This trip was one of my options for the day and was weather-dependent. Come the day and the weather was perfect for a walk round some familiar parts of the City of Lights.
I caught an intercité express from Évreux-Normandie to Paris Gare St Lazare. The train was on the Cherbourg to Paris route and the non-stop journey into the capital took 58 minutes. To give myself a 'flying start' I caught the Metro to Madeleine. It's not very far, but I thought the distance between the station and Place de la Madeleine was dead ground in the context of my brief visit that day.
My first task on arrival at the Place de la Madeleine was to have a cup of coffee.
I haven't edited the order of these images. I present them in the order in which they were taken to try and maintain an impression of my journey and of my stopping and looking around to find angles and subjects.
 |
| Ste Marie Madeleine |
 |
| St Augustin (taken from the same spot) |
Then the short walk to ...
 |
| Place de la Concorde |
Left turn into Jardin des Tuileries ...
 |
| Looking back through the gates towards Arc de Triumphe |
 |
| Across the roof of the orangery to a familiar landmark |
 |
| Sculpture in the garden |
I moved across the garden to the south side overlooking the river.
 |
| The Grand Palais |
 |
| The Musée d'Orsay across the river |
This magnificant building was built as a railway station and was the Paris terminus of the Paris-Orléans railway. It is now a museum and houses a renowned collection of Impressionist art. Behind the clock is the restaurant. The clock serves it as a source of natural light and you can look at the back of it as you eat. A visit is well worthwhile, but takes at least half a day. So ... ...
 |
| One of the famous Parisian «Bateaux-mouches» tourist river boats |
 |
| Pont 'Passerelle Solféino' |
 |
| (there's that landmark again) |
 |
| Musée d'Orsay |
 |
| (Facing away from the river) The garden |
When I reached the eastern end of the garden I went down and crossed the road onto the embankment ...
 |
| Pont Royal |
 |
| Landing stage for the Musée du Louvre |
 |
| Pont du Carousel |
 |
| Institut de France |
 |
| Pont des Arts ... |
 |
| ... and some commercial traffic |
Pont des Arts was in the international news last month when the city authorities started to cut away all the 'love-padlocks' that adorned/blighted its sides. The plan is to remove all the extra weight that can threaten the safety of the structure and to prevent any future repeat of the behaviour that had developed in recent years. The image above shows how the sides are festooned.
 |
| St Germain l'Auxerrois |
Near the Louvre, this church was once the church of the French Kings.
The church is notorious for its connection with the massacre of August 1572 when thousands of Huguenots were killed. The massacre started
the moment the church bells of the Saint-Germain l'Auxerrois rang.
 |
| Pont Neuf and Île de la Cité |
I used Pont Neuf to go onto the Île de la Cité ...
 |
| Palais de Justice (rear) |
 |
| Looking back at the Right Bank and the Tour St Jacques |
 |
| Ste Chapelle |
 |
| Palais de Justice (front elevation) |
 |
| Préfecture de Police |
 |
| Police presence around Nôtre Dame precinct |
 |
| Nôtre Dame |
 |
| Main entrance to Hôtel-Dieu hospital |
 |
| Nôtre Dame |
 |
| A glance across to life on the Left Bank |
 |
| Nôtre Dame |
 |
| Les Paras – heightened security since 'Charlie Hebdo' |
 |
| Nôtre Dame |
 |
| Upriver from eastern tip of Île de la Cité |
I then took the few steps across the bridge onto Île St Louis and had lunch. My camera was switched off although, if a House Sparrow that was busying around the legs of the chairs and tables outside the restaurant had stepped out sufficiently, the camera would have been switched back on again quite quickly. As a life-long fan of the late Edith Piaf (the 'Little Sparrow'), I was constantly on the lookout for a chance of a Sparrow image whilst I was in the city. It would have made my day, but it was not to be.
After a long and pleasant lunch I switched the camera back on and continued my walk ...
 |
| Upstream – L the Right Bank; R Île St Louis |
 |
| Downstream from the same bridge |
... and crossed back onto the Right Bank to wander through the hustle and bustle of the narrow streets eventually to reach ...
 |
| Place des Vosges |
... the one-time home of Victor Hugo.
 |
| Place des Vosges |
 |
| Some postprandial guests outside one of the square's many restaurants |
 |
| Bastille – Colonne de Juillet |
 |
| Rue de Rivoli |
 |
| Tour St Jacques |
I then found a quieter venue for a small snack before catching the Metro back to St Lazare.
There was just one final moment of interest. When the platform was announced and I went to board my train, I (and others around me) found that the date/time franking machines near the entrance to our platform failed to stamp our tickets. There was an SNCF employee standing at the platform entrance. I couldn't resist telling him that 'his' machines were not working. He didn't agree, but curtly ordered me to "get on". No-one checked my ticket on the journey, so I was spared having to try and blag my way out of a penalty.
I was back in Évreux in time for dinner.
P.S. Gare St Lazare no longer looks like it did in Claude Monet's famous painting of 1877 – Gare Saint Lazare. The trains nowadays are all electric. There's no steam and smoke. It is nevertheless as impressive a structure as it was then.
No comments:
Post a Comment