Millenium night (1999-2000):

And more:

We also spent some time at the Louvre, and took many more pictures there.

Our departure day, with remnants of snow from the previous day.

We went to see the musée de cluny:

haha, good one :)

the famous dame à la licorne

We were hoping to get more of an inside tour of Notre Dame, but we only got the 3 euro tour of 'les trésors du sacré coeur' (the outside was closed due to weather)

closed :( too bad it'd have been cool to visit

Last, but not least was the Conciergerie, used for centuries as a prison in Paris

Oh yes, also dinenr with our friends:

And yes, that's it: crappy weather made it so that we didn't visit too much.

When then took advantage of great sunny weather and unseasonably high temperatures during the winter to visit Paris:

Jussieu, one of Paris' main universities is being rebuilt from the ground up to remove all the toxic asbestos. Doesn't look shabby right now:

We then went towards Sacré Coeur to see if we could climb to the top this time, something I had tried 3 times already but failed due to chronic Xmas absentees, preventing staffing for ascent to the top. It was beautiful weather:

The views from the top were great that day:

Sainte Chapelle

Grand Palais and La Défence

After that we headed to the Panthéon, which I had never seen inside (bad me). Lots of famous people are burried in the crypt, and the foucault pendulum is cool:

and we then went through the jardins du luxembourg towards tour Montparnasse:

We unfortunately got to the top a tad late, just as the sun was setting, but we raced to get some pictures while the light was fading:

Pont Alexandre 3 and Grand Palais

Notre Dame

La Défence in the background

Louvre and Jardin des Tuileries leading to l'obélixe

Centre Georges Pompidou and Tour St Jacques

The next day we went to the Musée des arts forains and Court St Emilion

After that, we walked the Champs Elysées from the Obélix up to see all the little Xmas shops, and then went to see some of the displays in the last section:

Piggie!

We then went to the Grand Palais to see a computer game expo and the faire in the main hall:

and finished the night with Duck Choucroute and foie gras

A few days later, with another nice day, we went to the Sacré Coeur for some great clear views of Paris and seeing their own Xmas shops:

Centre Georges Pompidou

More piggie!

We then went to the nearby Place du Tertre:

Yet another day, we went to Musée Grévin:

Then, we walked through Passage Verdeau, Jouffroy, and Passage des Panoramas, and we finished at the Louvre's shopping gallery:

That's all folks. 'till next year.

Louis Vuiton is happy to sell you simple handbags for as many thousand euros you're willing to pay

We then walked by the little Xmas houses (think winter wine and art festival):

Macaroons! :)

Piggie :)

Chocolate tools and gears

Made it to the end, time to turn around

going nowhere, fast

and we walked all the way back from l'obelisk to the arc the triomphe, time to go home

While there, we also went to see car displays, with went on its own page.

A few days later, we went to visit le Marais, which I actually had never seen before. We stopped by a fair amount of little stores, which my dad loves doing:

Started from centre pompidou, with a silly long line we avoided

awesome scenes from top french movies

that is an inventive bakery :)

Place des Vosges, which I had never seen

House of Victor Hugo

more stores

more chocolats

A couple of pictures from Auchan:

And before going home, we went to la Villette, citée des sciences et de l'industrie with special expo on Léonard de Vinci

an actual flying RC bird

Léonard had thought about it, just didn't have the technology back then

And this is it for Paris this year. Not a whole lot, but I've already posted a lot of pictures in the past.

Friday after work, we had a quick look at Boulevard Hausman to see the Xmas tree and animations and climb at the top of Printemps for a good view:

The next nice day, we went to Jardin des Plantes to see the multiple museums there, but first I wanted to stop by les Arènes de Lutéce, which I found out about after watching a documentary on how Paris came to be what it is today over the last 800 years or so.
As the name implies, they are left over Roman Arenas, which weren't destroyed by urbanization. There are also thermes that can be seen by special appointment (by orangerie) which I hope to see another time. To be honest, it doesn't look like much, but it's a cool part of history left in Paris:

We also had a quick look at the Mosque next door which is more visitable than the one in Jakarta we weren't able to enter. They had a few displays to try and fix the very bad PR their religion has been getting due to their extremist followers:

Next, we went to Jardin des Plantes which was of course a bit devoid of plants outside during the winter season. The indoor plants were nice to see though:

these were actually artificial art

Then, we saw displays on plants, animals, and evolution:

they have an impressive compact collection

'No, I didn't come from monkeys' always amuses me

There was much to see, it was a packed visit. The last nice day of sun in the forecast, I planned a boat ride on the seine leaving by the Effeil Tower:

this put a lock on the bridge fad is getting out of hand...

Paris is running out of bridges to put locks on now...

locks, locks, and more locks...

Musée d'Orsay is one place I yet have to go to

Parliament

Next, we went to see the little houses selling overpriced Xmas stuff:

very very overpriced foie gras

after which, we walked towards the small copy of the statue of liberty on a very small island in the middle of the seine:

this one is in French :)

From there, we took a cab to Arc the Triomphe and went to the top:

can't beat the view

winters are cold, but have cleaner and clearer air, that's a win for pictures

We then proceeded towards place de l'Etoile while looking at things on the way

Car manufacturers had new cars on display which I like to see each year:

The last outing we did was a half day to see the Chateau de Vincennes which had been totally renovated after years of me going to the school next door. The visit was quite nice what seems to be one of the oldest castles in that shape you can visit in France today.

And that was it for this year.

Colonnes de Buren

We then went to the Musée d'Orsay, inside an old train station, a fantastic building:

We then walked outside a bit more, now that the main bridges are filled with locks, their are selling locks on the remaining bridges, and headed to Musée de l'Orangerie by the louvre park:

We then took the remaining time to walk the Champs Elysées and maisons de noël:

Another day, we went to the Musée des Arts Forains with my dad:

Another day, I drove to the Cathedral of St Denis where over thousand years of French Kings and famous people are burried:

the last french king and his wife, who both got beheaded for their troubles :)

Some other Paris pictures left over:

map of all the churches in Paris ;)

And after all this good fun was time to fly home. We found a nice passenger in the Air France lounge ;)

The Air France business seats we got (with miles, thankfully I didn't pay for them) were the worst business seats I had had in an overnight flight so far (true in both directions). Note to self to avoid them in the future.

Paris, despite the current crap that's been going on, is still nice to walk around, especially in the unseasonably warm weather:

Paris City Hall

Walking around the old Paris in the middle of La Seine, always yields easy pictures ;)

Notre Dame, pretty as always:

Tour Saint Jacques:

The last day, I went to and around the Google Office near St Lazare:

unusal Xmas ornaments :)

Les Halles, still being built, alledgedly it should be finished next year

Paroisse St Eustache

And I had a quick look at centre pompidou which you used to just be able to enter back in the days. Now it has a 2-3H queue no matter when I've gone in the last years :-

And that was it for Paris this year.

old Paris during Roman times

early plan of the underground sewer system

the big balls they use to clean the tunnels

After that museum, we walked to the Effeil tower:

new orthodox church built recently

Android Nougat in front of Nougat. Well done Mathias :)

A later day, we walked by the Xmas store displays:

And yet another day, we walked La Coulée Verte, a nice green path through Paris using the right of way of an old train line not in use anymore:

Then, we finished with Place des Voges and Victor Hugo's house:

There are also plenty of art stores there:

And that was it for this year, not too much, but then again we spent a bunch of our time in [Belgium this year|/perso/belgium

Otherwise, I also have a few pictures of Paris proper:

the street that used to be for cars to get out of Paris more quickly is now pedestrian. Not everyone loves this...

the worst part is how the effeil tower is now behind airport gates and bad looking temporary roof covers as gates :(

Another day, close to Opéra Bastille

don't get conned, that's a different church, I don't like lines :)

After arriving at Les Halles we went to see the small Xmas market, given that the big one at Champs Elysées was cancelled this year due to suckage of the new Paris mayor:

After too long, Les Halles was finally re-opened:

Nearby St Sulpice Church:

Quick stop at Google and the grand magasins and their displays:

A few pictures:

inflatable decoy tank, awesome

A few pictures:

nice lighting outside the building

Turns out Rodin actually made the plaster models and others went through the complicated process of making the bronze statues:

A few pictures:

While it may seem overkill (no other theatre in the world has this capability to that scale, this theatre can almost host a couple of 747s hidden underground), it was super cool to see this on their backstage tour. Most of the pictures were underground up to 22m (many stories) below ground level:

The tour finally ended up in the main stage that was going to be used that evening after our tour:

just like the Bayeux Tapestry, they have a long colorful tapestry telling a full story

The museum's building has a colorful history, but its older parts go all the way back to much bigger roman baths that were 3 times bigger than the footprint that is left, as well as an old castle/hotel that was build next to what was left, re-using some of the walls. However, underground, you can still see what is left of the baths, and while it doesn't rival Bath, UK, or Baden Baden, Germany, it's still interesting to see that in the middle of Paris:

some bits were clearly built later

Cool little visit.

Modern art is well, variable. There were some interesting bits, others were so-so:

I definitely wouldn't put this first in a visit of Paris, starting with how hard it is to get into it, but I'm happy we got to see it eventually.

Most people don't know that the first heavier than air aircraft was french and dated from the late 1800's. It was however a poor aircraft that was not well controlable, so history didn't remember it as the first aircraft:

More interestingly, the museum is attached to a church was was repurposed as display space:

We ended up spending much longer than planned there, and it was worth even more. Greatly recommended.

We started with Musée des Arts et Métiers (on its own page):

And then we went to Centre Pompidou (on its own page):

Not often that we're in Paris during the summer, so we went around 1st Arrondissement:

We then went to Centre Pompidou, which included fairly good views:

Notre Dame before it burnt

Tour St Jacques

la défense

Then it was time to go home. Nice lighting in CDG airport

We then walked around the neighborhood:

and made it to les Halles and Mairie de Paris for their little Xmas houses:

After seeing my mom another day, we walked around concorde and Madeleine:

We then headed to "grands magasins" (printemps/haussmann):

0 euro bills, cute

Another morning, we went to Musée de l'homme (museum of man) that had been recently rebuilt. It's right by the Eiffel tower:

From there, a few nice views:

We then headed towards la déefence where we hadn't been for 10 years. They had a big collection of Xmas houses, which sadly closed earlier than I planned, but we got to see quickly:

Then, we saw the houses:

The stores nearby were also nice, as well as the surroundings with lighting:

Our last Paris views were a few views from the new Google Paris building:

and after some food shopping, time to go home:

We got to enjoy the SFO Polaris Lounge and its sit down restaurant, which turns out to be fancier looking than it actually was, and had a good 45mn wait to get in. Still, we went to check it out for fun :)

I got the Polaris Burger

Here's a quick overview of where we went:

Once in Paris, we went to check out Atelier des Lumières, which used an old warehouse to project nice stories. One was about Japan:

The longest display was Van Gogh:

Not too far was cimetary Père Lachaise, the most famous cimetary in France:

Jim Morison

Racine

La fontaine

Oscar Wilde

crematorium

Then, we went to the Buttes Chaumont Park, where I went a few times as a small kid:

nice views

Next, we went up the river to La Vilette:

The next day, I went to the Paris Air Show at le Bourget, which was unexpected (on its own page)

Saturday, was Fête de la Musique, so we went to enjoy another pretty day in Paris:

We had been to Le Panthéon somewhat briefly some years back, but spent a longer time there this time:

Marie Curie discovered radio activity

we then took a guided tour to the top

great view from there

the damaged Notre Dame

We then resumed our visit of Paris:

And we headed towards le Jardin des Plantes, which looks much nicer during the summer:

The nearby zoo was better than I expected:

red pandas are so cute :)

the park had some nicely sized uninvited city rats

We then went to walk in Paris some more to see people performing music in the streets:

quick ice cream stop at Bertillon

Notre Dame will be repaired for several years:

And after nice sunny time in Paris and my Dad's Birthday Party, it was time to leave Paris for Amsterdam:

After that Grand Palais' expositions on Toulouse Lautrec and Greco. We started with Toulouse Lautrec:

I actually like Greco, he's different enough to be interesting to me

After the expos, we took a few pictures outside, and some more when we came back to see Palais de la découverte the whole day:

grand palais

We then went next to the louvre for the little Xmas houses:

we got a seared foie gras sandwich, yum

We then finished up with pictures around the louvre and walked out nearby streets to a subway station that was meant to take us home, but didn't because of the strikes:

On my last day in Paris, I went to the Google office for a bit (few people were there because of the stupid strikes), and then went to walk nearby Printemps and Hausmann department stores for their Xmas decorations and terrace views:

I then had a show by the eiffel tower theatre, took a few shots while there:

the incapable government, has now put the tower behind airport security gates. Pathetic...

And then, I had to walk quite a while before I found an open subway station to get home. Sigh...

When we found that out, we spent 1.5 days going through all the presentations they had during the Xmas holidays, and we saw most but not all of the static exhibits:

it is located at the back of the grand palais, an iconic building in Paris

The different presentations were definitely a highlight:

exhibits on magnetism, showing magnets lose their properties when they are too warm

more interesting: stream of liquid gas is susceptible to magnetism

supraconductive material, when cooled sufficiently will stay in a magnetic equilibrium

The museum's high power experiments (static electricity and electro magnets) have been there forever and are always a favourite:

nice generator, 330kV

go big, or go home

induced electric currents from magnetism allow for levitation, and it's hot

There were lots of other exhibit of course:

it's all about density, yes this is real water and a real bowling ball

Multiple sections on animals

the ants exhibit was cool

the queen

termites too

the octopus demo was cool too

it gets to open a jar with a crab inside

and eat the yummy crab

The 2nd day, we came at opening time to see some static exhibits before the presentations started:

We then went to see the excellent supraconductivity:

and then came the time for the full scale maglev demo

a bit of time to cool down the supraconductive magnets

and then it was Jennifer's turn:

There plenty of other presentations:

turning gas into solid

oxygen in the air liquefies first, and causes flammable liquid

safety goggles are for other people :)

they had bucket fulls of liquid gas to play with

After 1.5 days, we didn't quite get the time to see it all, but we made a good dent. The staff and demonstrator were awesome. I'm really sad that this museum will close forever in less tha na year.

The previous year, because of covid and no vaccines, I literally didn't go out at all, or see anything. This year I was triply vaccinated, so I went out to enjoy the city again, plenty of pictures:

nice views from top of Printemps

newer building, not sure what happened there

Printemps was great to see as always:

yum but totally overpriced

Great to meet some of my friends for lunch while I wsa there:

Arc de triomphe:

I went to arche de la défense to check out the view and the Xmas market:

The top of the arch has a small expo each time, this time photos:

I then went to the Xmas market (remembering that it closes at 18:00 on the last day, but 20:00 on previous days). So many yummy things:

so yum

I was weak and got a seared foie gras sandwich

those bottles were beautiful

look at the patterns blown inside the glass!

Random pictures while walking around in Paris:

the flower market is always nice

that weird building again, I'm not sold

cartoons showing the rebuild

we shall rebuild!

it rained many days, but not every day

After doing the Xmas market at arche de la défense, I did the one by jardin des tuileries:

yeah, I didn't have of those, fixed :)

Oh yeah, I also went shopping for the essentials. The entire row of cookies fell from the shelf into my cart :)

that's why I shop for chocolate in france :)

Back another day for some night pictures:

While I was in Paris, I also saw (click on the links):

And thankfully I managed to avoid catching covid for long enough to fly home, it was a close one:

'Adieu les cons' is a fun movie :)

Musée Méliès was really good given how pioneering and famous this French cinematographer, was, especially as he can be said to be the first real one, and with so much success.

The museum does a great job recounting his life, inventions, and firsts, including how he built his cameras based on the frères Lumière's work who didn't believe their own invention would be worth anything:

There were multiple screens showing some of his early short movies:

even then, some of the movies were hand colorized, frame by frame

the whole story board for 'voyage vers la lune'

He built an entire studio, the first one, in Montreuil:

Really cool visit (and we got lucky to have a guide walk by and give us nice explanations). After we were done, we went to see a different expo on Jean Paul Gaultier, the famous French fashion designer, and how his work got into many movies (including 5th element):

They had cool indoor displays:

The castle had timed entry and very nicely decorated rooms:

nice 3D video mapping

very nicely done show

After the visit, I went to walk the grounds to the end back (long walk, almost 1H):

sun started setting on my walk back

Finally it was time for the night show with more video 3D mapping on the castle, very nice:

Very nice castle with very good decorations, well worth the visit.