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 Oct2020 to Dec2020 !!! Hope you enjoy the post as I.

Some news from France, CCCXVI October 4, 2020

Albert Khan at the City of Architecture   quipped with a cinematograph and an autochrome ; the first industrial color photography process by Albert Kahn will travel the world and will thus leave behind no less than 72,000 autochromes, 4,000 stereoscopies and 180,000 meters of cinema film. . These images, which you can discover at the City of Architecture and Heritage, reveal a double face of Paris: a timeless capital with its emblematic monuments and, on the other hand, a modern city undergoing rapid change. See it at Paris 1910-1937   Promenades dans les collections Albert Kahn. Done with cooperation of the Département des Hauts-de-Seine, Musée départemental Albert-Kahn. Cité de l’architecture et du patrimoine. 1 place du Trocadéro et du 11 Novembre , 16éme arrondissement until January 11 2020

Until next January, the Musée des Impressionnismes Giverny will offer us a wide panorama of landscape art as practiced by American artists during the period of French Impressionism. With more than 90 paintings, lithographs and watercolors from the Terra Foundation for American Art, the exhibition offers several insights into the evolution of this art. L’Atelier de la Nature 1860-1910. Collection Terra , Musée de Giverny, 99 rue Claude Monet, Giverny ,until January 3 2021.

The three originally from the North of France and from a modest background, working as miners, plumbers or cafetiers, nothing predestined Augustin Lesage, Victor Simon and Fleury-Joseph Crépin to painting, until voices urged them to to do. Strange works of exceptional thoroughness and high plastic quality are born. The spiritist current, which first appeared in the United States in the middle of the 19C, was emulated in Europe, survived and ended up shining beyond painting. Bewitching!!! Esprit ,es-tu là? Musée Maillol , 59-61 rue de Grenelle , 7eme arrondissement , until November 1 2020.

The Musée de l’Homme takes us on a journey through time to discover food remains from the ancient sites of Pompeii and Herculaneum. Last Meal in Pompeii offers a thematic stroll around the different Roman food practices. Four spaces – bakery, kitchen, dining room and “laboratory” allow us to discover Roman food practices and understand how the food remains presented were studied by archaeobotanists. Dernier repas à Pompéi, Musée de l’Homme, 17 place du Trocadéro et du 11 Novembre, 16eme arrondissement. Until January 4 2021.

If you are in love with art or simply curious, know that it is possible to discover or to deepen its history thanks to the “à la carte” courses of the Grand Palais. Histoires d’art offers a unique approach to art led by lecturers from the Rmn-Grand Palais, passionate and experienced art historians, through 9 formulas of 130 different courses Cours d’histoire à la Rmn; Grand Palais, from September 11 2020.

Some news from France, CCCXVII October 10, 2020

Gardeners get away from it all at the Chantilly Plant Days. Fans of greenery have access until Sunday to the treasures of the best nurseries in the Domaine de Chantilly on the theme “The world in my garden”. Succulents, cacti, orchids, shrubs, trees, bulb, etc. The 160 exhibitors of the Plant Days offer a huge choice for gardeners. A wonderful event I got to go with my dear late wife Martine!

A Breton flag, the “Gwenn ha Du”, on the pediment of Nantes city/town hall, is what associations meeting this weekend want to achieve. A prelude to a possible attachment of the Loire-Atlantique department 44 to the now region of Bretagne? Yes its about time!! Almost two years after the delivery to the Loire-Atlantique departmental council of a petition signed by more than 100,000 persons asking for the organization of a referendum on “reunification”, supporters of Brittany in five departments are mobilizing; they will meet, on October 10, at the city/town hall of Nantes, to reflect on the “modalities” of installing the Breton flag on the pediment of the city/town hall. Quite a symbol indeed as most feel Breton there anyway!. And the Breton flag now flies to the gates of Nantes as it can be seen in the city/town halls of Saint-Herblain or Saint-Sébastien-sur-Loire, on the outskirts of the city, where it is seen as a quiet affirmation of attachment to the Breton identity. Imagined at the beginning of the 1920s by an activist of the Breton movement and inspired by the Greek and American standards, the Gwenn ha Du was never the flag of administrative Brittany. It takes up the old ducal flag, to which nine bands were added. The bands representing the historic provinces of Bretagne; including the country of Nantes! Or the Loire-Atlantique dept 44 of now pay de la loire but taken away from Bretagne due to administrative mishandling of history and Vichy and the Coty and the rest of them politicians.

Some news from France, CCCXVIII October 16, 2020

And finally, Matisse and his “ Intérieur aux aubergines ” or eggplants interior: an itinerary of a little-known masterpiece. The painting by the French painter, owned by the Musée de Grenoble since 1922, will finally be exhibited at the Centre Pompidou in Paris from October 21. In the fourth room of the exhibition “ Matisse, comme un roman” or like a novel.

An exhibition on Genghis Khan at the Nantes History Museum censored by China!! Oh those Chinese again, like not calling it the wuhan virus!!. This exhibition dedicated to the Mongol Empire had to be canceled after interventions from Beijing. It will be presented in another form in 2024. This was to be the event of the Nantes History Museum in the first half of 2021 it will ultimately not take place in its initial form due to acts of “censorship by the central Chinese authorities “, deplores Bertrand Guillet, director of the Château des Ducs de Bretagne-Nantes History Museum. Beijing’s interventions to change the content of the exhibition are an illustration, according to the director, of the “hardening of the position of the Chinese government against the Mongolian minority.” Located in northern China, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region is populated by 4.2 million Mongols, who make up 17 percent of the region’s population. Demonstrations were held in September to protest against Beijing’s desire to impose Mandarin in school curricula. Hopefully the museum will not allow drastic changes to the original presentation!!!

Some news from France, CCCXVIIII October 22, 2020

You know it all started in Wuhan China? yes it seems many has already forgotten this small detail… The first news was that it came from an animal etc, and we /I saw the Chinese army forcing people into their homes there as well as initial doctors who spoked were taken off the radar never to be heard again. Well there is a biological warfare laboratory there P4 maximum security, it is said to be done with French technical help in 2015. There was a leak and the rest is the Wuhan virus oh no it was called coronavirus and then to be more politically correct its the covid19 now. Well one virologist from Qingdao (see my post ) did escape thru Hong Kong and now in the USA. Her name is Li-Meng Yan.

In Paris ,the museums, online booking is gaining ground. The success of the exhibitions devoted to Danish painting at the Petit Palais (8éme) and Coco Chanel at the Galliera Palace (16éme) is such that these two institutions – whose capacity is limited to 200 people – now require online reservations.  Currently, the Petit Palais and Galliera are exceptions to the rule in force at Paris-musées (an entity bringing together the 14 museums of the City of Paris: museum of modern art, Balzac house, etc.). In order not to exclude people who do not have Internet access, they do not impose online booking but recommend it. Visitors who do not reserve in advance should expect to queue, possibly not being able to enter if the gauge is full. Of course, you are better off buying ahead to all these places of tourist interest in France.

Some news from France, CCCXX November 17, 2020

More on the pandemic , the legendary Gibert Jeune bookstore in Place Saint-Michel, will it be over soon!! The famous Latin Quarter store could go out of business in March 2021. Leaving thousands of students and Parisians orphans. Oh yes we will make all stores out of business in Paris! Of course, this is just one example but they are thousands. The library if it closes will be a big sad news for us.UPDATE: The 4 bookstores will close except those on place Saint Michel which will be purchase by the city of Paris and someone will maintain a bookstore there. Of course, the name Gibert Jeune will be gone after been there since 1888.

A great thing finally coming home. By mutual agreement, the National Estate of France and the Château de Fontainebleau decided to repatriate 400 pieces of furniture that had their first life here before being used in ministries and at the Elysée Palace. Among the hundreds of pieces of furniture recovered are the armchairs delivered to the castle for Queen Hortense’s apartment at the beginning of the 19C. Yeah a lot has been move around especially what you see in museums!

More beautiful things are happening, this time at the Château de Versailles where the Royal Chapel is beginning to be shown from its huge renovation. The tarpaulin and the scaffolding installed in 2017 are being dismantled on this large-scale project!!! Yes!!!

Some news from France, CCCXXI December 17, 2020

A new Metro exit at the foot of the Grand Palais. At the crossroads of metro lines 1 and 13, the Champs-Élysées – Clemenceau station ideally serves museums, theaters, avenues and surrounding gardens. For the comfort of its 15,000 daily travelers, the station has been redeveloped with the creation of an additional access on Avenue du Général Eisenhower, in the immediate vicinity of the Grand Palais, which facilitates service from the district to Avenue Franklin Roosevelt, the Palais de la Découverte, the Théâtre du Rond-Point… to Avenue Montaigne. Last Monday December 14, from 16h, the extension of line 14 was put into service, thus connecting Olympiades to the new terminus of Mairie de Saint-Ouen. The Pont Cardinet, Saint-Ouen and Mairie de Saint-Ouen stations have opened their doors to you in mid-December. And you will be able to discover the Porte de Clichy station in January 2021.The wagon washing machine for trains on line 2 will be located in a tunnel on a secondary track connecting the terminus of line 2 between Nation and the train maintenance workshops, located rue de Lagny in the 20éme arrondissement of Paris.

The RER “NG” project (new generation trains) could well change the lives of RER D and RER E travelers, who were seriously starting to overload the lines. These new trains will be able to accommodate up to 1,860 persons, with 600 seats spread over two floors. These new RER trains, without separation between the cars to optimise space, will provide exceptional comfort, air conditioning and USB ports will be made available to you. Several spaces have been created depending on the type of trip: spaces with and without seats for short trips, as well as more comfortable spaces including only seats for longer trips. As for the ends of the train, they will be reserved for strollers, people in wheelchairs, as well as travelers with suitcases. The RER NG will also equip the new western section of the RER E, which must be delivered at the end of 2022 to Nanterre, (92) then at the end of 2024 to Mantes-la-Jolie (78).

Some news from France, CCCXXII December 31, 2020

The demographic decline, which began a few years ago, is being confirmed. According to the latest figures from INSEE, Paris now has 2,175,601 inhabitants, or 54,000 fewer then five years ago. I have mentioned in my previous posts the problems of Paris due to a lack of quality of life for laws that prevent free movement.  The 9éme arrondissement or district  is one of the three Parisian arrondissements to see its population increase slightly over five years. The department 93 of Seine-Saint-Denis, the engine of demographic growth in the region of Île-de-France, now has more inhabitants than dept 92 Hauts-de-Seine, in the Yvelines dept 78 , the population continues to grow, at a regular pace, according to the latest figures from INSEE.

The Île de la Cité flower market has lost a little of its splendor over time. An architectural competition has been launched by the City of Paris to give a second life to this Parisian institution. The flower market on Île de la Cité will be completely restored between 2023 and 2025. It’s about time and this time a good initiative.

The lightning rod specialist Franklin, based in Ozoir-la-Ferrière (Seine et Marne 77), equipped the replica of the La Fayette frigate in Rochefort (Charente-Maritime dept 17). Used to prestigious shipyards, this is the first time that Franklin France has worked on a historic ship. very special lightning protection was installed on the Hermione, a replica of the ship that La Fayette borrowed in 1780 to reach America;later helped in the American independence thanks to king Louis XVI.

On a sad news, Pierre Cardin died Tuesday, December 29 at the American hospital in Neuilly-sur-Seine. The designer, renovator of post-war French haute couture, made a series of futuristic inventions, launched the first line of men’s clothing, and put his name on numerous products. He died Tuesday, December 29 at the age of 98. He will build an empire: 500 factories in 110 countries, 800 licenses and some 200,000 employees around the world. An empire, on which the sun never sets and of which he had remained the owner while most of the luxury brands were bought by financial groups. My first contact with French fashion many moons ago and still followed, even been on his events in Paris and participated for many years on his boat Maxim’s for gastronomy and wine tastings by the Tour Eiffel Seine river! RIP

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 Oct2020 to Dec2020 !!! as I.

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