Manger et Boire - Un café crème, s'il vous plait

 

The business of eating and drinking takes on special importance in Paris. There are so many wonderful tastes to explore. The first order of business upon arriving in Paris? Order a café crème (coffee in a large cup with hot cream), bien sûr!

Advert - Smells Like Team Spirit II

This one was more elusive. I first saw it from the window of a speeding Métro train and I became obsessed with photographing it. Every time I saw it, however, we were on a train or about to get on a train or across the platform. Finally, on the last day I had to settle for across the platform, which is why the quality is not as good on this one. Nonetheless I love it. "Nothing is more beautiful than team spirit," except maybe these lovely ladies.

Advert - Smells Like Team Spirit I

Two of my favorite things to do in Paris are wander around in grocery stores and read advertisements. They seem to do both so differently than we do. This week focuses on one of my favorite adverts from this trip.

This first one I saw early and snapped it immediately. The dirty faces, the somber looks, the sentiment - "nothing is more beautiful than team spirit" - I just love it.

Manifestants - Pour La Justice

Another group of manifestants takes to the streets as Parisians (and tourists) look on. This one near the Gare du Luxembourg RER station.

Manifestants - Pour Les Enfants

The photographs for this week were all taken on March 28, 2011.  Everywhere we went that day we saw groups of manifestants marching in the streets. Yet when I Google "March 28, 2011 Paris" this is what I get: http://www.disneydreaming.com/2011/03/29/justin-bieber-leaves-his-hotel-in-paris-france-march-28-2011. Maybe that's what all the protests were about :)

Manifestants - Pour L'éducation

I love the French language. It has words for things like "playing easily in the deep" (approfondement) and the word for protester is Manifestant: One Who Manifests. As if effecting change is not only possible, but simply a matter of time.

Bicyclettes - Protest

A row of bikes chained up on a Paris street, as a protest march goes by.
(Check back next week to see more photos of the protest.)

Bicyclettes - Advertisement

A bicyclette advertises for a bicycle shop at 46 Rue Daubenton. (If you follow this link you can see the shop in the street view.)

Bicyclettes - Vélib'

A Vélib' station in Paris, where you can rent a bicycle for an hour or the whole day for just €1,70 and return it to any of the 1800 Vélib' stations around the city.

Bicyclettes - Le Troubadour

A bicycle advertising Le Troubadour Restaurant and Cafe in the Montmartre district of Paris.

Bicyclettes - Rue Rambuteau

This week's theme is bicycles (bicyclettes). This was the first photograph I took on my trip to Paris in 2011 - the view as I stepped out of the Métro onto Rue Rambuteau.

La Tour Eiffel - La Seine

La Tour as seen from one of the Bateaux Mouches ("fly boats") that cruise along La Seine. (I love how the sky in this shot vaguely mimics the colors of the French flag - red, white and blue.)

La Tour Eiffel - From the Arc de Triomphe

Here La Tour rises out of the mists of the city on a foggy day. 

(As seen from the Arc de Triomphe.)

La Tour Eiffel - Wall for Peace

The Eiffel Tower, as seen through the Wall for Peace on the Champs de Mars.

La Tour Eiffel - Trocadéro

The traditional picture-postcard view of La Tour, as seen from the Trocadéro, in the pouring rain. 

La Tour Eiffel - Champs de Mars

I start this blog about Paris the only way that makes any sense, with La Tour Eiffel. Meant to stand for only a score of years, it has endured lifetimes.

Here it is in its purest form: standing tall and proud, across the lawn of the Champs de Mars.