This is my latest from my belle France; And it is a quicker post as things are happening fast in my belle France, the year of the Olympics ! Therefore, time again to tell you my latest rants about some news from France. An eventful post in my blog that I have enjoyed together with you for the last 14 years , And for those non Roman CCCXCVI is 396 ! ,Of course, chosen by me; there are many others. Hope you enjoy the post as I.
Paris on the move again, the last train with driver left line 4, in mid-December 2023. After having traveled for many years the journey between Porte de Clignancourt and Mairie de Montrouge then to Bagneux – Lucie Aubrac since January 2022, this equipment will continue its road on line 6! The line 4 will operate three generations of automatic rolling stock from line 14 ,which will be managed by the completely renewed centralized command and control station (PCC). The rolling stock of the metro lines is being modernized, as part of the extensions of lines 4, 11 and 14 (respectively towards Bagneux, Rosny-Bois-Perrier, Mairie de Saint-Ouen then Pleyel and Orly). Several acquisitions and transfers of trains are planned for lines 4, 6, 11 and 14. And this is what RATP calls the tire train program.
Closing to be aware of : Line 14 is closed from Monday to Thursday from 22h until June 27, 2024 inclusive. Line 14 is closed all day on the following dates: In February: from Sunday 11 to 25 February 2024 inclusive, In March: Saturday 9 and Sunday 10, Saturday 16 and Sunday 17, Saturday 23 and Sunday 24, Saturday 30, Sunday 31 March, In April: Monday April 1, from Sunday April 7 to April 14 inclusive, and Saturday April 27 and Sunday April 28. In May: from Tuesday May 8 to Sunday May 12 inclusive, and Saturday May 25 and Sunday May 26.
The Line 4 is closed on Sundays until midnight on the following dates: In February: Sunday 11 and 25, In March: Sunday 17 and 31. On line 5, the Gare d’Austerlitz station is closed until April 18, 2024. Line 6 is closed Monday to Wednesday inclusive, evenings from 22h30, from February 1 to April 30 inclusive. Line 8 is closed between Balard and La Motte Picquet Grenelle stations from February 16 to 22 inclusive. Line 11 is closed all day on the following dates: Sunday March 10, Saturday March 23 and Sunday March 24, Sunday March 28, 2024, line 11 is closed between Belleville and Mairie des Lilas stations from Friday April 12 to Saturday April 27, 2024.
Immerse yourself in the history of the metro with the “Métro! Le Grand Paris en mouvement or Greater Paris in motion”, in partnership with the RATP and the Sociéte du Grand Paris at the Cité de l’architecture et du patrimoine. Until June 2nd ,2024. Webpage: https://www.citedelarchitecture.fr/en/agenda/exhibition/metro-grand-paris-motion
And the beat goes on this mayor will destroy Paris it already has me think, Could there be a little tension between Paris City Hall and the police headquarters? Two days after the police chief Laurent Nuñez expressed reservations about the pedestrianization project for the Trocadéro district, which the mayor (PS) of Paris Anne Hidalgo (Ana) had announced she wanted to put in place after the Olympic Games, the police headquarters (Préfecture de Police) returns to the charge on another file this Thursday, February 8 in the Paris Council. With several warnings about other City projects regarding traffic restrictions. The plans of the Mayor of Paris for the ring road must be the subject of prior consultation to assess whether future developments affect the fluidity of the circulation of security and emergency vehicles, recalled the police headquarters. Of course, no people vote just some hard header polititians !!!
And just to be fair as I am, this one will give it to Anne ! At the beginning of February 2024 , Anne Hidalgo (mayor of Paris) shouted it loud and clear: the Parc des Princes is not for sale. A statement which comes after the Parisian club PSG has stated several times its intention to buy the stadium. It didn’t take much for the PSG management to turn around and make a radical decision. the president of the Parisian football club, the Qatari Nasser Al-Khelaïfi, announced this Thursday, February 8 2024 that PSG would have to permanently leave its mythical stadium. Yes a monument of Paris is not for sale !!! Bravo Anne !!!
For the first time in its history, the German firm Adidas, founded after WWII, gave its name to sports equipment. This is the Arena built as part of the Paris 2024 Games, at the Porte de la Chapelle (18éme). Its inauguration is scheduled for this Sunday, February 11, 2024 with a match of Paris Basketball, the capital club of which Adidas is the equipment supplier, against Saint-Quentin. The metro line 12 takes you to the Porte de la Chapelle stop and the arena is next door ! Webpage : https://www.adidasarena.com/arena
The titanic Austerlitz train station renovation project officially ended this Wednesday, February 7, 2024. That of Lyon train station is also finished. At the other end of Paris, the Gare du Nord train station is also undergoing transformation. The renovation of the second largest glass roof of a station in France (after that of Bordeaux train station), 280 meters long, is completed. The large passenger hall dates from 1867, its restoration is an architectural feat, No less than 83 joinery, 4,700 m2 of facades and 15,000 m2 of glass roof and roof have been restored identically. The building appears today in all its splendor, bathed in light, after having long been transformed into a three-level car park…The least use or never use of my train stations in Paris finally needed this work ! Webpage : https://www.garesetconnexions.sncf/en/stations-services/paris-austerlitz
The Carnival de Paris , meet knights and dragons, princesses, pirates, bears and clowns, the powerful percussion of batucadas and the swaying of samba lovers, majorettes, sometimes, dancers with traditions from the four corners of the world. We disguise ourselves and parade there, joyful, festive, in no apparent order… Heir to the medieval festival of fools, claiming to be “free, voluntary and gratuitous”, the Paris carnival has taken place every year since 1998. It does so. will do again on Sunday February 11,2024 leaving from Place Gambetta (20éme), at 13h, arriving at Place de la République around 20h. This year’s theme is poetry, painting and philosophy. Webpage : https://www.carnaval-paris.org/
Officially, it is on February 10 2024 that the Chinese, but also Korean and Vietnamese, communities will celebrate their New Year. To celebrate 2024, placed under the sign of the wooden dragon, the streets of Paris and Île-de-France will be celebrating during these holidays. The best known of the parades, that of the 13éme arrondissement of Paris, with its musicians, dancers in traditional costume and colorful animal figures, will begin on February 18 from 13h, between avenue de Choisy and avenue d’Ivry . But in the most Asian of the districts, the festival will begin on February 9, with exhibitions, concerts, dance shows until February 24th. Paris tourism webpage : https://parisjetaime.com/eng/article/chinese-new-year-in-paris-a986
The hippodrome de Vincennes (12éme) racecourse organizes Sunday February 11, 2024 activities for families, with guided tours of the stables and close-up observation of the races in a bus which runs alongside the trotters. Children can enjoy a pony baptism, a wooden horse carousel, a sulky racing experience, in the warmth of the hall with a virtual reality headset over their eyes. A quality food market allows you to have lunch on large tables, and an area with 10 wooden skill games is accessible free of charge, also warm. Each Sunday has a different theme: the terroir on February 11, with around a hundred exhibitors and the presence of Miss France in signings; carnival on the 18th, in a festive and musical atmosphere (come in disguise!); the Olympics on the 25th, to close the season, with football, rugby, climbing, sports quiz… “Pleasure Sundays” at the Paris-Vincennes racecourse, 2, route de la Ferme, on Sunday from 12h to 18h. Webpage : https://www.vincennes-hippodrome.com/fr/evenement/dimanche-plaisirs-11fev24/
Rock, jazz, electro… On the peniche Marcounet barge, moored at the foot of the Pont Marie bridge (4éme), the concerts, sometimes free – otherwise for 15 euros – follow one another and are not alike. This place of free and enthusiastic music presents its now traditional Note Saint-Valentin evening on February 14. The next day, from 19h, there will be The Expats Jam jam session, where expatriates living in Paris are invited to come with their instrument for a giant jam session. On the 16th, at 20h, a LOFI on Seine evening will present three DJs who fuse 1990s hip-hop with jazz and soul touches, including the Franco-Japanese Mayaewk, beatmaker with expansive and epic sounds. Quai de l’Hôtel-de-Ville 4éme arrondissement. Webpage : https://www.peniche-marcounet.fr/en/agenda/
The place was created in 1909 by prefect Louis Lépine, who set up the modern police force. Prison registers and letters of cachet, handcuffs and weapons of all kinds, evidence, crime scene reconstruction, uniforms and posters, press articles and reports. Through 2,000 historical pieces, the visitor to the Prefecture Museum (5éme) de police chronologically explores the history of police services from the 17C to the present day. We come across the beginnings of anthropometry by Alphonse Bertillon such as the details of major criminal cases, those of the queen’s necklace, Doctor Petiot or Landru, a scale model of a guillotine (1/3 scale) and a cleaver placed under showcase. Exciting. Tours and workshops are planned for all ages. Free upon reservation, Police Prefecture Museum, 4, rue de la Montagne-Sainte-Geneviève 5éme interesting indeed ! Webpage : https://www.prefecturedepolice.interieur.gouv.fr/musee
A bit of the Eiffel Tower at the heart of the Olympic and Paralympic medals!! The design for the 5,000 rewards was revealed on Thursday February 8th 2024. The jeweler Chaumet has integrated fragments of iron plates from the Eiffel Tower. A piece of iron, originally intended for the Eiffel Tower and cut in the shape of a hexagon: it is this symbol of France which will be set on the medals of the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, adorning the necks of the athletes. For the medals, it was neither Tiffany nor Bulgari, the group’s most successful jewelers, but with New York and Roman roots, that LVMH dispatched: Chaumet, founded in 1780, established on Place Vendôme and boasting Napoleonic romanticism, was leaving with a head start. Supplier to the Empress Joséphine, Chaumet created Napoleon’s coronation sword in 1804, the tiara of Pope Pius VII, but an Olympic medal, never! It is also the first time in the history of the Games that the design of the medals has been entrusted to a jeweler. Their manufacture will be ensured by the Paris Mint, as in 1924. Awesome !! webpage: https://www.lvmh.com/news-documents/news/lvmh-unveils-medals-for-the-olympic-and-paralympic-games-paris-2024-goldsilverbronze-and-above-all-paris/
Good to know,even if over; the Van Gogh exhibition at the Musée d’Orsay sets its attendance record, The exhibition “Van Gogh in Auvers-sur-Oise, the last months” focused on the last moments of the sacred monster of Dutch painting, The best exhibition attendance since the opening of the museum in 1986 !! , ahead of “Edvard Munch. A poem of life, love and death”, in 2022, and “Picasso. Blue and Pink”, in 2018, Awesome, webpage : https://www.musee-orsay.fr/en/whats-on/exhibitions/van-gogh-auvers-sur-oise
And for the gourmet in me, a classic of my eternal Paris : For more than 100 years, the Vidal family has masterfully managed the Brasserie Le Sully , located between Bastille and the Arab World Institute. A professional Aveyron bistro, a true witness to the history of the district for a century. A stone’s throw from Île-Saint-Louis, boulevard Henri IV, we find ourselves at Sully, a bistro with a fairly classic appearance, but with a very unique history. It all began in 1917, when Émile Vidal, coming straight from Aveyron, bought the premises of 6, Boulevard Henri IV, to set up Célestin, a simple tobacco bar ,More than 100 years later, it was Romain Vidal, 4th generation, who now manages this brewery, Today, Le Sully is a friendly Art Nouveau brasserie, a little retro, of which I particularly remember the splendid mosaic on the floor, and a superb old-fashioned zinc bar .Webpage : https://www.lesully.com/
The popular Parisian marathon on August 10, 2024 which will stretch through the night from Saturday to Sunday, promises fabulous times. And it will also be possible to participate in a connected way. the 2024 Paris Marathon Pour Tous, on the same route as the Olympic marathon and run at night on Saturday August 10 (between the men’s event on Saturday morning and the women’s on Sunday morning), with a start at 21h and at 23h30 for the 10 km version. From the start, a tunnel of light will escort the more than 40,000 participants in front of City Hall, with Amélie Mauresmo, Martin Fourcade, Camille Lacourt and Muriel Hurtis among the very special leaders to accompany all the participants. The route will be faithfully transcribed, even in its most arduous percentages on the Côte des Gardes in Versailles, with one objective: to validate the greatest connected race of all time. Webpage : https://marathonpourtous.paris2024.org/en/
A huge nostalgic place for me as saw movies here when my girlfriend and then wife my dear late Martine (RIP) , it time it came back !! thanks again Meaux !! The UGC Majestic cinema, located in the center of Meaux, closed for four years, will reopen on April 26, 2024. The establishment, which was originally a theater, is located on Place Henri-IV. Webpage : https://www.ugc.fr/cinema.html?id=39
The “Artexplorer” museum ship will connect twenty Mediterranean ports for three years
The largest catamaran in the world, financed by entrepreneur Frédéric Jousset, will host a traveling art festival. The largest catamaran in the world, 47 meters long, Because this superlative sailboat aims to host a traveling art festival eight months a year, organized by the foundation it created in 2019, Art Explora, to connect twenty ports in fifteen Mediterranean countries. This three-year journey is scheduled to begin in March in Malta, continue in April in Venice to coincide with the art biennale, before culminating in June in Marseille, webpage : https://www.artexplora.org/en/festival
After the fire, the Notre Dame Cathedral of Senlis (Oise 60) will partly reopen to the public, The cathedral has been closed to the public since an accidental fire on December 17, 2023 , the city has announced the reopening of the cathedral for the Easter festivities, from March 30 2024, The return of the faithful to Senlis Cathedral is therefore expected for the most important festival in Christianity, where the bells will resonate with particular fervor. Great to see it back, awesome monument to see by all, Webpage: https://www.ville-senlis.fr/Decouvrir-Senlis/Patrimoine-Histoire/Patrimoine-architectural/La-Cathedrale-Notre-Dame-de-Senlis
And now closing with a wonderful book on the lessons of history , never to forget, a must to read and understand human suffering by the radical elements of our Earth, The book ,
« La Guerre en tête », by Romain Huët, He was in Syria, in Ukraine, these ordinary people who became fighters. For his essay, which appeared shortly before the two years of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the ethnographer Romain Huët went to meet those who are engaged in the war, to understand as best as possible what is happening within them. A ground-level investigation, urgent and necessary. Crossing the ruins of Izioum, in Donbass, in May 2023, liberated in September 2022 after months of bombings and occupation, Romain Huët looks at the collapsed houses, the grass which invaded everything, greener on the points of impact of the rockets The void, the disturbed earth, where were the four hundred and fifty men, women and children discovered in a mass grave on the outskirts of the city, upon its liberation. The ethnographer remembers his long stays in Syria, immersed in the resistance groups to the regime of Bashar Al-Assad, of these same bumpy paths in the middle of these same landscapes of ashes. He sees the city of Morek again, 80% destroyed, and the few vestiges of ancient times that still remained. A must read, me think, I got it at FNAC,webpage : https://www.fnac.com/a18762252/Romain-Huet-La-guerre-en-tete
And as said, this is a fast year and many things happening in my belle France. This is new info the latest and needed to post quickly here.
Ten months from the reopening of the Notre Dame Cathedral, the reconstruction of the arrow enters its final phase. The nave cover and closure work continues. The cathedral must reopen its doors to visitors on December 8 2024. In recent days, dismantling the scaffolding around the cathedral’s arrow began, revealing its summit since this weekend,(Feb 11) at 96 meters for the Paris Olympic Games. The arrow needle, rebuilt identically of that designed in the 19C by the architect Eugène Viollet-le-Duc, masterpiece in solid oak wood covered with a lead roof, is already visible , surmounted by the crown, the cross and the rooster. Awesome
The low estimates of attendance to the Paris Olympic Games 2024 is 11.3 million from July 26 to August 8,2024, The most sought after places in Île-de-France region for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games are the18, 15, 11, 10 and the 19 arrondissement of Paris and according to the study of Reassure-me, it is the cities of Saint-Denis (93), Versailles(78) and Montigny-le-Bretonneux (78) which will benefit from the highest increase in rental prices, with respectively+439 % , +436 % and +427 % !!, This will be booming year for tourism in France as it holds the Olympic Games, 80th anniversary of the Normandy landing,and the reopening of Notre-Dame Cathedral. Tourism professionals expect a “exceptional” 2024 year and hope to take advantage of major events organized in France on the short, medium and long term. Webpage : https://www.paris2024.org/en/
There you go folks, my latest round of my some news from France coming to you freely by the road warrior travel guy . Again, hope you enjoy this post as I,
And remember, happy travels, good health, and many cheers to all !!!
Paris1972-Versailles2003 