La Cour du Petit Palais

Amidst the beautiful architecture of Petit Palais sits this serene octi-circular courtyard,

filled with trees and plants, mosaics and paths.

Petit Palais, City of Paris Fine Art Museum
Avenue Winston Churchill
75008 Paris

Black and white has been suggested... what do you think?

Montmartre Café - Le Troubadour

From the street view looking down, the café scene on this Saturday was one of families and friends framed with green and a blue sky (not shown).


Le Troubadour
4, rue Poulbot
Montrmartre
75018 Paris

Parc de Monceau - ennui

Métro, boulot, dodo...

C'est lundi encore...

(Commute, work, sleep - It is Monday again)

Parc de Monceau
Boulevard de Courcelles
27008 Paris

Église Saint Pierre de Montmartre

Playing second fiddle to Sacré-Coeur on the hill of Montmartre is not too bad when you have a perfect Cavaillé-Coll organ. This former abbey became a place of music in the late 17th Century during the years when Renée de Lorraine was abbess. Although not as large as many of the Paris organs, its tradition of music continues the rich heritage of this church on the hill.

Bon dimanche

Église Saint Pierre de Montmartre 2, rue du Mont-Cenis
75018 Paris, France

(pour ma soeur, Renée, l'organiste)

Carrousel - Place des Abbesses

Colorful, fast, and trendy...

Enjoyed immensely by the children, but

Not my favorite carrousel à Paris

Zoom-zoom

Carrousel (Counter-clockwise)
Place des Abbesses
75018, Paris

Printemps - le reflet

A dress of pale blue feathers and fringed silk tweed,

a backdrop of trees,

and a wistful glance down the boulevard.

Printemps
64, boulevard Haussmann
75009, Paris

To see more reflections visit James' Weekend Reflections

Musée Grevin

Did you know that there was a wax museum in the center of Paris? Musée Grevin was founded in 1882 and now contains some 300 characters arranged in scenes from the history of France and modern life. Its baroque architecture includes a mirrored mirage room based on the principle of a catoptric cistula and a theater for magic shows.

It has an ornate main entrance on Boulevard Montmartre and another entrance in Passage Jouffroy.


Hummmm.... you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours?


Musée Grevin
10, boulevard Montmartre
75009, Paris

L'Entracte -- café en rouge

L'Entracte's small terrace is dressed in rouge vif looking fresh for the season.

This tiny café's English translation means "the intermission" and is located across the street from Palais Garnier, the site of the L'Opéra de Paris.

L'Entracte
1, rue Auber
75009, Paris

Happy Hour at Le Ricaux

I am not sure whether this gentleman is looking for a friend or if he is just looking cool.

Le Ricaux
44, rue Chaussée d'antin
75009, Paris

Une question...

Puis-je l'obtenir en rouge?

(Can I get it in red?)

Zoom-zoom!

Église Saint-Étienne du Mont - IV

Église Saint-Étienne du Mont sits among some giants in the Latin Quarter, just across from the Pantheon on Place Saint Geneviève. It is difficult to choose a favorite church in Paris, but this would surely be high on my list.

Bon dimanche



Église Saint Étienne du Mont
1 place Ste-Geneviève
75005, Paris

Père Lachaise - Thomas Couture

Thomas Couture was a classical 19th Century history painter and portraitist, most famous for his "Romans in the Decadence of the Empire" found today in Musée D'Orsay at a grand 472 x 772 cm (15 feet by 25 feet).

He was critical of the moral decadence of France under the July monarchy (the ruling class) and alluding to French society the "Romans" of his masterpiece translated to "French in the Decadence." He later left Paris and started his own school, and among his students were Edouard Manet, Henri Fantin-Latour, and Pierre Puvis de Chavannes.

L'homme à tête de chou

Well, this "gentleman" seemed to be looking for someone?

This drole caricature is of Serge Gainsbourg, the reknown and often infamous singer, whose lyrics and songs were filled with puns and references to sex. He did look familiar in the salon window, but I could not quite place him.

(Thanks to Malyss, Vreni, Richard, Véronique, dive, Bibi, and beau gosse)

Bon weekend!

(and I need found a title, svp merci!)

Valérie
14, rue Marseille
75010 Paris

More Weekend Reflections here at James' place.

Avec l'amour

In the hours just before twilight,

the pace of the day slows and gives way to more tender moments.

Jardin du Palais Royal

Passage Jouffroy - un mystère?

As one looks up* in Passage Jouffroy, the iron and glass ceiling catches the eye along with the lamps, ever-present for almost two centuries. For what purpose is that door and where might it lead? Is there anyone looking out over the many pedestrians of the passage each day?

If it seems that I am suggesting it is haunted or slightly askew, I have been reading Deborah Lawrenson's wonderful book, The Lantern, just published by HarperCollins in the USA. A novelist and journalist, she and her husband live in a crumbling house in the Luberon which is the inspiration for her captivating, haunting book. You can check out her blog here.

*always remember to look up


Passage Jouffroy
10-12, boulevard Montmartre
9, rue de la Grange Batelière
75009 Paris

Stepping out of the shadows

On the cobbled narrow Rue Cortot, we find this prince stepping out of the shadows of Musée de Montmartre. He may have disappeared by now.

Musée de Montmartre

12, rue Cortot

75018, Paris

Le chat du café

I wonder if he is there for a beer or a smoke.

Hummmm?

Perhaps just for the warm lap and the ambiance.

Rue Lepic
Montmartre
75018 Paris

Saint-Pierre Church - Chartres

Saint-Pierre Church in Chartres is not as well known as the Cathedral of our Lady of Chartres, but this 13th Century church is a Gothic masterpiece with some windows surviving from the 14th Century.

Built outside the original fortress walls of Chartres, it was built to withstand the assault of aggressive armies. Built, reconstructed, renovated over the centuries, it is currently undergoing restorative work in the high arches seen here.

Bon dimanche

Epicerie Bastille

I snapped this petite shop from across the busy Boulevard Beaumarchais. It is narrow among many larger offerings on this wide street at the edge of the Marais, but there was as much activity in and out as a hive of bees.

Bon weekend

Bécassine - the story

Bécassin is considered the first female protagonist in the history of comics. She is a young Breton housemaid created by Jacqueline Rivière and Joseph Pinchon in 1905. She is considered the birth of the modern bande dessinée inspiring Hergé (The Adventures of Tintin) in the 1920s.

These books were seen in the window of a bookseller in Passage Jouffroy, a covered arcade in the 9ième arrondissement.

I first encountered this heroine through collecting antique fêves, which is another story...


Librarie Paul Vulin
Passage Jouffroy
Métro Grands Boulevards

Marché d'Aligre - le dimanche

In a busy, crowded market shoppers were buying everything from fish and seafood to fruits, nuts, and cheeses. Vegetables of bright colors were hawked competitively across the stalls.

One solitary man is buying flowers. I have more questions than answers.


Marché d'Aligre
Rue d'Aligre et Rue Beccaria

Une prison ou une maison?

There was a tiny crack in the boards behind the bars.

If something had moved, I was prepared to bolt!

Found: In an unnamed, narrow street of Montmartre.

Le Musicien

This musician may have been working for coins but he appeared to be playing for the music within his soul. The street (and Métro) performers seem to be a notch better than I hear in the United States. I found the same to be true in Seville last fall witnessing a string quartet for which I would gladly have paid for front row seats.

Montmartre en avril 2011

Café de la Paix -- au matin

Early one April morning Marie and I found this gentleman just beginning his daily routine, arranging the café chairs on the terrace of Café de la Paix. It was designed by Charles Garnier, the architect of Palais Garnier which sits just over your shoulder.

I would love to stop there this Monday morning for une noisette with my friends.

Café de la Paix
Place de l'Opera
12, boulevard des Capucines
75009, Paris

Église Saint Jean de Montmartre - l'ange

This unusual church made of reinforced cement between 1894 and 1904 sits at the foot of Montmartre across from Place des Abbesses. The organ was built by the famous Cavaillé-Coll in 1852 for a church in Lyon and later moved here. This Art Nouveau style church was one of the first to use concrete, brick, and ceramics as building materials. It has been the center of much architectural controversy over the years.

The photo is one of two angels gracing the front entry.

Bon dimanche


Église Saint Jean de Montmartre
19, rue des Abbesses
75018 Paris

Repetto VII

A trip to Paris is not complete without a visit to Repetto on Rue de la Paix. Although there was an expectation of an exquisite display*, the single poster of Danseuse Étoile, Marie-Agnès Gillot, features a beautiful and talented ballerina.

Although the tickets are très cher, I would love to see a ballet at Palais Garnier, just down the street.

Repetto

22, rue de la Paix

* previous posts of the window seen here and here.

Place André Malraux en rouge et bleu

I have walked past this fountain many times of the day and night but on the last evening in April, mild with a rising full moon, it seemed especially vibrant and colorful... just one of the reasons I must return again and again.

Bon weekend

Place André Malraux
Rue St. Honoré et
Avenue de l'Opéra

See more reflections at James' Weekend Reflections

Must be a French girl -- VIII

Oh definitely, and M. Cycliste thinks so too!


Blvd de Courcelles
at Parc de Monceau

Le coiffeur et le vélo

A narrow street in the 2ième arrondissement boasts this perfect blue door, offset by the single vélo.

Please disregard the graffiti.

7, rue Tiquetonne

Galerie C. T. Loo & Co.

This beautiful mandarin pagoda is an island in the midst of Hausmanian architecture very near Parc de Monceau. It was built in 1926 by the french architect Fernand Bloch for the chinese antics dealer Ching-Tsai Loo. "Starting his business in Paris, Loo was almost single-handedly responsible for introducing early Chinese art—bronzes, jades, paintings—to Western Europe and North America"....Real Parisian-50 best kept secrets

I hoped to catch a glimpse into the open window but saw neither shadow nor curious eyes. Tant pis pour moi.

Galerie C T Loo & Co

48, rue de Courcelles

Pâtisserie Hunt - Julien

Julien has beautiful pastries, and in April, Marie and I performed a taste test on la religieuse caramel and a millefeuille pistache which can be seen in the background.

Julien sits just across the square from Église Saint Philippe du Roule. After being reprimanded for taking photos, we made our purchase and took it outside on the terrace for photographing and tasting. The religieuse is two puff pastries filled with a light buttercream (some are filled with Chantilly) and embellished with handmade chocolate and salted caramel. This was divine but may have been surpassed by the millefeuille. Right now I would like a taste of either.


Julien
73 Avenue Franklin D Roosevelt