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Overview of Paris

History and Architecture


View 2019 Paris - Provence - Barcelona on greatgrandmaR's travel map.

Today our travel agent (Lauren Betenbough with Vacations to Go) has arranged for us to have a 6 hour private tour of Paris. I had been to Paris twice before - once in 1950 and once in 1964, and I had photos which I took from the upper deck of the tour bus.
1964 Brochure_for_tour-Paris

1964 Brochure_for_tour-Paris


For those photos plus the comparison with the ones taken on this trip, go to the end of this post.

But A. had not been to Paris and even though AmaWaterways had scheduled a city tour, I knew from previous experience in Amsterdam that it would be short and less informative one. A. had made a list of the somewhat off the beaten track things that she would want to see.

We dressed to go out for the day on our tour and went down to have breakfast about 8. When we checked in they said free WI-fi and breakfast was included (and the wi-fi has been great).
A picking breakfast items

A picking breakfast items


A. brought me scrambled eggs a sausage, some cheese and a roll, and grapefruit sections cut up nicely in a glass.
Grapefruit sections

Grapefruit sections


They also brought me tea (which I thought might keep me awake although I was afraid it would also make me pee.)
Breakfast after I ate the scrambled eggs

Breakfast after I ate the scrambled eggs


I signed for the breakfast and the price was on the bill but it was zeroed out.
Breakfast charge slip

Breakfast charge slip


Map of Paris on the ceiling of the hotel restaurant

Map of Paris on the ceiling of the hotel restaurant


After breakfast I went out to confront the desk people about having a place to put my glasses and the shower problem. I said I didn't want to move rooms, but he persuaded me that there was a handicapped room on the ground floor that would have a shower instead of a tub and that the bell man would help me move. He also gave me some change for a €10 note. He said we could look at the room when we came back from the tour. He said they were fully booked on Thursday and that was why we couldn't have the room then.

He said the tour guide had called that he would be there and I noticed a man hanging around the lobby dressed in black but didn't know that he was the guide. So A got a paper and I went and sat in the chair in the lobby. About 9:15 the man came over and asked if I was Ms. Beasley and it was our guide Angelo.
A's report on this tour
He had a big black Mercedes SUV type vehicle like the driver from the airport - it would seat six. We put the scooter in the back and I suggested that A sit in front so she could take photos more easily, and we set off. Angelo turned out to be an Italian who lived in Luxembourg as a child so he spoke three languages and he went to the Sorbonne to be a teacher. But all the French teacher candidates got the best schools and he decided he would be better off using his history to be a tour guide.
Patissier as we started on our tour

Patissier as we started on our tour


He looked at A's list and my photos of Paris, but I don't really think he changed his normal tour much. It was a really nice tour and he went over the history of Paris and the architecture and the districts and pointed out all the famous places. At one point he said that if you could drive through the traffic circle at the Arc de Triomphe without having an accident then you were a good driver.
Arc de Triomphe from a car in the Place de l'Étoile

Arc de Triomphe from a car in the Place de l'Étoile


Unfortunately the only view we got of the Arc was from the Place de l'Étoile (now called the Place Charles de Gaulle) and we were too close to get a really good photo.

We went past Les Invalides which was a place built for French soldiers to stay when they were injured, Opera Garnier, the Pantheon, Sainte Chapelle, The Louvre, and the Arc de Triomphe.
DeGaule statue

DeGaule statue


Statue on Pont Alexandre III Bridge

Statue on Pont Alexandre III Bridge

Column with gilded sculpture on the Pont Alexandre III bridge

Column with gilded sculpture on the Pont Alexandre III bridge

Cherub and Lamp Sculpture Decorating the Pont Alexandre III Bridge

Cherub and Lamp Sculpture Decorating the Pont Alexandre III Bridge

Musee de L'Ordre de la Liberation

Musee de L'Ordre de la Liberation


Joseph Gallieni Statue

Joseph Gallieni Statue


I did not know the name of Joseph Simon Gallieni (24 April 1849 – 27 May 1916) but he was a French soldier, active for most of his career as a military commander and administrator in the French colonies. He was recalled from retirement at the outbreak of the First World War. As Military Governor of Paris he played an important role in the First Battle of the Marne, when Maunoury's Sixth Army, which was under his command, attacked the German west flank. A small portion of its strength was rushed to the front in commandeered Paris taxicabs. . He was made Marshal of France posthumously in 1921.
Marie Emile Fayolle statue

Marie Emile Fayolle statue


Marie Emile Foyolle was a World War I hero and eventually a Marshall of France. His statue faces Gallieni's on Place Vauban.
Grand Palais

Grand Palais

Obelisk

Obelisk

Maxim's restaurant

Maxim's restaurant

Umbrella installation

Umbrella installation


This is the entrance to the Village Royal nestled in the 8th arrondissement in one of the streets hidden behind the Madeleine church. Portuguese artist Patricia Cunha set up her world-famous project called “Umbrella Sky Project” here.
L'église de la Madeleine

L'église de la Madeleine

Entrance to the shop of the National Academy of Music

Entrance to the shop of the National Academy of Music

National Academy of Music

National Academy of Music

Emperor's entrance to the Garnier Opera House

Emperor's entrance to the Garnier Opera House

Iranian Bank

Iranian Bank


IMG_1039.JPGBase of the Colonne Vendome

Base of the Colonne Vendome


Police car and cement truck

Police car and cement truck

Sun king's symbol on a balcony

Sun king's symbol on a balcony

Gold fence - Place de la Concorde entrance to the Tuileries

Gold fence - Place de la Concorde entrance to the Tuileries


Angelo let us get out at the Tuileries Garden at the Place de la Concord end and we waited for him to park and then we walked (me on the scooter) up to the Arc de Triomphe de Carrousel. The paths were flat but not very scooter friendly as they were dirt with some gravel and occasional cobblestones.
Tuileries Garden ferris wheel

Tuileries Garden ferris wheel


Fountain in Tuileries Gardens

Fountain in Tuileries Gardens

Map of the Tuileries Garden

Map of the Tuileries Garden

Garden

Garden


Our guide Angelo on the right - Julius Caesar with a pigeon on his head on the left

Our guide Angelo on the right - Julius Caesar with a pigeon on his head on the left


Fountain in Tuileries Garden

Fountain in Tuileries Garden

Statue in the Tuileries Garden

Statue in the Tuileries Garden


Then we waited for him to go get the car from where he had parked it.
Dog walkers

Dog walkers

Clean up people

Clean up people

Souvenir seller

Souvenir seller

Tuk Tuk Ride sign

Tuk Tuk Ride sign

Louvre

Louvre


We waited quite a long time (more than 20 minutes), and I started to get worried about it so I called the number on the tour page and they answered, but he arrived within about 5 minutes of my call and said there was traffic. And there WAS traffic - quite a lot of it.
Accueil Zone Tampon sign

Accueil Zone Tampon sign


We spoke about lunch as it was now after 12 and he said we would go to lunch, but he didn't seem to be making any progress toward actually getting some place where we could eat. I was getting sleepy, and I was also worried about getting to the dinner at the Eiffel Tower on time because the tour was scheduled to be 9-3 and we had to switch rooms and I wanted to take a shower and have a nap.
Galleries Lafayette

Galleries Lafayette


We went by the Galleries Lafayette - I wanted to take A. there but we never got time, or rather I never had the energy
Police Station

Police Station

Univeriste de Paris

Univeriste de Paris


But we continued on. A was taking photos in the sport mode so she was firing off several shots at once. We got to Montmartre
Sex Toys

Sex Toys


and I should have gotten out to take photos from there, but I was very sleepy so I said I would just stay in the car. A went off and had lunch and I ate a roll from breakfast that I had put in my pocket and a little trail mix that was in my pocketbook. They brought me a sandwich which would have been great except that there was savoury stuff in with the ham and you really needed good teeth to bite off a chunk of bread. I could do it, but it was difficult.
Hotel entrance which I can't use because there are three steps

Hotel entrance which I can't use because there are three steps


We got back to the hotel about 3:15 and I tipped the driver €30 plus I gave him $20 to repay him for buying lunch which was not included on the tour according to the printout. I can get to our room without going into the hotel lobby by going straight in through the garden which is on street level - no steps

Then and Now photos - One photo taken 1964 and one taken 2019. The angle is slightly different because in 1964 I was on the top of a double decker bus
Place de Concorde

Place de Concorde


Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel

Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel

Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel

Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel

The Senat in the backgrounds du Luxembourg Gardens

The Senat in the backgrounds du Luxembourg Gardens

Jardin des Grands Explorateurs

Jardin des Grands Explorateurs

L'église de la Madeleine

L'église de la Madeleine

Grand Palais

Grand Palais

Louvre

Louvre

Moulin Radet and the new Moulin Rouge

Moulin Radet and the new Moulin Rouge

Sacre Coeur

Sacre Coeur

Horse statue on Sacre Coeur

Horse statue on Sacre Coeur

Posted by greatgrandmaR 20:59 Archived in France Tagged paris sacre_coeur arc_de_triomphe private_tour fayolle tuileries_gardens then_and_now speaking_french gallieni

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Comments

You got some fine photos on your tour. And I like the idea of juxtaposing old and new photos at the end.

by Nemorino

Nice photos, bring back lots of memories. I love the old and new photos together. That's fun.

by Beausoleil

Good for you GrandmaR! It's a pleasure to see the old and the new in your photos! Makes me miss Paris. Thanks. I look forward to returning to "la Ville lumière". Cheers, lou in Montréal.

by loubess

After following the problems you had identifying photos in the forum it was fun to see the follow up here in your blog. I did enjoy the old and the new photo comparisons.

by littlesam1

I have a lot of fun finding the comparison photos. I think maybe the first time I did it was when I saw a photo of Kazan Cathedral that I took in St. Petersburg (Russia) in 2009 was more or less the same as one my father took in 1970 when it was the Museum of the History of Religion and Atheism

by greatgrandmaR

Great report. I also love looking at the old and new photos side by side. Is that photo on the right really the Moulin Rouge? It looks so different. And I can't find old photos of it that look like that.

by Peter

The photo was labeled as the Moulin Rouge windmill. I have been wrong in the past, but I think that would be something that would be easy to change as it is not made of stone. It was a long time ago

by greatgrandmaR

Well I looked a bit further. I'm quite sure now that it's not Moulin Rouge which did burn down once (1915) but always looked more or less like it does now.

It looks like Moulin Radet. The roof underneath seems different and the bottom boards seem to have been removed but the apartment building you can see in the foreground can also be seen in this photo so I think it's the same one:

https://s23514.pcdn.co/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/rue_lepic_montmartre-1140x1425.jpg

by Peter

Well this is not the first time that I have been wrong. It did not occur to me that there would be more than one windmill on the roof in Paris.

by greatgrandmaR

You had lovely weather for your whistle-stop tour of Paris, and I too like the way you've juxtaposed the old photos with the new. Plus good detective work by Peter on the windmills!

by ToonSarah

Yes Peter was very helpful. We did have nice weather and the van was A/C so even if it was hot it was OK in the car.

by greatgrandmaR

I didn't notice the pidgeon on the statue before you mentioned it!

It has been said several times already but I too like the new and old photos side by side :)

Your granddaughter seems to have good time too!

by hennaonthetrek

Since I had that photo of the pigeon on the statue in Helsinki, I am on the lookout for pigeons. I haven't done it here, but Amelia wrote a blog about the trip too and sometimes I put links to it. This is her account https://ameliaisliterate.home.blog/2019/06/22/trip-report-day-fifteen-je-suis-fatigue/

by greatgrandmaR

The photobombing birds can really make the photo :) yes, I have read your granddaughter blogs too when I have seen the link! :)

by hennaonthetrek

Photobombing isn't the only kind of bombing the birds do LOL

by greatgrandmaR

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