In my new life as retiree my blog is my biggest entertainement and before anything else, I like to thank everyone of my readers and followers to stay with me over the years since November 26 2010 !!! Thank you !!! I decided to trim some of my older posts in my series Some news from France and condense them as not to lose the most important parts, me think, of them, Therefore, this is my new work, the condense news of my belle France, Hope you enjoy it as I.
Some news from France CXLIX April 3, 2017
According to an article in the newspaper Le Parisien the first automatic bars on the trains of Paris will see the light officially at gare Montparnasse in Paris (where I will be arriving tomorrow) and voilà it is said will be the first day of them tomorrow Tuesday April 4 2017. I will see ! As in the metro, the passengers will have to show proof on the digital machines before allow to pass, and they will open automatically if the ticket is good. After Montparnasse ,they will be up at 12 other stations such as Marseille, Rennes, Nantes, Aix-TGV, Lyon-Perrache, Lyon Part-Dieu, Gare de Lyon, Gard du Nord and Gare de l’Est in Paris ,and onwards as well as Bordeaux, Saint-Pierre-des-Corps (Tours) from now to 2018. This is an effort to stop fraud and have everyone do pay their ticket to the trains.
And it’s official, the quais and voies or wharfs and roads along the Seine river in Paris will be pedestrian. Only allow will be cyclists, joggers, and walkers so the car is out. The opening will be today at 14h30 on the ramp of the square Garcia-Lorca facing the Hôtel de Ville. This in addition to the pedestrian areas of the rive Gauche and rive Droite that now extends over 7 kms (bit over 4 miles) on to the bassin de l’Arsenal to Bastille ,and until the Champs-de-Mars at the foot of the Tour Eiffel; this is a space of 10 hectares (almost 25 acres) taken away from the car. It will be dotted with restaurants and activities for all
One for the car the exchange of the autoroute A4 at Bailly-Romainvilliers will be ready for the opening of the Villages Nature, expected for end of July. First, the traffic will be open to the road taking résidents to Villages Nature at Disneyland Paris, as well as the road taking the automobilist coming from Paris towards Villages Nature. There has been some delays due to conflict between the regional gov and the State etc because they have ask for a toll booth between the A4 and the N36 to get around the toll at Coutevroult , and the city center/downtown of Bailly-Romainvilliers. For this reason, they are still working on the traffic circle that will take you from the Villages Nature, and the access road to the camping ranch of Davy-Crockett. And by now I have stayed on both as above !
At Saint-Jean de Monts on April 14 you can see art from Johannes Vermeer, and the Dutch painting school. This will be on at the Médiathéque Espace Culturel at 19H for free. this is the town library folks The famous Harlem Globetrotters basketball show will pass by this area on April 23rd, at the Salle Michel Vrignaud, Challans Kyle Eastwood, (yes you know it the son of Cliff) is a great jazz player and will be performing at the salle de L’Echiquier, at Pouzauges on april 8 at 20h30. He compose the music of many of his Dad’s films such as Mystic River, Gran Torino ,Invictus; and came out with his first solo record in ” From There to There” in 1998. He will be there with his vocal Joni Mitchel and his English quintet, and one Cuban drummer. Nice to see indeed.
Some news from France, CL April 8, 2017
First, my beloved Versailles, where in the stables built by Jules Hardouin-Mansart for the Royal Academy in 1830 Bàrtabas has done wonders; this is the Grand Ecuries. From here it has spread tremendously to Chantilly and Saumur. Anécdote, the French proclaim the birth of their equestrian prowess on 1593 when the publication of “Cavalarice François” by Salomon de La Broue. The National school of horseriding has a library with 21600 documents of which 17400 are numerise or microfiche. At Versailles, “La Voie de l’écuyer” Saturdays at 18H, Sundays at 15h, Wednesday April 12 and Monday April 17 at 15h; Also, the Matinales each Sunday at 10h and 12h; and the Jumping International from May 5-7 2017
At Saumur, “Le Printemps des écuyers” by the Cadre Noir de Saumur and their camargue horses April 21-23. Also, on the Grand Manége, shows on May 26-28, July 28-29, and September 16-17 ,At Chantilly, “Métamorphoses” on Saturdays,Sundays, and Thursdays until early November 2017 Not to forget the wonderful museum of the horse or Musée du Cheval open 10h to 18H. We continue with the “Triumph of the waters:La Fête at Saint-Cloud” from 1775-1780 by Jean Honoré Fragonard. In the basin fountain a large water jet of 30 meters ( about 100 feet) by simple gravity shoots water in abundance always the pride of the Monsieur , brother of the King to the grand displeasure of King Louis XIV as it was lacking at Versailles. The great show at the Orleans park overlooking the Seine river to the great spring in the Grand Cascade built by Le Pautre in 1660. Domaine de Saint Cloud, 92210, See the wonderful “Bed of Daisies” (1893) by Gustave Caillebotte. the painter creates his first paintings in the gardens of the Yerres, the property of his father a wealthy Parisian purchased in 1860. 11 hectares or about 27 acres on English garden full of winding alleys, vegetable garden, enclosed by walls, a Casino, resort to the house of Palladian colonnades, and the river Yerres flowing at the side. Walk in time of Caillebotte in a garden of delightful pictorial evocation. You can get here by RER D from Gare de Lyon in Paris,direction Melun, stop at Yerres walk 10 minutes or take Bus F; The “Water Lilies” (1916-1919) by Claude Monet. In 1893, he finished his flower garden and acquired the path of Roy that borders his property of the Clos Normand, where he installed a small pond while curves of bamboo, and iris spaned by a Japanese bridge shaded in wisteria. At the heart the foliage of the King, with floating red, pink, yellow, water lilies. You have a water landscape, game materials, color and glare light, the water at the Giverny garden is lived through the eyes of the artist as a series of fleeting impressions.
At the castle of Monte Cristo, open in 1847 by 600 guests in what was the home of Dumas for four years, exposed here the cartoons or BD of Patrick de Jacquelot a collection to deliver a message tot he father of the 3 Musketeers and the Cound of Monte Cristo, continues without him Exhibition until June 10th The spirit of the herbaria: the treasure of Joseph Pitton de Tournefort (1708). This is the botanist physician had bequesthed to King Louis XIV his Herbarium a wonderful book with hundreds of new plants gleaned during his travels even to the Levant. The former garden of the King to therapeutic vocation became in 1793, the National Museum of Natural History. The tree planted by Buffon in 1785 was the Lebanon Cedar brought from the East to England by Bernard de Jussieu in 1734, the Robinia planted by his son around 1630 and the Sephora from China by missionaries in the 19C. Further, the School of Botanical Garden and the Alpine garden with 2000 species of altitude, the tropical greenhouse, the laberinth, the beautiful central axis and the combed lawns, the menagerie or petting zoo…All in the Jardin des Plantes The Castle and the Park of Méréville” (built c. 1790),done by Hubert Robert Bellanger to the Marquis of Laborde a wealthy sponsor and big fan. The former feudal moat, the building overlooks a valley where the rivers winds down along amazing mills, Chinese bridge, and temple of piety, recall the son of the Marquis lost at sea with La Perouse. Created over the suspended tracks of Bellanger, bridges of stone and caves to sensational waters and on the hill a Trajan column watching over the park. Ultimate fantasy of a world dazzle by the death of the Marquis de Laborde guillotined in 1794; Méréville is an extraordinary dream. See the tourist office of Etampes for guided visits to the Méréville park.
Some news from France CLI April 15, 2017
There is a new or fairly new thing to do in Paris, it is the Timescope (see photo from the Les Echos business journal ) and it lets you see in 3D Paris of yesteryear actually way back.. It is already 389 years since April of 1628 ,and if you go to the now pedestrian street of voie Georges Pompidou and get yourself behind the telescope or Timescope, you will be able to see Paris as it were on that date!!! The Timescope telescope machine is by the bridge or pont d’Arcole. It is on that date that the city hall or Hôtel de Ville was built, and the place de Gréve takes form with its colorful houses , the trading harbor on the banks of the Seine river and its boats with the people living underneath the bridges. The first of these timescopes was installed at the boulevard Richard Lenoir in front of the place de la Bastille. Here for 2€ with an online ordered ticket, you can see the Bastille in 1416, and on the eve of the French revolution in 1789. In the parc Rives de Seine, there is reconstruction work in detail of these events. There is even a film in 3D by just turning the eyeglasses on the machine around you in 360°.
A wonderful event in a historic romantic area of Paris. Everything moves around Pigalle, rue Lepic, Sacré Coeur, Moulin Rouge etc, this area inspired many movie producers:directors from the beginnings of the 7th art. The museum or Musée de Montmartre will have an exposition with the Décor de Cinéma ; showing of this period in black and white and color as well. The collection of the Cinémathéque Française, Fondation Jerome Seydoux-Pathé, muse Gaumont, Archives Pathé-Gaumont, Societé Femis, société d’histoire et archeology de le vieux Montmartre and Moulin Rouge will be showing until January 14 2018!
Do you know cher visitors that in the Périphérique de Paris or beltway there are 99 cameras capturing on 750 devices with as much as 80 frames at the same time to see what you all do on the 35 kms of the beltway: yes big brother is watching you . Of course, some locals do not even know of this, too bad, I do ,I am on the road and do keep tracks of these devices. Mind you these are not speed radars but rather surveillance cameras ::)
Get wet in the basin de la Villette! The 3rd edition of the course Open Swim Stars Paris will be held June 17 and 18 on the water basins of the Villette, and Pantin. You can sign up from today!There will be five courses between the two days going from 1 to 5 km. The compétition is open to all license or not swimmers as long as space available. 500 for the 5 kms and 1000 for the other swims. The swimmers who are not license will need to provide a medical certificate of at less than one month old; the water temperature will be between 18C and 22C (about 62 to 72 F). this course is inspire by the mythical La Traversée de Paris that was organized between 1906 and 1940 on the Seine river.
And as we are in Easter, where to find your eggs in Paris or elsewhere as m favorites, when my boys entered France already French, they enjoyed these events; such as the wonderful Seine-et-Marne dept 77 castle of Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte ; activities until April 17 And from 10h , April 16, the Jardin d’Acclimatation , bois de Boulogne just off the Place Maillot you can still take the little train and admission combine.
Some news from France CLII April 18, 2017
Flixbus , bus service intercity is offering the La Défense. From May 18 it will serve the business district from the underground bus terminal of terminal Jules-Verne on the line N 709 that will be extended to Rouen. This night line will have daily connections towards Lyon with a departure at 23h15 from the La Défense. There will be two stops in Lyon, one at the gare de Vaise at 5h15 and the second at the gare La Part-Dieu at 5h50. On the trip back from there the bus will arrive at La Défense at 6h45 and will leave from gare La Part-Dieu at 23h59 , and the gare de Vaise at 00H35. Of course check the times as from now to then they may change
For it’s 70th anniversary the Festival de Cannes,has played with the cards on the selection of films. It is expected that Michael Haneke will have his 3rd palme d’or, that will be historical. However ,even if the idea is to bring the lesser known artists to the Festival, you can’t escape to think folks like Sofia Coppola, Jacques Doillon, François Ozon or Michel Hazanavicius are not your type of unknown artists as such. The rest that were kept for the competition are indeed less known and with great projects such as Naomi Kawase, Yorgos Lanthimos, Lynne Ramsay, Andrey Zvyagintsev, Hong Sangsoo, Todd Haynes, Noah Baumbach, and Fatih Akin.
The house of Louis Vuitton continues it’s incursion into the world of Arts. Associating with the plastic artist Jeff Koons to reveal the collection where the master word is transmission. The American artist will inspire here by the « Gazing Ball » a series of reproduce works of arts by the great masters,and to post on the great bags and small leather goods of the Louis Vuitton. The works that will appear are such as « La Joconde »(mona lisa) of Léonard de Vinci, the « La chasse au tigre » by Rubens, the « La Gimblette » by Fragonard, the « Champ de blé avec cyprès » by Van Gogh and as well the « Mars, Vénus et Cupidon » of Titien. The famous « Rabbit » of Jeff Koons will ,also be there in accessories. The artist even played with the famous monogram letter of Louis Vuitton by signing the works as « J.K. ». All ready to become collectors items and shown from April 28. The next exposition at the musée Ludique that is at 34 quai d’Austerlitz in the 13eme of Paris will be dedicated to the super heroes of DC Comics. The expo will be until September 10 2017 and it’s entitled L’art de DC -L’aube des super héros. You will find about 250 originals models created by Bob Kane, Frank Miller or Alex Ross. More than 300 works recherché for the cinema and costumes and accessories from films. You will see the original costume for Superman worned by Christopher Reeves and the series Wonder Woman done by Lynda Carter, Batman from 1989 of the Joker, and accessories from the batman vault. the visitors to the exposition will recreate the history of their super heros from the 1930’s to our days. You have the exposition of “De Zurbaran à Rothko – Collection Alicia Koplowitz – Grupo Omega Capital“; Until July 10 2017. the collection from the Spanish business women Alicia Koplowitz to be seen in the musée Jacquemart-André. There is nice works of arts here such as the “the Virgins” of Zurbarán , and from Luis de Morales,a portrait of the 16C of Juan Pantoja de la Cruz, but, also, of Goya, Picasso, and Toulouse-Lautrec. You can see as well masters such as De Kooning, Rothko, Lucian Freud, Louise Bourgeois, and Miquel Barceló. A very nice presentation in a wonderful place
Great libraries in Paris, some of them down right historical. However, many not as well known and just as historical and nice. One of my favorites is the La librairie du cinéma du Panthéon ,15 rue Victor-Cousin, metro line 10 or RER A Luxembourg. Taken the works from the library Ciné Reflet and under the patronage of the Thé des Ecrivans, you come to a cine club library open since 2013. You have all novels, travel , youth books here. An oasis of calm and knowledge in Paris. And last, pay tribute to a great one of Paris and the world, Colette. Actresse, dancer, mimic, romancier, newspaperwomen (in 1914-18 WWI) , creator of a cosmetic line, the leading figure of women avant garde with a strong connection to nature. The first women president of the Académie Goncourt. Today, her maternal home reborn with her youthful days; open to the public since 2016 at the rue Colette (before rue de l’Hospice). It is done loyal to the writing of the actor with bourgeois decoration and the status of a rich family whose members were musicians or music lovers; Colette played the piano, and mom went to the Opéra. The house or La Maison de Colette, 10, rue Colette, Saint-Sauveur-en-Puisaye ; IN the castle of the town ; small Library. you can go by car in about 1h30 from Paris . By train from gare de Bercy, to Joigny or Auxerre.
Some news from France CLIII April 29, 2017
Let me tell you of an event mentioned before but it’s worth it if around Versailles, my dear old town. This is the Jumping international du Château de Versailles May 5-7. This is considered a 5 stars event ,the highest in its category. The roots on horse riding go deep here since 1670, and the king Louis XIV had built the Grande and Petite Ecuries. It is here that Bàrtabas , the founder of the Académie équestre nationale du domaine de Versailles in 2003 This event will have over 200 horses with the best 30 jockeys of the world including four French Olympic champions. A course with 1600 spectators will be done in the stables=ecuries, and the visitors will have access to the gallery of Coaches or La Galerie des Carrosses in the Grande Ecurie as well, superb; restored in 2016. You see carriages of Napoléon Ier, the funeral carriage of Louis XVIII, fantasy trainers, etc.
The article takes notice of the visit of Prince Louis Alphonse de Bourbon (legitimate king of France Louis XX) , last descendant of king Felipe V of Spain in turn grandson of king Louis XIV of France) to Gorica, Slovania. The visit was to pay respect to the last king of France Charles X, who died in exile here, and whether to bring his body back to the Basilica of Saint Denis, north of Paris. king Charles X (brother of Louis XVI) ,also known as the Count of Artois,was overthrown in the 3 glorious days or trois glorieuses in 1830(also,known as the July revolution) , and died of colera on November 6 1836 in Gorizia ,the frontier of Frioul-Venetia Julienne and Slovenia. He lies in the Franciscan convent of Castagnavizza ,today call Kostanjevica in Nova Gorica, Slovenia. There, also , lies his son, Duke of Angoulême (short while king Louis XIX) his wife and cousin Mary Theresa of France, also ,called madame royale, the unfortunate daughter of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette freed from the prison of Temple,and the grandchildren of Charles X, also, Henri V, count of Chambord, the last French Bourbon of the branch, and his wife Mary Theresa of Modena, and her sister, Louise of France; duchess of Parma. At the end of WWII,the monastery of Castagnavizza that is on a hill dominating Gorizia passed to the jurisdiction of Yugoslavia until the independence of Slovenia in 1991; where it change name to Kostanjevica,and kept by the Franciscans Monks in Nova Gorica. Charles X is the only French king now lying in foreign soil, and there is an association trying to change that. The Association pour le Retour a Saint-Denis de Charles X, The association just wants to reunite the brothers , Louis XVI,Louis XVIII,and Charles X in the Basilique de Saint Denis. For this,they have the backing and support of all the relatives of Charles X living today. That is the Princes Bourbon-Parma born from his granddaughter Louise of Bourbon, and the two daughters of the Duke of Berry (second son of Charles X assassinated in 1820) had with Amy Brown: Charlotte, princess of Faucigny-Lucinge ,and Louise, Baronnesa of Charette de la Contrie. At least 50 descendant has given the ok for the transfer. The only block is that on the Will and Last Testament of the Count of Chambord (Henri V) he asked not to be buried in France as well as his wife Mary Theresa of Modena. He refuse the tricolor flag of the French republic for keeping the white flag symbol of the monarchy in 1871. The current pretender Louis Alphonse (Alfonso born in Madrid, and legitimate Louis XX king of France), does not want to separate the grandchildren from his grandfather. The transfer can only be done with the blessing of the French Republic and with all the honors of a sovereign monarch according to Louis Alphonse.
The other sovereign of France not buried in France is that of emperor Napoléon III. He is buried at the Abbey Chapel of Farnborough in England. He lied there with his wife emperatrice Eugénie (of the Montijo of Spain), and their son Louis who died in 1879 in a battle with the Zulus in South Africa (he would have been Napoléon IV). At the Benedictine abbey of Saint Michael founded in 1881 by the emperatrice Eugénie that lived at Farnborough Hill. There are the tombs of Napoléon III (1873), Eugénie (1920) and Louis (1879). In the 150th anniversary of the unification of the Savoie and county of Nice, many people ask for the repatriation of the bodies to France. At least ,at Farnborough the Benedictine monks pray for the emperor, who will do that in Paris? said the Princess Napoléon (I have met her at the Institut de France in Paris, salon Victor Hugo) . Difficult to bring them all as the imperial prince is buried with English military uniform! and the Invalides could not be. Other place that I know is the Church of Saint Augustin, that has been sought after for many years as a necropolis of the empire. Napoléon III already have sought of doing a mausoleum Bonaparte here. The Church is well aligned in the perspective of the baron Haussmann between the Church of the Madeleine (dedicated to the grande armée), and the place Wagram. Nevertheless, the pilgrims here will be less than at Farnborough.
There you go folks, a big task but a work of love to keep the best, me think of these wonderful older posts over the years, These are what I think worth keeping of my older Some news from France series, and I thank you, Again, hope you enjoy this post as I
And remember, happy travels, good health, and many cheers to all !!!
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