Monday, November 19, 2007

PARIS ITINERARIES III

FROM BERCY TO THE LOUVRE - FEBRUARY 2006

AFTERNOON AND NIGHT!


"RUE CREMIEUX - The Street, opened in 1865, was named Millaud Avenue until 1897. Its current name comes from Isaac Moïse Crémieux, better known as Adolphe Crémieux, a French statesman, lawyer and politician, author of the 1870 Decret Crémieux, which secured French citizenship for the Jews in French-ruled Algeria. Quite close to the Gare de Lyon, Crémieux is a pedestrian street, paved since 1993, and bordered with two floor houses with coloured façades"


"GARE DE LYON - The railway station was built initially in 1852 and reconstructed for the World Exposition of 1900 It shows a clock tower, similar to the one of the London Houses of Parliament, home to the Big Ben. But the best treat (further to the TGV) is the Le Train Bleu restaurant, a fabulous setting (classified historic monument) for an acceptable meal"


"BERCY - In 1981, François Mitterrand decided to create a new building for the Ministry of Finance and for the successors of Jean-Baptiste Colbert and his tax collectors. Actually the Ministry had been for the previous 100 years located in one wing of the Louvre Palace and it was time to return it back to history, Mitterand dixit. Paul Chemetov and Borja Huidobro won Mitterrand's international design competition and created the aqueduct shaped building with two 72 meter arches - one plunging in the Seine, the other above the street of Bercy"


"THE CINEMATHÈQUE, due to Henri Langlois, moved from Chaillot to the Frank O. Gehry building (erected in 1994 for the American centre, but which had had to close its doors two years later because of its budget deficit) in the autumn of 2005. Gehry’s idea was to create an image of the US while taking into account the context. Thus, the white stone building (unusual material for Gehry) respected the alignment of the Bercy Street and the traditional measure of Haussmann, but on the side of the Bercy Park, the architect gave free course to its «Californian» inspiration, with a profusion of tilted sides and overlapping volumes. The building was named «la danseuse relevant son tutu» by its creator"



"BERCY PARK - In August, Peter made a quite nice post on Bercy. There you have a quite interesting view of the area, including the Park. Here it's just an aperitif to get back to Peter's photos"


"THE COUR ST. EMILION is named after the French wine Saint-Émilion and was built at the old railway station of Bercy where wine from south of France arrived in Paris. The metro station opens onto Bercy Village, a commercial area that replaced the old wine warehouses"


"METRO BIBLIOTHÈQUE was the terminal station of line 14, inaugurated in October 1998 by François Mitterrand and running from Madeleine to Bibliothèque. Line 14 was the second automated line after Orlyval, but the first fully integrated into the Paris metro network. On June 26, 2007 line 14 that was already running from St. Lazare, was extended beyond Bibliothèque to Olympiades..."


"SAINT SULPICE is 113 meters long, 58 meters wide and 34 meters tall, only slightly smaller than Notre-Dame. It was always famous, but now also appears in the Da Vinci Code"


"SAINT GERMAIN DES PRÉS is a Benedictine Abbey built in the 6th century in the fields just beyond the outskirts of early medieval Paris. It was the burial place of Merovingian kings of Neustria. After many incidents, it's still there, a reference near the Quartier Latin"


"NOTRE-DAME - This time it seems to be a decent night photo..."



"THE CONCIERGERIE, a former royal palace and prison, located on the west of the Île de la Cité, near the Cathedral of Notre-Dame, is part of the Palais de Justice. The first picture shows a fast boat speedin in the Seine River, the second seems quite acceptable to me..."


"PALAIS ROYAL - An amazing entrance to the metro station. Peter had already shown it at PHO"

36 comments:

Marie said...

C'est grandiose. I hope you were not in Paris during the strikes!

inspired said...

some stunning shots here ;o]

lyliane six said...

C'est magnifique de découvrir Paris à travers vos photos! je ne connais pas Bercy, sauf le palais de Paris Bercy, où il y a bien longtemps, j'étais allée voir Aïda avec mon ami qui est décédé récemment,Je ne connais pas non plus la Bibliothèque, mais la conciergerie est un des monuments de Paris que je préfère pour son architecture.J'espère qu'en Gréce, vous n'avez plus eu de catastrophes, Michel a bien aimé la Corée et le Japon, dans 15 jours il repart à Kiruna en Suède, puis fin Décembre nous partons quelques jours à Prague, puis chez ma soeur en Allemagne.Quand vous verra t on à Paris? bientôt j'espère.Bon week end à vous 2. Je suis entrain de faire quelque chose sur Lisbonne et les autres villes visitées au Portugal.

S-V-H said...

I enjoy every time all your travels with visiting your blog and looking to your nice photos. I liked to see the X-mas tree in front of Notre-Dame. Great shot!

Thanks for your last comments on my blog, Gil!

isa said...

Quite a cornucopia of architectural styles!

I find it rather appropriate that the Cinematique museum is located in Gerhy's California-flair building ;-)

joey said...

Thank you for the mini-vacation ... I feel as though I have toured Paris, a heartfelt dream that perhaps someday will come true.

Nikon said...

Great series, I know a lot of the places from just following my friends' blogs :)

alice said...

C'est drôle, moi aussi j'ai assisté à une représentation de Aïda à Bercy (Lyliane, tu te souviens comme on était mal assis?)...Sinon, voilà encore un quartier que je connais mal. Tes photos sont très réussies, as usual, ces tons dorés sont très beaux.
Et j'aime beaucoup cette ligne 14 du métro, automatique donc peu sensible aux grèves...;-)

dot said...

Enjoyed your photos. Very beautiful!

Daniel Chérouvrier said...

Très belles photos de mon arrondissement de naissance et de lieux où j'ai travaillé il y a quelques temps notamment à la Maison de la RATP.
Very fine pics of my birthplace and the spot where I used to work some years ago for instance at the "Maison de la RATP".
As you may guess I understand easily why the metro and railway workers were in strike last week.

Anonymous said...

Great nightshots of Paris. Have a nice weekend, Gil.

Anonymous said...

Thank you for visiting my blog and for your comment. I enjoyed your blog and the wounderful pics (i will come bach, could not see all). Fell free to visit my website too: http://www.rudner.eu

MedaM said...

Thanks for your visiting and the comment you left on my blog. I am very glad to know that you were in Sarajevo. That was three years before my older son was born and four years before Sarajevo became Olympic City in February 1984.
It made me smile your comment on romã; you are right, I ate it soon after I took its photo.:-))
I haven’t visited your blog for several days because of the lack of the time. I am sorry for that. I can see now how many beautiful photos you have posted. It is very interesting for me to see places which I have never seen in private. By the way I’ve never been in Paris; I’ve never been abroad at all.

Sally said...

You ook nice and rugged up for the waether!

We came across Bercy when we were in Paris in 2003 for my husband's 50th b'day. Had lunch at Bercy Village. I liked it very much indeed, even if thre were struggles because of artist squats being demolished etc. That happens whenever areas on the fringes are gentrified. In fact, the building my work occupies was an old factory and warehouse and was being occupied by various artists.

As to the election: Oooh, gmg...I hope there's no sadness! Couldn't stand Howard. We are all delighted at the election result. I just wanted to keep the tone neutral in the commentary. I might add a liuttle note (whoops and cheers were heard emanating from our house!)

julia said...

Our version of the Palais Royal is 'something else' but is meaningful to this town, or rather was, it will be demolished. It was a dance hall.

Annie said...

Everything is looking festive in your photos today. It's so pleasant to walk around with you, seeing the sights. I can almost feel the crisp air too.

Lara said...

wonderful night shots!

Steve Buser said...

Quite a lot to take in with all the photos and history. I love what your doing.

I share you issues with time these days. My blog has suffer a little from time crunch. I am trying to define a new pattern for how and when I blog.

--steve buser
New Orleans Daily Photo

Anonymous said...

Hi Gil, Always happy to see you at my little blog. And thank you for my return visit to France. Not too far in the distant future I hope to travel back there again. ~ Lynn

Lynette said...

I love that night photo of Notre Dame. Thanks for stopping by my blog with that great quote about the gym!

freefalling said...

Oh Gil, life sweeps us away sometimes, doesn't it?
I have been reading all your posts but haven't commented for a while AND
I haven't done my tagging thing yet!!
I know, bad, lazy blogger!
But... I particularly enjoyed this post.
I especially liked the Ministry of Finance building (why, I don't know!).

Ash said...

More lovely images from Paris :)

lyliane six said...

Pour vous et faire connaître aux autres votre beau pays, un petit message en musique sur mon blog.Amitiés.

Cergie said...

Vous avez fait tout celà dans la même journée ? Vous n'avez pas chômé
J'aime beaucoup tes photos de nuit. Quoique prises en Février elles sont très chaleureuses. L'escalier du parc de Bercy est fameux. Tu ne l'as pas loupé !

travelphilippines said...

another wonderful holiday pictures. and thanks for never leaving my blog.

Cuckoo said...

So lovely pictures from Paris. I only remember the Notre Dame. Night pictures are awesome.

Anonymous said...

Marie,
I’ve a great experience of transport strikes in Madrid as, for many years, I used to have a meeting in Paris in October and another on in January… Fortunately, this time (February 2006) there were no strikes!

Inspired,
Sue,
Thanks!

Lyliane,
J’ai aussi vu une fois l’Aïda à Bercy (il y a dix ans, non?). C’était vraiment majestueux quand Rhadamès entrait dans la scène de 60m pour 40m! La Bibliothèque me plaît beaucoup aussi…
En Grèce il y a eu de la pluie avec des orages monumentales mais j’étais à l’intérieur pour la conférence, alors pas de problème!
Kiruna doit être très froid, Prague, c’est super! Paris, j’aimerais bien y retourner, mais avec les grèves des contrôleurs aéronautiques je me demande si c’est prudent de faire la liaison pour Tunis (12/13 décembre) à Roissy…
Je vais voir ce qui se passe sur ton blog!

Isabella,
It actually makes sense to install the Cinémathèque at Gehry’s building…

Joey,
Nikon,
Dot,
April,
Glad to see you both here and enjoying. Thanks for the comments!

Alice,
Il semble que tout le monde a vu l’Aïda à Bercy. J’ai raconté mon expérience dans la réponse à Lyliane… D’accord à propos de la ligne 14!

Deslilas,
Ressources humaines, ça oblige…

April,
Glad to see you here and enjoying. Thanks for the wishes!

Herby,
Thanks. I’ll keep checking your blog!

Medam,
It’s amazing the time that has passed since I was in Sarajevo; now, when you commented I realized that I’m definitely getting older… ;))
Thanks for your comments; I do understand how difficult is to find time to keep in touch with the blogosphere…

Sally,
Artists around the corner are usually an interesting asset for the community, but sometimes it makes things hardr«er to deal with…
I’m so glad to see that you’re happy after the elections!!! ;))

Julia,
It seems that some of the most beautiful monuments we see today are on sites previously occupied by something that has been demolished; it’s life, they say…

Annie,
Thanks. Actually that was a long and quite amazing walk in Paris… You know that for good reasons Hemingway’s book on/in Paris is named “A moveable feast”…

Lara,
Lynn,
Lynette,
Thanks.

Steve,
Thanks. I couldn’t keep a daily blog. If I manage to post twice a week is already too much; and of course the Revivals 80s and 90s are suffering from lack of update. Truly, I don’t think anybody is paying much attention to those pre-digital pictures, though some of them deserved more consideration… ;))

Freefalling,
I’m so glad to see you back here and commenting! Hope everything is running smoothly for you, Vince and family! That Ministry of Finance building is at least impressive!

Ash,
Happy that you liked!

Cergie,
Merci. En fait la journée a commencé au Canal St. Martin (post précédent) et on n’a pas chomé, c’est vrai…

Travelphilippines,
How could someone leave such beautiful places you show on your blog?!

Cuckoo,
Thanks for the encouragement as far as night pictures are concerned… ;))

Lakshmi said...

The night pics are stunning ..I am kicking myself for missing out Paris from my trip

Anonymous said...

Backpakker,
Ah, Ah... next time, Paris with a detour to Lisbon!

Sigma said...

The Cinematheque didnt impress me much, but the park sure is interesting :-))
The night pictures have indeed come out very well and beautiful

Anonymous said...

Sigma,
I must confess that I like Gehry's buildings; so odd and striking at the same time...
True! This time I managed to catch something decent at night... ;))

Catherine said...

Je viens juste de réaliser que tu écrivais parfaitement le français.
Je continue le voyage parisien.
J'aime beucoup le quartier du marais et de la place des vosges.Ce quartier est a beaucoup de cachet. C'est un concentré d'histoire de Paris.
Dans un autre genre, Bercy et son parc est trés agréable aussi. J'aime beaucoup aller dans ces 2 quartiers le dimanche puisqu'ils sont trés animés.
J'ignorais la référence à la rue Crémieux. Comment connais tu tous ces détails? Un guide? (Je repasserai voir ta réponse s'il y en a une, inutile de me laisser un message).

Catherine said...

Oh et la station de metro Palis Royal, elle m'a amusée aussi. Je l'ai mise en image aussi dans mon blog. Pas tenté par les colonnes de Buren? Encore un sujet de polemique en architecture.

Anonymous said...

Catherine,
Merci. Le Marais et la Place des Vosges est un de mes endroits préférés à Paris. Et si j’en ai de la chance, j’y vais chaque fois que je visite ta belle ville! Mais je suis aussi d’accord que Bercy, surtout maintenant avec la Cinémathèque, est aussi fascinant…
Crémieux? Je ne suis pas sûr où est-ce que j’ai trouvé la référence. Peut-être dans un guide…
Le Metro Palais Royal est magnifique…;))

jont said...

Love the Palais Royal Metro entrance. I was searching the Web to find which station had that ornate entrance and found your blog. Your pix take me back to Paris!

Anonymous said...

Jont,
Glad to see you here; and glad that you found what you were looking for!