-
Most viewed posts & pages
What our readers think
Most liked posts & pages
Category Archives: Paris history
A taste of France
Many years ago, a friend gave me a birthday present consisting of three small objects, with a card that read: “What every young woman needs: a car, a taste of France, and a chance at a million.” The car was … Continue reading
Posted in Paris flea markets, Paris food, Paris history, Paris popular culture, World War I
Tagged absinthe, anise, fennel, pastis, Paul Verlaine, Pernod, Ricard, tarragon
19 Comments
Islands
The boulevard Morland is a tree-lined, one-way thoroughfare in the fourth arrondissement. Nothing indicates that the buildings between it and the river occupy what was once an island, or that the street sits atop what was once an arm of … Continue reading
Posted in Paris bridges, Paris history, Paris maps, Seine
Tagged Boulevard Morland, Charles de Louviers, Elaine Sciolino, Ile aux Cygnes, Ile aux Juifs, Ile aux Templiers, Ile à la Gourdaine, Ile Boute-clou, Ile des Cygnes, Ile Louviers, Ile Maquerelle, Ile Merdeuse, Ile Notre Dame, Ile St-Louis, Jacques Antoine Dulaure, Jacques Hillairet, Moulin de la Monnaie, Pavilion de l'Arsenal, Pierre-Antoine Demachy, Turgot map
11 Comments
Finding Café Momus
A few weeks ago, we received the following comment from Martin Nelson in England on our blog about Rooftops: I am a singer, and lived briefly during 1982 in the Palais Royal district, Rue Molière… I had an old 1950 guide … Continue reading
Posted in Paris history, Paris hotels, Paris streets
Tagged A.H. Brodrick, Alfred Delvau, Annuaire-Almanach du commerce, Café l’Auxerrois, Café Momus, Charles Marville, Henri Lévis, Henry Murger, Journal des Débats, La Bohème, La Samaritaine, La Vie de Bohème, Le Relais du Louvre, Rue des Prêtres St Germain l’Auxerrois, The Bohemians of the Latin Quarter, Thomas Boys
21 Comments
The Zone
Our visits to Paris always begin and end with a trip through the outskirts of Paris. The train or taxi from the airport travels through residential and industrial suburbs, passing warehouses, high-rise hotels, office buildings, and large sports facilities. Beside … Continue reading
Posted in Paris automotive, Paris civic functions, Paris history, Paris hospitals
Tagged Adolph Thiers, bibliothèque historique de la ville de paris, Claude-Nicolas Ledoux, Donald Pittenger, Enceinte de Thiers, Eugène Poubelle, Eugene Atget, flea markets, fortifications, Franco-Prussian War, habitations à bon marché, HBM, Laurent Baziller, Paris Commune, Paris wall, Périphérique, Porte de Reuilly, portes de Paris, Saint-Mandé, zone non aedificandi, Zoniers
10 Comments
Twenty questions
A happy Saint-Sylvestre to you all! A few of you may wonder what that means, but in France, New Year’s Eve is often called by the name of the saint whose day falls on December 31. That fact got us … Continue reading
Posted in Paris churches, Paris history, Paris popular culture, Paris postcards, Paris streets
Tagged Arc de Triomphe, Arc du Triomphe du Carrousel, avenue Foch, Café Varenne, C’était un rendez-vous, Centre Pompidou, chasse-roue, Chevaux de Marly, Claude Chappe, Claude Lelouch, Deyrolle, Dufayel, fiacre, La Samaritaine, Le Grand Mogol, Marie Antoinette, Marie Curie, Mel Bonis, metonymy, Notre Dame du Travail, Oscar Wilde, Place Beauvau, Point du Jour, Porte St-Denis, Porte St-Martin, Quai d’Orsay, Rose Bertin, rue de Varenne, rue Xaintrailles, rue Xavier-Privas, Saint-Sylvestre, Sophie Berthelot, St-Fiacre
14 Comments
Cloches et clochers
On April 15 of this year, as Paris remained in lockdown, one of Notre Dame’s bells rang out to mark a year since the fire that largely destroyed the cathedral’s interior. The bell’s name was Emmanuel, and a grainy still … Continue reading
Posted in Paris churches, Paris history, Paris music
Tagged angelus, Bells, Belltowers, Bienvenue chez les Ch’tis, Glockenfriedhof, Louis Vierne, Napoleon Bonaparte, Notre Dame Cathedral, Notre-Dame-de-Jouy, Regis Singer, Sacre Coeur, Saint-Severin, Sainte-Odile, Savoyarde, Second World War, St-Germain-l’Auxerrois, St-Merri, St-Philippe-du-Roule, St-Yves, Stephen J. Thorne
9 Comments
Rooftops
One of our favourite TV programs, Dix Pour Cent/Call My Agent,* opens with the following image, taken either from the roof of the Louvre or from a drone. It is never on screen for more than a few seconds, and … Continue reading
Posted in Paris architecture, Paris history, Paris hospitals, Paris shops, Paris streets
Tagged Alexis-Hubert Jaillot, Call My Agent, Couvent des Feuillants, Dix Pour Cent, DTACC, Grands Magasins du Louvre, Hall des Tapis, Le Bon Coin, Maje, Matthaüs Merian, Oratoire du Louvre, Renaissance Paris République, rue de Marengo, rue de Rivoli, rue St-Honoré, Val de Grace
40 Comments
