Take Me To Thèbes

iPhone Photo Chronicles ~ Take Me To Thèbes ~

Take Me To Thèbes, originally uploaded by Paris Set Me Free.

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As I often say, there's a lot of strange stuff strewn around the streets of Paris.

This is one of them. And for once there doesn't actually seem be any smarty pants know-all out there who does know anything about this enigmatic plaque which decorates the earth under our feet close to another exotic central Parisian landmark.

Find out more on my new Top Ten Perplexing Paris Plaques series over on Paris If You Please.

I'm pretty excited about it, both because I'll be able to tell you all about all the strange plaques I do know about, and also because I need to uncover two or three more to have a genuinely original Top Ten worthy of the name, so I have some ferreting around to do before I get to No.10!

Which leads me to a request: if you do know of any other strange pavement (US=sidewalk) plaques (US=... plaques?) then please let me know. We'll be forever in your debt and my threat to buy you a coffee and a croissant next time you're in ville still holds! Call me Mr. 'Croissants 4 Curiosities' and let's hope the scandal flakes away shortly.

J è  GRAB MY 20 AMAZING PARIS CURIOSITIES FREE NOW!  ç J

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© 2011 Sab Will / Paris Set Me Free - Contact me directly for photo tours, interviews, exhibitions, etc.

Oh Yes It Is

iPhone Photo Chronicles ~ Oh Yes It Is ~

Oh Yes It Is, originally uploaded by Paris Set Me Free.

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Wandering around République looking for the smallest house in Paris, of all things, what do I stumble upon but a call from the old country.

What you see here isn't advertising Paris for the hard of thinking, but a pure-to-goodness Ye Olde English Grocery, although I can't quite remember ever actually having seen one like this back home.

This one, which I had to look up / track down later, is called the Epicerie Anglaise and sells nostalgically wholesome stuff like Horlicks and Alpen, Golden Syrup and Philadelphia Cream Cheese, Stilton and PG Tips, Abbot Ale (believe it) and (drum roll please)... MARMITE, the evil yeast extract that even the company says if you haven't been exposed to it by the age of two you will spontaneously vomit upon contact. Or something like that.

I didn't actually go in, as it was closed, and the aforementioned humble abode was still eluding me, but just the red telephone box in the window had the tears of familiarity welling up. Hey, didn't I see something similar in the city recently? Yes, I did. Strange.

Well so much for the most authentic English grocery in Paris; did I find the smallest house? Yes, I did too, although it was probably the most unimpressive 'most' or '-est' I've yet seen, although the metal grill didn't do much to glamorise it. I'll be back to capture in it the glorious light of day soon no doubt.

In the meantime I'll just close my eyes and dream of Cadbury's Flakes, Double Deckers, Crunchies and other childhood sweethearts.

J è  GRAB MY 20 AMAZING PARIS CURIOSITIES FREE NOW!  ç J

_________________________________________________________________________________
© 2011 Sab Will / Paris Set Me Free - Contact me directly for photo tours, interviews, exhibitions, etc.

Tale To Tell

iPhone Photo Chronicles ~ Tale To Tell ~

Tale To Tell, originally uploaded by Paris Set Me Free.

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Talk about the road to hell; Chris Rea eat your heart out!

There I was, trying to get from the south west suburbs of Paris to the south suburbs of the same, without actually going all the way into the dreaded périphérique, when what do you know, we start seeing signs to a mysterious, hitherto unknown entity to us: the brand new 'Périphérique de l'Ile de France', otherwise known as the Superpériphérique.

Boy, is that some creepy mother...

This tunnel was only completed in January 2011 (yep, a few months ago), and in fact there are two: one for little vehicles and one for big. The latter is a pretty normal, two-way affair, but the one for cars is another thing altogether.

In fact, the two directions sit one on top of the other. And with only a 2-metre height clearance, and thanks to the time of day (evening) and the toll due, an empty road, it's like you've entered the Twilight Zone (I'm NOT kidding).

Or some sort of freaky video game where you're not sure where reality stops and weirdness takes over, like in eXistenZ.

For a start, the whole thing takes you by surprise, especially the sinister great balled poles hanging from the entrance to stop trucks and stuff getting in. Then there's the inescapable toll gates and so it starts. The GPS dies immediately and presents a nonsensical screen you've never seen before.

And the tunnel stretches out before, you have no idea what the speed limit is, there's no-one around, no relief for the eyes, and worst of all: the ceiling. You'd be surprised how quickly a two-metre ceiling can get stiflingly oppressive in the stated conditions. No panels. No indication of where we were going, nor how long the tunnel would last that we could see.

If someone had told me I'd entered a modern day Jules Verne novel and that we were well on our way to the centre of the earth I wouldn't have been overly surprised.

We got out in the end and here I am to tell the tale. 10 kilometres of the thing! So be warned. Be prepared. And above all, be short. Definitely not recommended for Swedes or basketball players. Or people with a tendency to slip into the realms of uneasy fantasy from time to another. Probably the main reason it freaked me out so much.

Assuming I am actually back to reality, that is. Or perhaps I was never part of it...

J è  GRAB MY 20 AMAZING PARIS CURIOSITIES FREE NOW!  ç J

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© 2011 Sab Will / Paris Set Me Free - Contact me directly for photo tours, interviews, exhibitions, etc.

BB at the PO (One Week Only)

iPhone Photo Chronicles ~ BB at the PO (One Week Only) ~

BB at the PO (One Week Only), originally uploaded by Paris Set Me Free.

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If you want to have your journey to the Loire Valley blessed by this splendid image of 'BB' smiling iconically... you're too late. Much too late, for BB and the train.

For a start, Brigitte Bardot is no longer gracing this building-high hoarding covering up work on the façade. These have sprung up all over Paris this summer and are being justified (to those who object) that they help pay for the restoration works. The image on this one seems to be replaced on a weekly basis, which is why you'll probably never see her heart-churning smile in this exact place ever again.

The second reason for a distinct lack of BBness during your Paris to Orléans (P-O) trip from the above location is that... the last train to leave the old Gare d'Orsay was probably just a couple of years after Bardot's birth, and just before the Second World War, when the station's platforms had become too short for long-distance trains.

Trains to Orléans leave from the far less romantic Gare d'Austerlitz today, without a BéBé in sight, although there are usually still plenty of tired and fractious rejetons (brats kids), just like any big intercity station.

J è  GRAB MY 20 AMAZING PARIS CURIOSITIES FREE NOW!  ç J

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© 2011 Sab Will / Paris Set Me Free - Contact me directly for photo tours, interviews, exhibitions, etc.

Dangerous Highs

iPhone Photo Chronicles ~ Dangerous Highs ~

Dangerous High, originally uploaded by Paris Set Me Free.

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I posted a question on my Paris If You Please Facebook page of these welcoming spikes in silhouette asking if anyone could guess what they were. I'll include that pic in the text below.

You can see here quite clearly what they are, but that doesn't reveal for us quite the reason why the people living in these particular Parisian apartments feel the need for quite such a strong deterrent for anyone considering the idea of shinnying up the drainpipe for whatever reason.

I'd say it's effective though, as the slight urge I felt to get up there was immediately quashed upon considering the prospect of getting one of those things accidentally lodged in one of my eye sockets. I'm sure you can see what I mean.

Not that this sort of paranoid behaviour seems to be common in Paris. I'm not sure what the crime rate actually is, but you don't hear about break-ins that often (although you do hear about them). I guess digicodes and pretty public front walls have a lot to do with that.

J è  GRAB MY 20 AMAZING PARIS CURIOSITIES FREE NOW!  ç J

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© 2011 Sab Will / Paris Set Me Free - Contact me directly for photo tours, interviews, exhibitions, etc.

Mona Loses It

iPhone Photo Chronicles ~ Mona Loses It ~

Mona Loses It, originally uploaded by Paris Set Me Free.

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When the Louvre with its cast of illustrious characters closes its doors and all that is left to do is wipe away the thousands of visitors' mucky footprints, what do you think happens?

Do the statues come alive like in some surreal 3D-enhanced Disney feature? Does the Jaconde grin as John the Baptiste flirts with the Virgin and tickles the Child?

Does the Venus de Milo weep into her, err, on her own shoulder as she laments her armless destiny?

Or perhaps Michelangelo's slaves break free and go on a romp through the galleries, baiting the Euphrates bronze lion and swinging from Napoleon III's chandelier while Mesopotamian winged bullmen thunder by...

I know the answer of course, but I'm not telling. Paris deserves to keep just a few of her secrets, but you can always ask the guy sweeping away the last of the day's designer dust. He probably knows a thing or two too.

J è  GRAB MY 20 AMAZING PARIS CURIOSITIES FREE NOW!  ç J

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© 2011 Sab Will / Paris Set Me Free - Contact me directly for photo tours, interviews, exhibitions, etc.

That'll Do, Laddie

iPhone Photo Chronicles ~ That'll Do, Laddie ~

That'll Do, Laddie, originally uploaded by Paris Set Me Free.

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As a Scot (born in Edinburgh to Scottish parents) this image leaves me less than cold. A nutty, peroxide blond, kilt-clad Jock, pink scooter, pink helmet, eyes up a pink umbrellad madmoiselle in the histrionically historic 1st and 2nd arrondissements of Paris.

Could it get any better? No, it could not.

I would have loved to have ask him, well, Why?, but the moment was just not propitious. Some moments are and some moments aren't, and this was one of the latter.

That'll do laddie, that'll do.

J è  GRAB MY 20 AMAZING PARIS CURIOSITIES FREE NOW!  ç J

_________________________________________________________________________________
© 2011 Sab Will / Paris Set Me Free - Contact me directly for photo tours, interviews, exhibitions, etc.