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The Grande Roue de Paris

"La Grande Roue de Paris Christmas 2010 lit up"

The Grande Roue de Paris on Christmas 2010.

The Grande Roue de Paris lit up for the 2010 Christmas and New Year celebrations.

This particularly enormous ferris wheel was originally erected in the Place de la Concorde in Paris to celebrate the coming of the Millennium.

It is a transportable giant ferris wheel and has been traveling around Europe (Antwerp in Belgium, Geleen and Amsterdam in The Netherlands, Manchester, Birmingham and Newcastle in the UK) and has even been to Bangkok,Thailand.

You can see and ride it every year during Christmas and New Year celebrations back in its spot at the Place de la Concorde in Paris

This is our contribution to Travel Photo Thursday initiated by Nancie over at her site Budget Travelers Sandbox. See what others have to offer over at her site.

Midnight in Paris

Where Midnight in Paris was Shot

If you love Paris, you should see this movie. From Midnight in Paris’ opening medley of postcard views to its romantic finale on the Pont Alexandre III, there is much to admire about the scenery, and you will be walking out of the cinema saying to yourself: Yes, Paris really is a very beautiful city.

As a declaration of love to the charms of Paris and the depth of its history, Woody Allen’s latest work is therefore a very accomplished piece. As a film, meanwhile, as drama or comedy, it works less well.

The main problem is that the script – once it has transported Owen Wilson, an artistically frustrated Hollywood hack in an increasingly dysfunctional personal relationship, from the present into the Paris of the 1920s – does not really know what to do with him there, except for carrying him from one wide-eyed encounter with a famous artist (Gertrude Stein – I mean: wow!) to the next (Picasso – I mean: wow!).

Hemingway, it must be said, is a riot and runs off with the movie in each of his scenes (confronting the meek protagonist – “do you box?” – with the mirror image of his inadequacies, much in the same way as the Bogart character did in Woody Allen’s Play It Again Sam).

"Rue du Chevalier de la Barre stairway as in Midnight in Paris Montmartre"

The stairway on Rue du Chevalier de la Barre: a splendid place for a romantic scene no matter what century.

If the Hemingway caricature is very skillfully sketched and extremely funny, the fact that other characters, some of them far more crucial to the development of the narrative – Wilson’s fiancee, her parents, the pseudo-intellectual Paul – remain equally flat is more of a problem.

The film is not called Midnight in Paris for nothing: all the period scenes take place at night – which largely spares the producers the effort of building expensive period sets and allows them to blot out inconvenient anachronisms (such as parking metres or bus stops).

Most of the period scenes take place indoors or in areas where non-period decor can be easily kept out of the shot: the mysterious “vintage” car chauffeurs Owen Wilson from the Rue du Montagne Ste Genevieve to a party on the Ile St Louis (where he meets Scott Fitzgerald and Zelda), a little later we see him at the Rue Malebranche sitting in a cabrio next to Cole Porter, and he woos the lovely Miss Cotillard on the Rue du Chevalier de la Barre stairway in Montmartre.

Contemporary Paris also gets a good look-in: the gardens of the Chateau de Versailles and the Musee Rodin (where Carla Bruni plays the guide) provide the backdrop for pedantic Paul’s pompous lectures on French art and history.

The Hotel Bristol – around the corner from the Elysee Palace where Bruni fulfills the duties of her day job as the wife of the French President – is the place where Wilson and his fiancee Inez spend their holiday, and the drinks party near the opening of the film takes place on the roof of the Hotel Meurice.

"St Genevieve bell tower as in Midnight in Paris"

When the bells of St Etienne du Mont chime in the midnight hour, a vintage car passes down Rue du Montagne Sainte Genevieve, and the Ghosts Of Paris Past come to life.

Inez and her mom shop for jewelry at Chopard’s near the Place Vendome and for antique furniture on the corner of Rue des Renaudes and Boulevard Courcelles (from where you get a good view of the Russian-Orthodox church of Alexandre Nevsky).

The Quai de Montebello, already used by Woody Allen in Everyone Says I Love You (where he dances with Goldie Hawn in an hommage to An American In Paris), puts in another appearance in one of Owen Wilson’s nightly walks.

Much is going on in Midnight in Paris, but little of substance, and some of the plot lines take sudden and rather baffling turns – Miss Cotillard’s decision to remain in the Belle Epoque, for example, the period she herself considers the “Golden Age”.

"By the Seine Pont de Carousel as seen in Midnight in Paris"

The foot of the Pont du Carousel, opposite the Louvre: where Zelda Fitzgerald half-heartedly tries to escape from it all.

Her decision gives the cue for Mr Wilson to deliver what appears to be the movie’s message: that any belief in the superiority of the past is a fallacy. Before admitting himself that this is not a major insight. Well then. (If a stage comedian closes a poor performance by saying “I know I am not good at telling jokes”, does this make him any funnier?)

Whatever you may think of the message and the way it is delivered, Mr Wilson has encouraged me to share a minor insight of my own with you. Having watched the film with French subtitles, I now know that the French word for “camp” appears to be “bizarroide”. Does that say anything important about France? Probably not. I can’t help thinking, nevertheless, that inside this minor insight, a major insight may be hidden.

You might say the same about Woody Allen’s latest movie.

Want to discover more places in Paris where famous films have been shot? Get Paris Movie Walks today!

Paris Cultural Capital of the World?

Paris Cultural Capital of the World?

"Is Paris cultural capital of the world because the Eiffel Tower Paris"

Paris is the most visited city on earth, the world’s favourite travel destination. But have you ever wondered why and how Paris got there?

"Musee d'Orsay Paris"

How did Paris manage to acquire this image as the global capital for the good life: for elegant dresses and discourse, artistic excellence and sophisticated tastes? How did it turn into the luxury brand among travel destinations?

Many people probably believe that it took several centuries to build up this brand, but this is only partly true and wholly misleading.

"Is Paris cultural capital of the world because of Notre Dame Cathedral seen from River Seine Paris"

 

Why is Paris cultural capital of the world? Read it here

 

 

The Real Jewish Quarter in Paris

Where is the Real Jewish Quarter in Paris?

Jews have lived in Paris since late antiquity, on and off between various expulsions, but their numbers remained small until the late 19th century. But where is the real Jewish quarter in Paris today?

"Near the real Jewish quarter in Paris - Synagogue rue de la Victoire 75009 Paris"

Between 1870 and 1939, however, the number of Jews living in the French capital shot up from 6,000 to about 200,000, making Paris the third largest Jewish city in the world (behind Warsaw and New York).

"Not the real Jewish Quarter in Paris - Goldenberg in rue des Rosiers 75004 Paris"

What had happened?

Continue reading about the real Jewish quarter in Paris

 

Surreal Belle de Jour

Luis Bunuel was 67 years old when he directed Belle de Jour. At the time, he was closely associated with the cinema of “social realism”, his surrealist collaborations with Salvador Dali in the 1920s nothing but a distant memory. It was almost as though Bunuel wanted to show the world that he was still capable of performing the old tricks.

"rue messine paris house used in film Belle de Jour"

Belle de Jour is, above all, an exquisite piece of work. Costumes, decor, clothes, hairstyles, colours (until then, Bunuel had worked exclusively in black and white): everything is made to look as though it was carefully chosen, chosen to say something that is, and the viewers are made to feel that it is their fault if they don’t get it. (Which they don’t, of course, but that’s Surrealism for you.)

"detail of facade of Paris rue messine building used in film Belle de Jour"

This is also true for the settings, of course – and you can be sure that a lot of thought went into the choice for Severine’s (Catherine Deneuve) marital home, a magnificently ornate but ultimately soulless piece of haut-bourgeois architecture on the Ave. de Messine near the Parc Monceau.

"Paris rue messine main door of house used in film Belle de Jour"