LA PETITE FRANCE

THIS IS MY POST NUMBER FIVE HUNDRED ON ALL BLOGS, AND MOST PROBABLY THE LAST TO BE PUBLISHED ON TRIPS HERE!! A NEW BLOG WILL BE CREATED SOON TO SHOW MORE RECENT TRIPS!!

Meanwhile, a reminder:
Blogtrotter Revival 70s & 80s has wonderful posts of some beautiful people thirty years younger and at least twenty pounds thinner,
and
Blogtrotter Revival 90s has also some fabulous views.
Don’t miss!! :-)

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STRASBOURG - JANUARY 2009

The Pont St-Martin, near the restaurant seen on Smilebox in the last post, marks the beginning of the district known as La Petite France (Little France), where the city's millers, tanners and fishermen used to live.



"OLD & NEW - Mix of buildings at the entrance of Petite France"


"REGENT PETITE FRANCE - My favourite hotel in Strasbourg..."



"MAISON DES TANNEURS - Also known as «Gerwerstub», the Maison was built in 1572. Formerly a tannery, it became a restaurant in 1949 and was restored in 1972 for its fourth century anniversary"



"ILL RIVER CANAL - Near the Hotel Regent and the Maison des Tanneurs"



"RUE DU BAIN AUX PLANTES - Sixteenth- and seventeenth-century houses with carved woodwork"


"LA PETITE ALSACE"


"DORURE, RESTAURATION & PEINTURE"



"PONTS COUVERTS - At the far end of a series of canals are the Covered Bridges, built as part of the fourteenth-century city fortifications and still punctuated by watchtowers. Just beyond is a dam built by Vauban to protect the city from waterborne assault"



"DAM"



"ILL RIVER"


"TREE"


"BOOKS, TREE AND CHURCHES - Counter-clockwise: Au coin Litéraire, Petite France Tree, St. Thomas, St. Jean and St. Pierre le Neuf"


"PALAIS DE JUSTICE - Professional deformation"

STRASBOURG IN WINTER

STRASBOURG - JANUARY 2009

(EDITED: Just removed the YouTube video that was no longer working...)


"ALPS - View from the airplane on the way to Frankfurt"


"MORE ALPS - The views came out quite well on this sunny winter day... Don't miss them and turn the speakers on"


"SAINT PIERRE LE JEUNE - One of the most important church buildings of the city, it has been Protestant since 1524"


"PLACE KLÉBER - 9:00 A.M."



"TEMPLE NEUF - Another Protestant temple"


"PLACE DE LA CATHÉDRALE"


"CATHEDRAL - Its construction started in 1176 and lasted for centuries. According to Wikipedia, the North Tower, «at 142 metres, it was the world's tallest building from 1647 to 1874, when it was surpassed by St. Nikolai's Church, Hamburg. Today it is the sixth-tallest church in the world»"


"CATHEDRAL'S FAÇADE - The famous west front, decorated with thousands of figures, is a masterpiece of the Gothic era"


"STAINED GLASS - Exterior"



"CATHEDRAL - Seen from South"



"ROHAN PALACE - Façade facing the Ill River. Built between 1731 and 1732, it represents the high point of local baroque architecture. It houses three of the most important museums in the city since the end of the 19th century: the Archaeological Museum, the Museum of Decorative Arts and the Museum of Fine Arts, as well as the Gallery Robert Heitz"


"PLACE COCHONS DE LAIT"


"ILL RIVER AND PLACE DES COCHONS DE LAIT"


"ILL RIVER AND BRIDGE"


"CATHEDRAL - From the River"



"FAÇADES - On a blue sky"


"LAHKÄS - Introduction to the Gourmet Section"


"GOURMET - Au Crocodile: founded about 1790 as the Cafe Viennois, it had three Michelin stars but lost one some years ago. Legend is that the name was changed to Le Crocodile when Jean-Baptise Kleber, a general in Napoleon's army, brought a crocodile back from Egypt and offered it to the restaurant. Pâtisserie Christian: two different locations in buildings of the 16th and 18th centuries. Jeff de Bruges: chocolate also in Strasbourg. Hotel Regent Petite France: my favourite in Strasbourg. For the «À l'Oiseau de France» and the next page «Maison Kammerzell», «Au Pont Saint Martin», «Aux Bons Crus d'Alsace», «L'Ancienne Douane» et »La Maison des Tanneurs», there are lovely buildings and mixed feelings on the food... Buerehiesel is missing on the photos, not in the memories... Less expensive, «Le Tire Bouchon» is nice"

GOODBYE PARIS, WITH JAZZ

FOR THE TIME BEING... - FEBRUARY 2006

From Parc Monceau to Grand Cafe des Capucines - 10:30 a.m. through 2:30 a.m.!




"PARC MONCEAU is one of the most attractive parks in Paris, and it became a favourite resting place for those looking to get away from the city bustle. It was started by the Duke of Chartres (later Duke of Orleans), who purchased some land in 1769 to build a garden. The Duke hired Louis Carmontelle to design the gardens in an English style. Carmontelle added sculpture of famous Frenchmen as well as a windmill, a pyramid, and some Corinthian pillars to the already existing pavilion that had been built in the centre. When the Duke was executed in 1793, the garden reverted to public ownership. It was sold to the city of Paris in 1860 and opened in 1861 by Napoleon III"


"CERNUSCHI MUSEUM - Few of the people who visit the Parc Monceau realize that a stylish white stone mansion at the edge of the park, built in the 1870s, houses one of the most remarkable collections of ancient Chinese art in Europe. The Cernuschi Museum was left to the City of Paris one hundred years ago by Henri Cernuschi (1820-1896), a Milanese financier and sympathizer with the 1871 Commune insurgents. When we visited, further to the permanent collection, there was an interesting exhibition of Chinese erotic paintings (The Spring Palace Paintings)"


"TAVERNE KRONENBOURG - A nice place for a late lunch or late dinner break"





“THE PYRAMIDS at the Louvre courtyard are probably the pièce de résistance of I.M.Pei's legacy to modernism. Of all President Mitterrand’s Grands Projets in Paris, none was as controversial as the Pei Pyramids. The main Pyramid, which unquestionably disturbs the balance of the old Cour Napoleon, provides an entrance to the galleries of the Museum. Time has somehow rounded criticism, though its role as a protected entrance against the elements is rather unsuccessful"


"COUR CARRÉE - Built shortly after 1190 by King Philippe Auguste as a defensive fortress, by the 14th century the Louvre had become a residence occasionally serving as a royal home. François I turned it into a Renaissance palace and Louis XIV, who resided there until his departure for Versailles in 1678, completed the Cour Carrée (Square Court). In 1793, the Louvre became a museum"


"LA SAMARITAINE seen from the pedestrian bridge over the Seine. Founded in 1870, it was one of the first «Grands Magazins» in Haussmann’s Paris. Acquired by LVMH (Louis Vuitton group) in 2001 is now closed for long term works, they say. It used to have one of the best Paris views from its terrace"


"PONT NEUF also seen from the pedestrian bridge over the Seine, near the Louvre"


"CAFE LAURENT at the D’Aubusson Hotel (a city mansion from de 17th Century located in the historical centre of Paris, at walking distance from the Louvre museum) is one of the Jazz sites in Paris. Thursday, Friday and Saturday it’s show time"


"STREET PIANIST - My Parisian friends surely have met this piano player several times near the Abbey at St. Germain des Prés"



"CAVEAU DE LA HUCHETTE – The famous jazz cellar has an interesting story. Before 1551 the building at nr.5 Huchette Street served as a meeting point for the members of the «Brethren of Rose Cross» and of the «Order of the Temple». In 1773 it became a lodge for the Freemasonry. With secret tunnels departing from there, the building hosted the Clubs of the Montagnards during the Revolution, when it was known as «The Terror Cave». It seems that Danton, Saint-Just, Marat and Robespierre were frequent visitors to the Tavern that was then located in the upper floor. It also seems that a court, a prison and an execution hall functioned in the building. At the end of WWII, swing and bebop invaded Paris, and «Le Caveau de la Huchette» became the first jazz club in Paris. Sydney Bechet, Lionel Hampton, Art Blakey and the Messengers and many others played there. Nowadays it’s still a nice spot to spend an evening"


"THE GRAND CAFE DES CAPUCINES - And when you leave the Caveau, there is always a nice place to have a supper. The Grand Café was already «in» when it opened in 1875. It has everything to be an exciting spot: an «Art Déco» décor, large hotels, luxury boutiques and the Opera around the corner, as well as a round the clock appealing cuisine. Oysters, Lobster, Smoked Salmon, Scallops or Duck with olives are a delight to your taste"