The triumphal gate Porte Saint Denis is in a wide place on the Boulevard Saint-Denis, on the border between the 2nd and 10th districts (arrondissements) of Paris. In the 14th century this was the site of a gate in the wall of Charles V. The current gate was built in Read More …
In August of 2008 I stayed for eight nights at a two-star hotel called Hôtel des 3 Nations at the corner of rue du Château d’Eau and rue de Lancry in the 10th arrondissement of Paris. I chose this hotel because it was inexpensive and within easy walking distance of Read More …
For those of us who arrive by train from central or southern Germany, this “grand” two-star hotel (grand being a French word for large) is conveniently located just half a block from the Gare de l’Est, i.e. the East Station. For a single room on the fifth floor I paid Read More …
The Théâtre du Gymnase Marie Bell is one of the many theaters on the grands boulevards in Paris — and no doubt one of the oldest, having been built in the early 19th century and inaugurated in 1820. From the outside it doesn’t show its age, particularly, but inside it Read More …
In addition to their main auditorium with eight hundred seats on six different levels, the Théâtre du Gymnase Marie Bell in Paris also has a smaller hall in the basement with one hundred seats, called the Théâtre du Petit Gymnase. To get to this basement theater, you have to enter Read More …
It took me a while to realize that some of the most dreadfully over-motorized squares and circles in Paris were at places where three or four districts (arrondissements) come together. The Arch of Triumph, for instance, is at the place where the 8th, 16th and 17th arrondissements come together. The Read More …
This large hospital complex bears a striking resemblance to the Place des Vosges, which is no wonder since it was built at the same time on orders of the same king, Henri IV, who personally inspected the plans, chose the architect and laid the cornerstone. The hospital was built from Read More …
If this scene looks familiar, it might be that you have seen the 1938 film Hôtel du Nord by Marcel Carné (or snippets of it on the internet) and recognize this as the place where Arletty delivered her now-famous line about “atmosphère”. Actually she didn’t say it here at all, Read More …
The novel L’Hôtel du Nord by Eugène Dabit (1898-1936) tells the story of a working-class couple — the author’s parents, in fact — who ran a small working-class hotel in the 1920s on the left bank of the Canal Saint-Martin in Paris. The author kept the real first names of Read More …