The green trees of Paris

Cities need trees.  They add colour, texture, and welcome shade in summer.  On benches nearby are parents with kids, teenagers, students, workers grabbing lunch, older people, chatting, eating sandwiches, or just sitting and watching the world.

Paris has lots of trees, along the streets, 

Sunday morning market - Boulevard Richard Lenoir

along the banks of the Seine,

 in hidden courtyards, and small squares 

Place du Marché Sainte Catherine in the Marais

- and especially in its public parks – the Jardin des Tuileries, with its formal gardens, its pools and clipped trees,

The Tuileries

  the gardens below the Sacré-Cœur in Montmartre, 

the Place des Vosges, 

the oasis of the Jardins du Palais Royal 

Palais Royal

and the delights of the Jardin du Luxembourg beyond the Boul’Mich.  

Fontaine Medicis, Jardin du Luxembourg

Gathering for a concert in the Luxembourg

In one or two places there is greenery going up the walls:-

Hotel de Sully

not far from the Pompidou centre

Paris and art

We went to the Louvre, the Orangerie, the Pinacothèque and  Galerie w in rue Lepic.  For a lengthier appreciation you can't do better than read Harry's Café blog entry.

Here are a few extras -

Venus en armes - I was quite taken by the little one trying on the helmet.

Lion - "I'm just a pussycat"

El greco - St Louis

Madame Récamier - Jean Louis David

Paris and Helen - Jean Louis David - the faces are very delicate and fine

From the Orangerie - Chaim Soutine - Arbre Couché

and the occasional facetiousness, such as my seeing Karl Marx's portrait in the Nymphéas,  takes nothing away from the sheer brilliance and beauty.

The Tour Eiffel - at last

 14 June 2013

Too touristy, la Tour? Eiffel that is not de France, and any experts will realize the gender’s quite different.  Female, in spite of its phallic form.

 But enough of this clever-arse-ness. 

This time we did it. Up to the top of the Eiffel Tower. You can get your tickets in advance and avoid the queues. They run a tight admission times schedule, though, so there’s no point arriving an hour early.

We walked from the Orangerie, along the left bank of the river – as you approach the tower plays hide and seek, among the buildings, but is easy to find. 

It’s possible to walk to floors 1 and 2 –  but the summit is only accessible by lift.

The views are fantastic, the engineering remarkable, - if you get the chance, do it. 

from the first floor

from the top

Versailles - jardin sous la pluie

We have our sandwiches in a recess looking out at the gardens - brollies much in evidence and not a lot of flânerie going on. By the look of that cloud,  the rain's settled in for the afternoon.

glistening cherubs

I have a sun hat and a waterproof - a spot of rain never put an Englishwoman off, did it?

There's a hidden café with parasol/umbrellas among the trees - "deux express" seem like a good idea.  Then onward to the Petit Trianon.

The way into the Petit Trianon

We all went into the house, for to get out of the rain.  This smaller palace feels far more human - wouldn't mind living there myself, though I'd need a couple of cleaners and a cook.
It was used for private meetings between Louis XV and Madame de Pompadour, then became strongly associated with Marie-Antoinette's understandable urge to escape from the big house.

Autofocus concentrates on the rainy window

Marie Antoinette's grotto in the English-style gardens

The Belvedere - unfortunately we can't go inside to shelter!

We walk around,  hoping that we're on our way to the Queen's Hamlet - the paper plan has gone soggy, and signs on the ground are thin. 
We end up walking past the Orangery to the Grand Trianon.  This smaller palace was built for Louis XIV and is where he spent time with his mistress Madame de Maintenon.  It was used as a residence for various members of the royal family, and also by Napoleon Bonaparte's family. It's an attractive one-storey building with lovely gardens.

We still hadn't found the hamlet, so we walked along to the Porte St Antoine and found our way in from there.

Note the irises growing on the roof

The animals are rather damp too.

A quote about Versailles estate, from Giuseppe Penone, an Italian sculptor whose works were exhibited around the house and garden - I didn't take much time to look at them.  I plead the weather in mitigation.

Laid out to exalt the power of one man, it underlines the force and power of nature which minimises man’s action, requiring unceasing maintenance work to preserve it.