Shiny Things Around Paris

On this wet rainy Friday I've gathered together some shiny things to try and cheer you up.

Some light switches at an antiques market at Place des Abbesses.



Cycle Reinor Standard.



Silver spoons.



The Géode at La Villette science museum, viewed from the south-east.



Viewed from the north-west.



Water droplets on our balcony eucalyptus tree.



A magnificent pegasus at the end of Pont Alexandre III.

A burst coffee capsule. Finezzo lungo perhaps?

And finally the cupola at Galeries Lafayette with the inverted Christmas tree glowing blue.

And finally, some mandatory shiny éclairs. Bon weekend!

Magical Monday - Gilded Traffic Lights

They have some very fancy traffic lights by the Opera Garnier.

Every Monday, Magical Monday, I post a photo that is hopefully puzzling, fantastical or unexpected.

More photos from the Magical Mondays series can be found here.

Magical Monday - A Parisian Show Jumper

Jeanne d'Arc riding her horse over the apartment buildings on Place des Pyramides by the Louvre.


Every Monday, Magical Monday, I post a photo that is hopefully puzzling, fantastical or unexpected.

More photos from the Magical Mondays series can be found here.

Magical Monday - A tightrope walking Angel

MM: week 9

A tightrope walking Angel

Seven years ago we used to live by the Bastille. It was a great place to live, close to everything you might need: cinemas, restaurants, museums and shops. We had a beautiful view over the Bassin d'Arsenal, it was lovely to be able to look at boats and water from our living room window. The only problem for me, was the traffic, giant boulevards with the continual roaring of cars, day and night. Just before we left there to move to Montmartre our daughter was 4 years old. I remember I was forever crouching down as we walked along so that I could hear what she was saying over the noise of traffic. 

Where we live now, in Montmartre, the scale of the city is much smaller, the streets are smaller, the traffic is much less heavy, cars actually stop to let you cross over zebra crossings...(occasionally)! I love it up here, I love the narrow cobbled streets curling up the hill towards the Sacré Coeur, I love the fact that the kid's friends all live less than five minutes away, I love the density which means that everything we need to live is pretty much on our doorstep.

There are a few things I miss from the Bastille though, and one of those things is the 'Angel' on top of the column in the middle of the Place de la Bastille. The 'Angel' is called the Génie de la Liberté the "Spirit of Freedom." We always called it the Angel. I loved the way that, depending on which direction you approached the Place de la Bastille, the Angel looked different: sometimes gambling across the roof tops, sometimes skipping across the tree-tops, sometimes tight rope walking across some bunting, sometimes glowing brightly in the street lights. If we'd been away, we always knew we were nearly home when we caught a glimpse of the Angel.

Here is the Angel tightrope walking along a lamppost.

And here it is gambling across the tree tops.


Every Monday, Magical Monday, I post a photo that is hopefully puzzling, fantastical or unexpected. No Photoshop allowed!

More photos from the Magical Mondays series can be found here.

Parisian Horses

A week in the mountains in Switzerland staying on a horse farm, has left me contemplating horses. I know very little about them, but appreciate and am seduced by their beauty. For the first year of our daughter's schooling in Paris she went to a school on the Isle Saint Louis. This school was in the catchment area for the Garde Républicaine. Half the pupils were children of Republican Guards. Our daughter was always berating her dad because he 'didn't even have a horse'. Well. No.

Once you start to look, Paris has its' fair share of horses. There are stone ones. Here is winged horse (one of a pair) by the main entrance into the Jardin des Tuileries on the Place de Concorde. It represents Mercury and was sculpted by Antoine Coysevox  in 1719. Unusually, the rider has a seagull on his head rather than a pigeon.

And then there are bronze horses. This one is also on the Place de Concorde. I love its' wild mane blowing in the wind.

On the Champs-Élysées side of the grand Palais are two bronze horses pulling a chariot depicting immortality over time. I'm a big fan of patinated green and am impressed with the motion captured by sculpter Georges Récipon.

Here is a bronze statue we saw at the Marché aux Puces de Saint-Ouen. Its' grimace is rather scary and I think it's a little large for our balcony. So...we won't be buying it.

Then there are wooden horses to be found on the traditional old manèges (merry go rounds) around the city.

This ceramic horse is in the Horse museum at Chantilly (more real-live-horse photos in Chantilly can be found here), 40kms north of Paris. I loves its' muzzle. It's not soft and silky to touch...but to look at, yes.

Then of course there are the beautifully gilded horses. On a sunny day they look absolutely stunning. This winged horse is on the Pont Alexandre III.

Help!


And this horse, which I spotted on a side road in the 18th arrondissement...well...it's not a horse.

Cherubs, lampposts and golden horses vie for attention

The Pont Alexandre III bridge was built as part of the series of projects built for the Universal Exposition of 1900. Construction started in 1897 and was completed 3 years later. Components of the bridge were pre-fabricated in a factory and then brought to the site and assembled using a large crane. I have mentioned the amazingly over the top lampposts on Pont Alexandre III before. These ones. 

Viewed like this they look utterly extravagant. When you look more closely you realise the extravagance extends to the details.

I was rather taken with the lamppost's lion paw feet.

Not to mention this cherub surfing on a giant fish.

If you look closer still you see that somebody has attached one of the 'love locks' by the base of the fish.

People haven't been able to resist touching the cherub's toe.

At each end of the bridge are stone statues, often detailed with gold. 

The Eiffel Tower is vying for attention...."Coucou, don't forget me! I'm over here. Remember!"

And then of course there are the gold horses on top of the 17 metre high granite pillars. They have been gilded recently and shine beautifully as they catch the sun.

I can't help thinking this horse is also trying to get my attention..."Pick me, pick me!"

Jardin des Tuileries with sun and stripes

On Sunday anybody who lives in Paris will know that it was a beautiful day. Blue blue skies, not a cloud, and mild. In order to try and catch as much sun as possible we headed to the Jardin des Tuileries which has large open spaces, and consequently a big sky, thus maximising our chances of catching the rays. It was such good medicine for the soul.

Look at this blue sky.

Gold looks better in the sun too, not to mention galloping horses.

We were treated to a moon as well.

The pigeons were still grumpy, however.

There were still a few puddles, but even they were bright.

I then became preoccupied with stripes. Long looooong winter shadows.

Sometimes the straight lines curled.

If you stand at the right angle the heavily pruned trees have a red fuzz around them.

Which close up looks like this.

We ended up having a tussle with a lion.

For more photos of the Jardin des Tuileries press here (thumbnails) or here (slide show)