Thursday, May 2, 2019

Day 1 Gate 1 - May 1 Paris

May 1 2019 - Paris France

DAY 1, May 1 Wednesday - Depart for France 
Depart for France
Gate 1 Day 1 is really a travel day from North America with an overnight flight.
We have the day to ourselves.

Since it is a big holiday today, International Workers' Day and we were tired from yesterday we slept in. We knew most things would be closed so we would take it easy.

After a late breakfast we headed towards what I thought would be the Okuda mural I wanted to see...

Always busy around the Eiffel Tower, I don't know how these vendors make a living.

The tower has been surrounded by a plexiglass fence. You can no longer enter the grounds within the fence unless you have tickets or reservations.




We took our first photos in 2012 from the Trocadero.



Crossing the Alma Bridge we can see the Russian Holt TRinity Cathedral and the Tower.




The Pont d’Alma was first constructed during the reign of Napoleon III, however, it was completely reconstructed in the 1970s and only one original statue remains today on this bridge over the River Seine close to where Princess Diana lost her life while in Paris.

We went through the tunnel the other day on our way to L'Atelier.

At the north end of the bridge, there is a statue called the Flamme de la Liberte, or Flame of Liberty, which has become an unofficial memorial to Diana where wreaths and flowers are still placed at the base today.




Le Crazy Horse Saloon or Le Crazy Horse de Paris is a Parisian cabaret known for its stage shows performed by nude female dancers and for the diverse range of magic and variety 'turns' between each nude show and the next.

The Paris Crazy Horse occupies former wine cellars (12 in all which have been knocked together) of an impressive Haussmanian building at 12 Avenue George-V (from the British king George V, in French "George Cinq").

Alain Bernardin opened it in 1951 and personally operated it for decades until his death by suicide in 1994.



After a dead end finding our mural (the address was a restaurant)!


Plaza Athénée Hotel at 25 Avenue Montaigne
€1,107 a night for this 5 star hotel.




All the high end boutiques lined this street. 


I did not know what to expect when I googled this sidewalk plaque I found, but it was not this.


Callot Soeurs opened in 1895 at 24, rue Taitbout in Paris, France. It was operated by the four Callot sisters: Marie Callot Gerber, Marthe Callot Bertrand, Regina Callot Tennyson-Chantrell and Joséphine Callot Crimont.

The eldest sister, Marie, was trained in dressmaking, having earlier worked for Raudnitz and Co., prominent Parisian dressmakers, and they were all taught by their mother, a lacemaker. The sisters began working with antique laces and ribbons to enhance blouses and lingerie. Their success led to an expansion into other clothing.

In 1897, Joséphine committed suicide.



We soon saw heavy police presence and then streets and parks closed off.





The Palais de la Découverte ("Discovery Palace") is a science museum located in the Grand Palais, in the 8th arrondissement on Avenue Franklin D. Roosevelt.

The museum was created in 1937 by Jean Baptiste Perrin (awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics, 1926) during an international exhibition on "Arts and techniques in modern life". In 1938 the French government decided to convert the facility into a new museum, which now occupies 25,000 square metres within the west wing of the Grand Palais (Palais d'Antin) built for the Exposition Universelle (1900).






By the time we reached the corner and the river we were diverted to the other side by police.

So we decided it was time for a glass of wine in the sunshine under the Pont Alexandre III.









The Basilica of Saint Clotilde (Basilique Ste-Clotilde) is a basilica church  located on the Rue Las Cases, in the 7th arrondissement. It is best known for its imposing twin spires.
Due to the holiday it was not open.





We got back to the hotel and our schedule was posted for the next few days.






Overnight Paris
Mercure Paris Centre Tour Eiffel




Links to previous posts about this trip:

April 27-28 Toronto to Paris
April 29 Paris
Love Locks
Russian Orthodox Holy Trinity Cathedral
April 30 Paris












1 comment:

  1. That basilica is a surprise- I can't recall if I've ever heard of it before.

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