Saturday, December 01, 2018

Most Beautiful City in the World

The beauty of Paris has hundreds of years of history! The original of this clock (l'Horologe) dates from
1585, enhanced in 1685, and it was most recently restored in 2012. It's on one of the towers of the Conciergerie,
and gives the name to the Quai de l'Horologe (clock-tower quai) near Notre Dame Cathedral.

Every view of the Seine is magnificent! And yes, they do have scooters.
Paris parks are also full of beautiful surprises, such as this: the Medici
Fountain in the Jardin du Luxembourg.
Sculpture in the Jardin du Luxembourg.
Modern sculpture contributes to the all around wonderful appeal of Paris.
There are hundreds of statues dating from renaissance to modern.
Some people love the Centre Pompidou. Some hate it. I find it very interesting -- great to have a really modern building
for one of the world's best modern art collections.
The Stravinsky Fountain near the Centre Pompidou -- built 1983,
created by painter Niki de Saint Phalle and sculptor Jean Tinguely.
I also like the wall mural nearby and the ancient church (Saint Merry).
The defacing graffiti, not so much.
Even ordinary buildings have amazing art work incorporated into them.
The selection above is a bit eccentric. The great architecture and sculpture seen on the streets of Paris is so often one's focus that the small details, which make it the most beautiful city I've ever seen, are ignored. Paris today is also full of street art, including large, well-planned murals, smaller images, and outright graffiti. Taggers "decorate" some of the metro cars, semi-political art works on paper are glued onto blank walls, and so on. Here's a selection without much comment:



Graffiti on the funicular station on Montmartre.
Miriam and Alice liked this one!









9 comments:

Jeanie said...

Wonderful, thoughtful post. And boy, what a good eye you have! With the street art pix you are reminding me of some of the Peter's Paris posts -- looking up, around all the time and finding the most remarkable thing. I wish I'd seen that clock! That's a stunner.

I've never been all that fond of the Pompidou (which reminds me of a habitrail) but I do love the Stravinsky Fountain outside Saint Merry and the mix of old and new, which sometimes bugs me but in this case, enchants. (The fountain has been good to me -- one of my better-selling note cards is a b/w of that treble clef!)

Beautiful views (and I can see why the girls liked that one -- I do too!)

Pamela said...

Wonderful photos! I've only been to Paris once, but I would like to go again. So many things to see...

dee Nambiar said...

It's not very often we see posts on Paris' street art.
There's quite a bit of graffiti there. And some good work that might have looked nice if they were bigger.

Sami said...

That clock is stunning Mae and the modern sculpture at Rue Saint Martin is very nice too.
You found lots of the beautiful bits and pieces that make Paris a great city.
Thanks for contributing with a vast choice :)

kwarkito said...

I see there landscapes very close to my home (I live near Montparnasse) or which are familiar to me (rather left bank). Sometimes I try to walk around Paris as if I were a stranger, and sometimes I see things I hadn't seen before. And then, depending on the season, Paris is so changing. Have a nice week

Tom said...

...WOW, what a feast of visual delights!

Iris Flavia said...

So much beautiful art!
I love especially the guy who makes "pssst", having his finger on his lips.
It´s over 30 years that I´ve been to Paris, oh, my!

Klara said...

nice selection.

Karen (Back Road Journal) said...

There really is no other city like Paris, it is such a treat to visit. You could spend a lifetime there and not see all the beauty.