I'm still recycling older photos for lack of anything new. Ken suggests that I go back to scanning slides for some new material; a good winter project, indeed. My first thought is to scan photos of our last vacation in Paris before we moved. That would be spring of 2002. But first, I have to crawl into the closet in the loft and find the box of slides. Then scan and prepare the images for posting with photo software. This may take a few days.
Place de l'Hôtel de Ville, Paris, April 2009.
This is the large public space in front of Paris' City Hall and that's City Hall itself on the right. The building with the dome is a department store called le Bazar de l'Hôtel de Ville, a fun place to wander around in.
I know (knew?) this scene ever so well. In the 1980s when I 'discovered' Paris and was immediately enraptured by it, becoming my favourite of ALL the cities I knew, my regular, small gay-friendly hotel was just up the rue beside that store then off to the right, so at night when cruising the bars I had to traverse this 'place' in front of l'Hotel de Ville to reach my own personally favoured locations, and the same returning to my [actual] hotel on those times when I wasn't 'picked up' to spend the night at another guy's 'apartment'. I now sadly haven't manage to return to Paris since 1990 and doubtlessly the 'scene' has changed markedly since my day, but this particular scene remains highly evocative for me.
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting Paris pictures, Walt. I want a do over of my January 2023 trip. It was very cold.
ReplyDeleteBettyAnn
You've got my vote!
ReplyDeleteI have heard and read so much about the 'BHV' Department Store it has been on my list and I cannot wait to travel again.
ReplyDeleteWith being a winter shut-in this weekend and the next couple of days, I have been on the phone with my friends who travel annually to Europe. We were discussing the New Year's Day Concert in Vienna today - and the Radetski March (that conductor vs. the one in Maestro - Leonard Bernstein)! I said it appeared to me that the conductor's baton was late in the beat of the music and I was questionning whether the orchestra was even paying attention to the leader? My friend said often the digital version of the view vs the sound was not always in sync. Anyone have knowledge of that?
raybeard, the neighborhood is probably a little more "upscale" these days, but it remains a gay quarter, and much more open about it that it used to be.
ReplyDeletebettyann, it's cold here now, but one must take January as it comes. We're expecting a warm up this week.
judy, :)
mary, not me!
This is a stunning photo and space. Can't wait for what you haul out of the closet.
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