Place De La Concorde

It's hard to tell that this is the place where more than 1,300 heads rolled in the years after the French Revolution. These days, it's a huge traffic circle, or square, that joins the rue de Rivoli, the rue Royale, and the avenue des Champs Elysées to the left bank via the Pont de la Concorde.

Place de la Concorde, looking north toward the rue Royale.

The place was orginally constructed in the mid-eighteenth century to commemorate king Louis XV and included an equestrian statue of the monarch at its center. The statue was pulled down in 1792 and the place became known as Place de la Révolution. Not long after, the guillotine went up.

The place was renamed Condorde in 1795 as part of the nation's attempt to move forward after the bloody revolution. Today the center of the place is adorned with two monumental fountains and a three thousand year old obelisk, a gift from the Egyptians, that was transported from Luxor in the nineteenth century.

I don't know which is more thrilling: driving around the place or negotiating it on foot!

Rue Du Pont Louis-Philippe

This is more or less a random shot of a Paris street scene. The street runs north from the Seine into the Marais district of the fourth arrondissement. It's lined with a few very nice looking stationery stores and other boutiques.

Rue du pont Louis-Philippe.

If you've seen Ken's blog topics about the Café Louis-Philippe, the restaurant is just outside this photo on the left side.

Gratuitous Eiffel Tower Pix

How can you go to Paris and not snap several photos of the Eiffel Tower? I certainly can't. It's my favorite monument. So here we go.

Boats on the Seine. Tower in the distance. What's not to love?

Can you stand it or what? I don't know about you, but I just love the tower from every angle, in every light condition. These were taken in the mid-afternoon, on my walk from the Tuileries to the Grand Palais, on a Friday afternoon in late May.

Tower and leaves.
Very similar to the first picture I ever took of la Dame de Fer.

She Lost Her Head

While in Paris, Cheryl and I took in an exhibition at the Grand Palais of paintings and various objects of Marie Antoinette, the last official queen of France. Cheryl had found the exhibit on the internet and we bought advance tickets at the FNAC Bastille on Wednesday.

The street poster for the Marie Antoinette exhibit.

In addition to the dozens of portraits of Marie herself, we saw many paintings of her family, the royal family of Austria, from when she was a child. There were drawings and portraits done from the celebrations when she was wed to Louis XVI, not to mention furniture, tableware, and jewelry that survived the revolution. There were also portraits of the king, their children, and other prominent members of the royal court.

The ornate glass and steel roof of the Grand Palais

seen from the Tuileries.

The exhibit ended in a dark room that contained mostly press items from the revolution, letters that Marie wrote while being held prisoner in the Conciergerie, and a few drawings and artifacts from her trial. She was executed about two weeks before her thirty-eighth birthday.

Statues peeking over the roof of the Grand Palais.

We spent about an hour wandering around the exhibit, which wasn't too big -- really, how many portraits of Marie Antoinette can one look at? -- before making our way back to the apartment to get ready for dinner that evening.

A Walk In The Tuileries

The Tuileries gardens lie along the Seine between the Louvre and Place de la Concorde. It's been many years since I've strolled in this place, mainly because while in Paris I'm usually doing one thing or another and not taking time to stroll.

"Maman," by Louise Bourgeois, 1999.
Watch out!

But this time I wanted to see the giant spider sculpture that Claude, from Blogging in Paris, posted a few months back. And since it was a brilliant day, strolling seemed like the thing to do.

Richard Serra's steel sculpture called "Clara Clara" is installed at the western end of the gardens. The figures in the marble statue seem quite curious.

I really enjoyed the more modern sculptures that are taking their place alongside the classical statues in the garden. The contrast is terrific.

A view up the Champs Elysées.

And, of course, the vistas you get in the garden are spectacular.

The Louvre's Pavillon de Flore.

The warm weather and our vigorous strolling made us thirsty, so Cheryl and I stopped at a café in the gardens for a refreshing cold white wine. That really hit the spot!

Yours truly striking a dorky pose with white wine.

On The Ile-St.-Louis

I had a little time while Cheryl shopped on the Ile-St.-Louis. So I took a few pictures of what I found in the street. Literally.

Pavement markings, this one marks a space reserved for delivery only.

You're lucky that I'm only posting two of them. But here they are. Typical sights in Paris, both.

The city water flows in the gutters twice a day
and city employees sweep dirt and debris down the drains.

Les Toits De Paris

Parisian roofs can be quite beautiful. I often wonder what goes on under them.

Rooftops along the rue de Rivoli.

As a student in Paris many years ago, I found out that the tiny rooms under the rooftops were the dormitories for household servants, starving artists, and poor students. These days, I think, they are even being converted into very expensive studio apartments.

Fancy rooftops on the Louvre.

I had several friends back in those days who rented rooms, chambres de bonne (maids' rooms), tucked under the grey Parisan rooftops. The roofs in these photos overlook the Jardin des Tuileries. Very pricey real estate, indeed.