Rolling on Rubber
Note that some of the trains on the Paris Metro run on rubber tyres.
Next thing someone will run buses in a tunnel to create a cheap metro. On seconds thoughts after the fiasco of the Cambridge Busway, it would be much more expensive.
Tickets on the Paris Metro
Since my last visit to Paris, they have brought in new ticket machines.
But why is it that they are slightly idiosyncratic, although once you realise that you touch the roller to start they are no problem. They also use such simple French, that I don’t need to change the machines to English. Surely, all ticket machines should follow similar rules on a world-wide basis.
But both London and Paris are streets ahead of Montreal and Rotterdam, which have developed systems that can only be used by locals who speak the native language.
Galerie Nationale du Jeu de Paume, Paris
The Galerie Nationale du Jeu de Paume is a museum in Paris, with a nasty past in the Second World War, which now is a museum of contemporary art.
Jeu de Paume is the French name for Real Tennis and that was the original purpose of the building. They must have been some courts!
Two Obelisks, Paris
As I said I didn’t have too much time, but I did go to the Place to the Concorde and then walk back to Opera for lunch.
The obelisk is called the Luxor Obelisk and is one of three in London, New York and Paris, although it comes from a different place to the other two, which are a pair. I must have seen the pair to the French one in Luxor.
The Place de la Concorde was where the guillotine was setup in the French Revolution. The most notable person in my view, who was executed there was the founder of modern chemistry, Antoine Lavoisier.
The Paris Metro does History
I have posted several articles about how the London Underground is making sure that it restores old stations sensitively and creates new ones of class.
So here’s two pictures from Paris.
Pigalle Metro Station, Paris
This shows the entrance to Pigalle station near Montmartre. The French have resisted any thoughts to change the design.
To match the Gillespie Road tiling, here’s the tiling at Concorde.
Tiling in Concorde Metro Station, Paris
Note too in the picture above that the instructions on how to use the Metro are shown. They’ve also started to put maps of the area around the station on the platform. This and putting maps upstairs should always be there. London always does the latter and I always use them when I visit an unfamiliar station.
Montmartre, Paris
The first foreign trip after my late wife’s skirmish with breast cancer had been to Paris in March 2005. We’d travelled by Eurostar from Waterloo and stayed in a very good hotel by the Champs Elysees. One of the places we visited was Montmartre and Basilica of Sacre Coeur, that sits on top of the hill and overlooks all of Paris.
Last week in Paris, I didn’t have much time for sightseeing, but I did have time to walk up to the top and take some pictures.
Last time I went, we took photographs of each other. So this time, I got a tourist to take one of me. It was not that good and I look tired, so I won’t show it.
Sylvie Vartan
When we were at school doing French we sometimes had French newspapers to read. They were full of stories about Johnny Halliday and Sylvie Vartan, who married about that time.
It would appear that she is still performing.
Sylvie Vartan at L'Olympia, Paris
The details are here.
Free Toilets in Paris
Like many people of my age, I get taken short. In London and many UK cities, public toilets are getting rarer and rarer, especially at night.
So it was good to see this in Paris.
Free Toilet in Paris
London should take note!
The Anonymous Widower 