Charlemagne

A statue of the very formidable looking Charlemagne, in the square in front of Notre Dame.

Everything is in the details.

Even the lamp posts are decorated to within an inch of their lives. Not that I mind or anything.

Okay, so once again, I'm very sorry for the sporadic posting. I'm trying to get on a every other day pattern, so for example, Wednesday I'll be posting about the Ile St Louis day I'll be having tomorrow. Thanks for reading and don't forget to comment(names please, because otherwise I have no idea who's who). More soon...

Passages du 2e Part 3: Boulevard Montmartre

These early 19th century shopping passages or arcades, when they were constructed, meant new traffic free areas for shops and apartments. Beautiful as they are, the fell into disrepair, but were given a major makeover in the 70's. Now you can find a mix of little shops including a bookshop and a very cute little tearoom at the Galerie Vivienne. These are the pictures of the Passage by Boulevard Montmatre.

Passage du 2e Part 2: Louvre

These early 19th century shopping passages or arcades, when they were constructed, meant new traffic free areas for shops and apartments. Beautiful as they are, the fell into disrepair, but were given a major makeover in the 70's. Now you can find a mix of little shops including a bookshop and a very cute little tearoom at the Galerie Vivienne. These are the pictures of the Galerie Louvre.

These early 19th century shopping passages or arcades, when they were constructed, meant new traffic free areas for shops and apartments. Beautiful as they are, the fell into disrepair, but were given a major makeover in the 70's. Now you can find a mix of little shops including a bookshop and a very cute little tearoom at the Galerie Vivienne. These are the pictures of the Galerie Louvre.

Ping Pong Me

They sure do take care of the nation's entertainment. Some ping pong tables at les Halles park for anyone who's tempted to kick, Balls of Fury style.

Rue Des Bonnes Enfants

The other day I posted about the rue des Mauvais Garcons. Well here's their conterpart, the rue des Bonnes Enfants(the Good Childrens Street) in the 1er.

Unknown Fountain

This is a fountain set in a pretty circular park just opposite the library. It was just me and a few bums chilling out on the benches.

Bibliothèque Nationale de la France, Richelieu Site

This is how France does libraries. This National Library started out with the manuscripts of medieval kings. There was a law passed in 1537, and it stipulated that a copy of every book ever published in French be added to the library's already vast collection. The inside is enormous and fantastic, but the oval reading room is only open to card-bearing scholars(as I duly found out when I was schooed out by a over zealous librarian).



This is the Oval room I was kindly shown out of. The picture is bad because it was taken through a window in the door. It really is beautiful when you see it properly.

Palais de la Bourse

The Palais de le Bourse was commissioned by Napoleon, and was home to the French stock exchange from 1826 to 1987. Now the market is mainly computerized, so the Palais is reserved for the futures and the traded options markets.

Whoa here they come!

Just a few minutes after leaving the auction house, I was pushed aside as a troop of stampeding business-people all with rolling suitcases or briefcases stormed on by. There must have been a good 8 or 9 of them, all marching past in a row. It was really very funny.

Les Passages du 2e Part 1: Vivienne

These early 19th century shopping passages or arcades, when they were constructed, meant new traffic free areas for shops and apartments. Beautiful as they are, the fell into disrepair, but were given a major makeover in the 70's. Now you can find a mix of little shops including a bookshop and a very cute little tearoom at the Galerie Vivienne. These are the pictures of the Galerie Vivienne.

J'ai preneur a 50 euro! or At the Drouot auction house

The maison Drouot auction house. This is a serious way to get your blood pumping. I walked in at ten to one and the place is literally buzzing with activity. They have about 25 auctions rooms, with several live auctions daily. I waited for an haute couture clothing and accessories auction to start at 2. They had some wonderful pieces and the best part was that it was affordable. You could pick up a vintage Hermes scarf at 50 euro or a pair of Roger Vivier pumps at 70. Picking out the fashion insiders was easy, they came either strutting or strolling in, shook hands or bumped cheeks with the announcer and claimed their reserved seats at the front. I stayed about an hour standing at the back(there was few seats and the ones there were were fought over silently but viciously) and they had only gone through about a quarter of the lots. The bidding and bidders were fierce and it made for a really fun time.

Musée du Parfum aka Fragonard Propaganda

I visited the free Musée du Parfum this afternoon, on the Boulevard des Capucines, run by the Fragonard perfume company. It's pretty much a Fragonard propaganda museum, but it did have some interesting artefacts and paintings showcasing early perfume use.

Snakes and Roosters, Oh My!

A few pictures of door handles showing a penchant for vicious looking animals. A past burgular proofing measure?

Harry's New York Bar

Harry's Bar, named after Harry the bartender who bought the place back in 1913, has had regulars such as Hemingway(quite honestly, is there a bar he didn't go to?) and Scott Fitzgerald. Its claim to fame is supposedly inventing the Bloody Mary.

Place des Victoires

When this circle of mansions was built in 1685, it was for the sole purpose of offsetting the statue of Louis XIV that once stood here. The architect, Jules Hardouin Mansart, designed the proportion of the buildings and even the arrangements of the surrounding streets, all to show the statue to its best advantage. Unfortunately the angry mobs of 1792 tore down the statue in protest. A replacement, of a totally different style, was put up in 1822, to the detriment of the whole system of proportion of the buildings to statue. It's still a very nice roundabout, and has both a Kenzo and a Cacharel store.

Tour Jean Sans Peur.

After he had ordered the Duc d'Orleans assassination in 1408, the Duc de Bourgogne feared reprisals. To protect himself, he has this 88 foot tower built onto his hme, the Hotel de Bourgogne. He moved his bedroom up to the fourth floor to sleep safe from the plots of his enemies. Tour Jean Sans Peur translates to Fearless John's Tower. Go figure.

Brrrr....

I'm being very skinflinty about my money for November, because I'm saving all my centimes for the January sales to look fabulous before I hit London. So that means no metro pass for November. Not a big deal, but that said, I learned my lesson about going far from home, on that very cold walk home from Christie's the other day. I won't be going further than the 1st to 5th disctricts for the next two weeks, and then for December, when I'll have a pass, I'll be doing districts 6 to 20. Today was 2e arrondissement day, so enjoy.

Buh Bye

Once again, the stupid timer is ticking away. I know the posts don't go into much detail, but it's really all I can do just to post the pictures before the time runs out. When my computer arrives sometime in the next few weeks, the posts should be a bit more descriptive. Until then, thanks to everyone for putting up with the current situation, and keep those comments coming. rock on



P.S: This isn't in Paris, just my favourite part of Dogma.