Taking the hispeed train, the Thalys, again to Paris for a visit of a few days. A remake of 5 years ago, as in 2016 a lot did not work out for me and I found the French were horrific.
The main objective then was to visit three photo museums and walk about afterwards, wherever our tired feet would take us. Each day a different photo museum, three full days. Two I found closed, no info about their opening times up to date.
Each day marred by some disappointment or French frustration.

So this time we double checked the opening times of the museums I intended to visit, both on the english- as well as the french web pages. Also of course for admittance conditions, with the Covid-19 pandemic still raging.

On my list this time I had 3 photomuseums. In spite of our preparations I found one, Jeu de Paume closed, their opening times not adjusted to the end of their main exhibition. Yes, the French are notoriously inefficient and in general they could not organise themselves out of a paper bag.
Evidently one should be prepared for disappointments and frustrations when visiting France, it wasn't the first time this happened to me in France.

But except Jeu de Paume, I found everything worked out wonderfully well! And I was never insulted or ignored this time by the French, I even found more people willing and able to speak some English.
The French as a hospitable nation, who would have thought!

The weather was fantastic during our trip (same length and time of year as in 2016), I took a shitload of photos (as you will find), bought fantastic photobooks (15 in all shapes and sizes), found the people cheerful, in short: the world breathed a sunny 'joie de vivre'...
Hope you enjoy my report.

We stayed in the Waldorf Hotel (no, not THE Waldorf..) in Montparnasse

The landmark building on the Rue du Départ, right across our hotel.
In 30 minutes we travelled on the <4> subway line from Gare du Nord and
surfaced, after 14 quick stops, about 60 meters from our hotel. Such pleasant convenience.

We stretched our legs in the area and suddenly found ourselves in front of the
Falstaff Bar where 5 years ago we also had our first drinks (Guinness!) on the 1st day.

As at home we found that bars and restaurants had received permission to create a (larger) terrace outside, due to the
Corona lockdown measures. This photo shows the nearby Rue du Montparnasse, which has a lot of crêpery restaurants.

Crepes, delightful don't you think?

A cool guy on a warm evening in the city

The nearby Rue de la Gaité. Indeed an area with plenty of gaiety!

Same area in Montparnasse. Le Tournesol was our regular watering hole in 2016 but this year we tried different venues

Graffiti ('Urban Art') always catches my attention.

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The Brasserie À Saint-Malo is located on the Rue du Départ, between our hotel and the subway entrance.

Also near our hotel, on the square where Rue d'Odessa, Rue du Montparnasse and Rue Delambre meet; plenty
of bars and restaurants here to choose from. A very nice area for drinks and dining but no need to look for
bookshops, galleries, and such. But with the subway nearby all can be reached in mere minutes.

'Place Joséphine Baker': last august the American-born French performer Joséphine Baker received the honour to
enter into Paris' Panthéon mausoleum, making her the first black woman to do so in France.

The Montparnasse shopping mall was a distinct disappointment, with many if not most shops boarded up.

A few images of pretty good accommodation in Paris, but as you will see
my photography was mostly aimed at different subjects.

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Le Jardin du Luxembourg, Paris

We traversed the Luxembourg Gardens. The morning light was wonderful, with some of that early autumn haze.

People in the Luxembourg Gardens; it had a pleasant, quiet atmosphere.

#OnReading

Perhaps waiting for others to join them in a game of pétanque.

#OnReading
This is a theme for me in photography: people reading (printed) books, newspapers, in the public domain.

Panthéon, 18th-century mausoleum with colonnaded facade, housing remains of notable French citizens.
But it isn't the majestic building that 'makes' this picture for me...

Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris, the repair will be ongoing for years.

We followed the river Seine

Pictures like these always make me think of the Otis Redding song, (Sittin' on) the Dock of the Bay.

Nasrin Sotoudeh is a human rights lawyer in Iran. She has represented imprisoned Iranian opposition activists and politicians following the disputed June 2009 Iranian presidential elections, as well as prisoners sentenced to death for crimes committed when they were minors. Her clients have included journalist Isa Saharkhiz, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi, and Heshmat Tabarzadi. She has also represented women arrested for appearing in public without a hijab, which is a punishable offence in Iran. In 2021, she was named as of Time's '100 Most Influential People in the World'. Sotoudeh was arrested in Sep.2010 on charges of spreading propaganda and conspiring to harm state security and was imprisoned in solitary confinement. In Jan.2011, Iranian authorities sentenced Sotoudeh to 11 years in prison, in addition to barring her from practicing law and from leaving the country for 20 years. Later that year, an appeals court reduced her sentence to 6 years and her practice ban to 10 years. In June 2018 she was again arrested, and on 12Mar19 sentenced to jail in Tehran, after being charged with several national security-related offences. While a Tehran judge told the Islamic Republic News Agency she was imprisoned for s7 years, it was reported by other sources that the maximum sentence included 10 years in prison and 148 lashes, along with 6 other verdicts and sentences totalling 38 years bundled together... However, the sentence was reduced later to 10 years total. She is still in Gharcheck (Qarchak0 Prison) as of July 2021. [Wikipedia]

#1 Artist along the Seine River (@Pont du Neuf)

#2 Artist along the Seine River (@Pont du Neuf)

I knew I was going to buy a lot of photobooks so this time I did not trouble to browse these stalls for a lucky find.

The Louvre. A visit was not high on my list of priorities and we did not get round to it.

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Le Jardin des Tuileries

Entering the Tuileries Garden

#OnReading

#OnReading
I shoot these images to 'promote' the reading of printed books. There is something more
about printed books than e-books and reading on a smartphone in my opinion. Just something I do.

#OnReading

#OnReading
Famous photographers have published books on reading in the public domain: André Kertész, Steve McCurry
and currently also the New York-based photographer Lawrence Schwartzwald. And me!

#OnReading

I came away with the distinct feeling that people in Paris smoked a lot more than at home, it was much more common.

Statues in the Tuileries Garden

I did not come for iconic sites such as the Arc de Triomphe and the obelisk on
the Place de la Concorde, but this photo has that little extra..

Well, I was at a bit of a loss here as I found the doors closed of the Jeu de Paume... The opening times were not
amended for the end of a major exhibition, so we had walked for a long time to find a typical French disappointment.
A photo of the Eiffel Tower in the distance is only a small consolation.

Games of pétanque in the Tuileries Garden

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View on the Arc de Triomphe from the Place de la Concorde.
Two weeks later it was completely wrapped in silver and blue fabric, in a tribute to the late artist couple Christo
and Jeanne-Claude, who conceived the project in 1961.

Porte Saint-Martin on the Boulevard Saint-Martin

View down the Rue du Faubourg Saint-Denis on the Porte Saint Denis (on the Boulevard St Denis).
This 17th-century landmark monument with intricate carvings was the 1st of Paris' triumphal arches.

Not all is glitter and glamourous on the boulevards in Paris

I saw a relation in the signs, walking, to the woman who walked feebly with a support

Is he watching me, or her?

Nice cobblestone street

To do with hair..

No hair!

 

My first ever visit to the Fondation Henri Cartier-Bresson, on 79 Rue des Archives!

Eugène Atget, the 'Voir Paris' exhibition presented at the Fondation Henri Cartier-Bresson (HCB)
I knew of his work, I have a photobook of his photographs, but such a fine experience to see them displayed here.

A fine tribute, worthy of a closer look. More of him and his work on my Paris 2021 Page 3.

A first selection of photobooks was purchased here in the bookshop, a good start.

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She keeps a close watch on what I am up to...

The homeless. I rather photograph an empty spot than the person in all his or hers misery; the empathy is the same.

Underpass of the Périphérique and Porte de Saint-Ouen

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Puces de clignancourt marché

Nothing much seems to open in Paris before 11:00, but here it worked out for me because now I could see the graffiti.

More on #Graffiti on my Paris 2021 Page 2

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Walking down on Av. de la Porte de Saint-Ouen

Plenty of bread for these pigeons

Le petit monseigneur having his coffee.. (no, it belongs to his father, talking to someone else)
The terrace was occupied with a lot of men, of Turkish (?) ethnicity. We were the only ones not served water
with their coffees. On purpose I suspect. Wtf?

A market with a clear ethnicity as clientele. A marketstall owner objected to my photography, but I got my pix.

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