tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10041163321435893482012-01-26T20:27:56.431+01:00unexpectedfrancehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02337356600508169089noreply@blogger.comBlogger221100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1004116332143589348.post-10486578984389368092012-01-24T19:35:00.010+01:002012-01-26T19:21:24.653+01:00

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }   Mass tourism would be a superb source of enlightenment  if the unbridled search for money did not override what's important. This post deals with mass tourism at Versailles. An ad on the Louvre looms over the Seine p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }td p { margin-bottom: 0in; } This photo shows one of several advertisements that for the

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The post above explains that Versailles's key element is a giant perspective.  So visit the grounds first. The perspective that by merging with the horizon symbolizes the endless power of the king. Since this page is partly a critique of conventional tourism, start by clicking on the website: http://en.chateauversailles.fr/gardens-and-park-of-the-chateau-  It encourages  you to come in

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p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }td p { margin-bottom: 0in; } Visit the château at the end of the daywhen crowds have usually left  Earphones are now included in the entry fee (raising it from 12 to 15€), so you may as well take them. They will tell you what you are looking at, the text is beautifully spoken -- but do not give much sense of the people for whom grounds and château were merely the

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p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }td p { margin-bottom: 0in; }a:link { } Turn off the earphones --just look Hall of Mirrors You've come at last to the legendary Hall of Mirrors. This was the heart of French civilization in the last decades of the Sun King's reign (1680's-1715). Then  the salons of Paris became more influential, a sign of the change that culminated with

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Europe's most famous cemeteryis a place of nature and serenity, where many extremely well-known people rest. As well, its most spectacular mausoleum and its layoutreveal one of French history's most somber pages --working-class repression . E Quiet entrance across the street from the Père Lachaise métro stop Created at the turn of the 18th century (in 1804) on slopes that then were far outside

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Paris's take on the "Occupy" movement --roots in the past, spirit and discipline. But it is almost exclusively white. Commune troops guard cannon on heights of Belleville, 1871 Les Indignés ("the Outraged") are France's version of "Occupy Wall Street". Deliberately or not, their demonstration on October 15 2011harked back to the city's revolutionary past Rallying -point at Belleville

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The 18th Arrondissement in northern Paris is often thought violent and difficult.  Its City Hall used a fashion show to present a different point of view. Space, lights and staircase On October 5th 2011 that Mairie (City Hall) celebrated Fashion Week and Montmartre's Fête de la Vendange (wine-harvesting festival) with a show that featured neighborhood designers. It was brilliantly

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Parisian demonstrations are often exuberant events. Should you come upon one, follow it!As I did here.  Police cars reveal a demonstration. Some visitors are afraid of Parisian demonstrations. They shouldn't be!  The green trucks are from City Hall, for cleaning up. Everyone knows how to behave and what to expect. No one gets arrested. The organization is excellent.  I followed the

unexpectedfrancehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02337356600508169089noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1004116332143589348.post-85716406331239073202011-09-30T11:14:00.013+02:002012-01-15T18:49:55.859+01:00

The "Hôtel Dieu" ("God's townhouse") dates from the 12th century. Though on the esplanade of Notre-Dame Cathedraland a public building,it is almost unknown to visitors and Parisians alike.  Notre-Dame's medieval esplanade. To see the Hôtel-Dieu, please scroll down. The hospital was once among the multitude of houses that crowded up around Notre Dame.  http://www.privileged-entries.org/

unexpectedfrancehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02337356600508169089noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1004116332143589348.post-28918084608540795152011-09-25T19:34:00.137+02:002012-01-15T20:25:56.677+01:00

The city boasts a great deal of discount shopping.This is where I go -- and how I get there. Among the boutiques for well-known brands Even Parisians rarely know that there's important discount center just outside city limits, which one can reach by public transportation. It centralizes last season's unsold merchandise  via 74 major-brand boutiques (Charles Jourdan, Apostrophe, Jacadi ... and

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France could have become a constitutional monarchy. Here's why it didn't. Storming the Bastille, July 14 1789 The Bastille prison was a medieval fortress to which the king could send anyone at whim. It became a symbol of tyranny and "Bastille Day" commemorates Parisian crowds' successful attack on it. That event set off the "French Revolution" -- shorthand for the change from feudalism

unexpectedfrancehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02337356600508169089noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1004116332143589348.post-66206021242468285342011-06-20T10:52:00.086+02:002012-01-26T19:54:07.664+01:00

It has lost its ferocity --and maintained its grandeur The Hôtel de Matignon, residence of the Prime Minister Usually I write about aspects of Paris that are almost unknown. This time, however, I will take you to a mansion that  television has made extremely familiar,  but that the public cannot visit * -- the Hôtel de Matignon (57 rue de Varenne, in the aristocratic 7th Arrondissement). That

unexpectedfrancehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02337356600508169089noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1004116332143589348.post-56170684265692291432011-06-10T19:18:00.201+02:002012-01-26T20:27:56.441+01:00

A town on Paris's northern fringethat reveals contrasts of modern France France's kings rest in this 12th-century church. For more information, please CLICK "Saint-Denis" inhttp://www.privileged-entries.org/english/daytime-suggestions/celebrated-sites.html When streets are winding, they follow venerable paths. Avenue de la République, once the trade and pilgrimage route that passed through

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Elève le verre ("Lift the glass") is a parade that goes to 42 bistros in Saint-Germain-des-Près -- an upscale, intellectual neighborhood on Paris's Left Bank. In the years immediately after World War 2, it became famous as the anti-Establishment thinkers' home. In some ways it still is. The parade is made of small groups. Some march with music.   "Arrogant" French? The bistros host

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Yesterday I lucked into the casting for "Miss RDC * in France". That is, I spent the afternoon in a Cameroonian record-store that has been a landmark to Africans since the 1960's ** and watched an early selection of candidates for a beauty-queen contest in June. Of course the young women were pretty, but they were also modest. "What makes you different from other candidates?" was a question

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  Children play amid a sculpture's shadows.            Low income housing by Garry Faïf in Noisy-le-Sec, northeast of Paris Paris's urban sprawl is as depressing  as it is everywhere. Perhaps even more so, because it suggests that France's tradition of beauty has been lost. So when I heard of a tour of little-known works in the desolate suburbs to the east and north, I joined in. Would

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This marché takes place on Thursday and Sunday mornings, one minute from where I live (in the 13th Arrondissement, or district, in southern Paris). There is nothing special about it. That's why it's interesting.  Church and political militant -- typical sights.  Street-singers are typical too. Laurent Zunino is also a painter. By the way, the bikes behind him belong to the City. They

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"Bateaux mouches" are boats that show Paris from the Seine or from the Canal Saint-Martin. People sit in rows as a loudspeaker blasts descriptions in different languages. Not last Sunday, though it did begin in the usual way... The d'Orsay museum, as a start ... except that you could stand on the bridge, sip wine -- with no loudspeaker ! Canal Saint-Martin                                

unexpectedfrancehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02337356600508169089noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1004116332143589348.post-82845658628193061472010-02-07T01:41:00.030+01:002011-12-16T19:29:35.661+01:00

I've been mentioning performances that have been interesting, but not wonderful. Tonight was a change. A piano concert by New York and Paris's Jay Gottlieb, "Six Jewish composers" was outstanding. It combined Jay's special love, contemporary music, with jazz and Broadway. I had expected the contemporary works to be too cerebral for me... but they had passion, energy and excitement. A personal

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Last night, the New York jazz pianist who had been Thelonius Monk's sole student played for about 15 people in a quiet place on Paris's eastern fringe. There was no cover charge, no minimum, no pressure to consume. A few members of the audience were friends of the artist, but most had come on their own. They were extremely attentive to the music. (The café is Chez Said, 54 rue de Bagnolet,in the

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