Paris1972-Versailles2003

Mid week is always fun around here, light work and little school so we come home earlier. The big news is the Summer sales begins today all over with few exceptions in FRance!! Soldes d’éte.

They began wednesday June 26 at 8H and will finish on Tuesday July 30. see more of it here, you know 64% of French people do their shopping during this period! according to an article in L’Express of today.

In other news ,the heritage days will be this year on September 14-15. The sites will be up with the programs by July 15. This is the journée du patrimoine where many site usually or always closed to the public are open, and it has catch up all over Europe too.  The site will let you know, http://www.journeesdupatrimoine.culture.fr/

You can splash in a 15 meter  pool at the hotel Shangri-La. 10, av. d’Iéna  this summer for 250€, http://www.shangri-la.com/fr/paris/shangrila/health-leisure/

You can have a nice dinner at the Comptoir du Relais and then ask for room  n° 56, attached to resto, and available for the night. The room is next to a wonderful nid nest of swallows on the roofstops of Paris. They will leave in the morning. Hotel Relais Saint-Germain 6, carrefour de l’Odéon ;http://www.hotel-paris-relais-saint-germain.com/  I must add one of my favorite spots in Paris!

In the Jardin des Plantes we have the bats night event coming back and ever so popular, a film by 19h30 and the see the bats by 21h;this is for August 24, and see webpage http://www.jardindesplantes.net/la-nuit-internationale-de-la-chauve-souris

Before that for the July 14 National Day festivities or Bastille day, at the Chateau de Rambouillet, a fireworks display to remember. From 22h45 to 02h and then a bal dance at place de la liberation. Catch the tourist office for details as the event approaches, http://www.rambouillet-tourisme.fr/

and for summer with 50 tons of sand, come for the best beach in the area city wise that is. At La Plage. From June 21 to September 15. at  Glazart, 7-15, av. de la Porte-de-la-Villette; http://www.glazart.com/LaPlage/2012/07/18/laplage-2013-2/

Paris to the conquest of the Seine is ready since June 19 ,the Bergers du Seine, and many innovations along the mythical river of Paris.  Among the facilities already in place, a climbing wall, a space picnic, teepees for kids, containers housing games. The restaurants have more difficult to finalize their project, including Faust and Rosa Bonheur. It also expected with curiosity the garden floating and the five islands moored near the pont de L’alma, forming five different atmospheres, illustrating biodiversity.  Some more traffic congestions but the city is not for the car anyway, we just try harder ::) The city plans a private monitoring device and rounds mountain bike police day and night. Life isn’t always a bed of roses. more on a webpage http://lesberges.paris.fr/

At the Stade de France June 29 we will have Bruce Springteen, with tickets from 57€ to 99€! yikes http://accueil.stadefrance.com/fr/customers/billet/bruce-springsteen

WELL JUST IN CAN’T WAIT FOR NEXT POSTING SO HERE IT IS. The chateau de Champs sur Marne is finally open after restorations. 31 Rue de Paris  77420 Champs-sur-Marne, this is just outside Paris(18 kms on RER A)  and on the Seine-et-Marne dept where my wife is from.  Built in the 18C , it had many famous tenants from the Duke of Valliére, Duke de Lévis, and Marquise de Pompadour. In 1895, Louis Cahen d’Anvers, a great collectionist in love with the 18C ask architect Destailleur to restore it and call upon Henri Duchêne for the park/gardens. webpage http://champs-sur-marne.monuments-nationaux.fr/en/

Well this is it for now, happy trails in France, the movable feast country !!!!!!!

Another midweek stage n wonderful Brittany. The weather is cloudy, sun ,cloudy,and cool with light rain; but then again this is Brittany. I said this is Brittany lol!

Summer is coming and work ,construction, and improvement are here as well. This is Paris RATP transport site given the latest that I receive instantly, the best way to plan.  So June 30,July 7,21, and 28 line 1 of metro will be close  until 10h. Station Barbés-Rochechouart line 2 closed june 24 to August 30 to do the glass protective walls. Line 5 between place d’Italie and Bastille, close July 1 to August 30 to do viaducs work. Line 7bis station Jaurés renovation of station from August 5 to October 27. line 13 between Saint Lazare and porte de Clichy and porte de Saint Ouen closed August 3-4 for track work.

Continue with the tramway T1 between Théatre Gérard Philipe and Hôtel de ville de La Courneuve , closed from 20h work on tracks between june 18 and July 2. Between La Courneuve 8mai 1945 and Bobigny-Pablo Picasso closed from 20h on June 25. Between La Courneuve,Six Routes and La Courneuve 8 mai 1945 closed from July 8 to August 30th.

OrlyVal, between Antony and Orly airport ouest /west terminal closed until July 31 from Monday to Thursday from 21h to end of service. RER A, between Rueil-Malmaison and Saint-Germain-en-laye modif train circulation from July 22 to August 25. and RER B between Lozére and Orsay-Ville, same from July 14 to August 18. WELCOME TO PARIS! www.ratp.fr

The group restauranteur Bertram who manage several known restaurant is now the manager of all the restos and event rooms at the department store Au Printemps. Brasserie Printemps, the next door ,salon Montmartre, and Le Déli-cieux, located in the roofs of the store with a magnificent 360 ° view of Paris to Sacre Coeur and al.http://www.be-evenement.com/index.php  and for detail on their restos ,some are my all time favorites in Paris like la Gare, http://www.groupe-bertrand.com/

The first automobile in France was a peugeot in 1891!  since then a lot asphalt has been done, today there are over 38 million of them with 31 million private cars. The average time to hold on to a car in France is 8,3 years, (me I am well  under lol!)  Cars with gasoline reach  38,7%, of the market while those with diesel or gazole reaches  61,3%.  Here they tell us that if you use the car for under 15 000 kms it is better the gasoline and if over 15K then its diesel (good too I have diesel and go about 25K lol!!).

The Autolib electric car rental in Paris in place after 18 months is holding up well. The first one in December 2011 at Rue Victor-Hugo (75016). At that time there were only 60 cars, today they are 1800 Bluecar in circulation with almost  30 000 users. The system will be expanding in France to another dozen cities soon. It even has its site in English as well, https://www.autolib.eu/en/

a marvelous market in Paris, the flea market of Porte de Vanves, avenue Georges Lafenestre. Métro Porte de Vanves, open Saturday all day and Sunday from 7h to 13h, avenue M Sangnier 7h to 15h and to 17h by avenue G Lafenestre. The story: for hygiene and taxes the market were done outside the city, then in 1920 this one was done after been moved twice; first for the low income rising buildings or HBM and then when the beltway périphérique was done the famous BP in 1965.  Now under the trees you have 350 vendors of second hand items, objects of the arts of the table, glassware and silverware, ceramics and pottery, but also furniture and objects of 18th, 19th, 20C , various vintage furniture from classical to the sharp vintage lace. webpage http://pucesdevanves.typepad.com/

A destination from Paris Gare du Nord, in about 45 minutes you arrive at L’isle Adam in the dept 95 Val d’Oise. Balzac said of l’Isle-Adam that she was ‘the earthly paradise ‘… Even today this metaphor has its meaning… Located 32 km from Paris, in a green setting, l’Isle-Adam is a haven of peace and tranquility. A beautiful forest ideal for hiking, a verdant Park of 6 hectares in the city centre, a guided path for peaceful walks on the seafront of the river Oise, la Garenne that host swans, ducks and other coots, a fragrant rose garden and ponds of many gardens and alleys flower according to the seasons, are what makes  the Isle-Adam deserves of  its epithet “City Park”. L’Isle-Adam is also its rich heritage: it is the bridge of the Cabouillet dating from the 17C, it is the Church Saint-Martin that the Constable Anne de Montmorency was completed in 1567, it is the castle of blinds witness of the history of the town since the 18th century and which is currently undergoing renovation, the streets of the City Centre with their fountains and statues and it is the Chinese Pavilion pretty “factory” of the 18th century which has benefited from a high quality restoration. Built in the Carolina Park, it is now open to the public every Saturday and Sunday afternoon for free and tours.L’Isle-Adam, in summer, it is its famous sandy beach with its cabins dating back to 1920 and which served as decorations in many films, its two basins and its great outdoor games space. L’Isle-Adam is still the culture with the Centre of Art Jacques Henri Lartigue, which submits each year two exhibitions of the Museum of Art and history Louis Senlecq. L’Isle-Adam is finally rich associative and sports (golf 18 holes, tennis courts, equestrian centres,…) and animations throughout the year: Carnival, the Art market, the Salon des Antiquaires, the fair in books, the horticultural fair, the race of bathtubs, flea, exhibitions, concerts, river cruises… and its inevitable market TuesdayFriday and Sunday mornings under the Hall from the city centre. L’Isle-Adam also allows boaters from all over Europe to dock on the banks of the Oise thanks to its pontoon equipped with a hydrant water supply and electricity. A heaven to be discovered and now you know, the webpage http://www.tourisme-isle-adam.net/

See you around in the roads of France. Cheers.

Well amazing we had three straight days of sunshine in the middle 20’s Celsius this week;finally ,I think summer is here and even early lol!

Some of the news around France for now are,

Cinéma Paradiso at the Grand Palais, a drive in cinema !!! June 10 to 21 2013. From 11h.