A Grand Moment

Posted in American in Paris, City of Paris, French, Monument, Paris, parisian, Pretty! by pretemoiparis

I had another one of those starry-eyed moments the other night. One of those catch-your-breath-oh-my-god-is-this-really-my-life moments.

I work for the most prestigious luxury house in France, and every year they throw a big event for all their employees in the Paris region. They have a ceremony to handsomely recognize those who have loyally worked for them for 40 or 50 years, and then graciously throw a party for the rest of us. Every year the event is held in some magnificent venue, this year we were told it would be in the Grand Palais.

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15Dec2012

Pretty Paris Pictures – II

Posted in Charming, City of Paris, Monument, Outdoors, Paris, parisian, photography, Pretty! by pretemoiparis

A picture is worth a thousand words, and Paris is worth a thousand pictures..or more…
Here is more of my contribution!
(see my previous pretty Paris picture post here).

Photo : Prête-Moi Paris

Photo : Prête-Moi Paris

24Nov2012

Paris Baroque – Ouverture Magnifique

Posted in Concert, Culture, Holiday, low cost, Monument, Music, nightlife, Noel, Paris, romantic, shows by pretemoiparis

Photo : Prête-Moi Paris

I wrote about it in October, and now it is here : The newest music festival on scene in Paris just opened last night (November 23, 2012) with a beautiful and spectacular concert in the Saint Sulpice church. The Simphonie du Marais directed by Hugo Reyne, played a program of “Sacred Music from Richelieu to Louis XIV” that included Lully, Michel-Richard Delalande, Guillaume Bouzignac and Marc-Antoine Charpentier. They opened with Cantate Domino of Bouzignac, a joyous but saddened song of triumph written about the siege at La Rochelle in 1628. The concert flowed through the pieces by Bouzignac on to a Te Deum by Charpentier. An intermission was granted and then we were rewarded with the Jubilate Deo ombis terra by Lully (1660). The concert climaxed at the end on the Te Deum of Delalande and we were even granted an encore piece!

J’en ai parlé en octobre, et voilà que c’est arrivé : Le tout dernier festival de musique à arriver à Paris s’est ouvert hier soir (Le 23 novemebre 2012) avec un concert spectaculaire dans l’église Saint Sulpice. La Simphonie du Marais sous la direction de Hugo Reyne, a joué un programme des “Musiques Sacrées de Richelieu à Louis XIV” qui incluait Lully, Michel-Richard Delalande, Guillaume Bouzignac et Marc-Antoine Charpentier. Le concert s’est ouvert avec la Cantate Domino de Bouzignac, une chanson à la fois joyeuse et triste écrite sur le triomphe du siège de La Rochelle en 1628. Le concert se poursuivait sur les motets de Bouzignac et vers le Te Deum de Charpentier. Après l’entracte on a pu se délecter sur le Motet pour la Paix de Lully (1660). Le pic du concert est arrivé à la fin avec le Te Deum de Delalande et nous avons même eu le plaisir d’un bis! Continue reading →

5Oct2012

Festival Baroque – Paris

Posted in activity, City of Paris, History, Monument, shows by pretemoiparis

I discovered recently through a friend of Chéri’s that there is a new and first-of-it’s-kind event happening in Paris : a baroque music festival.

It immediately caught my attention and I feel it is imperative to share it with my lovely readers! I will be attending at least one concert from the festival, and if you are in Paris from November 23rd to December 9th I urge you to grab tickets! To listen to quality baroque music in some of the most architecturaly beautiful monumetns in Paris will be quite a treat, especailly as many of the places were meant to have music notes wafting over our heads in the lofty vouted ceilings.

Festival Baroque : YouTube ; Facebook page ; Twitter Continue reading →

28Jul2012

Monuments off the beaten path – Remnants of the wall of Philippe Auguste

Posted in activity, Free, gaullois, Monument by pretemoiparis

Post by Jenny Bailey

Image by : Aura Beckhofer-Fialho

Although you’ll want to check off the major Paris attractions from the old bucket list when in the French capital, be sure to save some time for the less notorious landmarks too, which unlike the Eiffel Tower and Arc de Triomphe, aren’t packed with trails of tourists. Perhaps one of the city’s most overlooked excursions, The Remnants of the Wall of Philippe Auguste is not your typical Parisian landmark and offers its own history within the heart of the city. Continue reading →

4Mar2012

Monuments off the Beaten Path – Église de la Madeleine

Posted in Free, History, Monument, Paris by pretemoiparis

Guest post by Jenny Bailey

Église de la Madeleine, by flickr user Christina

Following on from Part I of monuments off the beaten path, I took a look at another attraction that is less known by most tourists staying in Paris hotels. Dedicated to St Mary Magdalene, L’Église de la Madeleine is a Roman Catholic Church that occupies a commanding position in the 8th arrondissement of Paris. Designed as a temple to the glory of Napoleon’s army, this impressive structure attracts around 600,000 visitors every year.
La Madeleine – as it is most commonly known – is built in a Neo-Classical style with fifty-two Corinthian columns, each 20 metres high, which can be seen around the whole building. The real delights of this building can be seen inside the church though, as the décor is inspired as much by Roman baths as it is by Renaissance artists. At the back of the church stands a statue by Charles Marochetti that depicts St Mary Magdalene being lifted up by angels, which is truly beautiful.
Commissioned in 1757, the first design of the church was by Pierre Contant d’Ivry, with construction beginning in 1764. In 1777 d’Ivry died however, and new designer Guillaume-Martin Couture, decided to start from scratch. He demolished the incomplete construction, basing his new design on the Roman Pantheon.
In 1806 Napoleon made his decision to create a Temple de la Gloire de la Grande Armée (Temple to the Glory of the Great Army) based on the design of an antique temple, so work began once again. After the fall of Napoleon, King Louis XVIII determined that the structure would be used as a church.
Today, masses and other religious services are celebrated daily in the church, as well as funerals and fashionable weddings. In the basement of the church, visitors will find the Foyer de la Madeleine, which is home to a restaurant, open at lunch times from Monday to Friday. The walls of the Foyer are often decorated by French artists and many locals pay a yearly subscription fee of 3 Euros to be able to enjoy a three course meal under the vaulted ceilings.
With many popular hotels nearby, a couple of hours spent perusing this wonderful construction is a great way to spend a morning or afternoon and is also located near one of the most prestigious shoppping quarters of Paris, the rue du Faubourg Saint Honoré. Before hitting the boutiques, tourists will be able to marvel at the stunning architecture as they discover another of the lesser frequented monuments in the capital. It

7Dec2011

Pause Paris

Posted in American in Paris, City of Paris, Monument, Paris, parisian, Pretty! by pretemoiparis

There is the ‘pause café’… ‘pause clope’ … ‘pause sanwich’ … ‘pause pipi’ … and perhaps a myriad of other reasons to take a small break ‘pause’ that the French have turned into a miniature event during the day, or almost.

In addition to all of these little breaks and pauses, I would like to instigate the ‘pause Paris’. A small moment where we stop and marvel at this incredibly beautiful city in which we live. This could be done daily, or even several times a day!

These small moments happen to me randomly, and sometimes I have my camera handy, and try to document them. These little pauses leave me feeling lucky, as lucky as I did on the day I landed here. This city has a way of causing me to catch my breath and say “wow”…

Here are a few of those efforts that I have managed to capture :

19Jun2011

Tour Saint Jaques

Posted in City of Paris, france, Free, History, Monument, Outdoors, Paris, parisian, tourist by pretemoiparis

As long as I had been in Paris, the Tour Saint Jaques had been under scaffolding, and hidden by the screens that cover them. I had no idea what was underneath all that white. A complete mystery to me, I heard that it had been under scaffolding since 2001 waiting for the argument over who was to pay for the restauration to come to a conclusion. Finally in 2007 the tower started to shed it’s heavey coat and reveal it’s gorgeous gothic head.

I was particularly looking forward to seeing whatit looked like, having never seen it. And when it was finally uncovered I was thrilled to see such a gem from the middle ages. It’s been cleaned and has a lovely creamy white color, and sticks out gloriously against the blue sky.

The tower is what remains of a church called Saint-Jaques-de-la-Boucherie which was founded in the 12th century, apparantly ordered by Charlemagne, but this has never been confirmed. The tower was added in the 16th century (flamboyant gothic style, which I find a little odd for that century which was suddenly preoccupied with Italian style architecture and the Renaissance was about to happen, but perhaps the got a discount from an architect who was having a promotion on anything retro styled… It was designed by these three guys : Jean de Felin, Julien Ménart et Jean de Revier.

It seems that this tower held a relic of Saint Jaques, and was a place of pilgrimage. The tower fell under the ownership of the city of Paris in 1836, and in 1862 was classified as a historical monument.

There is a lovely garden surrounding it, where you can sprawl out, or sit under a tree, or snuggle on one of the park benches. You can’t go up the tower, but you can sit in it’s shade and enjoy its beauty.

Access it on rue de Rivoli, in the 4th and on the edge of the 1st arrondissements. the closes metros are Châtelet and Hôtel de Ville.
the square below it is open at 8:00am on weekdays and 9:00am on weekends and holidays. It closes at 8:30pm from May 1st to August 31st. After that date, I am not sure, but I am assuming it closes earlier (probably around sundown).