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| The area around the Paris hotel where we stayed in May is inhabited by a number of large bears. I don’t know what this mother bear is called, but we did see another one named Gwendolyn. The bears seem perfect for sharing with Paris in July! |
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| The unnamed bear and her cub were enjoying their table at a sidewalk cafe. When we passed by later, they weren’t there any more. |
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| Aside: Gustave Caillebotte painted “The Boulevard Seen from Above” in 1880. I find it fascinating that the trees in Paris still are protected by the same type of grates. |
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| What the bears can see: school children crossing the boulevard. In French, nounours is the word for teddy bear. These are “Les nounours des goblins” and they have their own Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest pages (link). |
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| Another bear. We saw at least two more but didn’t take a photo. For example, we saw the famous one in the window of a plumbing shop that has his head in a toilet (ugh!). |
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| Instagram page titled Les nounours des gobelins: “Les nounours arrivent aux Gobelins pensant retrouver la terre de leurs ancêtres mais les choses ont bien changé depuis 35000 ans !” |
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| Is this a coincidence? Or was the owner of this cafe in Washington influenced by Paris? |
The Story of the Bears
In 2018 a bookstore owner in the area of Paris near the metro stop Les Gobelins distributed a number of these large bears to businesses and residents near his shop. Many of them are still scattered throughout the neighborhood, as we noticed on our brief stay there in May. Some of the bears evidently went into hibernation before the pandemic, but re-emerged to raise people’s spirits during that time. Obviously, they are still appearing in the neighborhood of Les Gobelins and many other locations, maybe even in Washington. For more history, see this wikipedia article: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teddy_bears_of_the_Gobelins
Photos © 2024 mae sander
Shared with Paris in July and Eileen’s Saturday Critters.
The bears are cute! A fun idea to give out the bears to businesses near his shop! Take care, have a wonderful day and happy weekend!
ReplyDeleteI love the bears. What fun, bear spotting on your vacation! around here at the moment, it's strictly real black bears, but I bet they'd sit in restaurants given the chance.
ReplyDeleteThose bears are huge! and holding up so well over time. Seeing one would certainly lift my spirits.
ReplyDeleteI had no idea about the Paris bears. I love the look of them and the background story, too!
ReplyDeleteOh those bears are adorable. This would be a smile making trend if they showed up lots of places.
ReplyDeleteCute bears!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful captures of the cute bears!
ReplyDeleteVery nice to see those bears in many businesses in Paris. Also, very happy to see the bicycle commuters.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing with all of us. Be well!
Nice post, I love all the teddy bears! The story about the Paris bears is cute! Thank you for linking up and sharing your post. Take care, have a wonderful weekend. PS, thank you for leaving me a comment!
ReplyDeleteThe bears are such fun and definitely bring a smile to your face! I lived in a town in NC with lots of black bears downtown!
ReplyDeleteThe title of your post certainly had me thinking...where in Paris would a person stay and see bears near the hotel?!
ReplyDeleteApparently there are any number of sea turtles on display around Galveston. One of these days I'm going out to see how many I can photograph.
Too cute!
ReplyDeleteSuch a cute enjoyable post,
ReplyDeleteParisian teddy bears on the loose! Enjoyed the story of Les Nounours des Gobelins.
ReplyDelete