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 !!! Especially my first likes from former travel forum friend Jeannette 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 CLXXXIII February 1, 2018
the toll fees on highways ./autoroutes continue to go up of course. Increase of 1 – 2 % starting from February 1st 2018, and 3- 4 % in the secondary network of roads. Due to high cost of salt on the road and the high price of the gel of 2015!! this is a rip off but the happy French taxpayer will do again and the visitors will help of course. The pro consumer group 60 millions de consommateurs have shown that on 29 autoroute axes 28 have increase their rates by more than 5 % between 2011 and 2017. Six tranches have even increase it by more than 10 %. The top comes to the section of Bordeaux to Pau , more than 16%. IN 10 years the price of toll fees have increase by almost 20 %!!!. Yeah and the roads are the same but we pay more ,lousy service ,one more proof the government is not to save lives but to make money.
The museum or musée de Cluny is closing within one month. By March 1st they will closed their doors for about four months for renovations. The small entrance lobby of 52 m2 will be replace by one of 250 m2! and two elevators/lifts will be installed. The city of Paris will take advantage of this to make the rue Sommerard pedestrian. The museum at 6, place Paul Painlevé (5éme). And one of my all time favorite as my boys grew up going here often is the Jardin d’Acclimatation now in renovation but still confirm to re open by May 1st. The Labor day holiday here. The owners are now the famous brand LVMH. This park of 18 hectares in the Bois de Boulogne (16éme) will have a new identity to it’s 40 activities and function ability to the machines providing admission fees of 4,90€ adults or the pass for all at 29€. The park is a historical leisure place for Parisians that is here since 1860. The new renovation will keep the place of promenade and rest for all as always. A garden renovated in the spirit of old Paris, a village of activities such as the Les Rockets, an attraction unique in Europe with 500 meters of rollercoaster, bobsleigh etc going down at 45 kph ( 28 mph) in 2 minutes 30 seconds in a forest of sequoia trees. There will be an interactive cinema, an decorated alley in the north part on the side of Neuilly-sur-Seine. A farm normand recreated and the heritage of Napoléon III rebuilt. The factory to make satin fabric that has been made into a café as well as station with a old clock, and several small houses to bring back the spirit of Napoléon III. They have planted 45 000 shrubs and 200 trees with a natural river flowing thru.
And one guy that has not received all the credit due him as a painter is Jean Fautrier and he will be shown at the museum or musée d’Art moderne de la Ville de Paris. An exposition with his 140 paintings and 25 Sculptures of Jean Fautrier (1898-1964). All until May 20 2018. WE see in his paintings signs of Turner, as well as Rembrandt, or even Chardin. However , he flirt with abstraction and created the jargon of informal art with several work of the expressionist school. You need to see the work « Nature morte aux poires » from 1927. It has a font black and gray emerging three pears with a light spectacle that is taken from the game of lights of a Turner or a Rembrandt. His « Jolie fille » done in 1926-1927 is a mass of nuts in a sculptural body where he hardly shows the face, it is radical! As well as the work done in 1922, when he decided to take on the « Portrait de ma concierge ». He made exist an old lady with a minucioiuse representation in grey tones, black and violets. In his funeral André Malraux said that Fautrier made him think of Goya. Anyway Jean Fautrier is a great one of the painting history, the master of modern tragidy .
On November 27 2017, the auction house of Artcurial proposed in auction a magnificent ensemble of work in sculptures by Camille Claudel. They were rare and beautiful, a pedigree (coming from the family of the sculptor) the estimation were awesome and three world records were established. A sweet revenge for that which for a long time was considered the student of her lover Auguste Rodin. All had the right of pre emptive that was exercise by the French government in auctions of arts in favor of six muséums, so on the 20 works 12 were send to French arts institutions. That is the story the museum or Musée d’Orsay is showing until February 6. The others are the Musée Rodin, Paris, Musée Camille-Claudel, Nogent-sur-Seine (Aube), the pool museum or Piscine-Musée d’art et d’industrie in Roubaix (Nord), Musée Sainte-Croix of Poitiers , and the Maison Camille et Paul Claudel of Villeneuve-sur-Fère (Aisne), all already with important works of Camille Claudel.
The year 2019 will be a double anniversary, the creation in 1669 by king Louis XIV of the royal academy of the opera or the Académie royale d’Opéra, that will take on the name of the royal academy of music or Académie royale de Musique; but, also as well the opening of the room Bastille, opened about 30 years ago by Président François Mitterrand for the bicentenary of the French revolution. Some of the work shown are: Les Huguenots by Giacomo Meyerbeer created in the Opéra in 1836 followed by the first curtain rising of the Opéra Bastille in 1989 Not less than 32 programs with 15 new spectacles will be shown , And last but not least, the nocturnal chases at the Louvre museum. Call is out for the lovers of the Da Vinci Code ! Each Wednesday and Saturday night the musée du Louvre welcomes the great adventurers that we are for a mysterious treasure hunt. For nearly two hours in the heart of the museum collections your mission will be to be first in opening the crypts of the Joconde (Mona Lisa). Anima,the organizer of the events in Paris will have a quiz to help on the hunt; you will need a team to discover the three pyramides on three initiating trails before the others. This will be until February 28 2018 .
Some news from France CLXXXIIII February 12, 2018
Soirée love February 14 from 19h to 23h at the Musée Rodin, with red carpet, and lights as well as rose petals jazz musicians will play different tunes in different rooms as well as will be shown a book showing the exchanges between Rodin and his muse Camille Claudel. The museum Rodin is at 77 rue de Varennes 7éme arrondissement. Between the plain of Buren with its columns in marbre and the palace garden of the Palais Royal, you will see wooden planches covering the floor , this is just to allow the workers to go underneath and fix the humidity below by the plains of Bury, between the columns and the galerie d’Orléans. The name Bury comes from the Belgian artist who did the nice fountains there in 1985. The French government or the taxpayers are helping to renovate it and will last until next Sept 18.
The cabaret Crazy Horse opens up to the youngs, spectacles of Young & Crazy.The under 26 yrs old will be able to discover the temple of sublime and assume and the girls every Wednesday evenings for 25€ only. Crazy Horse, 12 avenue George V 8éme arrondissement
The Louvre is open up to find the nazi stolen work of arts during WWII from the Jewish community. The MNR or “Musées Nationaux Récupération” are works of arts recovered from the nazis stolen from the original owners, they were given for safekeeping to the national museums and provincial ones as well. They were supposed to be given back to the rightful owners if found or identified It is estimated that 100K works were stolen from the Jewish in France and transferred to nazi Germany; at the end of the war, the European and American museums were able to recover about 47K of them. The orphanage works in the Louvre museum numbered about 1752 with 807 paintings and some loan to other museums in France. Only 31 will be exposed in the Louvre to the public for the moment still hoping to find the rightful owner descendants.
A nice small museum in my Yvelines dept 78 west of Paris is the musée de la toile de Jouy at Jouy sous Josas. Here cloths in cotton printed and teint from the 18C from a firm founded by Oberkampf in 1760. Now nothing is left but in the courtyard of the city hall, a bell ringing and a museum installed in an old merchant house tell the story today. Oberkampf, coming from a tanners family in Germany . Jouy-en-Josas has it all, the Bièvre river runs below it to bath the teintures and rinse, vast fields to spread the cloths to whiting it under the sun and the water, the geographical situation at the door of Versailles and Paris a sure clientele. Oberkampf enlarge the business and when the company went bankrupt in 1843, more than 30 years after his death , almost 30K motifs have come out of the factory, and some continue to inspired the world of fashion. The Musée de la Toile de Jouy, château de l’Eglantine, 54, rue Charles-de-Gaulle, Jouy-en-Josas (78).
Some news from France CLXXXV February 19, 2018
One of most emblematic and romantic buildings in Paris, its a tower! Speaking of the tour Jean Sans Peur or john without fears tower. It was in the middle ages the highest inhabited buildng in Paris. It has remined entirely intact, this building tower of the 15C houses today a museum of daily life in the medieval period located at 20 de la rue Etienne-Marcel (2éme)). It has a donjon tower of 27 meters high square on top ,the equivalent of 8 floors. Today it remains the last witness to medieval civil and fortified architecture in Paris. ou can visit the tower floor by floor, the biggest is the grande Salle , the bedroom of the squire that of Jean Sans Peur, and common rooms with furniture from his last 20 years there as identical as they were done by artisan artists of today. The museum has a trail of figures in costumes of the 15C as well redone by modern masters. You can reach it by metro line 4 stop/arrêt Étienne Marcel; RER A,B,D arrêt/stop at les Halles or bus 29 arrêt/stop Turbigo/Étienne Marcel.
The Château de Pierrefonds is ongoing renovations. The new campaign by the Centre des monuments nationaux is on to restore the four bridges of the castle. The work will begin today with the covering of the structures in scaffolds and will be done by the end of November 2018. These bridges dates from 1870 and were in bad conditions . The three bridges gave access to the main courtyard of the castle and a new visitor circuits will be done by March 12 The Centre des monuments nationaux is also counting on doing other works in the castle such as souvenir boutique to come back to its original location and the floor of the Salle des Preuses , the biggest in the castle will be reinforce.
And come to see the orchids with the expo Orchidées Mania in the jardin des Plantes. On the famous greenhouses of the garden hosting the 7th edition of the thousand and one orchid or « Mille et une orchidées ». This is done every February to the orchid lovers to discover the extraordinary collection in the museum of natural history or Muséum d’histoire naturelle. Joined by specialize gardeners that will allow you to come away with a pot;all this until March 5 2018
Imagine been in the Roman arena of Nîme end of April 2018 to host the 9e édition des Grands Jeux romains (the great roman games) ; that will be held for three days the legendary episodes of the times. You can see at simple eye view the amphitheater dating from the 1C of our times, one of the best preserve in the Roman world, spectacular!!!This is an oval of 133 meters long by 60 arcades on top of each other, a symmetrical building to perfection by Roman engineers. See the wonderful square house or Maison carrée, right in city center , the only antique temple in the world totally preserve with precise proportions and impressive columns. Continue your journey into the gardens or jardins de la Fontaine, built around the water source of the Nemausus. DO your rides in poneys and pedal cars on the ruins of the mysterious temple of Diana for the kids, then climb the tower or tour Magne,high on Mont Cavalier, the highest and most prestigious of the Augustinian tower walls. If you come early June 2018 you can see the new and very much awaited museum of romans traditions or Musée de la romanité, that will show a futuristic building with all the collections of archeology of the city presented by Elizabeth de Portzamparc.
The Royal edifice that hosted more monarchs than any other, total of 34 ! from Louis VI le Gros to Napoléon III, spanning almost 8 centuries. Spend a day at the Château de Fontainebleau, less than 45 minutes from Paris is to push the genealogical tree of the French royals. In the cour d’honneur, take a selfie in front of the horseshoe stairs where on April 20 1814 Napoléon said his farewell to his imperial guard. In the interior of the castle ,see the gorgeous apartments, the two small boudoirs of Marie-Antoinette, very refined. However, do what others failed to do, go out into the park and its four gardens and od a tour in horse wagon or a barque boat in the lake of carpes or étang aux carpes. Spend a bit more time and attends a grand vals like the one coming up on February 24th , a carnival with swords duels , renaissance dances ,masks shops and princesss dresses . Adultes accepted lol!
Some news from France CLXXXVI February 28, 2018
Even snow was felled in the west ! not here…. it was in the Paris region of Ile-de-France. My old département 78 of Yvelines was the worse hit by snow falling according to Météo France. They anticipate having 1cm to 3cm in the country side (that is max 1 inch folks) of lower Normandy, and Pays de la Loire. The region of Hauts-de-France to the Pyrénées passing by Paris ,the snow will be humid so it will go away quickly and it did. Higher than 500 meters the snow fall could reach 5 cm to 10 cm ( for info 2,54cm = 1 inch) . In Paris the police is advising folks not to use the car lol!! they will make a mess if they go out ::) , and of course use public transport if enough space lol!
And Disneyland Paris just announce a 2B € investment over the coming years !!! in Seine-et-Marne dept 77. The new expansion plan calls for the transformation of the Walt Disney Studios park including three new themes zones such as those dedicated to Marvel, The Snow Queen, and Star Wars as well as new spectacles and attractions. The work will be done in phases starting in 2021 to enlarge the Walt Disney Studios park; including a new lake, theater of new spectacles that will be link to the new themes zones . the second park of Disneyland Paris, the Walt Disney Studios opened in 2002 after the opening of Disneyland in 1992; that celebrated its 25th anniversary last year.
At the parc naturel regional de la Haute-Vallée de Chevreuse there is the Château de la Madeleine in bad condition and no gov money to save it. The castle looks over the Chevreuse for over thousand years . The Yvelines council ,its owner since 1982 look for a solution and found it. Without putting it for sale, the castle will be given to a renter who in exchange will make the expenses necessary; the work should begin by 2020, and will require the park management now in the castle to find a new home, tant pis ;it’s all worth it.
You have nice ballet like the all time famous Bolero version Maurice Béjart that was declare vulgar by the Americans is always an event here. the opening by Daphnis and Chloé of Benjamin Millepied with a choreography of Daniel Buren at the Opéra Bastille, until March 24, The work of Tchaïkovski (Fr) Onéguine played by the Ballet de l’Opéra de Paris at the wonderful Palais Garnier opera house until March 7th And the wonderful Romeo et Juliette, the nice version of Sasha Waltz with the music of Berlioz. the symphonic ballet is full of images that gives passion to the play and it continues in a nice flux all this at the Opéra Bastille from April 10 to May 4 2018.
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 !!!
Paris1972-Versailles2003 