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 …
Here’s a view of Paris from the top of the Montparnasse Tower (Tour Montparnasse), looking northwest towards the competition. At 210 meters, the Montparnasse Tower is the tallest building in Paris — not the tallest structure, just the tallest building. (The tallest structure is the Eiffel Tower with 300 meters.) Read More …
The Foire de Paris is a commercial fair that has been held in Paris every year since 1904. It takes place during the last week of April and the first half of May, which means that hotel prices go way up during these weeks, at least in the southern half Read More …
The Mirabeau Bridge across the Seine was built in the 1890s and was considered a remarkable technical achievement at the time. It connects Auteuil on the Right Bank (16th arrondissement) with Javel (15th) on the Left. The bridge was named after the Count of Mirabeau (1749-1791), a rebellious aristocrat whose Read More …
Antoine Bourdelle (1861–1929) was a French sculptor who lived and worked in this house and atelier in the Montparnasse district of Paris. Like the atelier of his friend and teacher Auguste Rodin (1840-1917) — and like the atelier of his younger colleague Ossip Zadkine (1890-1967) — Bourdelle’s atelier has been Read More …
My grandmother once showed me a cartoon she had saved from her childhood (she was born in 1877) showing a school class going on a class outing in a balloon in 1950. In fact the whole sky was full of balloons in this cartoon, because they thought balloon flight would Read More …