Arles

August 27, 2015

I spent just a few hours in Arles, and I went to see sites related to the major tourist draws, i.e. Van Gogh and Roman ruins.  (There is more Van Gogh material in my previous blog, leeannshere.blogspot.com, under "A Day Trip to Auvers-sur-Oise".)

The trip to Arles was pretty easy, since the central Avignon train station (not the TVG station) was just a few minutes' walk from my hotel, and I was able to buy my ticket from the machine in the lobby rather than standing in line.  (It helps to have a chip-and-PIN credit card.)  Then I saw a friendly cat not far from the train station in Arles! S/he eventually made a detour into an apartment complex, so I'm hoping that s/he had a home there.

Here is the carousel near the tourist information center (which is a ways from the train station).  From what I have seen, France does carousels well:

Here is a nice little street and cafe:

And here is a street with suspended umbrellas!

I then made my way to one of the Van Gogh-related sites, i.e. the hospital where he stayed while being treated for depression.  It did have a nice garden and was painted in cheerful colors, as the plaque bearing a painting by the artist illustrates:

I then proceeded to the ruins of the Roman theater, which, like the arena shown further below, dates to the first century B.C.  There was actually a performance going on inside (though it doesn't really have an inside):

And here is the arena:

The third photo was taken from inside, after I paid to get in.

The following is my attempt at manually stitching together two photos of the interior (I got very strange results when I tried to use Photoshop's automated stitching):

I then made my way back to the train station, which is very close to the river (the same river that goes through Avignon, i.e. the Rhone).  I was pleased to see these two lions guarding the river:

And here are the noble backsides of their counterparts on the other side!  (Another bridge ruin, it appears, though not as famous as the one in Avignon):

Then it was back to Avignon to prepare for my trip back to Paris the following morning, which again went pretty smoothly.  (I did try to see if I could change my TGV ticket to the upper level, but I gave up on that when the agent gave me the first eye-roll that I have gotten in France upon confessing that I didn't understand clearly what they had just said.  So, that transaction was over.  I think, in any case, I would have had to pay extra to change my seat.)

More adventures in Paris to follow... a bientot !

Back to Paris: Parc de Belleville, Arts et Metiers

August 29, 2015

On my first full day back from Provence, I took the bus out to the Parc de Belleville, in the 20th arrondissement, north of Pere Lachaise... because I had heard there were feral cats there!  It's also a nice park to wander around in.

It's built on a hillside, so there are good views at the top.  That's the Tour Eiffel on the right, the Pompidou Centre near the middle (light blue and red), and that building that no one likes over on the left.  There was also some body movement practice going on; it looked somewhat like Tai chi but involved more groveling.  There were still at it when I came back by this way some time later.

Some more nice landscaping at the top:

Much of the park is more wooded and 'wild' than this, with a network of paved paths going through the trees.  I was beginning to despair of seeing kitties when suddenly I saw a group of about six, being fed by a nice lady who was clearly their 'person'.  I could not really approach them, but she was petting them and getting flops and head-butts.  They all looked happy and healthy.  

I had a little conversation with the woman in French, which went pretty well.  She said she lived nearby and came to the park regularly to feed the cats.  She clearly knew their history, because she pointed out that two "tuxedo" cats who were play-fighting in the bushes were mother and daughter.  I said I had once had a cat like that, and she said she had heard they were unusually intelligent.  ...Around that point, my shyness started to take over, and I was starting to babble a little, so I thanked her for taking care of the cats and said bonne journee.  

I managed to get a couple of pictures of mama kitty:

In the second picture, she had been walking ahead of me on the path for awhile, not racing ahead to escape but clearly not interested in being petted.  Another kitty, a tabby, went zipping by me when I was reading my book (L'Elegance du Herisson) on a bench, but s/he disappeared into the bushes. There were also a couple of orange-and-white bicolors, I recall.  Again, they all looked healthy, which I was pleased to see.

After the park, I headed towards the Place de la Republique, via the Rue du Faubourg du Temple, which takes you through a colorful area with lots of bargain merchandise displayed in front of stores on the sidewalk, as well as this theater:

--not to be confused with the ice skating rink of the same name featured in the film Gigi.  I don't think Gaston and Gigi would have frequented this neighborhood.  (The skating rink used in the film is now the Theatre du Rond-Point on the Champs Elysees.)

So I reached my destination:

There is a bit of graffiti on the statue of lady liberty, but the Place de la Republique is a traditional site for demonstrations.  The largest graffiti does at least express a proper sentiment:

Tu ne tueras pas:  Thou shalt not kill.

My next destination was the Conservatoire National des Arts et Metiers, in the 3rd arrondissement. On the way, I passed this nice looking elementary school ("ecole maternelle"), near the Square du Temple:

Although I've seen "Arts et Metiers" translated as "arts and crafts", a "metier" is more like a trade or occupation.  So it's more like arts and technology, or arts and industry.  According to Wikipedia, the Conservatoire is "dedicated to providing education and conducting research for the promotion of science and industry".  It also "has a large museum of inventions accessible to the public", which perhaps I should visit. 

One industry that was being represented, on a series of posters outside, was space exploration, and in particular women involved in space exploration:

Of course, I liked all of the posters, but I've limited myself to four here.

With respect to the architecture, there is some nice tilework on this section of the conservatory, which was once an abbey:

This marvelous tower, on the other end, was saved from possible demolition by the efforts of Victor Hugo, among others (according to the book Metronome by Laurent Deutsch).

This nearby inscription states that the tower, built around 1140, and the fountain of "vertbois", built in 1712 (which I assume is the green structure at the bottom), were restored in 1882 according to the wishes of "antiquaires parisiens", which means... Parisian antique dealers?  Either I'm misinterpreting, or the antique dealers had a lot of clout.

 In any case, just after I took this photo, a woman came along and gave her dog a drink from the "fontaine du vertbois".   Great to see it serving the citizenry.

Then I finally got to the see Arts et Metiers metro station, which was redesigned in 1994, to commemorate the bicentenary of the Conservatoire, in a style said to be reminiscent of the science fiction works of Jules Verne.  I have read that this really is copper paneling.  (This isn't a great shot, since I just had my phone with me; you can find better images online.)

So, back to the apartment to rest up for more adventures...

Parc Montsouris and Cite Universitaire International (with birds and cats!) (updated)

September 1, 2015

I took the RER down to see Parc Montsouris and the Cite Universitaire International de Paris (CUIP), which adjoins it.  They are on the southern edge of the city, in the 14th arrondissement.  (I was particularly interested in seeing CUIP because it will be the site of the 2016 meeting of the Emily Dickinson International Society (EDIS), of which I am a member.)

A side note about public transit in Paris:  I was reminded the hard way that, on the RER, you must not fold up your ticket after you put it through the entry turnstile, which I was doing on the Metro to avoid confusing new tickets with used ones (which can be nearly identical!).  But on the RER, you usually have to put the ticket through the exit turnstile as well, since the RER goes way outside of the city and can cost much more than the standard price.  Fortunately, I was able to straighten out my ticket enough that it was accepted.  Whew.  I've seen more than one turnstile-jumper, but I would rather not be one.

Proceeding to more pleasant topics:  The Parc Montsouris is a beautiful park.  If you have seen the film "Paris Je T'Aime", you may remember the last segment featuring a postal worker from Denver, a very game woman exploring Paris on her own (like me!).  I believe that the final scene, where she realizes she is in love with the city, was set in this park.

You can see a bit of the little lake in the background of the above photo (about halfway between the tree and the occupied bench).

I was excited to see lots of new (to me) birds in this park.  I later bought a basic bird book and identified this bird as the heron cendre (grey heron):

These photos were taken with my phone, so the resolution isn't great, but good enough for identification in this case.

The gallilule poule-d'eau, with its red face and greenish-yellow feet, I remembered from last year:

and s/he seems to have something to say!

Then there were two beautiful black swans:

There were signs posted making it very clear that one was not to feed the birds, but... I saw two women (just off-camera in the shot below) feeding the swans.  At least they were giving them some kind of grain and not big chunks of bread.  And the swans were very tame and were making adorable little sounds... but still, you shouldn't feed them!  Oh well.  I kept my American mouth shut.

In the background of one of the photos above, you can see these two stripey-headed ducks geese:

That's probably a mallard in the background.  I thumbed through some of the bigger bird books at the bookstore and didn't see these distinctive-looking ducks geese, so perhaps they are domesticated.  I'll keep researching them, as well as this pretty brown and black duck:

Update:  The geese above are the aptly-named bar-headed geese, which come from east Asia.  The handsome duck above appears to be a ruddy shelduck; they are found primarily in Turkey and are apparently rather rare elsewhere in Europe.

In another part of the park, I saw a flicker-like bird foraging in the grass; it eventually flew away.  I couldn't get a picture, but I wrote in my notes "reddish crown, light beige breast, brownish wings and back, yellow rump".  So it was one of these two, the pic cendre (gray woodpecker) or pic verte (green woodpecker) (pictures from www.oiseaux-europe.com):

 

The size and range fit more with the second one, but I think it looked more like the first one... it just didn't have that much red on its head.  Hmm.

I noticed this funny picture on the carousel on my way out.  You see a lot of Parisians walking small dogs.  I wonder if that little girl has a plastic bag in her purse?

Before heading to the campus, I checked out a couple of nice little neighborhoods tucked away near the park.  Yes, there are some detached homes in the city (I'm not sure about this color scheme, though):

and this one was even for sale!:

Another nearby neighborhood (just a few small intersecting streets) was called "Cite des Fleurs". Like the previous area, it had signs saying things like "voie privee", so I wasn't taking pictures indiscriminately.

Another thing I've noticed about these little village-like neighborhoods in the outer areas of the city (I covered a couple in my previous blog) is that cats are more likely to be out and about!

I did get to pet both of these kitties... but then there was a showdown.   

The bigger kitty chased the smaller one a bit, but I didn't see any violence.  

And finally, here are some shots taken on the campus of the Cite Universitaire International de Paris. It should be a nice place to have a conference!

This is a closer view of the same building:

On the way out, I was asked for directions by a young woman, in French... this happens rather often! I was pleased that this time I was able to be of assistance.