The fresco in this photo (above) is at the north end of the Rue de la Gaîté, at the corner of Boulevard Edgar Quinet, where a popular ice cream shop attracts long lines of customers. As the name implies, the Rue de la Gaîté has always been a place of 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 …
There has been a theater on this site on the Rue de la Gaîté since 1817, and the present Théâtre Montparnasse dates from 1886. Note that the ornate nineteenth century façade includes two lovely caryatids, statues of half-naked women supporting the roof with their heads. The theater was renovated in Read More …
Montparnasse Cemetery, with a surface area of 19 hectares, is the second largest cemetery in Paris. It is located in southern Paris and was opened in 1924. When you come in at the main entrance, at 3 Boulevard Edgar Quinet, there are some laminated cemetery maps hanging by strings on Read More …
“SPAM” does not necessarily mean the same in French as in English. Although French computer-users may know the English word SPAM meaning unwanted junk e-mails, in French the letters S.P.A.M. are also used as the abbreviation for the Société Parisienne d’Animation et de Manifestation, a society that organizes street markets Read More …
Student housing in France is usually not very elegant, but the big exception is here at the Cité Universitaire at the southern edge of Paris. The Cité was founded in 1925 and was intended “to promote peace, exchanges and friendship among peoples after the trauma of the First World War.” Read More …