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Post by tod2 on Jun 27, 2012 17:14:32 GMT
WoW! I wish I could see the whole movie but being in French it won't come here..... I'm so glad it showed the Restroom - my husband remarked on it. On the way you pass several 'private' seating areas with comfy lounge chairs. The Ladies is also very posh.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 27, 2012 17:28:05 GMT
It's a movie from 1991, so your only chance is a DVD anyway.
The title used in the English language market was "La Femme Nikita" -- by Luc Besson. If I am not mistaken, the Americans actually made a TV series out of it.
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Post by mich64 on Jun 27, 2012 18:04:38 GMT
Tod you sure seem to have made the absolute most of your trip so far! You have already shown us so much. Sorry I ever posted my photo that showed the Chez Leon, I kind of feel responsible for that horrible meal!
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Post by tod2 on Jun 27, 2012 18:34:29 GMT
Oh Mich no! I see loads of places that I think look good and sometimes find out it's just the opposite. Isn't that what they say about "looks can be deceiving"
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Post by tod2 on Jun 28, 2012 15:34:47 GMT
DAY 12 - 13th May At sometime or another we Paris lovers yearn to stroll down little side streets, finding hidden alleys and 'cours'. I once saw a sequence of travel videos on the untrod parts of Paris and was hooked ever since. My first 'discovery' was Passage L'homme off Rue de Charonne. If you've never been there it will take you back in time to the era when Avenue Ledru-Rollin didn't exist and a network of narrow little streets leading to Rue de Charonne were the only connection. Passage L'homme was one of these dark narrow passages of the bygone days of the Faubourg and workers in their busy workshops that smelt of sawdust and varnish. Today you might find a mirror factory and French polisher Hollard. The rest of the old workshops have been replaced with offices. The paving stones are old and pitted, and there are lots of vines creeping up the walls. The day I went the same friendly Corgi I had seen in the video waddled out of a doorway and let me pat him. No-one takes a blind bit of notice or scowls at you because they see you are tourists. But today I am treading in the footsteps of FMT having followed his bike ride around the 12th and seen the little seldom visited passages. Naturally we can't do the whole thing as we are on foot but happily start from Montgallet Metro station and walk up Rue de Reuilly. It's not far before we find Cour d'Alsace Lorraine. Problem is it's closed and you have to push a button on the wall to release the lock. Luckily someone came out and we were made aware of this. I wasn't so familiar with anything I saw down the passage until I saw this door! I KNEW I had seen it before - Thanks FMT. Opposite the passageway is this modern church and an unusual wall. We discover another charming little passage opposite called Passage Mousset. It's a succession of workshops and picturesque little houses all huddled together down this long alley. At the end of the countrified Impasse is an indoor tennis court, hidden from public eye and used by the locals only. How fantastic is that! You can just make out the words in green lettering on the wall saying TENNIS. Does that mean that tennis is a French word also Back in Rue de Reuilly we see this grand entrance but there is definitely no way we can get in. All I can do is try an get a shot of the brick ceiling. Turning down either Rue Montgallet or Rue Jacques Hillairet, there is a row of trees all just coming into bloom. I wish I knew what they are.... Well this modern block of apartments is in that road... We join up with an old familiar scene. The lovely Promenade Plantee. Some scenes are not so pleasing to the eye.. Coming down the steps we join up with Ave Daumesnil. We scoot home and collect the food for our picnic dinner down alongside the Seine. On the way to our rendevous we pass these famous stones. I've written about them before in other Trip Reports on the Fodors Board, so I'll give you a short version for those who like so many tourists, just stride past without a sideways glance. They are in fact a small residue of the Bastille Fortress. A lot of the old fort was used to build the Pont de la Concorde. These stones, the foundations of the tower of 'Liberty', were discovered when the first metro line was being built in 1898, between 211 & 236 Rue Saint-Antoine. They were dismantled and brought one by one to this park, namely Square Henri-Galli. You can see them just after you exit the metro Sully Morland. The evening is glorious and people are out making the most of the sun. We make for the semi-circle amphitheatre on the Quai Saint-Bernard. This is our picnic supper! More fun as the sun sets on our last Sunday in Paris.....
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Post by tod2 on Jun 28, 2012 17:59:24 GMT
Sunday Continued..... The sun is setting behind us and the shade moves over. It is a little cooler now and really time to go home, but who can drag oneself away from such a lovely scene. As we walk back to the Pont de Sully bridge we hear drums nearby. Around a bush we come across this joyful group. They're drumming up a storm and the girls give it their all with some fantastic bootie shaking! What a superb ending to the day! That concludes my Trip Report on Paris in May - tomorrow we take the Eurostar to London....and that will be another story.
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Post by fumobici on Jun 28, 2012 18:07:19 GMT
Lovely, such a genuine part of the city. I can't help wondering how those artisans' spaces in the little passages and impasses work economically given the costs of space in central Paris. However, it's wonderful they haven't yet been gentrified out and sent packing.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 29, 2012 4:20:53 GMT
One of the luckiest things for France is that everybody is in favour of very authoritarian laws concerning culture -- and culture extends over vast domains here, such as little neighbourhoods of small buildings, which are protected as part of the cultural heritage. Nobody can come into the little residential areas and build an office building or otherwise transform things. Whenever there are exceptions (and of course there are), there had better be a damned good reason.
Even my own building, which is no great shakes, is almost certainly protected as one of the features that makes the harmony of Paris in the older districts -- a 3-storey building on the end of the block, next to a slightly taller building, in turn next to a slightly taller building -- and then other lower buildings. This somewhat jagged architectural line is considered to be a feature of Montmartre, and even though I am not quite in Montmartre, my area is part of the transition when going there. If somebody wanted to buy up the whole block to tear it down and build one massive building instead, it would almost certainly be refused.
Now that it is getting warmer, I must return to the Quai Saint Bernard in the evening. Yesterday we had our first day of the season over 30° -- but this morning is stormy and wet again.
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Post by htmb on Jun 29, 2012 14:19:13 GMT
Tod, your pictures and report inspired me to walk around the Quai Saint Bernard area today, my last full day in Paris, and I had a wonderful time exploring, watching the river and just generally wandering around. I was originally heading for the Marais from the Luxembourg area, but I'm so glad I took this detour as, once I got past Notre Dame and onto the right bank, I lost all the crowds. I decided I wanted to find the Bastille stones, but since I didn't write down your directions referring to the Metro Sully Morland, all I could remember was Sully, thinking I should look near either end of the bridge. I never found them since I now see I stayed too close to the river. Regardless, I walked almost to Pont d'Austerlitz on the right bank, then doubled back, crossed over Pont Sully and walked all through the Jardin Tino Rossi. It was wonderfully relaxing and I got a lot of good photos. I'm always drawn to water wherever I go, so this was a very nice walk for me. I recognized many of the spots where you took photos, but unfortunately saw no dancers. That would have been great fun, too!
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Post by tod2 on Jun 29, 2012 14:47:22 GMT
Oh what a shame htmb! Never mind, you have something to find next trip! The stones would be at your back as you crossed over Pont de Sully from the right bank. I think you missed them by inches! There should be dancing this Sunday if the weather is nice and warm, but then you will be gone?
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Post by htmb on Jun 29, 2012 15:25:56 GMT
Rats! So close! Yes, leaving tomorrow. The only dancing I will be seeing on Sunday will be that of my two Florida grandchildren, so even better I have had another wonderful trip to Paris, but there's just no place like home!
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Post by nycgirl on Jun 30, 2012 3:33:48 GMT
What an incredible trip you had! I'm so jealous, but I enjoyed visiting Paris vicariously through you.
Le Train Bleau looks like a luxurious treat. I caught a train out of Gare Lyon, I wish I had taken the time to at least take a peek at the restaurant.
I love the quaint little passages you explored. I'm putting that on my to-do list. I really like the street art you photo'ed, especially that trompe l'oeil scene on the big wall. It's too bad it has graffiti all over it, though. (I don't consider ugly scribbling to be street art.)
Your photos and video on the Quai Saint Bernard capture the scene perfectly. Looks like a great spot to unwind. Loved the dancing. Wish I could move like that, I'd be the life of the party!
Thanks for sharing this with us.
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Post by tod2 on Jun 30, 2012 6:02:27 GMT
I totally agree with you Nycgirl - spraying some vague word all over something is not street art! I was so happy to see that the "city" had cleaned up the Promenade Plantee quite a bit. All the old graffiti I remembered was gone, but we all know those pesky little spray-can operators will be back and mess it all up AGAIN!
Le Train Bleu does look completely over-the-top with all that gold, chandeliers and 'Far off' scenes painted on the ceiling and walls. Actually, once you get past the grandeur of it all, the restaurant menu is not that expensive. Nothing even close to the posh places offering meals around 100euros a plate. The waitering service is very attentive and polite. You have no no feelings that you are doing them a favour, like some other eateries around town. They treat you with extreme courtesy, joke a little at the table maybe, but this is professional waitering at some of it's best. When we had the 'girls night out' each of us received a menu (and they are huge!) to take home with us. The waiters serving us were delighted to pose for photos with this group of mad women!
This time however, my husband who took the photos, did it very unobtrusively.
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Post by patricklondon on Jul 5, 2012 5:30:05 GMT
There's a film I shall certainly have to see!
Referring back, I used to do regular home exchanges with someone who lived on the Rue du Faubourg St Antoine, just the other side of the hospital from Jaclys. I liked the area a lot - until he (most inconsiderately) got a job up the other end of France and sold that flat. Grr....
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ssander
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At the Belleville Arts Open Doors in Paris in 2007
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Post by ssander on Jul 7, 2012 23:40:04 GMT
Tod2...
What a wonderful photo-trip!! I am now aware of many things to see on my next trip. I've thought about Provins before, but never seemed to want to take the time (since my visits, from USA, are always only a week or so). But having seen your pix, maybe next time.
BTW, one thing in Les Invalides which I really liked on one of my trips, was the map museum...not really maps, but scale models of many, many towns in France, made by the army (I believe) for military purposes. Unlike any museum I've ever seen...but I love maps!
SS
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