This bronze statue of the playwright Pierre Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais (1732-1799), the author of The Barber of Seville and The Marriage of Figaro, among other plays, is on display in Paris at the corner of Rue Saint-Antoine and the Rue des Tournelles, in the 4th arrondissement near Place de Read More …
One day in 2012, I was on rue Saint-Antoine, near place de la Bastille, taking photos of the Beaumarchais statue, when I noticed this yellow sign reading “Piste cyclable neutralisée”, meaning that the bicycle lane had been neutralized, eliminated, done away with. At the bottom of the sign some irate Read More …
On February 27, 1654, the poet, novelist and playwright Paul Scarron signed a rental contract for this house at the corner of Rue des Douze-Portes (now Rue de Turenne) and Rue Neuve-Saint-Louis (now Rue Villehardouin). This is where he lived for the last six years of his life with his Read More …
For nearly four decades in the 17th and 18th centuries, this inconspicuous building on Rue des Tournelles in the Marais district was the home of a remarkable lady called Ninon de Lenclos, a courtesan who in her younger years had had numerous affairs with some of the most prominent men Read More …
There are several hundred lively small theaters scattered around Paris and vicinity. Some of them disappear after a few years, but this one in the Marais district has been going strong since 1980, presenting “the great authors and their great works, classical or contemporary.” The play I saw here was 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 …
There always seems to be a festive atmosphere on the “piazza” at Place Georges Pompidou in Paris, in front of the modern art museum Centre Pompidou aka Beaubourg. Groups of street performers take turns putting on shows and funny sketches here. The Centre Pompidou was one of the first huge Read More …
In striking contrast to the nearby Sainte-Chapelle and Notre-Dame, the Evangelical Lutheran Church des Billettes is austere and undecorated, with bare walls and plain-glass windows. I went there one evening in the summer of 2008 to hear a concert of Gregorian chants from the 10th to 13th centuries, sung by Read More …
In the fourth arrondissement of Paris, at the corner of Quai des Célestins and Boulevard Henri IV, there is a fine example of a belle époque apartment building from the beginning of the twentieth century. It is a solid stone building with seven floors above ground level, with the traditional Read More …
On the pleasant and lively street called Rue de Bretagne there is a covered market with the unusual name Marché des Enfants Rouges (Market of the Red Children). It turns out that this is the oldest market in Paris. It was created in the year 1615 during the reign of Read More …