Tag Archives: Second World War

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

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A city street, a lamppost

It was the photograph that caught my eye from a high shelf in a bookshop. A street with a lamppost and the corner of a building; two men walking in opposite directions. It was only later that I registered the … Continue reading

Posted in Paris books, Paris civic functions, Paris postcards, Paris streets | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 21 Comments

Rescued from oblivion

On the morning of April 12, 2016, three of us set out from this courtyard on an astounding walk through the Marais. But the story starts much earlier. In 1980, a sharp-eyed passerby spotted some photographs in a Paris dumpster … Continue reading

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Renault assembly line worker designs world’s fastest ocean liner

On its maiden voyage to New York City in 1935, the French luxury liner Normandie, owned by the Compagnie Générale Transatlantique, astonished everyone who saw it. It was the longest ship in the world and yet, with its long tapered … Continue reading

Posted in Paris history, Paris postcards | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 15 Comments