Posts from the ‘Paris’ Category

Jan 6

on looking for the vanishing point

1 : a point at which receding parallel lines seem to meet when represented in linear perspective
2 : a point at which something disappears or ceases to exist —Merriam Webster Dictionary

A vanishing point is a point on the image plane of a perspective drawing where the two-dimensional perspective projections (or drawings) of mutually parallel lines in three-dimensional space appear to converge. —Wikipedia

Mary Berry, an English non-fiction writer, arrived in Paris on Sunday, March 14, 1802. At 1:00 p.m. the next day, she went to the Louvre. “To give any idea of this gallery is quite impossible,” she wrote.

“You ascend to it (at present) by a commodious plain staircase, and first enter a large square room [the Salon Carré] … lined with all the finest Italian pictures, very well placed as to light. Out of this room you enter a gallery [the Grande Galerie]—such a gallery. But such a gallery!!! As the world never before saw, both as to size and furniture! So long that the perspective ends almost in a point [emphasis mine], and so furnished that at every step, tho’ one feels one must go on, yet one’s attention is arrested by all the finest pictures that one has seen before in every other country, besides a thousand new ones.”

If I want to impress someone when I visit a museum, I will mention the vanishing point in a painting. I will choose a painting with a single vanishing point, maybe one with two, and they are often obvious, and ask, “Have you noticed that this artist has used a single point to focus the elements in the painting?” (Click on any photo to see it larger and in more detail. Cliquez sur une vignette pour l’agrandir.)

Christ_Handing_the_Keys_to_St._Peter_by_Pietro_Perugino

Once I did that while visiting a photography exhibit in southern France. A camera crew happened to be there. As I pointed to this and that in the photo, talking away, and without knowing, I was being filmed. When I looked up and back, I saw what was occurring and someone with the camera crew beckoned me to continue. (Click on any photo to see it larger and in more detail. Cliquez sur une vignette pour l’agrandir.) But wait, there’s more!

Oct 1

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on living in paris with the passe sanitaire during covid-19

30 days have passed since I arrived in Paris, and I have lived with the French government’s Covid-19 regulations.

In order to eat in a restaurant or drink a cafe on a terrace or see an exhibit in a museum or take the train to Marseille, I must show my passe sanitaire or other proof of vaccinations or show that I had a negative test for Covid-19 during the previous three days.

During the first 15 days I used my American issued CDC card, and that worked fine. No rejections. At some restaurants I had the sense my CDC card was their first experience with it, but they did know where to look and noted the date of the second shot.

On September 15 I received finally my passe sanitaire, the official government document with a OR code, for proof of vaccinations. I can present it in several ways. I chose the government application called TousAntiCovid. It is set up to display the OR code for the passe sanitaire.

(The photographs in this post were chosen haphazardly.)

I converted my passe to a PDF file, and I can show that without the government application. Others have printed their passe and offered that. (Click on any photo to see it larger and in more detail. Cliquez sur une vignette pour l’agrandir.)

During the 30 days only two places have not checked it, a restaurant, Café de la Mairie, and a cafe on Butte aux Cailles called Le Diamant. But wait, there’s more!

Sep 29

on always seeing the eiffel tower, more often than not, anyway

The opening shots of the movie scan the skyline of a major city. We will soon see a shot that begins to zoom into a neighborhood or to a building or into a room through a window. But first there is that panoramic shot. Where are we? We see the Eiffel Tower in the distance, and instantly we know we are in Paris.

Notre-Dame and Sacre Coeur are also recognizable to an audience but not with the same certainty as the Eiffel Tower. The shot of the Eiffel Tower has become a cliché.

The Eiffel Tower reminds me of a church steeple. I recall, for example, the steeple on the Notre-Dame cathedral that burned and no longer exists.

In The Discovery of France: A Historical Geography, Graham Robb tells us that the village church steeple would guide travelers from village to village, the spires jutting above the tree line.

“He recounts the epic journeys of mapmakers, scientists, soldiers, administrators, and intrepid tourists, of itinerant workers, pilgrims, and herdsmen with their millions of migratory domestic animals. We learn how France was explored, charted, and colonized, and how the imperial influence of Paris was gradually extended throughout a kingdom of isolated towns and villages.” (Click on any photo to see it larger and in more detail. Cliquez sur une vignette pour l’agrandir.)

It was thanks to those steeples on cathedrals and churches that helped guide those travelers. (Click on any photo to see it larger and in more detail. Cliquez sur une vignette pour l’agrandir.)

Before smart phones and GPS, I used to carry a compass in my pocket. When I would emerge from a metro stop in Paris, I would pull it out and orient myself. (Click on any photo to see it larger and in more detail. Cliquez sur une vignette pour l’agrandir.)

If I could see the Eiffel tower, I knew which way was north, depending on my location in Paris. I would not need the compass. But wait, there’s more!

Sep 28

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on getting high in paris

One of the pleasures of visiting Paris is the opportunity to go high and look around. The favorite and maybe most often chosen option is the Eiffel Tower. Oddly enough, even though I spend a lot of time in Paris, I have not gone up.

Another option and easier to do than the Eiffel Tower is the observation deck at the top of the Montparnasse Tower. And, it is cheaper, too. The views are panoramic and gorgeous. As with the Eiffel Tower one should go on a clear day.

A third option, if manmade constructions are important, would be the Saint-Jacques Tower. It is a is a monument located in the 4th arrondissement of Paris. A reservation is required and some climbing of stairs.

Why not go to the top of the Musée d’Orsay, and from there through some of the windows one can look out over the roof tops toward Sacré-Cœur? The view is panoramic although limited in its scope. (Click on any photo to see it larger and in more detail. Cliquez sur une vignette pour l’agrandir.)

Setting aside the manmade constructions, Paris has plenty of other high points. La Basilique du Sacré-Cœur de Montmartre and the view from the terrace in front of it is spectacular. And, it is free. (Click on any photo to see it larger and in more detail. Cliquez sur une vignette pour l’agrandir.) But wait, there’s more!