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Category Archives: Paris history
A parachute in the Parc Monceau
On Christmas Day, before it was time to go to dinner with friends, we wandered into the Parc Monceau. We have walked in the quiet park many times before, but had not noticed the little plaque near the path running along … Continue reading
Posted in Paris history, Paris parks
Tagged André-Jacques Garnerin, ballon perdu, Francois d’Arlandes, Henry David Thoreau, Jacques Charles, Jacques-Etienne Montgolfier, Jean-Baptiste-Olivier Garnerin, Jeanne-Geneviève Garnerin, Jerôme Lalande, Joseph-Michel Montgolfier, Louis Carrogis Carmontelle, Louis XVI, montgolfier brothers, Nicolas-Louis Robert, Parc Monceau, Philippe d’Orléans, Pilatre de Rozier
12 Comments
What a croque
It all started so innocently. I was going to write a blog about a simple and unremarkable café meal, the sort of thing that warms one up on a cold December day with a glass of vin chaud, and before … Continue reading
Posted in Paris food, Paris history
Tagged A Moveable Feast, boulevard de Capucines, Café Americain, chocolate and zucchini, Clémentine in the Kitchen, Clothide Dusoulier, Croque monsieur, Ernest Hemingway, french cookbooks, Gallica, Ginette Mathiot, Hole in the Wall, Je Sais Cuisiner, Julia Child, Larousse Gastronomique, Marcel Proust, Nigel Slater, restaurants, Samuel Chamberlain, Trou dans le mur
14 Comments
The Mystery of the Missing Suspension Bridges of Paris
In the first half of the nineteenth century, France was a world leader in the design and construction of suspension bridges. And yet today not a single one of Paris’s nineteenth-century suspension bridges over the Seine remains. Why? It was … Continue reading
Posted in Paris bridges, Paris history
Tagged Adam Roberts, Angers, Basse-Chaine Suspension Bridge, Bercy Bridge, bridge failures, engineering failures, Gustave Eiffel, Ile de la Cité, Ile Saint-Louis, Louis Joseph Vicat, Parc des Buttes Chaumont, Pont de Constantine, Pont de la Réforme, Pont Louis Philippe, Quai aux Fleurs, Quai St-Bernard, Saint André-de-Cubzac bridge, suspension bridges, Tom F. Peters
23 Comments
A French family in wartime
Today, November 11, is the anniversary of the end of the First World War. In France the Jour de L’Armistice or le Jour du Souvenir is a day of military parades and ceremonies. But there is more to remembrance than … Continue reading
Posted in Paris history, Paris postcards, World War I
Tagged Armistice Day, Bernigaud family, First World War, French postcards, Henri Bernigaud, Jeanne Bernigaud, Jour de L’Armistice, Jour du Souvenir, Louise Bernigaud, Lyon, Montreal, Remembrance Day, Veterans Day, Vimy Ridge, World War I, Yvonne Michaud
13 Comments
The Other Great Nineteenth-Century Tower of Paris
The story begins in a photograph shop in the Village St-Paul. I was browsing among the stereograph cards, when I came across something that looked like this. It captivated me. I say “looked like,” because this is not the same … Continue reading
Posted in Paris civic functions, Paris history
Tagged abattoirs, Abattoirs de Grenelle, Abattoirs de Vaugirard, Abattoirs des Invalides, artesian wells, champ de mars, Constant Delaperche, Fontaine du Puits de Grenelle, François Arago, Louis-Georges Mulot, Napoleon Bonaparte, Puits de Grenelle, slaughterhouses, universal exposition
8 Comments
A virtual walk through old Paris
In the novel Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert, Emma Bovary does something that may sound as familiar to some of you as it does to me. She lives in the countryside, but she wants to be in Paris. So what … Continue reading
Ticket to ride
Here’s a question for contestants in a game of “Connaissez-vous Paris?” How many railway stations are there in Paris? Most people would say six: St-Lazare, Nord, Est, Lyon, Austerlitz, and Montparnasse (the original version of this station is shown above). … Continue reading
Posted in Paris history, Paris metro, Paris travel
Tagged Alan Sutton, Auteuil, Boulainvilliers, Chemin de Fer de Vincennes, Courcelles-Levallois, Denfert-Rochereau, Gare de Reuilly, Gare de Vincennes, Gare du Pont Mirabeau, Gare Montparnasse, Gare St-Lazare, gares paris, Javel, Paris et ses 50 Gares, Paris railway stations, Paris train stations, Pascal Lambérieux, Passy-La Muette, Pereire-Levallois, Petite Ceinture, Place de la Bastille, Port-Royal, railway line, railway stations, railway travel, Réseau Express Régional, Roger-Viollet, Sceaux, Verneuil l’Etang, Viaduc des Arts
5 Comments
In Search of Lost Time
You don’t really need a wristwatch in Paris. For one thing, you are never far from a clock – on walls, towers, and in front of boutiques. Some are ornate. Some are utilitarian. Some are advertisements. Some are art. Of … Continue reading
Posted in Paris history, Paris nostalgia, Paris postcards, Paris streets
Tagged Adam Roberts, clocks, Georges Cain, Grands Magasins Dufayel, Invisible Paris, les Halles, Louvre, Midnight in Paris, Musée Carnavalet, old postcards, Paris traffic, Petite Ceinture, railway stations, Tuileries Palace, Woody Allen
13 Comments
Finding Typewriter History in Paris
My five-year-old grandson doesn’t know what they are. Actor Tom Hanks collects them. And I am so captivated by their beauty and their astounding variety that I am writing a book about them, in collaboration with Martin Howard, another well-known … Continue reading
Posted in Paris expositions, Paris history, Paris postcards, Paris typewriters
Tagged 8 boulevard des Capucines, antique typewriters, antiquetypewriters.com, Antiquités Brocante Bastille, Bassin de l’Arsenal, boulevard des Capucines, Comte Charles de Villelume de Sombreuil, François Lambert, Frank Lambert, Grand Palais, Gresham College, Institution Millet-Ducloux, Jacques Offenbach, Joel Garcia Organisation, Lambert typewriters, Lambert water meter, L’Écho de Paris, Martin Howard, Nevers France, Paris Book Fair, Paris Exposition 1900, Paris International Antiquarian Book Fair, Peter Weil, Place de la Bastille, Pont-de-Beauvoisin, postcards, Remington, Remington Typewriter Co., Richard Polt, rue Vivienne, Sidney Hébert, Sir Thomas Gresham, Smith Premier No. 4, Smith Premier tyepwriter, stenographic machine, Stenophile, The Gresham, Tom Hanks, typewriters, typewriting class, typewriting school, Yost typewriter
14 Comments
Parisian Fields 