Swish, swosh, swish…

In Paris, it is very common to see someone on a pair of rollerblades, getting around from one place to another. Even the policemen. There are events catering for groups of rollerbladers citywide, and one of the largest is Pari-Roller, when thousands of rollerbladers take to the road on Friday nights, covering tens of kilometres route for about 3 hours around the city. They are really quite impressive and the group has been active since 1994!

On a smaller scale, I’ve often spotted rollerbladers at Pont au Double (next to Notre Dame), and these are no common rollerbladers. They are true showmen. For their and our viewing leisure, they spend hours performing feats which I know not the names of the tricks, be it a forward or a reverse run, fully standing or otherwise. If you have some time, you should go round and check it out.

I was crossing Île de la Cité to get to the Left Bank when this sight caught my attention. First of all, yes, it’s very picturesque. However, more strikingly, is that the terrace is empty. Empty! That’s unlike Paris that I’m seeing everywhere, where tourists and locals alike (ok, maybe less locals) jostle for a spot outside, all year round. And Île de la Cité is right smack in the centre of Paris! The signage indicates that this is not a mere café or restaurant, but also a guesthouse (auberge). In fact, it is auberge depuis 1594. Truly befitting the name “At Old Paris” then.

I can only postulate the reasons for it being this quiet: (1) it was closed (but a quick search online says it’s open daily), (2) it was a bit chilly (although not overly so to discourage outdoor coffee intake), (3) it was not yet opened for the evening (it was, afterall, not yet 7pm), (4) they don’t serve just coffee and snack (afterall, it is more of a restaurant), (5) questionable quality (but reviews online had plenty of positive things to say that I’m curious to try it out) and (6) it is not well-known (not everywhere is Le Precope or Café de Flore or Les Deux Magots).

Just recently I blogged about tennis-themed set up at the parvis in front of the Hôtel de Ville, but as Roland Garros moves on, the same large space undergoes a rather magical transformation into an ephemeral garden for the summer. Every year, a different garden is constructed, and this year, Anamorphosis is brought to life by François Abelanet.

Walking around the garden, each step brings forth a new perspective, a trompe-l’œil, thus a continuous source of fascination. There’s even a view point platform built, but the queue was a tad too long for me to want to join in. I may wait for another day, perhaps early in the morning or a sunnier day, to explore further.

Addendum: … or not. The garden has moved on before I have time for a second go, booo.

I briefly mentioned The Way of St James a few months ago (some 100 days apparently), when discussing motif of the medieval door at Musée Cluny. What I didn’t go into, was that Paris is the starting point of one of the French pilgrimage routes. This is marked in the past by the church of Saint-Jacques-de-la-Boucherie and its tower, where a relic of St James was preserved. Unfortunately the church has been destroyed and all that is left today is the flamboyant Gothic tower.

Sitting near Châtelet-Les Halles, the tower most recently underwent a stint of preservation and restoration works about a couple of years ago. Atop, as you can see, is a statue of St James. As far as I know, the tower is not open for visitors to scale the heights for yet another Parisian vantage viewpoint. Instead there’s a meteorogical station housed in there? Just as well. There doesn’t seem to be a lot of space to accommodate many people up there at any one time – the queue would have been too insane.

It was very strange to have the usual hums around Place des Vosges be broken by a whole lot of loud chants by what looked like a bunch of hard rockers.

Iron! Iron! Iron! Iron!

Alex and I were initially unsure if we should check the source out, you know, in case it was a more cynical gathering or something. But then it appeared the roars were synchronised to a bunch of photographers clicking away for some group shots. So I got busy too, lol. I found out later that Iron Maiden was in tonw for two nights of gigs, and their fans were certainly very vocal about their delights. I must say, their excitement was contagious and I found myself grinning at their obvious enjoyment.

I don’t think I have mentioned in this blog yet, of my current culinary project: Resto A-Z. The concept is simple enough. Take an alphabet, pick a country’s name based on the alphabet, choose a restaurant that serves the relevant cuisine and eat out. It’s quite fun really, and a very good way to explore international dining experience within the city.

I started with A a few weeks back with an Afghani restaurant, then Ethiopian for E and I’ll be going to a Brazillian restaurant tomorrow in honour of B. Tonight though, it’s C for Cuba. I know, it’s not in alphabetical order, but say, imagine if you’re hankering for some Thai food – do you really want to wait all the way to T? No, right? Having said that, I’ve also done French, Indian (and Italian), Japanese, Lebanese, Moroccan, Thai and Vietnamese so F, I, J, L, M, T and V are off the list too. Pretty good going :D

It’s time for tennis fever around here, with French Open currently taking place at Roland Garros. The festivities around the event must also be celebrated in the city, so right outside of Hôtel de Ville, a whole tennis-centric arena has been set up. From beach tennis to games for youth to large screen that transmits live matches, on a sunny day like today, it makes an overall good day out for everyone.

Around the city, in parks where tennis courts are available for public use, they’re certainly being booked pretty solidly at the moment. In part, it’s the Roland Garros effect. On the other hand, the weather has been obliging of late so why not take advantage of the nice warm day for a few outdoor matches? The municipal tennis courts can even be booked online, at €7.50 per hour at regular rate (€55 for subscription of 10 hours of usage). At Cité U, residents seem to be able to get a monthly rate of €20 for unlimited use but the information on the website is not entirely clear (well, to me anyway – clearly I still have a long way to go in learning and using French).

I was highly bemused when I passed this window on rue des Francs Bourgeois that claims “Je ne suis pas inspirée” because right now, that somewhat reflects how I feel. I know I haven’t been the most diligent when it comes to maintaining this blog up-to-date at all time, and I am a tad concerned if this is a bit monotonous for you since I seem to be photographing just a lot of statues/sculptures lately.

I need fresh idea.

I don’t exactly want to fall on backup idea, which would be to photograph all the famous sights of Paris, but to try to give you a flavour of what living here is like and what I see when I travel. Of course, one way to do it would be to photograph people, but I’m still a bit wary of my skill on this aspect and for fear that it may be intrusive. What say you? Any suggestion? Or is there anything in particular you’d like to see more of?

Sainte Geneviève is the patron saint of Paris and standing really really tall on Pont de la Tournelle over River Seine is a statue of this wise and brave woman (who was said to have saved Paris from the plunders of Attila the Hun and performed numerous other miracles for the people of Paris), protecting the young Paris (depicted as a young girl here – holding a ship used by the Parisii tribe?) from all that sought to cause her harm.

This iconography is similar to the stained window of Église St-Pierre de Montmartre (photo on Flickr) which would quite ambiguously tells you it is Paris that Sainte Geneviève is looking out for. In this creation, Paris is holding Notre Dame Cathedral in her hands. Of course, note that Notre Dame wasn’t built until several decades following the death (and canonisation) of Sainte Geneviève, the representation at Pont de la Tournelle would probably be a more accurate depiction. But, what do I know? I am no historian.

I should really make some effort to go to the 12th, 17th and 19th arrondissements. I’ve just realised that I have not posted anything from these quarters. An oversight, yes, but they are also a teensie wee bit out of the way for me. Realistically it would be ideal for me to check them out at weekends, but as you can see, I was away last weekend (to Strasbourg) and I’ll be away again this weekend (to Stockholm). Tricky.

For today though, I’m being lazy and all you’re getting is the interior of the Cathedral of Notre Dame. And not even a particularly good shot either (sorry!). As you can see, dim light condition equals questionable crispness. Perhaps it doesn’t help either that I put the setting on like a gazillion times of zooming, but given the height of the cathedral…