popular in France even among youngsters who sing and dance on his songs. When he was on stage he was performing surrounded by nice dancing girls who were called the "Claudettes" after his first name "Claude".

After he died, one of his dancers opened a restaurant in the 13th arrondissement called "Le Kamukera" (French caribbean cuisine) which you can see on the picture today. It's located right in front of the French National Library that you can see in the reflection. Of course she's showing in the window pictures of her dancing with him .

Most of non French speaking people may not know this singer but I'm sure that most of you know a song he co-wrote in 1967 with Jacques Revaud and Gilles Thibaud. In French the song is called "Comme d'habitude" (As usual) and tells the (true) story his love breakup with a French singer named France GAll.

In 1969, after rewriting English lyrics (which are unrelated to the original) Frank Sinatra gave a cross-Atlantic version of it in under the title "My Way" and made it one of the most famous song in the world, people ignoring that it's originally French. You can watch the original French version of "Comme d'Habitude" on Youtube.

Ecole Militaire

Sunset on the Ecole Militaire building located in front of the Champs de Mars where the Eiffel tower is. 

The statue is The Marechal Foch, a French soldier from world war I.

Moving ...

I found the appartment of my dreams ! On the Ile Saint Louis right on the river bank ... I don't think I can even put a price on it !

Place de la Réunion market

We're still at the market near home on the Place de la Réunion (Réunion square : named after a French island in the Indian ocean). I think this picture shows the atmosphere of this popular market.

Fromage

France has more than 300 different cheese (fromage) types. Here are some of them from the fresh market near home. There are a lot of fresh market in Paris with great fresh food and warm atmosphere. Some are very "upper class" like the Rue Mouffetard market, other more "mixed" but all of them are worth seeing. If you read French you can look at the Paris website to have information about fresh markets.

Election day

Today is election day in France as we're voting for the European parliament. I can't help thinking that yesterday we were commemorating the 65th anniversary of the D-day in Normandy and that not so many years after Europe is united into one community. It gives hope for the future which in those times is something worth pointing out.

This angel standing on top of the Bastille square column looks like hope don't you think ?

Parc André-Citroën

Looking at my blog labels I discovered that I had not posted any picture of the 15th arrondissement yet. So here is one of the Parc André-Citroën located near the Seine river. 

This park is rather new (90's) and was created on a location that hosted the former Citroën factory. Citroën is a French car brand famous for its DS and its 2CV ( Deux chevaux) cars.

The parc is a very nice place to rest and on hot days like we've had the past days the children love to play in the water that you can see in the background.

Boats

Paris has its harbour on the canal leading from the Seine river to to Bastille square (you can see the column in the background) with a nice pedestrian iron bridge. 

Notre Dame's roof

I like a lot these statues on top of the cathedral's roof which need a good zoom or binoculars to be seen.

(click on the picture to enlarge)

Want to play ?

While the French Tennis Open is on at Roland-Garros, the Paris City Hall square has been transformed into a tennis court and lots of other exhibitions about tennis.

Every day a former tennis player (Mc Enroe, Guy Forget ...) comes to play on this court and people can also watch the live matches from Roland-Garros on a giant screen.

Thoughts

I pictured this statue at the Tuileries garden by sunset. I thought it tells the feeling I had yesterday when learning about the Air France flight crash. I work for this airline and my thoughts go to my colleagues and passengers who were on board . Sad days.

Theme day : feet

Paris' most famous feet !

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