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Post by Deleted on Oct 22, 2014 14:25:12 GMT
Actually the cave is artificial. They liked to do that sort of thing in the 19th century.
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Post by tod2 on Oct 22, 2014 14:42:38 GMT
Thanks for the nice comments Mich64. Mossie might know a bit more about the grotto with the waterfall but only know what he told me while we walked along the path that leads through the grotto and out again. As Kerouac said, it is all man-made but looks very realistic, even with stalactites hanging down. A couple of hundred bats do call it home. I do know that the architect of the park, Jean-Louis Alphand, used more than 1,000 workmen, 100 horses, 400 small trucks, two steam engines and much dynamite to prepare the grounds, after which more than 2000,000 cubic meters of earth had to brought to the site. 5,000 meters of footpaths were then laidout, followed by the artificial lake fed by the waters of the Bassin de la Villette. Then came a brick bridge, then the suspension bridge, both linking the mailand with a dramatic cliff rising from the water. The grotto and the waterfall followed and to crown it all, an overpowering folly copied from the Temple of the Sibylle in Tivoli, Italy, topping the cliff.
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Post by mich64 on Oct 22, 2014 15:23:31 GMT
Aw yes, Kerouac, I understand, in my next thread I will be showing a grotto in Germany created in the 19th century as well.
Those statistics are pretty amazing Tod. The costs of the resources and workmen must have been staggering but the joy, happiness and health it brings to generations will makes it priceless.
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Post by tod2 on Oct 22, 2014 15:37:24 GMT
Thank you Casimira - a bit more to come.
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Post by bixaorellana on Oct 22, 2014 16:53:24 GMT
Oh my goodness, Tod! From a strong beginning, this thread has become even more delightful and interesting. I enjoyed your tram ride, and it made me think that the tram system would be reason enough to visit Paris. I love the way you combine the excellent informative pictures with the lovely observational ones, such as the darling dog & swans and the contrails. Did Peter take the photo of the attractive, somewhat mischievous-seeming trio in the park?
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Post by lola on Oct 23, 2014 3:14:10 GMT
Fun report, Tod. You are definitely in the Hidden Treasures of Paris class. Thanks so much. I like the mellow looks of that trio.
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Post by tod2 on Oct 23, 2014 7:37:16 GMT
Thanks Lola - My husband took the photo of the 'mellow trio'! Must have been the Spanish wine Kerouac chose at lunch
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Post by tod2 on Oct 23, 2014 8:21:51 GMT
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Post by mossie on Oct 23, 2014 14:24:04 GMT
OMG. I thought the mirror had been lying to me.
Glad you enjoyed the day.
I love the legs under the sign "Libre service" in this last bunch of photos
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Post by tod2 on Oct 23, 2014 15:03:39 GMT
Ha Ha Mossie - it's lying to all of us! Yes, those could be the legs of 'the dolly who danced with a hole in her stocking...' !
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Post by lagatta on Oct 23, 2014 15:05:06 GMT
Mossie, you look just fine.
Those mounted police have very handsome horses.
Was the holiday Rosh Hashana or Yom Kippur? The latter is a total fast for 25 hours: no food or water. (People with acute or chronic illnesses are exempted). I have Jewish friends who celebrate Rosh Hashana (the New Year) for cultural and festive reasons, but none who observe the fast... Just as well to go to rue des Rosiers then, because otherwise the queues are ridiculous. Le Marais is charming of course, but I imagine that you'd find many of the same products, cheaper, in rue Petit. Tod and Mr Tod's lunch wasn't at all pricy though and a good plate of food.
I saw some ugly things in the old Jewish quarter the last time I was in Paris, though. Nasty racist signs against Arab people, glued up by a belligerent Jewish group. Such creeps exist in all religions, alas.
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Post by tod2 on Oct 23, 2014 17:25:51 GMT
Lagatta I'm sure it was Rosh Hashana. You must have noticed a few Jewish families walking around in my photos. The meal was huge and we both struggled to finish it - we didn't. Yes those horses looked lovely - I have never see mounted police before in Paris. We have them here occasionally trotting through town.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 23, 2014 17:39:45 GMT
Actually, if you lived in Paris, you would see the mounted police quite regularly, particularly around Place de la République, where they have one of their main stables, another one being near Place de la Bastille. And there is another one in the Bois de Vincennes. Anyway, they have 470 horses (who are required to be "goodlooking") and they have to get out every day for exercise. Naturally, they are used in countless parades, particularly on the 14th of July.
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Post by htmb on Oct 23, 2014 21:07:05 GMT
Tod, I'm enjoying your report very much and reading it is fueling my desire to hurry back to Paris. My "to do" list has certainly grown since you started this report. As you know, I stayed in the Marais during my recent trip, and was very close to many of the views featured in your last sets of photos. I have found myself thinking I should have done "this and that" as you mention walking down a passage or inside a space! I will be staying in the same general location again for a month next summer (but also hope to travel outside of Paris on either end.....details still need to be worked out.) I'll be sure to look at this thread again beforehand, since you've included some really interesting facts.
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Post by lagatta on Oct 23, 2014 22:07:40 GMT
Yes, I've definitely seen police horses at Place de la République. They are beautiful - but they are also formidable weapons.
I certainly noticed "conspicuously" (i.e. very Orthodox) Jewish families in your photos, and they looked too publicly joyous for people on the most solemn day of the year (not to mention the physical stress of no food and especially no liquid).
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Post by Deleted on Oct 23, 2014 22:09:38 GMT
I was actually surprised that tod2 was able to spot them in that area, since most of them now live in the 19th arrondissement or various suburbs.
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Post by lola on Oct 24, 2014 3:04:55 GMT
Very nice photos of St-Paul-St-Louis. I stopped in there the Christmas Eve before last on my way home from realizing Notre-Dame was mobbed and not an option for midnight mass. There was incense, a few scattered dimly-lit faithful, someone playing the organ. I lit a candle for my sister, and the next day brought my family by on our Christmas Day wanderings, and lit another for my mother. I hadn't realized that was a Delacroix. There's a good but unfriendly patisserie and coffeehouse a couple of doors to the right.
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Post by tod2 on Oct 24, 2014 8:56:39 GMT
Thanks everyone. I'm having a small problem loading photos from my iphone but will be back with more wanderings around Village Saint-Paul.
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Post by bixaorellana on Oct 24, 2014 21:47:56 GMT
Peter ~~ I am so sorry. I forgot that you are not in fact a skinny 22-year-old hidden behind pilot's goggles!
Great stuff here, Tod. The food looks worth waiting in line for. All of the pictures are super, but I love that we can click on the church pics and really inspect the beautiful details.
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Post by tod2 on Oct 27, 2014 6:49:15 GMT
More wanderings in the Marais... Turning down another narrow alley (next to Passage Saint-Paul)namely rue Eginhard, we find a tranquil shaded scene with a courtyard with pretty trellises and an old well. The picturesque Rue Eginhard was opened in 1367. In the 17th Century this was a tiny Jewish enclave, even though officially no Jews were living in Paris at the time. Formerly St. Paul alley and Rue Neuve-Sainte-Anastase, it now bears the name of Einhard, biographer of Charlemagne. ] The fanlight round window next to the well has the letters AS moulded in steel - I'm sorry I did not take a photo. This commemorative plaque is in the little garden near the end of the alley and remembers the Zadjner Family who died in deportation. Rue Eginhard was featured in the movie " Before Sunset" 2004. You turn left to exit this narrow street. If you look up as you reach the corner of rue Charlemagne you will notice an old street name engraved in the stone of the corner house on your right, rue Neuve Saint-Anastase, after a religious order once established here. I have never spent much time in the Marais unfortunately. I was delighted to find myself in the Village St-Paul. Almost deserted we peeked into windows as we walked through this little maze of shops and galleries. The enclave bounded by the Rue des Jardins Saint-Paul, Rue de l’Ave Maria, Rue St-Paul and Rue Charlemagne is known as the Village Saint-Paul. Interesting pottery? They look so real! Popping out of an ancient timbered passage we find ourselves looking at he longest still existing part of the Philip-Augustus wall located at the corner of rue Charlemagne and the rue des Jardins-Saint Paul, and the back of St.Paul and St.Louis church which we visited earlier. We finally ended up on the Seine once more. From here we sauntered along to metro Sully-Morland. As one reaches this stop there are two things of note. First of all the totally magnificent Hotel Fieubet on the corner of Rue du Petit Musc - just in front of the metro entrance. It has retained its medieval character and splendid 17th century Classical architecture. Built between 1676 - 1681, the architect Jules Hardouin-Mansart. original use: Housing . current use: University building. And the Arsenal Library. If you wish to discover it, do so on a Wednesday afternoon, when the Arsenal Library and the Apartments of the Grand Master of Artilleries are open to the public between 2-4pm except 1st to 15th September. www.parismetropole2020.com/evenement/index_en.html
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Post by fumobici on Oct 27, 2014 22:21:57 GMT
I've walked by that little passage in the Marais and never ducked in for a visit. Now I know what I missed! Thank you.
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Post by tod2 on Oct 28, 2014 6:10:22 GMT
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Post by bjd on Oct 28, 2014 7:14:19 GMT
You were in "my" neighbourhood, Tod. And to think I have never thought (or noticed) the disused metro station. I must say I am usually on the other side of the port. Going down to the port and walking through is one of our favourite evening strolls when we are in Paris.
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Post by tod2 on Oct 28, 2014 12:16:08 GMT
bjd - We never noticed it either because of the stone wall - thinking it's just the entrance to another underground car park. We were more occupied with deciding to cross over the bridge or not. My knee was killing me by this time so why on earth did I want to walk the long way around
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Post by Deleted on Oct 28, 2014 13:11:15 GMT
The nutcase who was running against Anne Hidalgo as mayor of Paris actually presented the following projects (and more) for things that could be done with the closed metro stations. But clearly Natalie Kosciusko-Morizet has never set foot in the metro (nor apparently the artists) because they seem not to know that even though the Arsenal station is closed, metro trains on line 5 still run through it every 3 minutes, and it would probably take longer to drain and refill the swimming pool than that. Actually, the Arsenal station was tested for several years for new metro benches, seats and lighting, so you could see the prototypes as you passed through. Another closed station -- Croix-Rouge on line 10 -- had a delightful art installation of a beach scene with deck chairs and parasols for a long time. Alas, when people began to invade the metro at night for graffiti and other activities, all of that had to be abandoned.
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Post by tod2 on Oct 28, 2014 14:38:18 GMT
Today we left the 19th arr. once more to discover more specific places that I had wanted to see. One bridge that intrigued me was this bridge spanning the Seine from Port de Solferino. I see on the map it is called Passerelle L.S. Senghor. Eyewitness Guide names it Passerelle Solferino, so I guess it has two names being a sort of 'double layer' bridge. We notice it is under the same fate as many other bridges that have mesh sides which are easy to attach a lock. Standing proudly upright is the statue of Thomas Jefferson. From the other side.. And I get to have a look at part of the new 'boardwalk'?, I saw in Kerouac's report. Crossing the bridge to the Tuileries side we hop on a bus going towards Ile de Cite. Here we start a historic walk from the book 'Paris Walks' by the Landes girls. It must be at least 4 trips back that I wanted to do this walk but was always distracted. So, I'll carry on tomorrow....
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Post by bixaorellana on Oct 29, 2014 2:32:04 GMT
More killer pics, Tod! I totally love the view of the tracks through the round opening. Looking forward to more of this.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 29, 2014 5:52:40 GMT
The name of the passerelle Solférino was changed to passerelle Léopold-Sédar-Senghor in 2006, but just about everybody still calls it by the old name. There used to be a full sized stone bridge there, but it was demolished around 1960 after being damaged too many times by boat collisions. Since it didn't really link any major thoroughfares, it was replaced by a small pedestrian bridge in 1961, but that was demolished as well in 1992. For the next 7 years, there was no bridge at all until the current bridge opened in 1999. I remember that it quickly closed again temporarily, because it had some alarming vibration problems, just like the Millennium Bridge in London, and they had to tweak it somehow to totally stabilise it.
When I see the rush hour crowds coming from the Musée d'Orsay RER station every morning and stampeding across the bridge to their offices on the other side of the Tuileries, the years when there was no bridge there must have been very annoying for them.
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Post by tod2 on Oct 29, 2014 6:49:31 GMT
Thanks for the information about the 'ghost' metro stations Kerouac. Also why the Solferino bridge had two names. I am always amazed at your knowledge of all things Parisienne! Is the bridge under threat of a padlock weight problem ? We saw quite a few on the spot lock sellers in various places near bridges. This undoubtedly must add to the problem.
Bixa - Thanks so much. Mr.Tod2 took the photos as I was just managing to limp along.
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Post by tod2 on Oct 29, 2014 11:31:35 GMT
There are 7 walks in the book "Paris Walks" by the Landes girls. This is Walk 1 and covers the area around the church of Saint-Julien-le-Pauvre in the 5th Arr. As we are walking from Ile de Cite I thought I would show you something of the flower market as we passed by. This is a lovely cool area and I noticed (probably for the first time) that there are TWO Wallace fountain within a stones throw from each other. Nowhere else have I seen two water fountains so close to each other. Does anyone know why this is so? Here they are: The orchids on display were beyond equisite! No visit to Paris is complete without paying your respects to the grand old lady of cathedrals. Crossing over the very busy Quai de Montebello we join the throng at Place du Petit Pont. The first bridge connecting the Ile de Cite to the mainland, the present Petit Pont, was built here because at this point the island was closest to the Left Bank. The little road in front of the buildings is rue de la Bucherie - a 'bucherie' being a storehouse for wood. It was on this street that barges loaded with logs for heating deposited their goods. I have eaten a couple of times at Le Petit Pont cafe` and on my second visit to Paris remember having the most delicious pear tarte tatin there. The 'house' next door, no.39, is very special. Built in the early 16th century (most others 17thC like the apartment houses on the left side of the street.) It's a two storey wooden structure, typical 500 years ago. The building once served as an inn and was hidden from sight for most of it's long history. Le Petit Chalet, as the inn was called, (after the fortress it stood behind and that doubled as a tollhouse) was tucked away until 1909 when the ground was cleared between rue Bucherie and the river. Today it is a small intimate restaurant, but the building is architecturally interesting for several reasons. Almost no wooden structures in Paris have survived. Notice the large dormer windows that jut out from the steep roofline and the smaller windows on the attic floor above. If you step back and look at the exposed side of the building on it's right, and you will see coming out of the exterior wall, the ends of the framing beams used in it's construction hundreds of years ago. These are wooden joists, half of which one sometimes sees as exposed rafters in a ceiling. Now look at the exposed side of the half-timbered remains on the left of the building. There you can see one of only three open staircases ( escaliers a` claire voie) left in Paris. This was the typical staircase of the 16th century - it was replaced in the 17thC by the closed escalier a` vis or corkscrew staircase. At number 37 immediately to the left is Shakespeare & Company the famous bookstore where if you purchase a book they will stamp it "Shakespeare and Co.Kilometer Zero Paris." The Wallace fountain out front is not an original unfortunately. You may notice all the women are exactly the same. In the original fountains they were all differently clothed, and the position of their feet varied. There still are a few about but the author of this book tells us that after WWII most of the Wallace fountains were stolen and modern copies made. Turning into rue St.Julien-le-Parve next...
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