In Review: Palace Hotel, Paris

Palace Hotel, Rue Bouchardon

I stayed at the Palace Hotel during December 2010. Don’t be fooled by the name, though. As hotels go, this is basic at best, but for my money, the price couldn’t be beaten. I paid just €35/night – or €350 for a ten night stay in a budget hotel that was within easy walking distance of some of Paris’s most popular attractions. Oh, and don’t confuse this Palace Hotel with the much grander Golden Tulip Little Palace hotel nearby, where the same ten nights would have cost me €2,300 or more!

Given that it has been more than two years since my stay, I must stress that this review may be doing the hotel owners a great disservice, since any number of conditions may have changed during the intervening 28 months. However, I have read more recent reviews for the Palace Hotel, and judging from the comments left by other guests, it seems that little has in fact changed.

Room 5: At least the bed was comfortable

While writing this entry, I checked current room rates and to my amazement the prices are almost the same as they were in 2010. However, it is a well known truism that ‘You get what you pay for’, so I can’t stress enough that you get the absolute basics for this price: a wardrobe, small desk, bed, and bathroom. My room did not have the usual extras such as hair-dryer, television, refrigerator, air-conditioner, complimentary tea and coffee, free Continental breakfast, or much else in that regard.

The hotel does offer breakfast (baguettes, butter and jam, coffee, tea etc), but at an additional cost of €4.50 each day. WiFi was also available when I was there, but the signal was quite weak in my room, despite the fact that it was almost directly above the reception area.

Room 5: bathroom

I should also point out that some rooms do not have their own en-suite bathroom/shower, in which case guests must use shared facilities. These rooms are of course priced at lower rates than those with en-suites – currently €25-€30/night.

The hotel owners were friendly and despite their limited English (and my non-existent French), were always eager to help in any way they could to ensure my stay there was positive.

The neighbourhood around the hotel has many good local cafes and Boulangerie’s, as well as other low-cost shopping outlets. A brisk 30 minute walk will get you to the Pere-Lachaise Cemetery, Les Halles, the Pompidou Centre, the Louvre and the Tuileries Garden. Even the famed Basilique du Sacre-Coeur in Montmartre can be reached on foot in less than 45 minutes.

Room 5: wardrobe and 'desk'

Would I stay at the Palace Hotel again? Most definitely. I think it would be hard to beat the current prices being asked at the hotel, and given its location, it still remains a great choice for visitors on a limited budget.

More Information

Palace Hotel,

9 Rue Bouchardon, 75010, Paris

Tel: 014 040 0945

Tel: 014 040 0946

Palace Hotel… ‎

Email: palace.hotel75010@gmail.com

Reflections From The Window Seat

Flying over the Alps to Paris, France

~ So when you travel, where do you prefer to sit: window, aisle or middle seat?

I am definitely a window seat traveller. When I take international flights, I prefer the window seat, not because I can spend most of the flight looking at the scenery from the window – at 30,000 feet, there is not a lot of scenery to see passing over the Pacific Ocean between Australia and North America.

No, I choose window seats because I can wedge myself up against the internal fuselage of the aircraft and get a reasonable amount of sleep without being disturbed by the comings and goings of the other passengers sharing my seating section. The ability to look at the landscape once the plane is passing over areas of country is an added bonus

Gulf Coast from Greyhound Bus window

When travelling by bus or train, I again choose window seats. I am not one of those travellers who bury their head in a book or digital device, or who try to blot out my surroundings by listening to music through a pair of tiny ear buds.

I spend most of the trip looking out the window at the passing parade of small towns and villages, with their pedestrians and local traffic; examining the local architecture, both civic and private; and trying get an understanding (no matter how brief and fleeting) of the lives and loves of the local population.

How about you. Where do you prefer to sit, and why? Feel free to share your opinions and thoughts via the Comments section below.

Welcome to 2012

It’s traditional to offer some homilies and reflections at the end of one year, and at the beginning of a new one, and being a bit of a traditionalist I am happy to add my few words to the millions that have been written already, or to those that are being uploaded across the Internet as we speak.

Last year was not the best in my extended family, coming as it did with the loss in May (at age 70), of an older brother, George. There was also the untimely passing of a brother-in-laws much loved mother, and family matriarch, Maureen (who lived a long and fulfilled life of 91 years). Of course, all deaths are untimely, when it comes down to it, but Meg, as she was affectionately known by one and all, passed away just a couple of weeks before Christmas, and any death close to Christmas seems to have more impact than if it had occurred well before significant events that are normally celebrated by most families, or the larger community.

There were other deaths along the way, all of which served to remind me that I am not getting younger, and that if I am going to make the most of the rest of my life I need to focus my time and attention where I can get the most benefit out of the years ahead. Of course, life marches to its own beat, and it has a way of getting in the way of our best laid plans – no matter how carefully we have made our arrangements.

So for myself, the new year begins with much reflection and the hope that last year’s farewells will be the last I am going to see for some time. The new year also begins with the promise – and planning – of new journeys. Next week I head to Melbourne for a five week house sitting stint, and in July and August I should be apartment sitting in New York City. Then there is a much anticipated return to my ancestral home on the Greek island of Ikaria – and another stay in Paris, France would not go amiss either.

Dear reader, life is finite. The clock is ticking.

Travel blogs are filled with comments from readers wishing that they too could embark on journeys they have been daydreaming about, in many instances, for years.

If this sound like you, take heart. You can have your cake and eat it too – but you will have to decide on your priorities. You will almost certainly have to sacrifice something to make your dreams come true. And you will again, almost certainly, have to overcome many doubts and fears to bring your dreams to fruition. You will also encounter naysayers, sceptics, and critics who will argue that the world is filled with dangers lurking around every corner – as if watching an hour of the evening news doesn’t reinforce that time and time again.

Then there are others who argue that you need to knuckle down and focus on finding a life partner, or family, or career, or homebuilding, or making a fortune, or [add your own inner nagging voice].

Ignore them all. Travel blogs are also filled with articles from people – young and old – who have decided to live the dream they have been nurturing for many years, and who have left the 9-5 rat race behind to travel the world, in many instances for years at a time.

Some work their way from country to country, others busk or perform on city streets and subway station platforms. Travellers can join a wide variety of networks and organizations filled with friendly people that are happy to offer accommodation and advice for the passing traveller. All this information and more is available online via the monitor or portable device you are reading this post on right now.

Make a plan. It doesn’t matter if your plan is to travel in five years instead of five months. The important thing is to make a plan and stay focussed on it. Nurture it. Feed it. Grow it. Read, research, make notes, make plans, make contact with fellow travellers, and aim to put some money aside each week until you reach your ultimate goal – and departure date.

I say again – life is finite. The clock is ticking.

So, Love The Life You Live – or change it – and may all your dreams and more come to pass in 2012.

Friday Fotos – Paris, December 2010

My recent viewing of Woody Allen’s latest film, Midnight in Paris, made me nostalgic for that wonderful city, and had me reminiscing about my visit there last December (2010). So today, I am featuring a bunch of images from that trip, and links to relevant posts about my visit.

A view from the top of the Eiffel Tower. See my previous entries: The Eiffel Tower: A Promise Kept, and Top of The Tower Views.

The Statue of Apollo in the Grand Canal at Versailles, breaking through the encroaching ice on a cold December day in 2010. My trip to Versailles on a frosty winter's day was one of many highlights of my stay in the French capital.

I wrote about my visit to the Palace of Versailles in two posts: Viva La Revolution! and Palace of Versailles Gardens.

Above: Notre-Dame Cathedral. You don't have to be Catholic or even religious to appreciate the grandeur of Notre-Dame Cathedral, but it probably helps. Even so, I am neither, but that didn't stop me from visiting Notre-Dame several times during my 10 night stay in Paris (see Notre-Dame Cathedral).

To my delight, my visit coincided with an evening choral performance that I wrote about here: The Sound of Angels Singing. Given my previous comment about being neither Catholic nor religious, I may be coming across as confused and contradictory, but such was the power of the setting and the music, that I am happy to plead "Guilty as charged, you honor."

Above and below: No trip to Paris would be complete without at least one stroll through parts of the magnificent Jardin des Tuileries (or Tuileries Garden), which I wrote about here Jardin des Tuileries, Paris. As you can see from the ice covered table below, there was plenty of snow about, and despite the cold and the snow, I loved Paris in December.

Come to think of it - it was because of the snow and the cold that I loved Paris so much. The heat and the crowds of summer were long gone, making the queues shorter, the Metro less crowded, and the weather perfect for extended walks around the city.

Well that will do for now. If you haven’t done so, I can highly recommend Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris, if for nothing else than the stunning scenery of the City of Lights. But as I indicated in my review, the film is thoroughly enjoyable in its own right, and I’m sure you won’t leave disappointed.

In Review: Midnight in Paris

I have a terrible admission to make.

Until I saw Woody Allen’s latest flick, Midnight in Paris last night, I can’t remember going to see a Woody Allen movie in over 20 years. Twenty years! Why? What happened? Even I don’t rightly know.

I always enjoyed his early career as a writer, actor and film director, but for some reason I can no longer remember, I lost interest. Or maybe I just became more interested in the work of directors like Martin Scorcese, Francis Ford Coppola, the Coen Brothers, David Lynch, and one or two others.

I’m kicking myself now. Kicking myself, because I thoroughly enjoyed Midnight in Paris right from the opening montage of images that showed the ‘city of lights’ in all its stunning beauty. And kicking myself because I am sure I have missed any number of other excellent Woody Allen films over the past 20 years or so.

Still, there’s no point berating myself too much. Looking on the bright side, I’ve got at least two decades of catching up to do, as I program my personal Woody Allen retrospective in the coming months, and uncover more ‘lost’ gems from his film making oeuvre. But enough of the self abuse – on to Allen’s latest offering.

Part romantic comedy, and part fantasy, Midnight in Paris tells the story of Gil (Owen Wilson), a successful Hollywood screenwriter who is having problems finishing off his first novel. With his fiancée, Inez (Rachel McAdams), he travels to Paris with Inez’s rich, conservative parents, and understandably falls in love with the city. Unfortunately, Inez and her parents are less than enthusiastic, especially when Gil declares that he would love to live and work in Paris. Inez on the other hand, is apparently looking forward to married life in Malibu!

Gil believes that Paris’s golden age was the 1920s. An era that saw some of the greatest writers and painters of the twentieth century (both American and European), make Paris their home. At the end of a drunken night out with Inez, her ex-boyfriend Paul (Michael Sheen), and his wife Carol (Nina Arianda), Gil decides to walk the streets of Paris to clear his head. As a clock chimes the midnight hour, Gil is literally transported back in time to a party set in 1920s Paris, at which a host of famous writers and artists from that period are present.

Over a period of four or five nights, Gil meets Cole Porter, Zelda and F. Scott Fitzgerald, Gertrude Stein, Picasso, Dali, Hemingway, and many more writers, painters, dancers, artist’s models, as well as other luminaries of the age.

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I could write a lot more about the plot, but if you have yet to see the film, I don’t want to spoil the enjoyment I am sure you will get from it, by giving away too many plot points or quoting directly from the script.

As you might expect, Woody Allen has great eye for settings, and it has been years since I have seen Paris shown off to such great advantage in a movie. I was in Paris myself just over a year ago, and it was a delight to see scenes set in many of the places I myself visited during my stay. Places like the Louvre, the Palace of Versailles, the Musée de l’Orangerie (for a lovely scene involving Monet’s Water Lilies), Notre-Dame Cathedral, the famed Shakespeare and Company bookshop, the River Seine, and many others.

I thought every performance in Midnight in Paris, was spot on. Even from those actors with not much more than walk on parts. The dialog was sharp, witty, insightful, and the transitions between the present and the 1920s seamless. I spent the whole 90 minutes with a big smile on my face, and I left the cinema wishing that Woody Allen could have added another 30 minutes to the overall length of the film.

If you are into classic literature, art and cinema, there is much to delight and entertain you in Midnight in Paris. Apart from the great settings, and the excellent acting, you should have fun picking up the numerous artistic and cultural references Woody Allen sneaks in to his film.

My highest accolade? I enjoyed Midnight in Paris so much I intend to go back and see it again, before it disappears from the big screen. Not only that, but this is one movie I will definitely buy when it is released here on DVD – and for me that is always my biggest stamp of approval.

Highly recommended.

Monday Movies: Manhattan in Motion

A couple of time lapse videos that although completely different, nevertheless manage to compliment each other. The first is a beautifully shot video of Manhattan recorded at various times across multiple days and nights. The other, a somewhat surreal piece showing the slow decay and transformation that an ant colony wreaks on an old scanner.

 Manhattan in Motion Time Lapse

Josh ‘Getting My Time Lapse On’ Owens publishes his videos under the Mindrelic pseudonym.

Apart from his page on Vimeo from where this video was sourced, Josh can be found on Twitter, Facebook, RedBubble and his Mindrelic website. However, other than that he appears to be from Rochester, New York, none of these websites offer any insight or information about Josh. Nor does he try to explain why he makes his films or what he hopes to achieve by their creation. He seems happy to let the videos ‘speak’ for themselves. So without further ado, here is Manhattan in Motion...

Mindrelic - Manhattan in motion from Mindrelic on Vimeo.

More information
www.mindrelic.com
www.vimeo.com/mindrelic
www.twitter.com/mindrelic
www.facebook.com/Mindrelicphotography

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Ants in My Scanner Time Lapse

Describing Ants in My Scanner as “… an exploration of the aesthetic of life and degradation”, Paris based François Vautier, the creator of this short video explains that five years ago he…

"…installed an ant colony inside my old scanner that allowed me to scan in high definition this ever evolving microcosm (animal, vegetable and mineral). The resulting clip is a close-up examination of how these tiny beings live in this unique ant farm. I observed how decay and corrosion slowly but surely invaded the internal organs of the scanner. Nature gradually takes hold of this completely synthetic environment.”

Vautier (whose work was presented at the WORLD EXPO Shanghai 2010), adds that the ants are still alive, and that the process of recording the colony continues.

ANTS in my scanner > a five years time-lapse! from françois vautier on Vimeo.

Music : Franks - Infected Mushroom.

More information

www.francoisvautier.tumblr.com/

Paris on $50 a Night

Luxury room at the Hotel de Crillon

A recent story over on the Consumer Traveller site got me thinking about travel accommodations. The story by Janice Hough headlined One person’s $1,000 dream hotel room can be another person’s nightmare, describes a clients dissatisfaction with a hotel room booking. Apparently the room didn’t meet her expectations.

Janice writes:

"...their entry level room was €700 a night (about US$1,000), with rooms going up, way up, from there."

The client, who was travelling to Paris for her honeymoon, was so unhappy with her room at the Hotel de Crillon (which may or may not be the one pictured above) , she made a tentative booking with another hotel "...at €200-€300 more a night."

Assuming this client eventually paid US$1250 per night for their room, one can only hope she and her partner found the new room to their satisfaction. I have no idea how long the newlyweds spent in Paris, but it is fair to say they probably spent more on their room for one nights accommodations than I spent in the whole ten nights and nine days I stayed in the city.

Palace Hotel, Paris, France

Clearly their room would have put my €35/night (US$50) room at the Palace Hotel to shame, but I still think I got the better deal.

Although my room didn’t have a television (I didn’t travel to Paris to watch TV!), bar fridge, hairdryer, complementary shampoo and conditioner, room service or chocolates on the pillows, it did have everything I needed to make my stay in Paris comfortable, warm and safe. I even had access to free WiFi during my stay.

Not only that but the hotel – located in Montmartre and close to the Gare du Nord railway station – was within walking distance of the Pompidou Centre, Notre-Dame Cathedral, the Left Bank/Latin Quarter, the Louvre, and many other major attractions.

Ok, I have limited finances available to me, so I am forced to travel on a budget, or to at least spend my money carefully and wisely. But even if I could afford $1250 a night for accommodations I don’t think I would do it. What’s the point? At that price, I would be reluctant to leave my room. I’d want to get full value for my dollars and so spend hours each day doing – what? Watching television? Sleeping? Admiring the décor? Somehow I don’t think so.

Why spend that sort of money if all you are going to do is sleep there at night? (Yes, I know, they are newlyweds – so they may not be planning to get much sleep, but I’m sure you get my drift).

To be fair, I have to admit that if I was going to Paris for my honeymoon, I would not stay in a $50 a night hotel, but nor would I want to spend $1200+ per night either.

Maybe it’s just me. What about you? How do you like to travel, and what types of accommodations do you seek out? If you could spend one night in Paris at $1200+ or ten days in the city for the same amount – what would you choose? I’d love to hear your opinions.

Travelhoppers: Down Among The Dead Men

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Just a quick note to let you know that my first article for the Travelhoppers website has now gone ‘live’. The article looks at cemetery 'tourism', and visits three cemeteries: Woodlawn, in the Bronx, Pere-Lachaise in Paris, and Melbourne General cemetery in Melbourne, Australia.

I’m hoping this will be the first of many stories for Travelhoppers, and I will of course, let readers know via this blog about any new articles as a when they happen.

Feel free to Follow me via Twitter @compleattravel or look for me on Facebook. I’d love to have you as a Friend.

Web of The Week - Shakespeare and Company



Screenshot of Shakespeare and Company website

Shakespeare and Company is an independent bookstore located opposite Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris's Left Bank. Originally established in 1919 by Sylvia Beach, the store became a gathering place for writers such as Ezra Pound, Ernest Hemingway, William S. Burroughs, James Joyce and Ford Madox Ford. So great is the list of great writers who have passed through its doors or spent time living on its upper floors, that Shakespeare and Company has grown from a bookstore into an institution.

During the pre-war years the store was considered the centre of Anglo-American literary culture in Paris, which saw writers and artists of the "Lost Generation," spending a great deal of time at Shakespeare and Company. In fact, it was Sylvia Beach who initially published James Joyce's book Ulysses in 1922, which was subsequently banned in the United States and in the United Kingdom.

Shakespeare and Company has always been more than just a bookstore. From the beginning the shop included kitchen and sleeping facilities, and even today, volunteer workers are able to stay in the store, working, reading, writing and discussing literary ideas, theories, and more. After Sylvia Beach’s death the store was taken over by George Whitman, and following his passing, the store is now run by his daughter, Sylvia Beach Whitman.

The home page for the website has the very unusual characteristic of loading something different every time you press the F5 (or Refresh) key. In deed, the scrapbook nature of the layout, featuring multiple images and scraps of writing, leads to a cornucopia of other images that seem to lead off in an endless and haphazard way into the bowels of the site. It is impossible to know how many layers deep the site goes, which makes exploring Shakespeare and Company either endlessly frustrating, or infinitely fascinating. It all depends on how you approach it.

More Information
A 2005, fifty-two minute documentary film about Shakespeare and Company, Portrait of a Bookstore as an Old Man, can be seen here in its entirety...

Shakespeare and Company on Wikipedia…

The shop was featured in the Woody Allen film Midnight in Paris.

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One Ring To Scam Us All

Image: Exhibit A: The One Ring to scam us all…

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One of the lessons of international travel is learning to be aware of – and deal with – the hundreds of potential scams and scammers waiting to con visitors and locals alike of their hard earned cash. Paris had scammers and con artists aplenty, and while I managed to avoid most of them, I have to admit I did get caught out by one particular scam. So in the interests of public education, and at risk of opening myself up to public ridicule, I have decided to outline the scam here.

I was walking through Place de la Concorde one day, when a pretty young thing suddenly approached me and showed me a large ‘gold’ ring (see image above), and ask in broken English if I had inadvertently dropped it in the snow. Of course I had not, and I told her so.

Since the ring had quite a large diameter, and could easily pass as a man’s ring, she insisted I take the ring, saying magnanimously that it was my “Lucky day”, as she had no use for such a large object. I tried to tell her that I didn’t want or need it, and that she should keep it for herself, but she insisted.

Somewhere in the back of my mind warning bells were ringing, but she was such a pretty young thing that I finally I thanked her and took the ring. And therefore – the bait!

I turned and started walking away, and no sooner had I gone half a dozen steps when suddenly, there she was again. Since it clearly was my ‘lucky day’, she said, could I return the favour and give her a little money in return for the ring?

Still holding the ring in my hand, I offered to give it back to her, but there was no way she would take it. She was more than happy for me to keep it, but asked again if I would be so kind as to offer her something in return. Of course, by now I knew I had been scammed and could have simply walked off with the ring, or simply dropped it in the snow and left her to pick it up. But I didn’t.

Now this may sound like a stupid thing to say, and looking at it on ‘paper’ it does seem completely illogical. But. I figured I had been caught out by my own gullibility and stupidity, and for that, she at least deserved to get something for her efforts, and for the lesson she taught me – which of course, is to not be so gullible and stupid.

I think in the end I ‘paid’ four euros for the useless ‘gold’ ring and I still carry it to remind me to be more aware the next time some pretty young thing approaches me and offers to give me something for nothing!

Postscript: Over the next day or so, I was approached by at least two other (much older) women trying to work the same scam on me. Eventually I got my revenge. Again, I happened to be walking near Place de la Concorde, and noticed one of those women working the scam on a young couple. I approached the group and said something to the effect of, “Ah, how about that. You’ve got one of these as well,” and showed them my gold ring, which was exactly the same as the one the elderly lady was trying to foist onto the couple. As it happens, they had in fact already given the woman some money, but as soon as they realized they had been conned, they took their money back and left the woman holding her useless gold ring.

As the young couple walked off I tut-tutted a few times, and wagged a finger in the old ducks face. The saying: If looks could kill… comes to mind here, and feeling quite smug and just a little self-satisfied with myself, I walked off, leaving the woman to curse her bad luck.

In-Flight Magazines

Image: Cover shot of December 2010, Air France magazine

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There they are, jammed into the storage pocket located behind every airline passenger seat – generally between the vomit bag and the in-flight shopping catalogue.

I’m talking about in-flight magazines, those relentlessly cheerful, glossy publications produced by the world’s major airlines to keep bored passengers entertained with stories featuring exotic locales, illustrated with stunning sunset shots, and peopled by natives whose only pleasure in life seems to be administering to your every wish and whim.

Take the December 2010 issue of Air France Magazine. Come to think of it – following my return to Greece from Paris flying with Air France – I did take it. It’s lying open on the table in front of me generating a severe case of buyers remorse (see footnote).

Why is it that in-flight magazines always seem to feature gushing stories about locations you are not flying to? A case in point: the December issue of Air France Magazine. I mean, there I am, flying to Paris, one of the most romantic and idealized cities in the world, reading about the incredible kingdom of Bhutan, and sun drenched New Caledonia.

New Caledonia? What was I thinking? I could have been sunning myself in the South Pacific for the past two months. Instead, I spent ten days freezing my butt in Paris, and now here I am freezing my ears on the Aegean island of Ikaria!

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Image: Screen shot of Air France magazine accommodation feature

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Then there is the article about luxurious accommodations in Bali, Thailand, Shanghai and elsewhere which make my 35 euro budget hotel look like a flop house for vagrants.

I looked in vain for a guide to the prices charged by the hotels featured, but none was to be found anywhere – not in the magazine, anyway. Fearing this was a clear case of “If you have to ask the price – you can’t afford it,” I took a deep breath and headed online.

I was right. I couldn’t afford it. Even at the special internet rate of “from USD $245++” per night I was not going to be staying at the Alila Ubud Resort in Bali anytime soon. Clearly, my copy of the in-flight magazine had inadvertently strayed from First Class down to Economy.

How else do you account for the high priced advertisements for higher priced luxury goods and products, modeled by even higher priced Hollywood actors. Surely Penélope Cruz, Charlize Theron, and Leonardo DiCaprio are not so strapped for cash that they have to tout for watch makers and perfume companies. Surely! Leonardo – say it isn’t so.

The next time I take an airline flight I’m going to carry a good book to read and leave the in-flight magazine where it belongs, jammed between the in-flight shopping guide and the vomit bag.

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Image: Screen shot of New Caledonia article including obligatory friendly native

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Footnote: Buyer's remorse is the sense of regret some people have after purchasing big-ticket items such as a car or house [or in my case, I trip to Paris]. It may stem from a sense of not wishing to be wrong, of guilt over extravagance, or of suspecting you have been "snowed" by a salesperson. [Source: Wikipedia...]

Friday Photos: Tuileries Garden

Image: A grove of trees stripped bare of the summer cover in the Tuileries Garden, Paris

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In July 2009 I introduced a regular Friday Photo ‘section’ to the Compleat Traveller, but for reasons I no longer remember, I stopped making regular updates (the last photo appeared in November of that year). However, since I have thousands of photographs waiting to see the light of day, I have decided to reinstitute the Friday Photo section with this post.

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Image: Time to ponder

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Yesterday, I wrote about the Tuileries Garden in Paris, and thought I’d add some extra photographs here for your viewing pleasure.

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Image: Slowly melting ice/snow slips towards the edge of this café tabletop

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Image: A murder of crows looking for food

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You can see larger versions of these photographs and many others through my Flickr page here… or click here to watch a full screen slide show of all my photographs…

More Information

PS: You can find previous Friday Photos by using the search box at the top left of the page.

Jardin des Tuileries, Paris

Image: The Tuileries Garden, Paris: a stark winter landscape of bare trees, and light snow

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During my visit to Paris earlier this month, I spent some time walking through parts of the massive Jardin des Tuileries (Tuileries Garden).

I say ‘parts of’ deliberately, because like many locations in Paris – the Louvre, Palace of Versailles, Musée d’Orsay, and other popular attractions – you need a lot more than a few hours to explore and appreciate these historic sites. The Tuileries Garden is wonderful to experience on cold winter days, when the snow covers the ground, your breath hangs in the freezing air, and most of the trees in the garden have shed their leaves and their dark, rain soaked trunks and branches stand out starkly against the frigid landscape.

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The Tuileries Garden seen from the west- the Fer à cheval (horseshoe), Grand Bassin Octagonal, and the Grande Allée ending at the Louvre [Source: Wikipedia… ]

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The Jardin des Tuileries (Tuileries Garden), is a public garden located between the Louvre Museum and the Place de la Concorde. Created by Marie de Medicis as the garden of the Tuileries Palace in 1564, it was first opened to the public in 1667, and became a public park after the French Revolution. Since then it has become the place where Parisians come to promenade, meet, celebrate, and relax.

The garden’s name comes from workshops called tuileries, which used to exist on the current site, and which made tiles for the roofs of Paris’s buildings.

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Image: Winter colours of the Tuileries Garden, Paris

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The Garden of Catherine de Medicis

In July 1559, after the death of her husband, Henry II, Queen Catherine de Medicis decided to move from her residence near the Bastille, to the Louvre Palace, along with her son, the new King, François II. While there she decided to build a new palace for herself, separate from the Louvre, with a garden modeled after the gardens of her native Florence.

The garden of Catherine de Medicis was an enclosed space five hundred meters long and three hundred meters wide, separated from the new chateau by a lane. It was divided into rectangular compartments by six alleys, and the sections were planted with lawns, flower beds, and small clusters of five trees, called Quinconces; and, more practically, with kitchen gardens and vineyards.

The Tuileries was the largest and most beautiful garden in Paris at the time, and Catherine used it for lavish royal festivities honoring ambassadors from the Queen of England, and the marriage of her daughter, Marguerite de Valois, to the future Henry IV.

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Tuileries Garden of Le Nôtre in 17^th century, looking west toward the future Champs Elysees, Engraving by Perelle. [Source: Wikipedia… ]

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And so it went. One Monarch after another overseeing the planting of hedges, hundreds of trees, shrubs, flowers and other plants, landscaping and reshaping the grounds, adding sculptures here, water features and fountains there, as well as vast terraces and a Grand Allée – rivaled only by the 1500 metre Grand Allée at the Palace of Versailles.

Following the deaths of Catherine de Medicis and her successors, the Kings, Henry III and IV, responsibility for the upkeep and maintenance of the garden fell to that other great line of kings, King Louis XIII (13^th), XIV, XV and then King Louis XVI (16^th), until finally the French Revolution of October, 1789 brought a stop to the whole circus – for a while at least.

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Image: Evergreen shrubs in the Tuileries Garden, Paris

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The French Revolution and Beyond

On October 6, 1789, as the French Revolution began, King Louis XVI was brought from Versailles to the Tuileries Palace. He was subsequently found guilty of high treason for his part in the insurrection of August 10th, 1792, and executed by guillotine in January 1793.

When Napoleon Bonaparte (who was about to become Emperor), moved into the Tuileries Palace in February, 1800, he began making improvements to the gardens and the cycle of building, landscaping, plantings and so on began all over again. Eventually, the long suffering citizens of France and Paris had had enough, and following the fall of Napoleon, and the subsequent reigns of the Kings, Charles X and Louis-Philippe, and the Emperor, Louis Napoleon, the whole imperial edifice of the French Republic was brought to the ground by the uprising of the Paris Commune in 1870.

When the army arrived and fought to recapture the city, the Communards deliberately burned the Tuileries Palace, and tried to burn the Louvre as well. The ruins of the Tuileries Palace were not torn down until 1883, and the empty site of the palace, between the two pavilions of the Louvre, became part of the Tuileries Garden you see today.

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Image: Footprints in the snow: Tuileries Garden, Paris

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More Information

As always, my indispensable source of historical information continues to be Wikipedia. Read more about the Jardin des Tuileries here…

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You can see more of my photographs of the Jardin Des Tuileries via my Flickr page here... Or see all my Flickr images by following this link...

Notre-Dame Cathedral

Image: Notre-Dame Cathedral, Paris, France

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Notre-Dame de Paris, also known as Notre-Dame Cathedral, is a Gothic, Catholic cathedral on the eastern half of the Île de la Cité (City Island). Notre-Dame is widely considered one of the finest examples of French Gothic architecture in France and in Europe. The name Notre-Dame means "Our Lady" in French, and is frequently used in the names of Catholic church buildings in French speaking countries.

During my nine day stay in Paris, I went to Notre-Dame Cathedral on four occasions, not because I’m Catholic, and not because I am religious in the usual sense of the word, but because I am fascinated by the design and construction of large structures that in many ways excite my imagination and sense of wonder. And Notre-Dame Cathedral certainly does that, as did the Eiffel Tower.

Construction of Notre-Dame began in 1163, during the reign of Louis VII, under the guidance of Bishop Maurice de Sully, then Bishop of Paris. The cathedral was effectively complete by around 1345 – meaning construction continued for a period of almost 200 years.

Two hundred years! I can’t even imagine a construction project lasting that length of time, and can’t help wondering how many stonemasons, carpenters, architects, designers and other people might have spent their whole working lives engaged in the construction of Notre-Dame.

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Image: Choir members take a bow following a Cathedral recital

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The position of "head" or "chief" organist at Notre-Dame is considered one of the most prestigious organist posts in France. I don’t know if the current chief organist was at the pedal board during one of my visits to the cathedral but the organs 7,800 pipes (900 of which are classified as historical), were pumping out a sound guaranteed to bring down the walls of any modern Jericho if need be.

Organ recitals are held on a regular basis at Notre-Dame, and I imagine they are well attended. A detailed program of events can be found on the official website for the cathedral, so if you are planning a visit, check the site to see if you can fit in a concert performance of any type. The organ is also used during Mass, so if your visit coincides with one of the numerous services taking place at the cathedral, you may have an opportunity to hear the organ in full ‘voice’ then as well.

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Image: Exterior side view of Notre-Dame Cathedral

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The cathedral was not as I imagined it to be. From the outside it doesn’t look all that large or dare I say it, spectacular, but once inside it is clear just how high the roof rises above the floor. One can only marvel at the workmanship that went into building Notre-Dame Cathedral, and shake their head in awe at the challenges the builders and designers must have faced during the construction phase.

Notre-Dame de Paris was one of the first Gothic cathedrals, and it was among the first buildings in the world to use the flying buttress (arched exterior supports). The building was not originally designed to include the flying buttresses around the choir and nave, but after construction began and the thinner walls (popularized in the Gothic style) grew ever higher, stress fractures began to occur as the walls pushed outward. In response, the cathedral's architects built supports around the outside walls, and later additions continued the pattern. [Source: Wikipedia… ]

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Image: Intricate stone columns helping to support Notre-Dame’s roof

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As you might imagine, many historic events have taken place under the roof of Notre-Dame Cathedral over the course of almost 800 years, including the crowning of Henry VI of England as King of France (1431); the marriage’s of James V of Scotland to Madeleine of France (1537): and the marriage of Mary, Queen of Scots to the Dauphin François in 1558 (later François II of France); and the coronation ceremony of Napoléon I and his wife Joséphine, on 2 December 1804.

The Coronation was the subject of the monumental painting by Jacques-Louis David (1807), now hanging in the Louvre Museum, Paris. A painting I saw (along with several other massive Jacques-Louis David paintings),during my visit to the Louvre.

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Image: The Coronation of Napoléon I, now hanging in the Louvre, Paris

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One more interesting historical moment of note occurred in 1239, when The Crown of Thorns that was said to have been worn by Jesus, was placed in the cathedral where it is obviously one of Notre-Dame’s most treasured historical artifacts.

Unfortunately, The Crown of Thorns is not on display in The Treasury, a section of the cathedral displaying numerous historical objects and artifacts from the cathedral’s long history. A fee of three euros applies for visitors wanting to enter the Treasury, and while the collection is not exactly awe inspiring, it does give visitors something else to see and do during their visit to the cathedral, apart from just wandering through the main building.

An additional fee of eight euros will get you into the bell tower, where good views of Paris may be had, although to be honest, I didn’t bother joining the long line waiting to climb the several hundred steps required to complete that journey.

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Image: Interior view of Notre-Dame Cathedral

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Catholic Church First – Tourist Attraction Second

Non-Catholics who visit the Cathedral should at all times remember that Notre-Dame de Paris is a working Catholic church first and foremost, and a tourist attraction second. Therefore, your visit is likely to coincide with one of the numerous daily services that take place Monday to Saturday, and especially during one of at least seven services taking place every Sunday.

Remember too, that even if no Mass is taking place, members of the Catholic church will almost certainly be attending confession during your visit, or trying to spend time in quiet reflection, prayer, meditation or some other aspect of the Catholic faith. It goes without saying (but I’ll say it anyway), that your visit should be as quiet and as unobtrusive as possible – which may seem like an all but impossible request given the hundreds of visitors passing through the Cathedral’s doors every hour.

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Image: Parishioner deep in contemplation at Notre-Dame Cathedral

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Because Notre-Dame de Paris is a working church, entry to the building is free, although as noted, there are fees for visiting the Treasury (three euros) and for climbing the bell tower (eight euros). However, I would encourage visitors to make a donation at one of the numerous collection points placed throughout the cathedral to help maintain this magnificent building. I’m sure your donation will be greatly appreciated.

I enjoyed each of my four visits to the cathedral, especially when they coincided with one of the daily services. It was during these visits that I had an opportunity to hear the massive organ, as well as to enjoy the singing of the choir and soloists during Mass. A truly sublime sound, whether or not you are of the Catholic faith, another religion, or even of no religious persuasion.

You can see more of my Notre-Dame Cathedral images here at my Flickr page…

More Information:

The Official Notre-Dame de Paris website in French…

The Official Notre-Dame de Paris website in English…

Wikipedia’s main Notre-Dame de Paris page…