Paris, New Year's Eve

Hot chestnuts and view along the Champs-Elysees from the Place de la Concorde to the Arc de Triomphe.  We decided not to brave the crowds and see in the New Year.  

Paris, Day 4 - Pompidou Centre/Beaubourg

Two sides of the square - the old and the Pompidou.  It's difficult to make anything of the building (more of a railway station than an art gallery) but I love the big trumpets all over the place.  And I love the backlit lady in the final pic.

Paris, Day 4 - Stravinsky Place

I should have used a panorama mode on this space, so the top three pictures read left to right and are put into perspective in the bottom picture.

Paris, Day 4 - Disney again

From La Defense, we took the Metro back to the Hotel de Ville. where Ann wanted to photograph the ice skating.  The Pompidou Centre showed up over the old roofs and the old statues looked disapprovingly at the electric lights and daft pingouins.

Paris, Day 4 - La Defense

A new arch to mimic the Arc de Triomphe further down the Champs-Elysees.  What the thumb is supposed to represent I've no idea. 

Paris, Day 4 - On the Metro

Our 'home' station, Dupleix, then Trocadero, Argentine and La Defense.

Paris, Day 3 - evening

The light was again stunning on the buildings of the Right Bank, though it managed not to strike Notre Dame.  The alleyway was at the Botanical Gardens and Zoo, while on the Left Bank a photographer with a white lens (the only one I saw) snapped friends.

Paris, Day 3 - Boulevard Diderot

The boulevard leads from Nation arrow-straight into the centre of the city.  It passes the Gare de Lyon with its ornate clock tower and the post office, formerly the Central Office of the 12th Arrondisement.   

As Diderot was a philosopher who compiled a dictionary, the restaurant "Au Philosophe" is neat.  Escargots Bourgogne were 12 for 12 Euros.  

Paris, Day 3 - Pere Lachaise Cemetery

This was brighter and more open than the Montmartre cemetery that we found on our last visit, and we were dressed for cold weather - in the sunshine and climbing the hill, our enthusiasm flagged, so we didn't find the graves of Oscar Wilde or Jean-Paul Sartre.  I found Chopin's grave, with the inscription 'Concession in Perpetuite' on the base (I should think so!) and its floral tributes and Polish flags.  The grave of concert pianist France Clidat was a bit over the top, whereas that of Delacroix was austere in the extreme.  I'd have expected something like the statue in La Place de la Nation, whose top figure resembles the heroine of his Liberty Guiding the People.

Paris, Day 3 - morning

Wonderful light on the Champ de Mars, where I found this unidentified statue.  Opposite the steps of Les Invalides, a Chinese couple were staging their DIY wedding photography.