Thursday 9 October 2008

Paris - Day 2 : La Défense 1






As the new day sprung, over the waters of the Seine and the city beckoned us to invade it, there were more things to do and people to see.

Paris is not a passive city. One must hit the Boucherie, the Boulangerie and the Fromagerie, pour faire ses courses.

One must laugh and chatter with barge operators and taxi drivers and just anyone who happens to be there, wherever one finds oneself.
Et, il faut qu'on trouve le meilleur croissants pour le petit déjeuner.

And that is what life lends to a new day. Food, people and chatter.
La joie d'un nouveau jour est la vie elle-même.

We set out à pied, - on foot - and raced around madly to places that were imperative to be seen. Firstly the tram from Les Milons the La Grande Arche.

Crossing over the footbridge, La Passerelle de l'Avre from Boulogne to Saint-Cloud, we were able to see the panorama of the Seine with its myriad of river craft, the city and La Défense in the northern background. And what a warm sunny and exhilarating day it was.

Le tram, - an ALSTOM Citadis 300 - plucked us away from the clean and modern stop and flew us smoothly from Les Milons to La Défense where we alighted for what was to be a stunning experience, yet just one of many.

6 comments:

claude said...

Nice photos M Benaut !

Nathalie H.D. said...

"La joie d'un nouveau jour est la vie elle-même."

Your French is so wonderful. I couldn't have used better words.

:-))))

Nathalie H.D. said...

I know la Défense well, my parents (my mother now) live at Pont de Neuilly, just on the other side of the bridge. I was there just a couple of weeks ago. Isn't this perspective to the Arc de Triomphe gorgeous?

However I knew nothing about the tram from St cloud to la Grande Arche, that's fantastic!

M.Benaut said...

Merci Claude. Il y a ainsi beaucoup de photographies pour vous montrer avant que nous atteignions le Département 72.
J'espère qu'il y aura beaucoup de plaisir pour vous, ici.

That was a very nice thing to say, Nathalie.
Il semble que j'ai eu deux expériences semblables à Avignon, en fait je suis positif.
Je voudrais dire que Dieu du soleil, a souri sur nous à Paris, mais dans le sud de la France il n'était pas nécessaire. Il y avait beaucoup, de meilleurs sourires.
J'ai les photos qui prouveront ceci ! !

The view to the to the Arc de Triomphe was wonderful, but the view to the Tour Eiffel was on the same grid as the Tour Montparnasse in the background.
So much of Paris follows grid lines but perhaps this one was accidental.
The tram trip from Saint-Cloud to la Grande Arche, was only about 5 kilometres and unfortunately I didn't know where to buy a billet. It would have made a nice souvenir !!

Cheltenhamdailyphoto said...

That lady looks so restful, there...

Kate said...

Love the barges. One of my favorite books about the Seine is _The Secret Life of the Seine_ by Mort Rosenblum. Read it; you'll like it!