I am having trouble with Blogger this morning. Every time I try to do something — write and publish a comment,
upload a photo, look back at some of the slideshows I've posted over the past two weeks — Blogger's response
is something like the word you see in the shop windows above.
upload a photo, look back at some of the slideshows I've posted over the past two weeks — Blogger's response
is something like the word you see in the shop windows above.
Maybe I've worn out the subject of Paris, at least for the time being. I've worn ruts into the sidewalks and streets of the city.
The man on the horse above is named Étienne Marcel. Do you know who he is? I know his name because the street named
for him intersects the rue Montorgueil, where I spent 3 years of my life. It's just a couple of blocks from my old apartment.
I've been reading about him but his story is too complex for me to try to tell here. I like the statue though, and the
façade of the Hôtel de Ville that is its backdrop. Étienne lived in Paris in the 1300s and defended the interests of
the growing bourgeoisie against the monarchy. Paris already had a population of about 200,000 back then.
The man on the horse above is named Étienne Marcel. Do you know who he is? I know his name because the street named
for him intersects the rue Montorgueil, where I spent 3 years of my life. It's just a couple of blocks from my old apartment.
I've been reading about him but his story is too complex for me to try to tell here. I like the statue though, and the
façade of the Hôtel de Ville that is its backdrop. Étienne lived in Paris in the 1300s and defended the interests of
the growing bourgeoisie against the monarchy. Paris already had a population of about 200,000 back then.
This is the cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris in a 15-year-old photo. I wonder if it will ever look like this again?
This bank is on a side street off the Grands Boulevards on the right bank of the Seine. Evelyn, is this where you worked?
This is the Folies Bergère, which we've all heard of and which is on the same street as the BNP Parisbas bank above.
I've been reading about it too. I thought it was a place where scantily clad women did the French cancan.
It turns out that it's much more than that. The famous French singer/songwriter/guitarist Francis Cabrel —
he was born in 1953 — was supposed to be doing nightly concerts at the Folies Bergère starting now
and running through most of February. His songs are anything but frivolous and racy. Of course that
gig was canceled or at least postponed when we went on lock-down again. Right now,
the government is enforcing a 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew on the whole country
because the number of new cases of Covid-19 is still too high.
I've been reading about it too. I thought it was a place where scantily clad women did the French cancan.
It turns out that it's much more than that. The famous French singer/songwriter/guitarist Francis Cabrel —
he was born in 1953 — was supposed to be doing nightly concerts at the Folies Bergère starting now
and running through most of February. His songs are anything but frivolous and racy. Of course that
gig was canceled or at least postponed when we went on lock-down again. Right now,
the government is enforcing a 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew on the whole country
because the number of new cases of Covid-19 is still too high.
It is interesting to compare the Follies Bergère's bas-relief (1928) by Maurice Picaud, a sculptor unknown to me, and the bas-reliefs at the Théatre des Champs-Élysées by the well known sculptor Antoine Bourdelle. L'Art Déco dans toute sa splendeur!
ReplyDeleteI forgot to say that I like the Picaud's bas-relief very much.
DeleteChm, thanks for the information about the Theatre des Champs-Elysees, I’m a big fan of Antoine Bourdelle.
DeleteBettyAnn, his museum is in walking distance from my place in Paris. It is worth a visit.
DeleteNot just Blogger.... Facebook, Photocrowd [where I enter my photos in "just for the kudos" competitions], Amazon, the Cloud part of Photoshop, Firefox, Safari.... they are all periodically going tits up this morning!!
ReplyDeleteThis may be because of ongoing domestic "issues" in the US, as service is curtailed on all of these.
DeleteAhhhhh! Hadn't thought about that!!
DeleteI remember coming across that bank accidentally while walking one day. It stopped me in my tracks! I’ve not seen the bas relief at the Folies Bergere, must look for it next time.
ReplyDeleteThat's my bank!!! Isn't it beautiful? I worked in an office upstairs with a couple of nice people. We stamped traveler's checks and bundled them up. The lobby of the CNEP (at that time) was rather dark and enormous with a very high ceiling. My father once sent me a check and they cashed it for me;-). The bank had a lunchroom, I can't remember what they called it, just down the street. We stopped at a café on the way back for an espresso to make it through the day. The building was empty the last time I was there, more than five years ago now.
ReplyDeleteI don't remember that the Folies Bergere was near the bank, but the Bergere street was a hint. Maybe I always walked in the other direction. Lewis and I went to a show there once in '69. We sat at the bar to save money.
ReplyDeleteWow, the design of that Folies Bergere building's façade is something else! This is one of the things about Paris: when you see design in Paris (be it clothes, shoes, hair styles, or decorative elements of buildings), it's always the pure form... or, at least, the highest quality of that design. By the time that same design trickles down to other parts of the world, it always seems bastardized or minimized in some way, with the result being a lesser product. That's my theory, and I'm sticking to it LOL.
ReplyDeleteThe BNP Parisbas building is beautiful. Ken I'm sure Notre Dame will look the same - there are 3-D printer now that could remake parts of, if not all, the spire, lol.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure that the powers-that-be have decided what kind of roof and what kind of spire, if any, will be put up next.
Delete