Sunday in the Jardins de Tuilleries

Long walk along the Seine to the Grand Palais today, exploring the laneways off Chatelet and walking through the Jardins des Tuilleries on the way.

Arrived at the Grand Palais to find that building works scheduled to start in June 2009 and finish nine months later, are still continuing...

What a shame!

(Would love to have seen the last exhibition there earlier in the year

http://fxreflects.blogspot.com/2010/01/christian-boltanski-personnes-at-grand.html)

Window-shopped my way back home, checking out all the fun at the Place de l'Hotel de Ville as I passed by.

There are actually children inside, rolling these giant plastic spheres around the square (and there would probably be quite a few adults too, if they were allowed... I might even have been one of them!)

Saturday Afternoon on the Promenade Plantée

Spent a leisurely afternoon spent walking on the Promenade Plantée from the Opera Bastille, where I discovered some interesting views from the vantage point above street level.

The facade of the Police Station at the 12ème is really just elaborate advertising for the real thing at the Louvre, I'm sure.

In other parts of the city, the High Summer excitement is really tangible; I caught the bus home last night alongside the Seine and the streets were buzzing with people attending an open air concert in front of the Hotel de Ville and generally milling around enjoying the twilight and pleasant European summer weather (though personally, I'm finding it a bit cool after the sauna that was Hong Kong).

Believe it or not, it was the first time I've really been aware of just how much nightlife is going on just outside the gates of the Cite! Note to self, must get out more...

Avoir du Chien (2)

And finally, this one merits a post all of its own - a doorway in the Rue de Roi du Sicile in the Marais.(Have taken so many photos of amazing doors, they may have to have

their own page too)

Avoir du Chien (1)

With mid-summer so evidently in the air and the streets full of holiday-makers including many Parisiens, strolling with their four-legged friends, it was only a matter of time before this dog-lover's thoughts would turn to this subject for the first (but possibly not the last!) time. So I may as well just go ahead and get it over with!

Parisiens' on-going love affair with their pooches is (literally) still in evidence all over the city. The ubiquitous miniature poodle still seems to be a popular choice for a canine companion amongst a certain demographic, though I must say I noticed a definite trend towards pugs and miniature bulldogs on the sidewalk cafes of Beaubourg yesterday. Not quite sure what this means though.

Meanwhile, closer to home in the 4ème, the latest Entante Cordiale continues apace with a spectacular and unexpected celebration of all things British and Pedigree. These two fine specimens are just two examples of the endless variations of canine and English themed homewares and soft-furnishings, including similarly eclectic combinations of Double-Decker buses, Union Jacks, Old English Sheepdogs and Jack Russells. Something for every lifestyle and taste...

Based on all this early retail research, I'm really angling for an invitation into to a local French person's house - what a riot of puppy love and anglophilia I've got to look forward to! I also wonder if, when I pop back to London for a visit, I should prepare myself for the latest rage to be Louis XIV?

Taking on the (Other) Tourists - Beaubourg

Took a stroll up to the 2ème today for lunch, through what seems to be the Garment District, full of grand, warehouse buildings reminiscent of parts of New York. Although I made it up there without encountering the crowds, on the way back I found myself unintentionally in the centre of Beaubourg and then the back streets of the Hotel de Ville and the Marais - packed with summer visitors.

This amazing vertical garden deserves to be more than a men's store shop front on Rue de la Verrerie. This reminded me that one of the things I am keen to see in Paris is the the Promenade Plantee, the reclaimed railway line.

Continuing the green theme, I spotted this poster and the improvised advertising for this tiny bar in one of the lovely laneways in Beaubourg - minutes from the throngs, but so calm and empty.

And finally this shop window full of amazing giant knitted vegetables - surely today's candidate for the kitsch page!

Wandering the Marais in the Morning

Turns out this area of Paris is deserted in the early morning, sleepily drags its coffee tables out onto the pavements and only reluctantly wakes up. Not so, all we jet-lagged tourists! I did manage an impromptu visit to Notre Dame de Paris, with a handful of fellow insomniacs, in the morning peace and quiet. Just us and the cleaners.

I've already seen so many great town bikes chained up to fences and posts all over the area, that I've decided to include a photo of my favourite Velo du Jour every post!

On the political front, it looks like Anglo-French relations have also improved considerably from my previous recollections and hundreds of years of enmity. Liz's hand actually waves. I may yet have to include a daily item of kitsch.

Cite and Surrounds - First Impressions

Well, I made it! Stumbled in at 6am this morning. Paris welcomed me with a sparkling blue-sky day, though it seems quite fresh after steamy south-east Asia.

I must admit, I had forgotten just how beautiful and charming Paris can be - quaint, rickety buildings, cobbled streets and the ubiquitous town bikes.

Am also delighted to see that Franco-American relations are clearly back on track and dozens of American tourists are in evidence taking in the Parisian air in the cafes at St Paul. It all seems very leisurely after the furious pace of Hong Kong!