Around the edges of Paris there are at least fifty-six intersections whose names begin with Porte, meaning Gate. Seventeen of these, including the Porte de Versailles, were the main gates in a defensive wall that was built around Paris from 1841 to 1844. This wall was the largest and last Read More …
The Rue de Rennes is one of the long, straight streets that were cut through Paris during the Second Empire, under Napoléon III and his Prefect, Georges-Eugène Haussmann (1809-1891). Hundreds of old buildings that were in the way of the new street were expropriated and demolished. The street now runs Read More …
The Petite Ceinture de Paris (Small Belt of Paris) is a 32 kilometer double-tracked railway that was built from 1852 to 1869, encircling Paris just inside the current boundaries of the city. Its original purpose was to transfer freight between the various railroad lines coming into Paris from different directions, Read More …
It’s a wonder more Germans aren’t run over in Paris, because in Germany these zebra stripes painted on the streets mean that pedestrians have the right of way, no matter what. When a German town or city installs traffic lights at an intersection it is required by law to remove Read More …
At some point in the early years of the 21st century I learned a new French word (new to me, that is), canicule meaning heat wave. Despite the persistent efforts of my high school Latin teacher, Mr. Bridge, to sour me permanently on the Latin language, I still vaguely remembered Read More …
The Place de Clichy is a square where four of the Paris arrondissements come together, the 8th, 9th, 17th and 18th. During the 20th century and the first decade of the 21st this was not so much a public square as a motorized disaster area, with more than four thousand Read More …
One of the things I really love is cycling home at night after the opera. This is even more magical in Paris because you not only have the opera going through your head, you also have Paris all around you. You do have to look out for the taxis, though, Read More …
One morning during our 2011 VirtualTourist meeting in Paris, we met in the Parc du Champ de Mars near the Eiffel Tower for a picnic. I rode over there on a Vélib’ bike from the Latin Quarter — as did another VT member, Dave Sut. (He and I and several Read More …
One morning in September 2011, a group of VirtualTourist members met at the Square René Viviani in the Latin Quarter of Paris (with the church of Saint-Julien-le-Pauvre in the background) for a walking tour led by VT member Paul Smith, who took us through some side streets of the Latin Quarter, Read More …
Hippophagy, meaning the eating of horse meat, wasn’t even legal in France until 1866, although there was a black market for horse meat long before that, especially in times of crisis. According to the French historian Sylvain Leteux, horse meat lost its taboo status and became a popular food in France Read More …