Showing posts with label Seine. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Seine. Show all posts

Saturday, 12 April 2014

The Tourist Trail: the 15th arrondissement

 

Neil and I continued our whirlwind tour of the City of Lights with a visit to Paris' most iconic sight: the Eiffel Tower. At the base of Trocadero, we enjoyed the view, lulled into relaxing silence by the fountains rush and splash into the pool below.



Neil et moi ont poursuit notre circuit express de la Ville-Lumière avec une visite à l'attraction la plus iconique de Paris: Le Tour Eiffel. À la base du Trocadero, nous avons apprécié la vue en profitant du silence relaxant, tandis que les eaux de la fontaine jaillissaient et éclaboussaient à nos pieds. 





Someone else seemed to enjoy the water display just as much as we did - having a little snooze on the grassy verge! 



Next on the tour was to see....the Statue of Liberty? From one famous sight to another more unlikely one, it seemed like we had jumped from Paris' skyline to New York City in the space of a 15 minute walk. The sculpture was of course designed by a Frenchman, Frederic Auguste Bartholdi, and gifted to The United States as a symbol of goodwill and fraternity after the Third French Republic was established.


Le prochaine arrêt était...la Statue de la Liberté...? D'une attraction connue à une autre, c'était presque comme on a sauté de la silhouette Parisienne à celle du New York aux États-Unis dans une quinzaine de minutes. La sculpture était bien sûr créée par un Français, Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi, et donné aux États-Unis comme une symbole de bonne-volonté et de fraternité après l'établissement de la Troisième République Française.


If there are two countries that I associate with the idea of liberty, it is The USA and La France, so the uniting allegory of "Liberty Enlightening the World" seems entirely appropriate. Even the futuristic buildings behind us seem like they would be more at home in Manhattan than in Paris.



S'il y a deux pays que j'associe avec l'idée de la liberté, ce sont les États-Unis et la France, donc l'allégorie unissant de "La Liberté Éclairant le Monde" me semble totalement appropriée. Même les bâtiments futuriste semblent plus New-Yorkais que Parisiens !




There is another Statue of Liberty to be found in the Jardin du Luxembourg, which I discovered in this post here. At the base of the statue is an outdoors gym, which had everyone from pensioners to children stretching out their limbs and cracking into childish smiles!

Il y a une autre Statue de Liberté dans Le Jardin du Luxembourg. Au pied de la statue se trouve une gymnase "en plein air", où on a vu toute sorte de personne, des retraités aux enfants s'étiraient leurs limbes et esquissaient des sourires !





 








À Bientôt !
x


Friday, 6 September 2013

"Yes, I live in Paris...since today"



I can't believe I'm finally here. Months of anticipation, my Mum stalking the wrong street on Google Street View and listening to Franceinfo.fr - have all come to this! I now live in Paris. Or as I told the lady in the Metro station - "Yes, I live in Paris, since today". 


Coming to terms with the move via a handy visual aid


My neighbourhood and landlady are thankfully lovely - surrounded by A LOT of Italian bistros (traditional..) and government buildings with a reassuring number of official looking uniformed French people dotted outside impressive gates. We must have walked for miles and succeeded in doing none of our tasks such as getting a mobile phone contract or setting up a bank. French bureaucracy stands firm against aching legs, pitifully incorrect French and baleful looks as we were told to come back tomorrow with all the official documentation. We did however, discover some very lovely things:



The Sorbonne University


A free chalk wall by the Seine
Les Invalides - round the corner!


I'm exhausted but I'm happy & so thankful. The sun peeped through the clouds, I spoke French, I was spoken back to in French. And I'm excited to try lots of new things over the next few weeks - like this 'Gatsby Evening' at the Shakespeare and Company Bookshop by Notre-Dame!


Can't wait to get some sleep!
À bientôt !
x