Euros!!! All gone now...
Waiting for 8:30pm flight from Pearson. Its gonna be a loooong night.
I just pounded back a double rye and coke. Getting ready for a long booooring flight.
10:30am Saturday - Paris time (4:30am Toronto time). Ken is waiting at the airport. The adventure begins...
Charles de Gaulle Airport parking lot.
Tunnels under the runways
First flown in 1969, Concorde service commenced in 1976 and continued for 27 years. It flew regular transatlantic flights from London Heathrow (British Airways) and Paris Charles de Gaulle (Air France) to New York JFK and Washington Dulles, profitably flying these routes at record speeds, in less than half the time of other airliners. Concorde also set many other records, including the official FAI "Westbound Around The World" and "Eastbound Around the World" world air speed records. The last "retirement" flight occurred on 26 November 2003
Our way heading South from the Airport on our way to Ken's place in Maisons-Alfort
Driving through the streets of Maisons-Alfort
Ken's street
Wakefield Manor
free booze!!!
View from the window of the guest room. Those supersonic trains would fly by on the tracks over yonder... I think they can go like over 300km/hr.
The Studio complete with Roland electronic drums and Line 6 amplification
Rehearsing my line in order to get subway tickets...
Where am I???
Pigalle is an area in Paris around Place Pigalle, on the border between the 9th and the 18th arrondissements. It is named after the sculptor Jean-Baptiste Pigalle (1714–1785). Pigalle is famous for being a touristic red-light district, with many sex shops on Place Pigalle and the main boulevards and prostitutes operating in the side streets. The neighborhood's raunchy reputation led to its World War II nickname of "Pig Alley" by Allied soldiers. The Divan du Monde and the Moulin Rouge, a world-famous cabaret, are both located in Pigalle. The area to the south of Place Pigalle is devoted to the retail of musical instruments and equipment, especially for popular music. A section of the rue de Douai solely consists of stores selling guitars, drums, and musical accessories. Henri Toulouse-Lautrec's studio was here. Artists such as Pablo Picasso, Vincent van Gogh, and Maurice Neumont also once lived here. The works of artist Salvador Dalí can be seen at the nearby Espace Dalí.
Moulin Rouge (French for Red Windmill) is a cabaret built in 1889 by Josep Oller, who also owned the Paris Olympia. Close to Montmartre in the Paris red-light district of Pigalle on Boulevard de Clichy in the 18th arrondissement, it is marked by the facsimile of a red windmill on its roof. The Moulin Rouge is best known as the spiritual birthplace of the modern form of the can-can dance and also for being the subject of paintings by post-impressionist painter Toulouse-Lautrec
Having lunch outside in November. Most patios were heated and they were busy everywhere!
Ahhh... my first meal. Let the games begin!!! The beer: Kronenbourg of course.
These people had a Canadian flag so we started yelling "Hey!!! We're Canadian too!!!" They immediately closed the window to further ignore us.
The famous music store area in Pigalle... check it out, a store for basses only???
Guitar effects???
A store that looks like an amp that only sells tube amps. Too cool.
When in Paris... non?
It's the little things you know... This was rare though.
I'm a tourist!
Super friendly bar staff at the Kata Bar
Pigalle Metro entrance
Walking up towards Montmartre
weighing options...
Montmartre is a hill (the butte Montmartre) which is 130 metres high, giving its name to the surrounding district, in the north of Paris in the 18th arrondissement, a part of the Right Bank. Montmartre is primarily known for the white-domed Basilica of the Sacré Cœur on its summit and as a nightclub district.
Still walkin upwards...
And up...
And at the top... Sacré Cœur
Amazing view of the city
Le Mick
mmmussels and red wine!!!
Recently engaged, Denise and Sean from Ireland, ask us to take their picture with the Moulin Rouge behind them.
Somehow that turned into having a beer together.
Cheers!
Apparently I had to put on her ring and make a wish for them.
Irish dudes!!!
Sean is serious about golf
Our most hospitable waiter. This guy was funny!
Meriam (Madrid), Julien (Paris) and Violetta(Madrid) were more friendly people who joined our little 'party'
My new friend from Derby, South Africa
New friends from New Zealand and Ireland
Also Irish and singin folk songs like bird!
Back to Ken's after a long flight, long day, and long night. Way more than I thought I would do in one day!
This giant spider met us at home... wholly crap... French spiders are BIG!!!
Spooooooooky
So I smashed him!!! Just kidding. I actually trapped him in the tube and flung him across the back yard from the window. You could still see him run off from across the yard!!!
The next day we ride the train into the core to meet Bernard and explore the Latin Quarter and Notre Dame de Paris
La place Saint-Michel, or Saint-Michel's Square, is a square at an intersection in the Latin Quarter and 6th arrondissement in Paris, France. Its fame comes from its Fountain St. Michel, constructed by Gabriel Davioud in 1855. Originally proposed to be of Napoleon I, it was finally decided that it would be of Saint-Michel with two dragons that gargle water into the fountain. But more important than all that, here I met Bernard, fellow drummer and friend of Ken's
The Latin Quarter of Paris (Quartier latin) is an area in the 5th and parts of the 6th arrondissement of Paris. It is situated on the left bank of the River Seine, around the Sorbonne University. The area gets its name from the Latin language, which, as the international language of learning in the Middle Ages, was once widely spoken in and around the University
Rue du Chat-qui-Pêche is considered the narrowest street in Paris. It is only 1.80m wide for the whole of its 29m length. Built in 1540, it then ended on the bank of the river Seine.
The Seine (pronounced [sɛn] in French) is a slow flowing major river and commercial waterway within the regions of Île-de-France and Haute-Normandie in France and famous as a romantic backdrop in photographs of Paris, France
Notre Dame de Paris is a Gothic cathedral on the eastern half of the Île de la Cité. It is the cathedral of Paris and the seat of the Archbishop of that city. Notre Dame de Paris is widely considered one of the finest examples of French Gothic architecture.
Point Zero in front of Notre Dame. All calculated distance from anywhere in Europe to Paris is measured to this point.
Construction of Notre Dame began in 1163, during the reign of Louis VII, and opinion differs as to whether Maurice de Sully or Pope Alexander III laid the foundation stone of the cathedral.
This place was MASSIVE!!!!
The cathedral suffered desecration during the radical phase of the French Revolution in the 1790s, when much of its religious imagery was damaged or destroyed. During the 19th century, an extensive restoration project was completed, returning the cathedral to its previous state.
In 1548, rioting Huguenots damaged features of the cathedral, considering them idolatrous. During the reigns of Louis XIV and Louis XV, the cathedral underwent major alterations as part of an ongoing attempt to modernize cathedrals throughout Europe. Tombs and stained glass windows were destroyed. The north and south rose windows were spared this fate, however.
Looking at scenery surrounding the cathedral as we walk around it...
There are over three dozen bridges over the River Seine just within Paris and dozens more spanning the river outside of the city
Back of Notre Dame
Notre Dame de Paris was among the first buildings in the world to use the flying buttress [arched exterior supports]. The building was not originally designed to include the flying buttresses around the choir and nave. After the construction began and the thinner walls (popularized in the Gothic style) grew ever higher, stress fractures began to occur as the walls pushed outward. In response, the cathedral's architects built supports around the outside walls, and later additions continued as such.
Thats the cathedral behind those trees. This was an amazing area and the food was fantastic.
Ahhh my new favourite wine region: Côtes du Rhône - Wines have been produced in the region since pre Roman times, and those from the right bank were the favourite wines of kings and the papal community in Avignon at the time of the schism. In the mid 17th century the right-bank district of Côte du Rhône had issued regulations to govern the quality of its wine and in 1737 the king ordered that casks of wine shipped from the nearby river port of Roquemaure should be branded with the letters CDR to introduce a system of protecting its origin
Duck breast with pistachio, mint, coriander along with veggies. Best dish of the trip!
I will have have to go back when I return
Shakespeare Company (background) is an independent bookstore located in the 5th arrondissement, in Paris's Left Bank. In the early 1900's the shop was considered to be a center of Anglo/American literary culture in Paris often visited by artists of the "Lost Generation," such as Ernest Hemingway, Ezra Pound, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Gertrude Stein, George Antheil, Man Ray and James Joyce.
Checking out a guillotine in a jazz club of the same name!
Is that rain?
Nooooo!!!
Saint-Germain-des-Prés is an area of the 6th arrondissement of Paris, France, located around the church of the former Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés. Home to a number of famous cafés, such as Les Deux Magots and Café de Flore, the Saint-Germain-des-Prés area was the center of the existentialist movement (associated with Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir).
Note the lean on the buildings
With the Storming of the Bastille on July 14, 1789, the French Revolution erupted; many Americans, remembering the French assistance during the Revolutionary War, supported aiding the French Republicans against the French monarchy. I.e. George Washington would come here to talk business when he cruised into town.
Rent a bike... coin-op style!!!
We found a Canadian bar called Moosehead. Check out the giant moose head. I think I saw snow shoes on the wall too, along with a lacrosse stick.
Interesting art galleries in this area. I was just taking pictures in the windows. Are those cylinders from toilet paper rolls???
psychadelic
funky
Options... you know...
Complex art.
François-Marie Arouet (21 November 1694 – 30 May 1778), better known by the pen name Voltaire, was a French Enlightenment writer, essayist, and philosopher known for his wit, philosophical sport, and defense of civil liberties, including freedom of religion and free trade.
Musee du Louvre from across the Seine
Louvre late at night
This was really cool (however not captured very well) - When looking North-West through the archway in the courtyard of the Louvre you can see straight down the Champs-Élysées right to L'Arc de Triomphe.
Local wildlife
The Arc de Triomphe was commissioned in 1806. Napoleon's body passed under it on 15 December 1840 on its way to its second and final resting place at Les Invalides. The Arc de Triomphe is a monument in Paris, France that stands in the centre of the Place Charles de Gaulle, also known as the Place de l'Étoile. It is at the western end of the Champs-Élysées. The triumphal arch honors those who fought for France, particularly during the Napoleonic Wars. On the inside and the top of the arc there are all of the names of generals and wars fought. Underneath is the tomb of the unknown soldier from World War I.
Crazy traffic circle!!! Priority to the right!!!
The Avenue des Champs-Élysées is the most prestigious avenue in Paris. With its cinemas, cafés, and luxury specialty shops, the Avenue des Champs-Élysées is one of the most famous streets in the world, and with rents as high as $1.50 million a year for 1000 square feet (92.9 square meters) of space, it remains the most expensive strip of real estate in Europe
I'll have a "Royal with Cheese"
Checking out the Peugeot dealership.
This is a Starbucks???
Dinner on the Champs-Élysées
For some reason I felt like I was visiting my parents... interesting decor.
Canadian government building
More fancy stores
Well... there it is
This looked like a caged up stairway to hell!!!! Creeeeeepy.
On the hour, for about 10min, the Eiffel tower sparkles with more light.
"button to the right turns the..."
The Trocadero area, made up of the Place du Trocadero and terraced gardens, is dominated by the Palais de Chaillot. Built in 1937 for the Exposition Universelle, it's a rather ugly building, in sober Neoclassical style. The central terrace between its two wings has been kept clear, forming a perfect frame for the Eiffel Tower beyond. The vast building houses the radical Theatre National de Chaillot and four museums, only two of which are currently visitable, the Musee de l'Homme and the Musee de la Marine.
Amazing view from Trocadero
Trocadero metro stop
The Gare de Lyon is one of the six large railway termini in Paris, France. It is named after the city of Lyon, a stop for many long-distance trains departing here, most en route to the south of France. The station was built for the World Exposition of 1900. On multiple levels, it is considered a classic example of the architecture of its time. Most notable is the large clock tower atop one corner of the station, similar in style to the clock tower of the United Kingdom Houses of Parliament, home to Big Ben.
We were on our way to Bastille
The Place de la Bastille is a square in Paris, where the Bastille prison stood until the 'Storming of the Bastille' and its subsequent physical destruction between July 14, 1789 and July 14, 1790 during the French Revolution; no vestige of it remains. The square straddles 3 arrondissements of Paris, namely the 4th, 11th and 12th. The square and its surrounding areas are normally called simply Bastille.
The cover of my next album
This dude was from Toronto!
Yeah... Canadians abroad! Needless to say, we shut that place down.
Nice afternoon in Maisons-Alfort on our way to catch the train into the city
Lots of graffiti everywhere
Funny, a tourism ad for Canada. Apparently we're all about yoga within a backdrop of mountains and dense wilderness. Some of us, maybe...
Tasty snacks everywhere!!! Bread, cheese, wine!!!!!
In religion and spirituality, a pilgrimage is a long journey or search of great moral significance. Sometimes, it is a journey to a sacred place or shrine of importance to a person's beliefs and faith.
Homage is generally used in modern English to mean any public show of respect to someone to whom one feels indebted. In this case a smoke and a beer with our buddy Jim.
Cemetery cat. We called him 'Mr. Mojo Risin'.
The bird is the word
A moment of silence at Jim Morrison's grave
Bunch of ravens
Oscar Wilde (16 October 1854 – 30 November 1900) was an Irish playwright, poet, and author of numerous short stories and one novel. Known for his biting wit, he became one of the most successful playwrights of the late Victorian era in London, and one of the greatest celebrities of his day. Several of his plays continue to be widely performed, especially The Importance of Being Earnest.
Wilde, it seems, is our contemporary. He died in Paris 108 years ago, a near-friendless exile, impoverished, shunned, disgraced. Today, he is world-famous and universally admired. There are 1,000 lipstick impressions on his tomb.
When in Rome... oh wait... I'm in Paris.
The numerous spots on the tombstone are lipstick traces from admirers
Ahmet Kaya (1957 – 16 November 2000) was a Kurdish poet, singer, and a leading artist in Turkey. Kaya went to France in June 1999 escaping various charges arising from his political views. Among them were the accusations that he had performed in front of a poster for the Kurdistan Workers Party at a 1993 concert in Germany, and that he had made statements in support of Abdullah Öcalan and had referred to Turkey as a "dishonourable people's country". In March 2000 he was sentenced in absentia to three years and nine months in prison on the charge of spreading separatist propaganda. He died of a heart attack in Paris in 2000, at the age of 44, and is buried in Père Lachaise cemetery.
We met this guy at Ahmet Kaya's grave. This was Halil, a Turkish guy now living in Germany who works for a major fashion company based in Paris
Good times with interesting people
More coin operated rental bikes
Look, I just take pictures okay...
How did that sticker get there???
Good eats at a really cool rock club.
And cheap beer but only until a certain time... so we stocked up.
Chantal who we met earlier in the week, meets up with us for a beer. Knowing that she likes rock music I pass on some Canadian rock and a ravens t-shirt!!! ;o)
This train didn't get us home...
We ended up at Vincennes... which seemed pretty dead. We could cab it home from here but where are the cabs????
Pretty 'Dawn of the Dead" eh???
Ahhh... a light at the end of the tunnel. Some kind of Middle Eastern style fast food. And it was busy!
Perfect after all the beer!
France baby!!!
Breakfast snackins
Basement of the house... did I mention its over 200 years old?
My last day in Paris I decided to travel solo in order to check out the museum and do some souvenir shopping.
One of many ways to get to the Louvre entrance. This happened to be close to my subway stop.
The Louvre Museum (French: Musée du Louvre), located in Paris, is the world's most visited art museum, a historic monument, and a national museum of France. It is a central landmark, located on the Right Bank of the Seine in the 1st arrondissement (neighbourhood). Nearly 35,000 objects from the 6th millennium BCE to the 19th century CE are exhibited over an area of 60,600 square metres
The museum opened on 10 August 1793 with an exhibition of 537 paintings, the majority of the works being confiscated church and royal property. Because of structural problems with the building, the museum was closed in 1796 until 1801. The size of the collection increased under Napoleon when the museum was renamed the Musée Napoléon. After his defeat at Waterloo, many works seized by Napoleon's armies were returned to their original owners. The collection was further increased during the reigns of Louis XVIII and Charles X, and during the Second Empire the museum gained 20,000 pieces. Holdings have grown steadily through donations and gifts since the Third Republic, except during the two World Wars. As of 2008, the collection is divided among eight curatorial departments: Egyptian Antiquities; Near Eastern Antiquities; Greek, Etruscan, and Roman Antiquities; Islamic Art; Sculpture; Decorative Arts; Paintings, and Prints and Drawings.
In 1983, French President François Mitterrand proposed the Grand Louvre plan to renovate the building and relocate the Finance Ministry, allowing displays throughout the building. Architect I. M. Pei was awarded the project and proposed a glass pyramid for the central courtyard. The pyramid and its underground lobby were inaugurated on 15 October 1988. The second phase of the Grand Louvre plan, La Pyramide Inversée (The Inverted Pyramid), was completed in 1993. As of 2002, attendance had doubled since completion
The museum opened on 10 August 1793, the first anniversary of the monarchy's demise. The public was given free access on three days per week, which was "perceived as a major accomplishment and was generally appreciated". The collection showcased 537 paintings and 184 objects of art.
Nothing like beating down a three headed demon with a club!!!
Picasso Gallery
The star of the place... DaVinci's Mona Lisa
Leonardo da Vinci began painting the Mona Lisa in 1503 (during the Italian Renaissance) and, according to Vasari, "after he had lingered over it four years, left it unfinished...." He is thought to have continued to work on it for three years after he moved to France and to have finished it shortly before he died in 1519
Leonardo took the painting from Italy to France in 1516 when King François I invited the painter to work at the Clos Lucé near the king's castle in Amboise. Most likely through the heirs of Leonardo's assistant Salai,the king bought the painting for 4,000 écus and kept it at Fontainebleau, where it remained until given to Louis XIV. Louis XIV moved the painting to the Palace of Versailles. After the French Revolution, it was moved to the Louvre. Napoleon I had it moved to his bedroom in the Tuileries Palace; later it was returned to the Louvre. During the Franco-Prussian War (1870–1871) it was moved from the Louvre to a hiding place elsewhere in France.
Mona Lisa was not well known until the mid-19th century when artists of the emerging Symbolist movement began to appreciate it, and associated it with their ideas about feminine mystique.
The Raft of the Medusa (French: Le Radeau de la Méduse) is a 1818-19 oil painting by the French Romantic painter and lithographer Théodore Géricault (1791-1824), housed in the Louvre, Paris. Completed when the artist was just 26, the is work an icon of French Romanticism. At 491 × 717 cm, it is an extremely large painting which renders the human figures as life-sized
Antonio Canova's statue Psyche Revived by Cupid's Kiss, first commissioned in 1787, exemplifies the Neoclassical obsession with love and emotion. It represents the god Cupid in the height of love and tenderness, right after awakening the lifeless Psyche with a kiss, a scene excerpted from Lucius Apuleius' The Golden Ass. A masterpiece of its period, it appeals to the senses of sight and touch, yet simultaneously alludes to the Romantic interest in emotion co-existing with Neoclassicism.
The Aphrodite of Milos, better known as the Venus de Milo, is an ancient Greek statue and one of the most famous works of ancient Greek sculpture. Created at some time between 130 and 100 BC, it is believed to depict Aphrodite (called Venus by the Romans), the Greek goddess of love and beauty.
The Venus de Milo turns out to have been carved from at least six to seven blocks of Parian marble
Although the Venus de Milo is widely renowned for the mystery of her missing arms among people unfamiliar with any other incomplete Greek or Roman sculpture, enough evidence remains to prove that the right arm of the goddess was lowered across the torso with the right hand resting on the raised left knee so the sliding drapery wrapped around the hips and legs could be held in place. There is a filled hole below the right breast that originally contained a metal tenon that would have supported the separately carved right arm.
130BC??? NO WAY!?!?!?!
The museum is housed in the Louvre Palace (Palais du Louvre) which began as a fortress built in the 12th century under Philip II. Remnants of the fortress are still visible. The building was extended many times to form the present Louvre Palace. In 1674, Louis XIV chose the Palace of Versailles for his household, leaving the Louvre primarily as a place to display the royal collection. During the French Revolution, the National Assembly decreed that the Louvre should be used as a museum, to display the nation's masterpieces.
You can see the foundation of the palace hilighted in the picture to the right
Walking beside the remains of the Louvre Castle
Bosio's Hercules and the Lernaean Hydra (1824). Baron François Joseph Bosio (19 March 1769 - Paris 29 July 1845) was a French sculptor who achieved distinction in the first quarter of the nineteenth century with his work for Napoleon and for the restored French monarchy. Apart from the imperial busts and a statue of Louis XVI, other important works included the quadriga of the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel.
Human-headed winged bull, Assyria, limestone, 8th century BCE.
John II (16 April 1319 – 8 April 1364), called John the Good (French: Jean le Bon), was Count of Anjou, Count of Maine, and Duke of Normandy from 1332, Count of Poitiers from 1344, Duke of Aquitaine from 1345, and King of France from 1350 until his death, as well as Duke of Burgundy (as John I) from 1361 to 1363. Portrait of John painted on wood panel around 1350.
Joachim Patinir, also called de Patinier and de Patiner (c. 1480 – October 5, 1524), was a Flemish Northern Renaissance history and landscape painter from the area of modern Wallonia. Patenir's immense vistas combine observation of naturalistic detail with lyrical fantasy.
Some tourists from the UK saw me taking a picture of myself and demanded they take my picture... if I took one of them with their camera of course. Ha!!!
Have metro map, will travel.
More shots... just walkin around aimlessly... its really what I do best!
I caved in... and you know, I have to say, that was the best McDonalds I've had in years!!!!
More art in a window of a gallery
Getting the RER back to Maisons-Alfort
Hangin in the studio
Last day walking down Ken's street... taking it all in for that last time... or maybe not?!??!?!
Charles de Gaulle International Airport - waiting for my flight back home
Normally I slag Air Canada, but this time it was good. Got the bulk head seats both times (extra legroom is very important when you're 6'4") and the personal movies,t.v. on the enRoute system was really cool. And the FREE BOOZE didn't hurt neither!!!
Home Sweet Home
Ah... I stowed away extra wine... how could I resist
Belgian Chocolates were a must!
And this... Cheese that I bought in France. I didn't declare it through customs and almost got fined $400 because a custom's officer with a dog (beagle) stopped me at Pearson Airport in Toronto. Luckily, I was let off with a warning.
The cheese I almost 'did time' for.
NOW GET BACK TO WORK MICK!!! (View from my home office window)
