Cranes at Clichy-Batignolles

The other morning I walked with Child No. 2 to his school. The sun was just rising and the sky was cloudless. I decided to take a long loop home and walk through the new-ish Clichy Batignolles park, also known as the Martin Luther King park or to our family the Ramp Park with its excellent skate ramps.



Construction is going on all around this park. To the North is the Palais de Justice designed by Renzo Piano as well as the extension of the Metro Line 14.

To the east apartment blocks and to the west more apartment and office blocks. There are cranes everywhere, reaching high up into the sky, red and yellow. 

As ever I was with my camera, not sure what would grab my attention. As it turned out it was a combination of cranes and puddles and ponds.

And now, time to play a little with the mind. The world upside down.

The Sacré Coeur Up Close

I've been living eight minutes walk from the Sacré Coeur for the past 10 years, however the last time I went up to the top was in 1981. 34 years ago! Oh my, that makes me feel so old.

Time to do something about this. Access to the dome is at the west side of the Basilica: 4€ for children and 6€ for grown ups. Given the fantastic view you get from the top I think this is money well spent. 300 steps take you to the top. For me, the physical side of the ascent was fine, I've been living in Montmartre for long enough to have plenty of practice with stairs. The narrowness of the stairs, however, was a little challenging. Claustrophobics beware! As well as those prone to dizziness.

What helps the journey up to the top is the way you pop out at at different levels and get to admire the domes and roofscape 'eye-to-eye'.

Not to mention the gargoyles.

The textures and patterns on the domes are right there for you to enjoy.

I often admire the copper winged statue from ground level. Here I got to see it up close. 

Looking up.

Looking across: a copper lightening conductor.

Looking down: traces of copper, bleed across the roof.

And then of course there are the magnificent views across Paris. Towards La Défense ...

Towards the Eiffel Tower.

What's not to like?

A Room With a View

We're back in one of our favourite places, Arles. A Provencal town 40 kms inland from the Mediterranean and 90 kms west of Marseilles. Arles is steeped in history and culture. Apart from the Roman amphitheatre, a Classical Theatre, and antique baths there are endless, narrow, incredibly picturesque streets that wind around each other in unpredictable ways. A pleasure to get lost in.

We're staying in the Hotel du Forum on the main square. Up on the third floor we have a beautiful view across the rooftops. Curved Roman terracotta tiles prevail.

Looking down and across the Place du Forum.

A window above Le Café Van Gogh, the Café which Van Gogh famously painted in 1888 while he was living in Arles. 

From our hotel room we can also see this domed tower on the top of the Mairie d'Arles. 

In the morning.

In the evening.

We move rooms today, the view is different but just as good. More photos to come!

Arles photos from previous visits.

Arles: shutters, clear skies and dragon flies.

Round and About in Arles.

Wonderful Windows

I've written about Paris doors before (Doors Galore). Lately I've become preoccupied with windows. Their different shapes, the reflections they create, their surround, their positioning within the facade of the building. Once you start looking, you realise how many variations there are and how much there is to see.

Here is a fairly typical Parisian facade. Only the windows on the lower floor have shutters. I wonder why?

The next road along, an apartment building catches the soft morning light. Shutters on all floors.

A cat watches the world go by from her window.

In the south of France, most windows have shutters. Everything is done to keep out the heat from the sun. Here are some shuttered windows in Arles.

Open.

Closed.

Trompe-l'œil.

And ... I'm not even sure what this is about. 

In Paris there are many huge north facing windows, designed to get as much light into the building. This amazing apartment block in the 14th arrondissement was designed by architect André Arfidson and ceramicist Alexandre Bigot.

Here is another beautiful glazed window on Avenue Junot in Montmartre.

Many Parisian windows at ground level have security bars. Here is a plain one. A street artist has felt the need to liven it up.



Another plain set of bars. This time it's the sun that has livened it up.



Curly bars.

French windows with elaborate metalwork balconies completely transform the way this apartment block in the 12th arrondissement looks when they catch the sun.

The way light reflects off windows can change the way they look. Here are some fiery windows at dusk.

Some windows detached from their frames are for sale at the Marché Saint Ouen. Lampposts and their shadows are reflected.

A stained glass window in the Église Saint Pierre diffuses the light from outside into the cool low lit church.

The dormer windows of Chateau de Versailles are some of the most ostentatious widows I've ever seen!

And finally, some bespoke burglar bars on a window in Montmartre. Even Spiderman is intrigued by these.

Château de Versailles

During the February school holidays we decided to go to Versailles for the day. A chance to get out of the city and enjoy the Château without huge crowds to spoil the experience. That was the plan anyway. We had been there in the July and the queues on the esplanade outside the Château were so long that we opted for the lesser known Trianon and La Domaine de Marie Antoinette, also well worth a visit. When we were there last week there were no queues to get into the Château, the marble courtyard was nearly empty.

They have recently gilded the gates to the Château and also the dormer windows. Who ever heard of gold window frames? The French Kings bien sur!

We started off our visit on the ground floor in the central part of the Palace. We were guided through the Appartements des Mesdames, built for Louis XV's daughters, princesses Adélaïde and Victoire. The restoration of these apartments was completed two years ago in April 2013. 

Here is the bedroom of Madame Victoire. These rooms are very extravagant, but as it turns out they are rather rather low key and discrete as compared to the apartments built for Louis XVI and his entourage.

My favourite part was the pale creamy stone in entrance arcade. Exquisite.

Once we got to the Galerie des Glaces, the hall of mirrors, the place was heaving and it was impossible to take any photos without crowds of people in them, unless you zoomed in to an architectural or decorative detail of which there are plenty!

Or looked up!

I was surprised to learn that back in the 17C the hall of mirrors was mainly used by courtiers and the visiting public as passageway and a waiting and meeting place rather than for special ceremonies. It is so extravagant, it looks like the perfect venue for huge parties.

After the Galerie des Glaces we had to leave quickly as our parking ticket was about the run out. Here is another 'over-everybody's-head' photo. I likes the perspective of bright colours. 

We quickly glimpsed Louis XVI's rather fabulous red bed chamber as we squeezed our way through the crowds.

And then headed out of the gates and back to our car, catching a last glimpse of gold as we ran.

The Château de Versailles is open seven days a week. More details can be found on their website, here.