Paris at a Certain Age

It's true....

Paris is romantic. You really do see more people kissing in the street (like this couple at a bus stop) than in other cities.

Toussaint

November first is La Toussaint, All Saints Day, a far weightier holiday in France than is Halloween. It's a day for commemoration of the dead, and this is done primarily with chrysanthemums. If you didn't know about Toussaint, you'd think France was having a huge Fête de Mums, because the marchés and fleuristes are full of them.

 

 

 

Relatives take mums to the graves of their loved ones. Since the apartment where I'm staying has a bird's eye view of cimetière de Montmartre:

I've had a chance to watch the growing accumulation of colorful mums.

 

 

To mark the holiday/holyday, we took a walk through the cemetery, which is a peaceful and beautiful spot.

It's filled with old tombs:

 

 

and new tombs:

 

 

The famous dead:

 

 

 

and the unknown and forgotten dead:

There's a museum's worth of artwork in the cemetery:

 

 

and then there are cats....lots and lots of cemetery cats:

 

 

 

I kind of like being able to live with a cat even after death.

Halloween

Halloween may not be as popular in France as it is in the US, but you'd never know it from the crowd in front of these side-by-side costume stores in Montmartre. The line went around the corner for more than the two hours  we were in the area.

 

The Batobus Has Gone to the Dogs

The Batobus is a bus-boat in Paris. It's possible to hop on and hop off at any of 8 stops along the Seine.

You purchase a day pass at any stop which allows you to get off and visit say, the Eiffel Tower, and then hop back on and ride down the Seine until another sight strikes your fancy. Or, you can just sit back and enjoy the ride like this passenger:

 

The dog did manage to see a few sights along the way:

Bonne Chance!

I was walking down this street in Montmartre yesterday:

and I looked up and noticed this banner:

Don't know why Lola needs good luck, but I figure we all could use some these days. Especially you, Sam. Bonne chance!

I (heart) nothing...I'm Parisien

Not my sentiments, but those found written on a café window in the 18^th arrondissement.

We're in Paris!

and we saw this enterprising young man selling roasted corn on the street with his improvised equipment:

 

'effin Paris

Wherever you are right now, take a break from your day and visit Paris in this Lily Allen music video. YouTube has disabled the code which allows a person to embed the video in a blog, so you must click the link to fly off to Paris. I love the part where she flicks a guy off the arched bridge over Canal St. Martin. Caution: the lyrics are explicit, so don't listen around small children or at work.

La Butte aux Cailles Quartier

This charming quartier has retained its village feel without any of the tourist claptrap found in Montmartre. Located in the 13th arrondissement, it was originally a working class neighborhood that was only annexed to Paris in 1860. It was the last holdout of the Paris Commune of 1871 with the final barricades here on Butte aux Cailles. Les Amis de la Commune de Paris has a storefront headquarters today on the Butte.

As you can see from the poster in the window, Obama and more contemporary issues hold sway as well.

Narrow, cobble-stoned streets snake around the hill, with numerous little restaurants on every block.

It's popular with artists and there are several galleries and workshops, but also a lot of graffiti art.

There are hidden gardens in this quartier. Villa Daviel is a short street (reminiscent of a mews) with brick houses, front gardens and art nouveau glass awnings over the entryways.

Across the street from Villa Daviel is La Petite Alsace, constructed for low income residents in 1910. It's built around a central courtyard with gardens and benches.

Walking these narrow rues, you hardly know you're in metropolitan Paris.

Autumn in Les Tuileries

It's storybook Autumn here, especially in the Tuileries.