Paris1972-Versailles2003

Back to the regular post on things going on in France my choices:

A new place to try eat the best of France pâtisserie in Paris, this is Fou de Pâtisserie or crazy about pastries; 45 ,rue Montorgueil 2éme ;Tel +33 (0) 140410061. Open Tuesdays to Fridays from 11h to 20h, Saturdays from 9h30 to 20h and Sundays from 9h30 to 18h. Try the greatest expression of French pastries such as the Baba Rhum of Cyril Lignac, the napoleon or mille feuille of Hugo & Victor, the eclair caramel butter salé of Christophe Adma, the macaroons of Pierre Hermé and the madeleines of Gilles Marchal. http://www.foudepatisserie.com/

See the music of Carmen la Cubana until April 30th at the Théatre du Châtelet . http://chatelet-theatre.com/fr/event/carmen-la-cubana

Five zoos around and in Paris great for the entire family are here:  Parc Zoologique de Vincennes ,at the angle of Avenue Daumesnil and route de la ceinture du lac Daumesnil : http://www.parczoologiquedeparis.fr/fr

ZooParc de Beauval, Route du Blanc, 41110 Saint-Aignan :https://www.zoobeauval.com/

Parc de Thoiry, Château de Thoiry, 7877,Thoiry ,near my old home, https://www.thoiry.net/fr

Parc des Félins, Domaine de la Fotelle, 77540, Lumigny-Nesles-Ormeaux; http://www.parc-des-felins.com/fr/

And the La ménagerie du Jardin des plantes or petting zoo in Paris; Rue Cuvier, 75007, Paris :http://www.mnhn.fr/fr/visitez/lieux/menagerie-zoo-jardin-plantes

Recently, the Le  Figaro magazine ask the US Ambassador Jane D Hartly what was the best example of the spirit of Paris that makes here recall the USA and these were the Jardin des Tuileries,Jardin du Luxembourg,Tour Eiffel and the firework on the 14th of July; and the Spanish ambassador Ramon de Miguel responded as the Tour St Jacques or St James, the musée Picasso, and the avenue des Champs-Elysées, the Pont Alexandre III, and the Hôtel des Invalides. And so on many others ambassadors.

The wrough iron gate or the grille de la Chapelle,located at the side of the royal chapel or Chapelle-Royale next to the square or place Gambetta in the Chateau de Versailles is open to the public once again. This will help the merchants of the side street rue des Réservoirs that was closed due to anti terrorists action under Vigipirate that closed most of the entrance to the castle on this side. Now the figh is on to have open the others by Chesnay and Saint-Cyr-L’école.Le Parisien

The château de Monte Cristo at Port Marly reopen its theatrical visits ;after much work of renovations. The tickets will be sold on a first comes first serve basis with limited seating capacity. Tariffs are 9€ adults information at the tel +33 (0) 30 61 61 35 or chateau-monte-cristo.com/mai…

The Festival « Série Séries, will have place in Fontainebleau from June 29 to July 1st at the municipal theater, showcasing all the great European series on TV. http://www.serieseries.fr/

The famous concert hall Elysée Montmartre by blvd Rochechouart in the 18éme . arrondissement opened in 1807 ,and since 2011 closed due to fire will open its doors in the Fall of 2016. It will have a configuration of 1000 seats and 1500 more on foot. In 1900,it was the dancing hall and center of French Cancans ; in the years 1970’s it was the time for Coluche to start his career here and later turn into music hall and concerts saw many famous played here such as Alain Souchon, Alain Bashung, Bérurier Noir, Noir Désir, and Iron Maiden and as well international stars such as David Bowie, Cyndi Lauper, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Daft Punk.There are now four concerts already booked that should open by September 15 next the singers will be Romain Humeau,Nov 23rd then Christophe Maé, Nov 26rd,already full. Follow in December by Marillon on the 10th and the group Hyphen Hyphen on the 16th. You can see the program starting from June 1st at this site :www.elysee-montmartre.com

See you around folks!

Here I am again trying the new feature of posting in WordPress. This is what the latest buzz I have for France in general and Paris in specific.

The 48 arms of the big wheel of Paris or the grande roue de la Concorde with a height of 70 meters (231 ft) will be in the colors of the Euro 2016 starting from today. A film on the Euro16 will be shown on a big screen located at the foot of the big wheel. This operation will be on until September according to the city of Paris, source Le Parisien.

The new vedette de paris boat rides are starting to show theater plays on the rides. The first two are from the theater Le Palace,and are played on the boat cruising the river Seine, they are the «Les 39 marches » ,and the «Welcome à St-Tropez ». The first is a parody burlesque from the film by Alfred Hitchcock, and the other is a light comedy. The show with a glass of Champagne is 34 €. www.vedettesdeparis.fr

The Québécois Michel Goulet has taken some chairs from 1921 in the jardin du Palais-Royal and written poems on them with laser , the poems are by French and foreigners such as Baudelaire, Eluard, Cocteau, and Pasolini…etc. They are now been call the poetry chairs or chasse poémes.

The creation by Le Corbusier in 1933, the Cité de Refuge or house of refugee is not a museum but can be visited as well starting from May or June once the renovation is wholly done. They will be organize visits by reservation. The building is at 12 rue Cantagrel (8éme). The house is run by the Salvation Army of Paris, armeedusalut.fr/etablissemen…

The city of Paris will redo several squares to make it more pedestrian accessable on a project from now to 2020 according to the mayor Anne Hidalgo, and more info in the city webpage www.paris.fr The squares will be Bastille, Nation,Panthéon, Madeleine, Gambetta, des Fêtes, and Italie.

Hotel de la marine is due for a complete makeover costing about 100M€. This was the furniture guardhouse of king Louix XV and later the Ministry of the Marine was here for about 200 years, now there is a twist. The plan is to create a gastronomic center to complement France been named UNESCO world heritage of gastronomy and wines . Plans for a restaurant of 100 seats, and a Café in the street level (first floor ) floor , also , cooking classes, and tastings of wines ,conferences and exhibition space. Stay tune the works just begun this week 09 March 2016 ,according to the Le Parisien newspaper

And about those Parisien hôtels and the trend to go away from the “center” that I have been telling many here, well hôtels are going to the BP=boulevard périphérique road. 1588 is the numbers of hotels Paris has at end of 2014. About 82, 227 rooms, most in the VIIIe, IXe, Xe et XVIIe arrondissements or districts, they have an average of 75,6 % occupancy with an average price of 180,80 € per night per room. And they are new ones coming along in the Boulevard Périphérique, such as the Porte Pouchet Résidence Odalys city by 1st trimester 2017. Qualys by Porte de Montmartre by 2018. Residence Residhome by Porte d’Aubervilliers; by 2107. Hipark residence by Porte de Pantin by April 2016. Hotel Meininger by 2018 at Porte de Vincennes, Motel One by 2018 on Porte Dorée, another Hotel by 2018 on the Porte d’Italie, Novotel suite Paris Expo by April 2016 at Porte de Vanves; Hotel Mama Shelter by 2019 at Porte de Versailles, Hotel de la tour Triangle by 2020 at Porte by Porte de Versailles, and Okko Hotel by 2017 at Porte de Sévres. keep an eye on them. Le Parisien.

The garden of the musée Nissim de Camondo will be open to visitors until April 3 from 10H to 16h45. They were done in 1912 bordering the Parc Monceau. The visit will allow you to see the imposing façade of the mansion built between 1911 and 1914 for the Count of Camondo (1860-1935). The Musée Nissim de Camondo is located at 63, rue de Monceau (8émee). admission is 9 € normal adults. Metro Villiers and Monceau ,bus lines 30 ,94, and 84.Le Parisien

The big building in an Art Deco style at 52, avenue des Champs-Élysées (old Virgin Megastore) is in construction to build a Galeries Lafayette by October 2018 The department store will have about 9000 m2 in four levels including one in the basement. This historical building was purchase initially by the creator of the Galeries Lafayette Théophile Bader in 1927 to build one here but the world crisis of 1929 did not allowed it. The name was the Hôtel de Massa that was taken stone by stone and rebuilt in the gardens of the Observatoire de Paris. In the 1930’s the building host the City Bank of New York. Le Parisien

Fondation Louis Vuitton, has an expo on Chinese works inside. And on the outside a new canopy in glass with many colors; it will be done by May 10th. The canopy in wood covered with glass is similar to the one installed in the Les Halles de Paris

In the voie Georges Pompidou next to the pont Sully in the quais of the Seine will be build by November 1918 a monument to the fallen in WWI from Paris, about 93000 of them died between 1914 and 1918. The monument is schedule to be done by November 11 2016 Armistice Day here. It will a succession of plaques with the name of the fallen in alphabetical order;which will be about 100 meters long memorial14-18.paris.fr/memor…

The boats return to the lake at the Castle of Rambouillet starting this Saturday 26 March 2016. You will be able to ride the boats around the islet or îles des Rochers or Festin from April 2 do it all the weekends from 10h30 to 19h. They will be available everyday in July and August from 12h to 19h. You will have available , electric boats and tandem bicycles as well. Rides of ½ hour of boating will cost 10€, more information at +33 (0) 6 14 08 82 80. Le Parisien

The museum Albert Kahn and garden covering 4 ha in Boulogne-Billancourt with a Japanese,French,and English gardens, a prairie and a blue forest will have this Saturday a new renovation project to enlarge it. At early 2018 we will see a new building of 2300 m² and several open spaces with a detail trail explaining each space for better explain the museum garden to the visitors.

The project of the supermetro line 18 linking Orly (Val-de-Marne) to Versailles by 2030 is now in the negotiation phase with the city. This line will connect between 2024 and 2030 the towns of Châteaufort, Magny-les-Hameaux, Voisins-le-Bretonneux,Guyancourt and Versailles

Decision to convert the buildings of the Grand Contrôle, du Petit Contrôle, and du Pavillon des 100 prémieres marches , built by Jules Hardouin-Mansart, with a surface of 2 800 m2, all along the extension of the Midi wing in the Château de Versailles. The palace managing body will give some time for reflection before given order for bids on the construction which already attracts several hotel groups. Stay tune….

Indeed.