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Post by Deleted on Mar 14, 2012 21:12:26 GMT
I often criticize a lot of people I know for being totally inobservant, since I pride myself for seeing so many details that they miss. However, it took me until today to finally realize that there was something special about the Champs Elysées-Clémenceau station, even though the elements have been in place for 17 years. Actually, I noticed it all right from the start but had never thought about it -- all of the entrance tiling and design was different from any other metro station in Paris, but I just thought it was a fluke and dismissed it as a random oddity. In my defense, these tiles are in the entrance area and not down where the trains are, so I have rarely seen them over the years, since I almost never take the metro at this station. It is really pretty sophisticated, but when you take the metro, you generally just rush by and don't look at anything. I hope that I have proved at least a little bit on this thread that it is a mistake to just think of the metro as being utilitarian and not as something to look at as well. The explanation of this different look is actually right in the entrance next to the ticket office. The decor of the station is a gift from the Lisbon metro to the Paris metro. Anybody who has been to Lisbon knows that one of the hallmarks of the city is the incredible diversity of the ceramic tiles on so many buildings and which is also used in the decoration of lots of other things -- like the metro. I feel really lame for having been blind so long.
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Post by tod2 on Mar 15, 2012 7:47:57 GMT
They are really lovely Kerouac. The large one of what I think is a city skyline is awesome!
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Post by Deleted on Apr 20, 2012 18:13:45 GMT
Often, the metro connecting tunnels can be full of temporary surprises. For example, for 15 days, one of the corridors of the Concorde station has an art exhibit by Ariane Michel. The "Tube Safari" does not consist of photos that the artist took herself but of bits of 50 photos that she pirated from the advertising posters that can be seen in the metro. arianemichel.com/
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Post by tod2 on Apr 21, 2012 6:44:03 GMT
Superb! Can't wait to see it for myself - Your METRO SAFARI has been wonderful Kerouac and you have enticed me, at least, to spend a rainy day not in a museum, but traveling the metro to experience all these interesting stations!
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Post by nycgirl on May 8, 2012 12:50:30 GMT
Love it! Wish it wasn't temporary.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 23, 2012 18:11:07 GMT
I am very sorry to report that as of August 2012, the Louvre-Rivoli station is still in a state of abandon (with the notices still saying that everything will be done by July 2012). I just hope that when it is finally done, it will be spectacular.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 31, 2013 6:34:37 GMT
I visited the new Mairie de Montrouge metro station the other day just to see what the latest features are in new metro stations.
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Post by tod2 on Mar 31, 2013 12:26:41 GMT
More lovely photos and good information about the Paris metro! Is Louvre-Rivoli done then? Also, Is the Le Petit Parisien 3 plans par arrondissement, totally renewed?
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Post by Deleted on Mar 31, 2013 15:31:48 GMT
Louvre-Rivoli has a new poster in it. This is about the 4th one: refurbishment date December 2013! All of those metro and Paris map books are renewed every year. Even though there is usually not much changing in the metro department, there are always some new or modified bus lines. And since the last editions, this time there are two new metro stations and also the completion of the T3 tramway. There are another 4 metro stations under construction but none of them will be finished until 2015. For real excitement, you'll have to wait until about 2020 when completely new metro lines 15, 16, 17 and 18 will start becoming a reality in the suburbs. Also metro lines 11 and 14 are going to have major extensions. Metro line 14 will go all the way to Orly airport. New metro lines
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Post by htmb on Mar 31, 2013 15:53:41 GMT
I'm so glad this great thread popped up again. It's time for me to start refamiliarizing myself as to the Paris metro. I've just booked a trip for early summer. Some of these stops I know, but many others are new to me.
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Post by Deleted on May 25, 2013 10:54:21 GMT
The Porte de la Chapelle station causes considerable confusion among visitors and also among quite a few Parisians. That's because it is often mistaken for the La Chapelle station at Place de la Chapelle about a kilometer south of there on a different line. In fact, Peter Brook's Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord at Place de la Chapelle indicates on all of its posters "metro La Chapelle and NOT Porte de la Chapelle". I'm sure that hundreds of people have missed plays over the years anyway or arrived breathless at the last minute. On top of that, most of the tiled signs in the Porte de la Chapelle station just say "La Chapelle" which certainly doesn't help. However, I just wanted to show that the station, even though it is sorely in need of renovation, uses its former advertising panels as a place to display photos of iconic metro images.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 9, 2013 16:03:12 GMT
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ssander
member
Offline
At the Belleville Arts Open Doors in Paris in 2007
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Post by ssander on Jun 11, 2013 12:39:55 GMT
I'm really enjoying this photo-essay, K...haven't been back to Paris since 2011...but hoping for this fall.
SS
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Post by fgrsk8r1970 on Jun 12, 2013 18:11:26 GMT
OK... I am not quite sure what this is supposed to be?? Someone trying to get gum off their shoes
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Post by Deleted on Jun 12, 2013 18:37:17 GMT
I think I recall that the name of the artwork was something like 'articulations' = joints in English.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 7, 2014 13:41:36 GMT
I was amused to discover a website by an artist who takes photographs to play with the names of the stations. Some of them are plays on words that would require a knowledge of French to understand the photo and others require a grasp of French history or of people whose fame was not worldwide, but plenty of them can be understood by anybody. Here is the link to the site with many more pictures: Janol Apin
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Post by lola on Jan 7, 2014 18:03:09 GMT
I got several of these, though several fewer than I didn't get.
I am glad the new format started at the beginning when I opened it. Just wonderful.
(PS: I'm going with Little Nemo if I can't have my painter bird back.)
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Post by bjd on Jan 7, 2014 19:05:42 GMT
Those are great. I didn't get one or two but on the whole, they are really clever and funny.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 7, 2014 20:53:48 GMT
I would say there are 3 or 4 that escape me, but if I ask my 100% French friends, they will enlighten me.
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Post by lagatta on Jan 7, 2014 22:14:57 GMT
I loved "Cambronne" (for non-Francophones, "mot de Cambronne" is a euphemisme for merde). Champ de Mars took me a second, as I know what a champ de mars is, and we have a station by the same name here (named for a military parade ground, not for the station in Paris). "Charonne" would be obscure for those unaware of some of the dark days in modern French history. Jack, they've even immortalised your "metro wino"! Twice, with "Cour St-Émilion" (higher class of métro wino).
I'll send "Gare du Nord" to my Inuit cousin (who is a senior civil servant), whose husband is Belgian... So the Far North and the not-so-far North. However, I don't get Liège. Is it because that station is closed, at least sometimes? But, Belgique toujours, Madeleine made me laugh out loud.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 7, 2014 22:27:36 GMT
There are no longer any stations in Paris that are closed some of the time (Liège and Rennes were the last two.). I agree that the Liège photo is a bit ambiguous.
I didn't find Madeleine funny. I found it poignant.
(For those who don't understand, "Madeleine" is a famous song by Jacques Brel, about waiting for Madeleine with a bouquet of flowers, every week, week after week, but she never shows up....)
Ce soir j'attendais Madeleine Mais j'ai jeté mes lilas Je les ai jetés comme toutes les semaines Madeleine ne viendra pas Ce soir j'attendais Madeleine C'est fichu pour le cinéma Je reste avec mes "je t'aime" Madeleine ne viendra pas
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Post by lagatta on Jan 8, 2014 0:33:27 GMT
Oh, just the visual pun was funny. The song is really very sad. Tram 33 (Brussels) no longer exists: 1.7 Le « Tram 33 » : si certaines chansons de Brel ont un ancrage Bruxellois, la plus typique à cet égard est sans doute « Madeleine ». « Nous prendrons le tram 33 pour aller manger des frites chez Eugène
». Cette ligne existait bel et bien ; elle partait du square Henri Rey non loin de chez Brel, pour rejoindre Boitsfort, via la gare du Midi et la gare du Luxembourg. La plaque de ce tram disparu était rouge et bleu. Le 33 a eu son terminus square Henri Rey de 1938 à 1960 ; "Madeleine" est sorti en 1962. www.reflexcity.net/bruxelles/personnes-celebres/artistes/jacques-brelThere was a later Tram 33 (evenings only) but it became superfluous after changes to the lines.
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Post by fumobici on Jan 8, 2014 0:36:51 GMT
Those were quite clever, at least the two thirds or so accessible to a non-native.
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Post by mossie on Jan 8, 2014 15:21:53 GMT
Very clever. I did not count but got about half
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Post by anshjain97 on Jan 12, 2014 6:17:07 GMT
Amazing thread, very thorough. Unfortunately I haven't been able to read it in its entirety, so hope these questions has been answered: Has the decor been able to increase ridership? Was that even an objective?
During my visit (2009) the closest station to the hotel was Montparnasse-Bienvenue. It was a long walk from the platform to the exit- which is why we sometimes used Gaite instead. Has Montparnasse-Bienvenue received some beautification?
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Post by Deleted on Jan 12, 2014 7:32:31 GMT
Beautification is not to increase ridership, which is not at all a problem. Some of the lines are considered overcrowded in any case, so no increase is even desired. However, there are regular polls about "user satisfaction" and anything that looks nice will make the ride a more pleasant experience, even if the really important things are cleanliness and comfort.
Montparnasse-Bienvenüe has a small display and bust of Fulgence Bienvenüe (creator of the Paris metro) at one of the station entrances, but it is not the least bit impressive. The main artistic effort in the station is the changing decoration of the huge transfer tunnel with the three moving walkways. I have a couple shots of it in this report, but I think that I read in the newspaper that it has just been changed, so I will try to go back and check it out.
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Post by anshjain97 on Jan 12, 2014 8:01:27 GMT
Thanks for the reply!
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Post by Deleted on Jul 31, 2014 14:07:24 GMT
I started this subject in 2011 with the (formerly) most decorated metro station in Paris, Louvre-Rivoli. It had been stripped of all of its artwork and the posters in the station with originally said that renovation would be complete in May 2011 had been marked out and changed to July 2011. In the ensuing time, absolutely the only thing that has changed at Louvre-Rivoli are the dates on the posters, which keep getting pushed farther and farther along. Luckily, plenty of other stations have been renovated in the meantime, so it's clearly not just the issue of having run out of budget. I would like to think that it is because they are planning on doing something really spectacular again. Anyway, I am pleased to report that work has finally begun. They have scraped the walls back down to the original tile from 100 years ago, uncovering pieces of old advertising posters and old metro and bus maps from 30 or 40 years ago. The new renovation posters now mention a date of November 2014.
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Post by tod2 on Jul 31, 2014 16:18:47 GMT
Thanks for the update Kerouac ...will be too late for us to see completion, but never-the-less will be able to see its progress no doubt!
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Post by Deleted on Dec 23, 2014 15:30:31 GMT
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