La Ville de Lumiere- The City of Lights. Paris again..

...Eiffel,  from Palais de Chaillot.

 To start with, The history of Paris seems straight out of Asterix comix ;)

Circa 52BC: Julius Caesar's legions took control of the Gaulish fishing hamlet by the Seine,
settlements of the Celtic tribe called Parisii with wattle and daub huts. Centuries of conflict between the Gauls and Rome ended. There the Romans built a provincial capital, Lutecia. The Roman town came to be known as Paris after the first settlers.
[Another Roman settlement of Londinium was established by the Thames in Britanny, nearly a century later. So Paris seems to be an older city than London ! :) ]

>..>>Ad in a Metro Station... >..>>

Am happy to be back. Last weekend was too short a trip to explore, as one full day was just for the Tour de France experince.. had to return without even attampting to scratch the surface of what Paris has to offer. This week, though made an attempt in 3days, still don't feel that I've even scratched the surface ! :) There's SO MUCH to do. Not sure if there is any other place on earth which will leave you with such a feeling. It's sso bloody charming. Someone said, if there's a Godess of Nostalgia, she ought to be French!! Well, here they celebrate the human spirit with such a panache, that the memories will leave you always wanting for more, wanting to come back. Starting with their language, the French seems to have that magical touch, making the everyday things look appealing- wonder if there are better masters of that art. And talking about Art, it's such an unimaginably rich treasure trove that you'll easily be lost in the vastness, the moment you step into that world- and you don't need to be a connoisseur to sense that. Their special taste in art and finer things in life is tangible for an outsider, in the sights, sounds and smells around.
I've always wondered why and how Paris was once The Ultimate destination for the artistes, wannabes and literati. That evoked quite some interest and I've been waiting to once experience the place to see if there's still vestiges of that aura, and to find out if that can actually be sensed by someone who has only a general interest in art and is not per se an artist :) . I have only got an intuitive answer for that- probably the artists would find many likeminded souls. But that's just a superficial understing. Am in search of an insightful answer. Hemingway's "A Moveable Feast", supposed to be portraying bohemian life in Paris, might have the answer. I better grab a copy.

More photos ..>>.>>..


Paris by Night



...Palais de Chaillot- from Eiffel.

Arc de Triomphe- from Eiffel...

...The Moulin Rouge. Paris icon and cabaret venue.
Sparkling Eiffel. The Light Show..

Viva Lance, Viva Le Tour de France!

Watching on Large Screen near the finishing point, Lance Armstrong cycling into Paris for the final leg

Waiting for the Champions of one of the toughest endurance tests in the world!, to arrive, for the final sprint to Finish, at Champs-Élysées

It's been an amazzzing experience of Le Tour de France, watching Lance Armstrong, the super-athlete demi-god of cycling, in flesh n blood, donning the race leader's yellow maillot jaunne jersey, in action during the finishing stage on Avenue des Champs-Élysées, the major thoroughfare where Parisians head for national celebrations, the tree-lined 2.2km long straight cobble-stone road radiating from the Arc de Triomphe. The name Champs-Élysées means "Elysian Fields", the ancient Greek heaven for heroes!- whatta place to crown a True Hero and Champion!. It was thronged by crowd from many parts of the world, with a whole lot of americans to cheer one of their greatest sporting heroes, most have come to France especially for the race. Some were wearing the "Live Strong" yellow arm band of the Lance Armstrong

Avenue des Champs-Élysées : from  end,the Place de la Concorde;  Arc de Triomphe seen at the other end, 2km away. One of the most famous Avenues in the world

Though the planned trip to Paris with friends is for last weekend of Jul, I couldn't resist the pull to be there to experience and capture the moments of the finishing few kilometers of Tour de France. So it turned out to be another solo trip. Had picked a Lonely Planet guide from Surrey library which made the roaming and picking and choosing the spots to go, look sso easy.

I had almost lost that book in a Velo (cycles/cycling accessories) shop when I left it behind and as they were downing the shutters, the sales lady came running to me on the street some 50yards to hand over the book. While at the shop i was talking to her in English and she could speak only French, even the prices, it was interesting :) Later she would get it translated from some other guys there. I bought an electronic speedo-odo-meter with some other features like avg, max speeds, comparison etc. Well, it was one of those gizmo hunting spree times. For sometime, I was in a spell, admiring some €1000+ bikes :). Huh!. In that shop, met a couple Mr and Mrs Pierre, whom I requested for permission to click a pic as she was trying out a cycle. They readily obliged. Sitting on the bike, she was smiling, asking, "why ?, do you think we look like typical French ?". They went curious about my whereabouts. India lit up their face and started asking more. They have French friends who live in Pondicherry. I mentioned to them about the French of Mahe in Kerala which is now a Union Territory and part of Pondicherry administration.

Though with a Lonely Planet for Paris, I couldn't do much of exploring (for that have to wait for one more week for the next trip), since the whole of Sunday was for the race experience and nothing else. Saturday, had plans for going to the city of Saint-Etienne in south-central France for the penultimate day's individual time-trials (which Armstrong won; it is one of only the two stage in which he 'finished' first this year), the plan was busted cos of the lack of time/ sleep, late arrival etc.

Sunday morning. There's overnight rains. Reached Champs-Élysées by 10:30. Ended up buying a whole lot of souvenirs from umbrella, caps, T's, keychains etc.. Canary/yellow was the color of the day, all over the place with people wearing the ponchos, caps, T's and carrying umbrellas while waiting for hours in the drizzle.

Before 9:00 crowd started gathering for kilometers along the Champs-Élysées to get a place next to the pedestrian barrier, though the day's 144km race was to start only at 1:30, from a town CORBEIL-ESSONNES some 80km south of Paris, and the last 50km would be doing 8 laps on Champs-Élysées doing the round-about of Arc de Triomphe at one end. By the time the cyclists finish, they would have covered 3608 km in 21 stages in 3 weeks! (- 9 flat stages, 3 medium mountain stages, 6 mountain stages, 2 individual time-trial stages, 1 team time-trial stage). Gosh, it must be the ultimate endurance test on earth!!

It was very tough, finding a vantage point to shoot and to be able to keep the tripod.
Thankfully, after an hour of reconnaissance mission, got a decent place to view; just to stand- for a while conveniently not thinking about the camera, feeling reasonably ok to get a view a bit angular to the road where we can see the road upto some distance, rather than standing and just staring to the opposite side of the road like most places along the road. Luckily I's next to a generous German pair who had come to Paris to support their hero Jan Ullrich (who reached number three) and the T-mobile team. They were wearing the T-mobile caps of the team-color purple and white. He readily agreed to hold the place for me as I went shopping for souvenirs.
While in queue to buy the souvenirs, watched on big-screen as Lance and mates pedal-pushed to Paris, in the Tour's 21st and final leg, from Corbeil-Essonnes, started as it has done the past six years - with Armstrong in the yellow jersey. Midway through the race, holding a flute of champagne, he toasted teammates as he pedaled into Paris, held up seven fingers, and smiled for the cameras. It was still drizzling. Later, he almost had a mishap when three of his teammates slipped and crashed while negotiating a bend shortly before they crossed the River Seine. Riding behind, Armstrong skidded but stayed in his saddle.
As they entered the city limits, I went back to the place held for me by the German.

But the toughest part was to be able to shoot- The crowd, tree-lined boulevard, and the sheer pace of the cyclists who could reach 60kmph, and the fact that I wanted closer shots with 300mm lense, and to fire in continuous shooting mode (hoping at least 1 in 10 frames might get at least 1 cyclist in it to look for ;) which means have also to attach the cable-release so that I don't touch the camera to click and cause it to shake.. and on top of it all, it was low-light conditions with drizzle, except for the last 3-4 minutes of the race when even the sun decided to have a peek at the podium and Champs-Élysées.
Now I just hope I got the Lance and the discovery team doing the victory lap..

Lance Armstrong and his Discovery Channel team doing the victory lap

Well am waiting for the slide film to get processed, keeping my fingers crossed.

When the race ended, the police cordoned off more than 50m of the area near the finish/podium so that people can only move out of the area and not towards it, couldn't go near to click Lance lifting the trophy for the-7th-year-in-a-row, but could only hear him.. He gave a parting at "the people who don't believe in cycling, the cynics and the skeptics" who suspect that doping is rife in the grueling sport and fueled his dominance....

“I’m sorry for you. I’m sorry you don’t believe in miracles. But this is a hell of a race,” he said. “You should believe in these athletes, and you should believe in these people. I’ll be a fan of the Tour de France for as long as I live. And there are no secrets — this is a hard sporting event and hard work wins it.”

"Vive Le Tour, forever!" he said, arms raised in the air one final time.

...Eiffel,  from Palais de Chaillot

Le Tour de France!

Le Tour de France , The World's biggest annual sporting event..
.. here's.. more about it / more insights
..and the interesting story of its origin

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sportacademy/hi/sa/special_events/cycling/newsid_3997000/3997211.stm
I've been following this year's action.. and If I follow my instincts, I have to be in Paris this weekend to watch the ultimate stage on Champs Elysees and to catch a glimpse of Lance Armstrong in action !

France! Rouen, Capital of Normandy

La Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Rouen, which survived WWII bombing.
Statue of Virgin and Child (1777) in a chapel inside the 13th century gothic Cathedral. This marble 'Altar dedicated to Our lady of Vow' (Autel de Notre Dame du Vœu), commemorates the vow made by the people of Rouen to avert the plague (much feared since The Black Death in Europe, 1347-'50, in which one-third of the population of Europe died). "The statue of the Virgin, a much esteemed sculpture by Felix Lecomte (1737-1817). This altar has retained the name autel da væu (or the altar of the vow) since 1637, on account of a grand procession, which took place at that time, to obtain the cessation of the plague. The procession, in reentering the church stopped before this altar, on which the civic authorities placed a silver lamp, weighing forty marks" [From 'Rouen : Its History & Monuments': http://www.gutenberg.org/files/18740/18740-h/18740-h.htm ]

Rouen, the pre-Roman historic port-city in Northern France, is on a meander of River Seine, is the capital of Haute-Normandie (Upper Normandy, one of the 26 Régions in France) , halfway between Channel Tunnel and Paris.

At the end of WW2, in connection with the Allied troops' Dday landing at Normandy, Rouen was severely hit by collateral damages due to bombing (against the German-occupied France) was aimed at the destruction of all the bridges on the Seine, but that hit too large a part of the town, mostly close to the river.. Including The Cathedrale Notre-Dame, Place du Vieux Marché etc... In many parts of the city, extensive restoration had to be done.

It was at Rouen, Joan of Arc was burnt alive. (Jeanne d'Arc, Born 1412, at Domremy in Champagne- Died 1431, at Rouen and later declared as the French National Heroine)
An uneducated peasant girl, she commanded the French Royal Army at the age of 17, after gaining approval of the Duke and Church scholars of Orleans that she had a call from The Saints to liberate her land from the English invaders and take the duke to the throne. She led the army, defeated the English and helped reinstate the French ruler in Orleans.

She was captured by the Burgundians (pro-English rival faction of the French Royal family) handed over to the English, was imprisoned and sentenced to be 'burnt at the stake' for heresy.

At Place du Vieux-Marché (The Old market place) where she's was executed, there is a large cross and a modern Church of St Joan of Arc (Eglise Sainte Jeanne d'Arc)

Cathédrale Notre-Dame, The Cross silhouette

Cathédrale Notre-Dame, Mass


Cathedral, Medieval Stained Glass Art



Cathedral, Prayer Candles

The highlight of the trip was the attempt to capture the amazing and very impressive late-night light-show at the Notre Dame Cathedral, "The Cathedral, from Monet to Pixels", in which the patterns/colours inspired from the Impressionist painter Claude Monet's series of paintings of the Cathedral's façade are projected onto the enormous façade.


Light show on the cathedral facade, "The Cathedral, from Monet to Pixels"

Cathedral, Gothic Patterns


@2am: Restaurant in Place du Vieux-Marché
Travels-Shop-Window : Lure of L'Inde

Haute Couture


Shop-Window: Square Deals !


SignPost by the River Seine : Whither you go from here ??....

**

The Virgin-and-Child photo is as is! (as captured by the camera,
Light conditions were good enough and frame simple, that
I could get the color-in-B/W effect I wanted, though I
wished for more light to fall on flowers for even
better contrast; being a holy place, didn't want to
touch/move it )

The place/Cathedral was a shutterbug's paradise-
to shoot it both Color n B/W!, more than enough to
quench the thirst for either.. and I don't feel that I
did justice to the possibilities and opportunity that
came my way.
Unfortunately, didn't have enough time and also
had to wait for the Sunday Mass to finish, to move
around.

The cathedral is really awe-inspiring ! For the
pious, I felt it would be instantly inspiring, the
moment one steps in.. You can feel it in the ambience.
May be it's the awe-inspiring structure, natural
lighting-and-acoustic effects and antiquity..

After the Mass dispersed and everything became quiet,
a very soft choir music was turned on in the
background.. with that added, walking on the side
aisles, with that soft sound reverberating with special acoustic effects of the tall church,
 it really struck a chord very deep, something
very evocative, much more than any church ambiance had
ever evoked.
Sad part was that, with so little time and so much
more to shoot became very hectic, couldn't sit and
savour it all as much as I wanted.

But ah well, life's like that :)
When you are in B/W mood, it might throw so much colour,
and when you are in colourful mood inside,
outside, it might make things look B/W, shades of
Gray. :)