Winter break

A building with a view for this last post before I leave for a well deserved winter break holidays. I am taking a flight tonight and will be back for more Paris pictures in a fortnight.

Sunset

Sunset on  very Parisian apartment building in the 11th arrondissement with the kind of sky I like.

La République

This statue representing the French Republic stands in the center of the "Place de la République" one of the largest square in the city. The square has been created in 1889 for the 100th anniversary of the French Revolution.

Door

Mardi Gras

Paris doesn't have a giant Carnival like Rio or Venice but last sunday there was a "Carnaval de Paris" parade and as you can see we had Brazilians on the show. The great thing was that they made the two parades of the day (Chinesse New Year and Canival) meet on the Place de la République.
Today for Mardi Gras we do not do anything special in Paris except maybe in schools where the have fun with costumes. The two main Carnivals in France take place in the North in Dunkerque and in the South in Nice (click on cities for more information). As for me, my best Carnival ever was in New Orleans.

More New Year Parade

One more of yesterday's Chinesse New Year Parade in Paris.

Happy New Year

A late post today in order to publish a very fresh picture of the Chinesse New Year Parade. I'm just back home from the parade that was very big this year.

Oh my deer !

Seen in a street of the 10th arrondissement. For once a grafitti that fits !

Chopin at the Père Lachaise

If you are also a visitor to Virginia's Paris Through my Lens blog, you may have noticed that we often share the same places and as I liked a lot her yesterday pictures of the Père Lachaise cemetery it inspired me for today's post. Here is a this picture of Chopin's grave in that cemetery which is only 10 minutes walk from my apartment. It is also a way of celebrating Chopin's 200 birthday and if you like Chopin I advise a great French pianist Alexandre Tharaud and his record "Chopin - Journal Intime" (click on link to listen).

Un temps de chien

Yes we had snow again today ! A long winter this year and as we say in French for it's an awful weather : c'est un temps de chien. I guess this poor dog in the Palais Royal gardens just wanted to go back in a warm home.

Alexandrer III bridge

One of my favorite bridge in Paris. The bridge was built for the 1900 Universal Exposition to celebrate the France - Russia frienship and offered by Tsar Alexander III. And as you can see it is still freezing cold in Paris and we may have snow again today.

From Paris with Love and bigger

"From Paris with love" is a movie tittle that just opened this week with John Travolta in the leading role as you can see on the Cinema front on the right side, and that's also I thought I'm sending to you.
I took this picture in Montparnasse where we have a lot of movie theaters. Paris is by the way one of the Capital cities where you can find the more movie theater. Last year the movie industry in France had a very good year with a 7% increase of tickets sold representing more than 200 millions tickets for the year (we're 64 millions).

Yes you may also have noticed that I changed for a bigger size of blog page. I hope you like it !

Rugby in the City

Every week-ends you can see people playing rugby or football (soccer for my American friends) on the "Esplanade des Invalides" which is a large green avenue leading from the Invalides to the Seine river. The contrast with Grand Palais and its gorgeous glass roof  standing in the background is nice and I like this idea of a  city that lives and that is not a "museum city".

Soldes : last days

The winter sales ("Soldes" as we say in good French !) are entering their last days as they will be over in 10 days. I found this tiny shop very creative in the way they've decorated there window for the period.

Montparnasse Tower

Named after the area's name "Montparnasse", this tower is the only skyscraper in Paris. From the top at the 56th floor you can enjoy a very nice view that can be added to the one you have from the Eiffel Tower. The tower has been criticized a lot when it was built and still is. Some people even try to have it demolished. Nowadays it is not permitted anymore to built skyscraper in Paris because a law. The politics try to change this law but it seems to be a hard battle.

A night at the Opera

This is the Bastille subway station and the blue building in the background is the Bastille Opera House. I took this picture while waiting for the subway back home after having watched the Opera "La Somnambula" with Nathalie Dessay in leading role of Amina. It was just fabulous.

French national institute for blind youngsters

This place was created by Valentin Haüy in 1784 to teach young blinds. It is still a school located in a very nice building not far from the Invalides.

Dome des Invalides roof

As promissed yesterday, here is a close up of the Dome des Invalides' roof. It is beautiful and especially when the sun is on it and the sky is blue like I had the chance to capture last Saturday. You should also see it at night !

Les Invalides

This view of the Dome des Invalides is taken from the avenue de Breteuil. The Invalides is a museum of army and the place where the tomb of Napoleon lies. The roof is covered with gold. I will post a close up tomorrow.

Theme day : wood

A wooden door with nice sculptures in the 7th arrondissement of Paris for today's theme day.
For more pictures : Click here to view thumbnails for all participants