Freeze!

No the title of this photo has nothing to do with the current Paris weather (even though I hear it would be appropriate!), but with a big "street freeze" I photographed at the end of March 2009. It was fun, shame they don't do that anymore... Sorry for the late posting these days, but I've had to get my local Internet subscription, and it was not easy to choose!

Nuit blanche 2014

Like a lot of countries in the world, Paris celebrated its Nuit Blanche (White night) last night. It was really fun and spectacular, especially the installation they had at the Hotel de ville (the Paris town hall) where people could control via a Samsung tablet (who incidentally sponsored the installation ;-) the colors of a huge flying bubbly sculpture!  

Bring back our girls!

I dont' like this photo too much (my fault!), but I like this installation! I found it at La République Square, where the former partner or our President (Valérie Trierweiler) and the new mayor of Paris (Anne Hidalgo) inaugurated it on july 27. Like you guessed it's an installation dedicated to the 220 Nigerian girls who have been abducted by Boko Haram, an islamist group about 100 days ago. These kinds of actions are good, because they help reviving their cause, while the news reporters are busy somewhere else...

Happy New Year (again!)

Like every year, about one month after the Gregorian calendar's new year celebrations, the Chinese celebrate their own. In Paris, the celebration is bigger every year (I took this photo in 2012), and in Asia, where I am at the moment, it's crazy! The stores are full of Chinese decorations, there are Chinese people on vacation everywhere, and... a lot of noise in the streets (you've got to scare these bad spirits away!). I wish you xin nian kuai le (happy new year) and gong xi fa cai (may you be prosperous!)  

Music station

Like I already said I'm not in Paris right now (I'm in Bangkok - there I said it!) so I've prepared a stock of Paris photos that I can publish daily from there. The problem is that it's not easy to stick to what's going on in Paris when you're miles away ;-) Like yesterday, when I saw on Facebook that the SNCF (the French railway company) had organized a symphonic concert in the Gare Saint Lazare one of the largest train stations in Paris. How frustrating to have missed that. So I emailed the SNCF who kindly sent me a choice of photos (I think it deserves a little "like" if you're on Facebook). FYI, the orchestra that plays is the OSR (the Orchestre symphonique du rail) in which a lot of (ex)employees of the SNCF play.

Paris New Year's Parade

I was not supposed to be in Paris yesterday, but for many reasons I decided to stay. I could witness all the New Year's festivities including, Wednesday morning the New Year's Parade on the Champs Elysées. Great moment! Not only was the parade good (mostly circus people), but also also I got to enjoy walking on the Champs Elysées without any cars! Check this little Animoto to have a better feel of the atmosphere.

The largest street decoupage in the world?

Do you know what Actinic keratosis is? I did not... until yesterday morning, when I came across this silhouette at the Place du Palais Royal! Actinic keratosis ( Kératose Actinique in French) is a skin desease that hits 1 in 5 people - in France - after the age of 60 and is mostly due to too much sun exposure. To raise awareness on it, the lab that sells a cure for it organized a street happening; they asked 7 street artists to create the "largest" decoupage silhouette in the world on place du Palais Royal (FYI, it's made of 25 photos and has a global surface of 750 sq. meters - 8 072 sq feet).  I took this photo from the top of l'Hôtel du Louvre, nearby. More info in French on this website. Also, don't miss the stunning making of. 

Montmartre wine harvesting

I don't know if you remember my last year's post, but like every mid October Montmartre is having a little party to celebrate the harvesting of its vineyard. Only this year it was the 80th anniversary, so the party was larger than usual. It's a very French event where you can not only discover many things about Montmartre (people who live there like to think they are different from the rest of the Parisians...), but also about the French "terroirs" (regions).  These two cool people for example are dressed up like in the old times and they probably come from the center of France  (I guess, but I am not sure). More in English or in French on the official site. 

Nuit Blanche 2013

Like every year (since 2002), it was La nuit blanche (white night) in Paris last night and like every year there were lots of interesting installations to see. I chose to go to La République,  where the whole place was totally covered in a thick mist - much thicker than the one we - very rarely - have in winter! The installations is called "Fog Square" and was made by Japanese artist Fujiko Nakaya - who I really thank, because it allowed me to take a real cool photo!

Paris wine!

Every year, since my friend Roniece made me discover it, I go to the Vendanges du "Château Charonne", a fun event organized by the Café Mélac, named after its (former) owner. Of course the whole thing is just an occasion to party, drink a lot of wine and eat typical food from Aveyron (a region of France). And there is no such thing as a "Chateau" at rue Charonne, just a few grapes that some familiar faces (to PDPers!) have tried harvesting with style! These legs however belong to no one I know, just some random girl who wanted to experience the feeling of crushing grapes! And before you ask, no, we did not drink anything from that bucket!

Et's woodywood sister

Like every year the French wood industry goes on a promotion tour and brings a whole forest to the Parisians. It's planted at place du Palais Royal until September 22nd and there are no less than 20 000 (small) trees on display (well, so they say... I did not count them all myself!). I'm not so much a tree person, but I thought that their idea of building a wood ET was kind of funny. So here you go... Enjoy! (This one cannot be visited though...)

Dancing the salsa in Paris

Last evening I went to a Microsoft press conference at the Cuba Compagnie, a Cuban style café near Bastille and on the way out I noticed that there was a Salsa session going on on the ground floor (apparently organized by a "coconut water" drink. So I took a photo... Salsa dancing is very popular in France - so is Cuba - and you find many places where to dance it - and/or learn it - in Paris. I like this photo because of its colors and energy. 

Short term garden

Like every year, the square located in front of the Paris town hall (hotel de ville) has turned into a huge temporary garden. All what you see in this photo is meant to last until July 12 only! No pond this year (it was probably too expensive!), but many different kinds of plants and trees and even an... insect hotel ! OOOPs sorry, I made a mistake when posting and the photo did not show up in due time!

Dîner en blanc 2013

Like every year around the 10th of June, Paris had its diner en blanc (white dinner Party). And like every year I went there to take a photo (several actually!). I posted this one because it allows you to see the amount of people that were there (obviously at the Louvre!) - even though this year the bad weather (it rained all day and it was pretty cold) probably discouraged a lot of guests. I get more and more message asking me "how to attend", but like I already explained, you have to know someone, who knows someone, who knows someone... and I don't have contacts anymore! 

The Scots invade Paris...

There was a very important rugby game in Paris today between France and Scotland, so our streets where full of men in kilts playing the bagpipe - OK maybe not ALL of them playing the bagpipe, but at least the ones I photographed at Montmartre during a little gig they did near Abbesses! France ended up beating Scotland, which allows us to remain in the Six Nations Championship! Had they won, we would have still remained good friends anyway! After all, our two countries have been long time allies and fought England for about three centuries (between 1295 and 1603)! It still remains in our collective memory!

Living poet society

What are these people dressed in black are doing with their umbrella in the sun?! A bit surreal isn't it? Surreal  maybe, but before all poetic, as... they are precisely taking part in the 15th Printemps des poètes (poets' spring), an event that has been taking place in France for 15 years now and during which all French poets (foreigners are welcome too I suppose) are invited to celebrate poetry and recite a few verses altogether. I came across this group by pure chance in front of the Beaubourg center, where they currently have en exhibition about Dali (as you can see in the background), another poet!  

Last run through Paris?

Yesterday morning the 13th old car parade took place in Paris. I went to one of their stops at Invalides and it was really cool (I have many photos but did not have the time to select them yet). It might me the last of the kind for the Paris town hall is about to pass a law that prohibits cars older than 17 years to drive through Paris (to avoid pollution). The bill is still in progress; let's hope antique cars will have a special persmission once or twice a year...

Ready for a book signing!

Who says you have to be French to make a good pâtissier (pastry chef)? But you may have to come to France at some stage! That's what David Lebovitz did in 2004 after he worked and learned his art in the US (California in particular). Yesterday (Saturday) he had a book signing for the release of his latest opus (Ready for Dessert) and I can tell you this guy is a rock star! People where lining up to get their precious signed copy and I have no doubt it's well deserved. The event took place at La cuisine Paris, a cooking school where all classes take place in English. I did not know about it, but I'm sure I'll be back ;-) Bon appétit everyone!

Beaujolais nouveau!

And you thought you were going to escape a Beaujolais Nouveau photo LOL?! Nope... I took it near were I live, at the entrance of Passage Jouffroy where each year a restaurant called Le Zefyr puts a huge inflatable bottle by its entrance. So huge that passers by have to go around it (how's that for a marketing tool?!). How good does the Beaujolais taste this year? I have no idea (I very rarely drink alcohol remember?) and who cares! Everyone knows it's not for the taste that this whole thing is organized, but to boost business and provide a good occasion for people to gather. Which is good enough ;-) Have a look at what they do with Beaujolais in Japan though...

2012 American elections

Unless you live under a rock these days, it's impossible not to be aware that during the night a new American President is going to be elected. I won't bother taking side of course as I'm not American and don't live in the US... But I have a lot of American visitors on PDP! So I thought of "celebrating" this evening with a photo of  the Harry's bar, which is undoubtedly the most famous American bar in Paris (read its history here). During election times, they organize a vote among American expats and the result is posted on the window (see the process on my 2008 post!). As you can see here, Obama would win by 214 to 148, but this straw vote has already been wrong twice... See you tomorrow morning (for me) with the real results!