Notre-Dame de Paris and the Pompidou Centre

Next day we were at the Notre Dame at 10:15, with people outside looking up

Cropping in tightly

Notre-Dame de Paris meaning "Our Lady of Paris"), also known as Notre-Dame Cathedral or simply Notre-Dame, is a medieval Catholic cathedral on the Île de la Cité in the fourth arrondissement of Paris, France. The cathedral is widely considered to be one of the finest examples of French Gothic architecture, and is among the largest and most well-known church buildings in the world. The naturalism of its sculptures and stained glass are in contrast with earlier Romanesque architecture.
Then on April 15, 2019 came the devastating fire ...

And while peoople were busy taking photographs - behind them was a car been taken away. Was this a reflection of tighter security after the truck attack in Nice the night before?

It wasn't only a van being towed but bicycles were being checked at the barrier on the nearby street.

We had decided to opt out of going inside the Cathederal and find someplace nearby for brunch

We thought we would try crepes for brunch - and - it was OK
Le Parvis, 3, Rue D'Arcole 75004 Paris. Table 10, 16 Jul 2016
2 Cafe Creme 9.00
1 25cl Jus de fruit 4.30
1 Crepe Speciale 10.80
1 Omelette Vegetarienne 9.80
2 Crepe Citron Frais 9.60.
Total with 10% TVA = Euro 43.50

10:32am - while waiting for our crepes, there was time for street observations and it was obviously too early to be busy at the restaurants

Meantime the street was a constant flow of people heading for the Notre-Dame. After our crepes we were off walking to a special candle shop established in 1643.

This couple, her with a Yoko Ono look, caught my eye. Then I found they were right outside the candle store that Jeantine was heading - and I saw later, the sign above the couple

The same couple through the window of the candle shop, Maison Trudon

How many shades of grey

A mother looks while the daughter decides (seen in the reflection)

While the women were happily browsing in the scented store, I was just outside looking at the street

Not too many pedestrians

This store owner obviously knows the Doors songs

The new among the old and the next place Jeantine was taking us to.

What a contrast to the style of buildings of the neighbourhood

Almost there

Then we were in a public square with seating steps and off at one end the Stravinsky Fountain - to help distract the kids perhaps?


There was a story in The Guardian about the Pompidou Centre's 40th Anniversary

Sacré-Cœur Basilica

After a short break it was across town to catch the sunset at Sacré-Cœur Basilica

Lots of people milling around, there was even a guy showing his skills with a football, keeping it in the air with his head, shoulders, feet, knees etc. I can't recall if I noticed a donation bucket or not but he had people fascinated with their cameras clicking.

Reserving a spot on the grass before it got too crowded around sunset
The building catching just a little sunlight, in front of the guy in white - is that the same building as shown in this photo of mine from 1963.

Perhaps not, the windows look different.

But zooming in on the background we see ...


And in the 1963 photo - also with a lamp post in the foreground

8:13pm

8:17pm, walking to a restaurant that Jeantine had tried before on the chance we would get a table and be dined in time to return to the sunset.

8:58pm. The Grand 8. The maitre-d had personality and the meal was beautifully prepared. — with Jeantine Mankelow and Barbara Mankelow.

After dinner it was back out to the view over Paris from the Basilica 9:49pm

9:50pm and posing for a photo

9:51pm, at the going down of the sun, a gathering of people

And to get high enough to not have the railing in the foreground, you seek some elevated footing

9:58pm, no railing in the photo but, a TV aerial

10:00pm, and there is the railing

10:06pm, and the moon is up. Better go inside the Basilica

And there was a service underway. It felt like we were eavesdropping or being nosey

Light patterns and curves caught my eye

More light patterns

10:18 pm Heading outside and there is the moon. Barb and Jeantine (with iPhone) in the left foreground

10:25pm, people out enjoying the evening at Montmartre and time for us to catch the Metro back to our Montparnasse base

Just thinking I didn't see any icecream stand up at Sacré-Cœur in July 2016. Nor do I recall seeing buses up there, perhaps, as at Mt. Eden in Auckland, it has got too busy and too crowded.

Although ...

there were cars up there

Up in the Eiffel Tower at last

What photographs can one take that are different from all the other people up on the viewing platform

The pattern of the two curving buildings must have appealed to me

You can see the stage for the previous nights concert.

And it was a good day to be out in the park

Paris obviously has its own version of the Wheel, we had seen the one at the Sands Marina in Singapore, saw one at Torquay in Devon and rode the Eye in London and went on the Wheel at the Albert Docks in Liverpool.

Shadow play

After hours of being on our feet, in queues, we needed to pause to partake of refreshment, whilst on our trek back to the apartment

EiffelTower Ascent Friday 15 July 2016

Another day in Paris, another iconic place to visit better send Ray out to get something for breakfast. I managed to get by with a bon jour and merci mixed in with my English.

Time stamped 10:31am. Showing also the minimal gap between table down and the cupboard, which was able to open with millimetres to spare.

Then we were on the street and I saw this guy prepping his old car for tourist trips

Within a short time he had a customer

Then we joined the queue and Jeantine went ahead to survey the possibilities and options. Meantime we shuffled along and got talking with an American woman (from Los Angeles I think) and her husband had taken their kids across the road to a Merry Go-Round to distract the children. The husband would occasionally wave to his wife in the queue to confirm he could see where we were up to.

Below, the American couple we were behind and chatting to, in line on the street, where the father with our encouragement took their 3 kids onto the carousel across the road. When we had got off the roadside and closer to the entry point the woman remonstrated with some queue jumpers who tried to get between us. These were people who would sneak across the snaking queue ostensibly to catch up with people they knew.

Jeantine was expressing doubts about whether we should stay in line, and opt for coming back first thing the next day. Then when she found we were chatting to this American family, she decided against that and just go with the slow flow.
We also got chatting to an Iranian man and his father and when they found out we were from Auckland, the younger mentioned he was a traffic engineer and had heard about Auckland's traffic woes. His father was most keen to show us a little video clip on his smart phone, of his son getting his engineering degree but it was too difficult to see and hear with the crowd around us to make out the detail of what was happening. We just had to acknowledge that the father had every right to be proud of his son's achievements.

When we eventually made entry to the area below the four supporting columns, we had a choice of East, West, North or South entry points. This involved more queuing but the shortest line was for walking up the stairs to level two - and then you could take the lift right to the top. Sadly for us, it was 3.5 hours to make it to the top.
We had plenty of time in line to observe that there were priority queues and obviously Tour Groups would get priorty. Our misfortune was to choose the West lift,and to be finally, ready and waiting at the head of the queue, for the doors to open and we got told it had broken down. After an attendant came up to lift door and then went back down the steps without saying anything, some Brits called out "Can you please tell what is going on?" We were then escorted across to the East lift but this invoived running as a group but Barb wasn't capable of running so I was trying to be at a mid way point to keep our group in sight and also be visual on Barb.

This photo time stamped as 2:30 pm and the first photo of queue was at 12:16pm and the photo in the lift shows as 3:30pm. To think in 1963 on our 11th World Jamboree Trip to Greece and going through Paris I didn't feel compelled to go up the Eiffel Tower, but rather chose to give it a miss and just wait at the bottom until the others came back down. Perhaps I was concerned for my spending money I don't recall, however I was soon able to go to a Bank in Threadneedle Street in London and pick up small contribution to my costs from my Uncle Sandy Brown in New Zealand.

Eiffel Tower Fireworks, Bastille Day - from street level

So we all made it back from the Louvre to our airbnb apartment at Montparnasse, together on the same train

The setting sun on Bastille Day, looking promising for the fireworks at the Eiffel Tower. And the skyline includes the golden arches - oh joy. The time stamp shows 9:48pm, which I guess was the correct Paris time on the iPhone

We chose the right side of the road, while a lot of people were seated and set up with their chairs and picnic meals in the centre of the road. Barb was well wrapped against the cool evening air with her blue coat.
When I switched to video mode, I did think to try and capture some of the crowd. This first video has me pointing the camera straight down the road toward the Eiffel Tower from my wall sitting position and you can see some vehicles trying to move through the crowd on the driveway and footpath to get on the road which was still open at the next intersection down. There appeared to be a Hotel behind us and the taxis had to be tolerant to get through the crowd to their passengers and back out again.