Wednesday, October 29, 2008

La Rue De Rennes

This is yet another slide from the late 1980s that I've manipulated in Photoshop. It's the rue de Rennes, a major street on the left bank of Paris, looking north toward the river.

La rue de Rennes.

I don't know what these people were doing, or looking at. In the original photo, I thought their presence ruined the picture. But now I think they've become the point of the picture. What do you think?

Here's the original photo on the left. When I was a student in Paris in 1981, I lived in a boarding house just off this street. It was just up toward the top of this photo, and to the right, on the rue du Four. I was very lucky to be living smack in the center of things, in St. Germain des Prés, when it was still a very chic place to be. These days, I think the chic-ness has worn off or moved to other parts of town.

6 comments:

  1. thx for showing us what it used to look like 30 yrs ago. i see those old-fashioned cars... nostalgic... :)

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  2. Maybe they're looking at a mob of people rushing into TATI for a blue light special? ;-)

    BettyAnn

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  3. they still have "chic" prices in the area ! and daughter's new mother-in-law lives in a glorious apt. on r de rennes

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  4. Oh, the many steps I've walked on rue de Rennes! I love this area, too. And I remember the rue du Four Pension like that whole experience was just yesterday. I remember having dinner in the evening, and we always had that soup made out of a dried mix... Knorr soups! The last time I was there, it looked like the pension was now a hotel, I think? or the building was just transformed into apartments? It's not the Résidence St. Germain anymore, though, I don't believe.

    Is that where you stayed the whole year?

    (And, as Melinda said, they sure do have "chic" prices in that area! Try to book a hotel on rue de Buci or rue Jacob, and you'll pay a pretty penny! I understand that most of the high fashion folks have moved their stores to that area, away from the 8th, in fact.)

    Judy

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  5. kyh, yes, back in the days when dinosaurs roamed the earth... the photo's only 20 years old.

    bettyann, they look too "cool" for Tati, don't you think?

    melinda, I'm not surprised one bit, it's a very nice area and so central to everything.

    judy, yes, I think the résidence was already gone in 1988. The building went upscale. And those soups... I'll never forget those, not to mention the barely cooked chicken legs on Thursday nights and the bony fish on Friday nights. Haute cuisine it was not.

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  6. judy, I was in the pension from September until January, then I moved to an apartment up in the 1oth.

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Tell me what you think!