Paris1972-Versailles2003

I was looking at my posts and realise some are much old and repetitive so as done before will condense these posts into one for you and me, The subject pops up again and can ‘t resist writing on it when I hear some exciting news on them. Let me tell you about some news from France Apr2020 to Jun2020 !!! Hope you enjoy the post as I.

Some news from France, CCXCXIIII April 20, 2020

The Bourse de Commerce – Pinault Collection. The future museum of contemporary art of Paris, installed in this old circular wheat hall, in the heart of the Marais will not finally open until spring 2021. This vast concrete cylinder, 9 meters high, which occupies the heart of the Stock Exchange, has taken its place superbly. The finishes are also perfect, with the old-fashioned lamps redone identically. The glass railings of this new passageway at the height of the restored frescoes, gives a modern aspect to this 18-19C building, conceded by the City for fifty years. The building covers more than 10,500 m2 of usable space, including 6,800 m2 for the 10 exhibition spaces. On each floor, there will be a lounge in which the public will find art magazines and Internet access. There will also be a restaurant on the third and last floor, on the Saint-Eustache side. Finally, an auditorium with 284 seats will allow for significant activity of film screenings, concerts and conferences. Worth the wait after the wuhan virus.

The city of Versailles cancels the rents and taxes of the merchants in town , bravo!!!  The city/town hall has decided to cancel the rents of the shops it owns as well as the taxes collected on the terraces. At the head of four restaurants located on the Place des Manèges in Versailles, César Molina appreciates this gesture from the city hall even if, for him, the crisis will be very hard to bear.

Le Jardin des Serres d’Auteuil , mostly save from the renovations to the Roland Garros stadium is worth visiting. Built under king Louis XV in 1761, these huge greenhouses are located in the Bois de Boulogne and as much to tell you directly: this is the place where nobody will come to pick you up. Composed of 5 main greenhouses, the largest of which even has a water point at the edge of which to sit quietly with your sketchbook or a good book, you can spend the afternoon there without anything coming to disturb you. It is located at 3, avenue de la Porte-d´Auteuil 16éme Paris !

Update on Notre Dame Cathedral of Paris. When the fire happened two-thirds of the roof was destroyed, the frame nicknamed “The Forest” was devoured by the flames, part of the vault was hit, charred beams collapsed. Between 350 and 400 tonnes of lead which made up the roof and the spire were reduced to ashes. Fortunately, 1,300 works were sheltered during the evening, at the Louvre museum or in secure warehouses to be preserved and restored. But the Notre-Dame site promises to be colossal. Work began under the aegis of Louis Georgelin, the General responsible for piloting the cathedral’s five-year renaissance. The soldier commissioned by President Emmanuel Macron has indeed promised a Te Deum at Notre-Dame on April 16, 2024.  It was planned to start dismantling the scaffolding on March 23. A complex and spectacular operation which required a protocol. They were also installing a second scaffolding above the first to allow rope access technicians to hang on and descend on the damaged scaffolding and thus cut out the 40,000 tubes. We will have to resume this when the site will restart. For the moment, we maintain the objective of returning the Notre Dame Cathedral to worship and visitors on April 16, 2024 !! Good riddance soldier!! Further, an investigation into the incident was opened by the head of “involuntary destruction by fire” and entrusted to the Regional Directorate of the Judicial Police. The Secretary of State for the Interior, Laurent Nunez, had previously announced that the origin of this fire, unprecedented in the history of the Cathedral, was still unknown. Is a tricky business of blame this might take longer…

Some news from France, CCCV April 29, 2020

The wonderful Tour de France bike race which has been re arranged but is on!  The tour de France re schedule for Augsut 29 start in Nice will continue as even if the Prime Minister of France had indicated no major event before September 2020. The tour will be set up to avoid crowds as well. However, the biggest challenge will be to run a Tour without any pre races like the Dauphiné, and riders will be up for a big test.

Some news from France, CCCVI May 30, 2020 

Info on Notre Dame Cathedral!  The Parvis or  square of Notre-Dame reopened today Sunday, Pentecost Day. The dismantling of the scaffolding 10,000 bent and welded metal tubes – which have already started in their preparatory phase, will enter from June 8 “in the last phase”!!! Notre-Dame is the emblem of Paris, more than the Eiffel Tower, and is the zero point in Paris to measure distances in France!. Should a chapel be installed on the forecourt before 2024? Mgr Michel Aupetit indicated that there would be “probably something more modest”, the rector evoking a possible “representation of the Virgin” in this place where millions of visitors pass each year.

The Samaritaine complex, is still no one there. Scheduled for last April, the opening of the historic department store bought by LVMH in 2000 is postponed due to Covid-19. After fifteen years of work and 750 million euros of investment, the complex could open next February 2021 . For now , you can already admire its corrugated glass facade signed Kazuyo Sejima. This is a beautiful artery and well taken even worked off of it for several years. A bit of nostalgia is that In 1800, in place of rue de Rivoli, there was a large network of unhealthy alleys. To link the Palais-Royal to the Concorde, Napoleon I drilled a first part of this axis between 1811 and 1835. He named it after a victorious battle in Italy. The works are of general interest, the necessary expropriations. Among the forty or so demolished streets, that of Mauvais-Garçons is a cut-throat where criminals find girls of joy. In 1850, under Napoleon III, Baron Haussmann extended Rivoli to the east and linked the Louvre to the Bastille. In the shops under the new arcades, a decree of 1852 prohibited the use of the hammer and the burning oven. Yes indeed history of my eternal Paris!

Some news from France, CCCVIII June 14, 2020

With more than 1.6 million visitors last year, the Arc de Triomphe remains one of the star monuments of Paris. The Pantheon, with its 875,000 entrances, is not far away. This coming Monday, after three months of closure, like the Château de Vincennes, they will once again welcome the public. We will even have to wait on the 17th for the reopening of the Chapelle Expiatoire chapel, on the 21st to find the Basilica of Saint-Denis and on the 23rd for the Sainte-Chapelle which has benefited from dust removal works. Especially since the expected returns from July 2019 with the planned opening of the Hôtel de la Marine, whose construction did not resume until April 27, 2020 fall into the wate due to the virus. Its inauguration will have to wait until the beginning, or even mid-2021.

Open on Saturday March 14 and promptly closed on March 17 due to the virus, the Jardin des Arts, Albert Schweitzer or garden of the Arts 4éme arrondissement has been accessible for a few days. Bringing together these three plots along the Seine to make it a green space of 5,000 m2, in the quadrilateral formed by the streets of rue Nonnains rue d’Hyères, rue de Jouy, rue Geoffroy l’Asnier and rue de l’Hôtel de Ville, was not a sinecure. Dominated by the silhouette of the Hôtel d’Aumont which appears in the overhanging background, looks great, that of a French garden with its paths winding between lawns and flower beds  see it very central, the Jardin des arts – Albert Schweitzer,  18, rue de l’Hotel-de-Ville – 4éme.

The museums managed by the Hauts-de-Seine (92)  departmental council will reopen their doors, as planned, this Tuesday, June 16.  The jardin du musée départemental Albert-Kahn,in Boulogne-Billancourt, the Maison de Chateaubriand, in Châtenay-Malabry, and the Musée du Domaine Départemental de Sceaux will offer “an exceptional program” for the occasion, with new and free tours and entertainment until mid-July. The Albert-Kahn museum, under renovation, remains closed for work. Visitors will however be able to stroll through the superb stage garden of Boulogne-Billancourt.

Since this past Saturday morning, the site that houses the Musée vivant du cheval or living horse museum in Chantilly, has been welcoming visitors again, only on weekends for now, after more than three months of closure.  They were lucky to be able to take the horses out in the grounds of the Château de Chantilly. The return of the equestrian shows will be for later.

The Jardin d’Acclimatation were back open since  May 30, the leisure park adored by Parisian families … for free! An attractive offer, which you can take advantage of until June 22; beware of the disappointment, because the amusement park rides will remain closed until this date.

For the 9th edition of “La Nuit aux Invalides”, Paris returns to the heart of its own history. Lutèce traces 3000 years of the history of the city of Paris, to the rhythm of the sounds and lights projected in the courtyard of the Invalides. An exceptional show for a superb evening, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays until August 30. History to spend beautiful summer evenings in Paris! 129, rue de Grenelle  7éme. Wonderful beautiful event if in Paris go see it.

Some news from France, CCCVIIII June 21, 2020

Since last Monday June 8, 2020, rope access technicians have had the difficult task of withdrawing one by one! the thousands of molten tubes from the scaffolding that still surrounds the Notre Dame Cathedral. The metal structure, consisting of almost 40,000 pieces and 200 tons heavy, was previously consolidated and stabilized so that no collapse could damage the Cathedral. The next phase, that of restoration of the Notre Dame Cathedral itself, should be able to start, at the earliest, at the very beginning of next year, in January 2021. The duration of this new phase has not been specified, but the President Emmanuel Macron’s wish to see the Cathedral completely rebuilt for the 2024 Olympic Games seems to be disappearing day by day, the construction site having already fallen far behind, especially due to the covid19 virus.

And this is what I mean radicals, not comptent to close roads for cars, now they want bus out too! I told you eventually Paris will be run by horses! Or bikes/scooters like in those crowded Asian cities you know…The street around the train station such as rue du Faubourg-Saint-Denis is only   400 meters of pavement, and an incessant ballet of RATP buses, which cross all day long, and until the evening. This is in the 10éme arrondissement, on the small portion of the track located between the Gare de l’Est and Gare du Nord train stations. A linkage road descended and reserved for public transport vehicles only!, which are in total more than 1,600 bus crossing with lines 35, 38, 39, 46, 54, 91, but also ,Noctilians night lines 43 and 44. Even if the mayor (PSocialists) of the 10éme, Alexandra Cordebard announces improvements for next September, after negotiations with IDF Mobilités (transport org for Ïle de France region) for better traffic regulation. the number of buses passing on rue du Faubourg-Saint-Denis, the Régie (managed roads) has revised the route of 2 bus lines: that of line 35 will be limited to Gare du Nord and that of line 46 to Gare de Nord to Gare de l’Est, ensures the RATP. These two lines ,which represent 500 bus crossings per day will no longer run on this street from next September, and this will reduce the number of buses in circulation. Yeah and the people will move how???

In the park of the château d’Ermenonville, (Oise dept 60 Hauts de France region) nature seems to have regained its rights since the confinement. So much so that dinosaurs have found refuge there. Twenty of these gigantic animals from Amsterdam (Netherlands) have indeed stormed the 18 ha park. Some move, others make sounds. Throughout the summer, many cultural and educational events will be offered to target families. The festivities will start this weekend with the Fête de la musique. Then, starting next week, visitors will be able to discover an exhibition with 50 reproductions of works signed Leonardo da Vinci, in the Orangerie. The castle, bordered by the Launette, will be open on weekends so that families can make getaways in the park.

Something wonderful and needed to be told more to the general public here and to visitors. Very near my old home. In the middle of the Marly forest in the Yvelines dept 78, the Désert de Retz, an amazing landscaped area, immerses you in the philosophy of the Enlightenment and the life of its extravagant creator. Welcome to the Desert of Retz. From the neighboring court of Versailles, at the end of the 18C, you hurry there, piqued by curiosity to discover this unusual place. Marie-Antoinette, the Duke of Orleans or the Countess of Barry were regulars. Thomas Jefferson, future president of the United States, or King Gustav III of Sweden are among its visitors. Three centuries later, the cave has disappeared. But this atypical 40 ha domain located in the town of Chambourcy (near St Germain en Laye), in the forest of Marly, can still be visited. And it just reopened for the season. The history of this largely unknown Anglo-Chinese garden is fascinating. It immerses you in the height of the Enlightenment. And also reveals the personality of a man, François Racine de Monville, a brilliant jack of all trades, who acquired the place in 1774. You come here for a bucolic, philosophical and melancholic stroll in the spirit of Rousseau. The master of the place, keen on philosophy and art, plants essences from all the continents and gives great gallant parties here, with concerts, readings, plays by actors from the Comédie-Française. We even whisper that Marie-Antoinette, seduced, is inspired by the place to create her famous Hameau at Versailles!. Here Monville erected factories, scattered throughout the park. These constructions, very eclectic, represent the different civilizations of humanity, dear to the erudite man that was Monville. They also house the libertine loves of this extravagant owner, who multiplies amorous conquests. There are a dozen of them: among them, a real Chinese house, now extinct, a temple dedicated to the god Pan, an open-air Roman theater, a cooler topped by an Egyptian pyramid, a Tartar tent, a Gothic church in ruin, or an obelisk. Wonderful indeed. You will need to wear a mask and no picnics allowed.

And one we went several times as it is in the town my boys first went to school in France this is a huge beach on the horizon! 260 hectares of woods, with huge ponds and water bodies laid out on the beach. And for athletes, there is something to enjoy with water skiing or pedal boat. You just have to close your eyes and you feel like you are in the South! L’ïle de loisirs du Val de Seine, Chemin du Rouillard ; 78480, Verneuil-sur-Seine .From 10h to 19h and 3.80€ admission.

There you go folks, another news post of my belle France! The  news are knowledge on many sights and events wonderlful to have it here condense to keep their history on the best of them. See you in the roads of my belle France, Again, hope you enjoy this post on some news from France Apr2020 to Jun2020 !!! as I.

And remember, happy travels, good health, and many cheers to all !!!