15.10.08

Mid-month theme - subways

The 15th of each month is the day for the mid-month theme “subways”. Which I share with bloggers from NYC, Stockholm and Budapest. You can find today’s and some related posts by using the following links:

New York City Daily Blog - Stockholm by pixels - Budapest by Andrea GerakPeter’s Paris

(You can also find some related posts on my previous blog via this link: PHO.)




I already made a post about Metro Abbesses, but only seen from ground level. This time I will show you the way to – or from – the underground.

Let me just first repeat that this station on metro line 12 is one of the three left with the original covered Hector Guimard (see previous posts) entrance. Another one is at Place Dauphine (see again previous post) and a third at Sainte Opportune (no post – yet). This one was transferred here in 1974 from close to “L’Hôtel de Ville”.

Place des Abbesses is one of the most typical Montmartre squares (see previous post). Some accordion accompanied dancing took place as you can see. In the background you can perceive the “I-love-you wall” (on which I also made a post). The station is one of the deepest in Paris, some 30 metres (100 ft) below ground. There are lifts, but I believe it’s more interesting to use the stairs – some 110 steps.

One circular staircase leads upwards, decorated by paintings. Another one leads downwards, decorated by photos. The present illustrations replace earlier ones. I don’t know how the stairs were originally decorated.

As a detail on one of the paintings is the portrait of a famous Paris eccentric character, Michou, always dressed in blue. His cabaret is just round the corner as well as another similar one, Madame Arthur.

46 comments:

Azer Mantessa said...

i don't mind the stairs.

nice paintings. very nice.

Marie-Noyale said...

Hello Peter,
Welcome back.
I lived on Rue la Vieuville ,just off the place des Abesses,25 years ago and I know this subway well...
but in my time the painting on the stairs did not exist!! Very nice improvement.

Shionge said...

I love the 'tour' :D Free entry need not pay for museum pass heheeh... :D

Ming the Merciless said...

Oh wow! All the murals are so beautiful!! I never noticed them when I was in Paris.

Love the collage.

krystyna said...

Welcome back, Peter!
Very original and beautiful are your Subways photos.
Really the stairs are very interesting, and paintings are special.

Have a good day!

SusuPetal said...

Such paintings are a delight for the eyes.

Virginia said...

Peter,
I am glad you all are doing the subway shots again. I don't think we took the one with the beautiful murals the last time. I think I would have had the good sense to photograph them if we had. Will we see this one??? I will have to share a great one I took above ground with my daughter and granddaughter. Ming claims he's packed and ready to come with me. And now Burd from San Franciso is wanting to come too!HA The more the merrier! You're going to have your hands full my friend! ha

Tash said...

Wow, wow, and wow!!!
Are these murals new (in the past 19 years??). I remember the outside & have a photo from 1989 but I don't remember the outside.
Super post!

stromsjo said...

Delightful decorations, who said infrastructure must be boring?

Happy subway day!

Olivier said...

je ne connaissais pas toutes ces peintures murales, c'est magnifique, notre metro parisien est un vrai musé.

Cergie said...

Je suppute que tu prends les escaliers en descendant, du moins là pour faire ces photos (nice post plus documenté que les précédents sur le thème du métro que tu glissais entre deux)
Non, je me trompe, je subodore que tu les prends en montant pour entretenir ta ligne (de métro de proximité)

marie6 said...

"Great minds think alike"....I thought of tagging you but then thought no don't think Peter will like that, so looks like we're on the same track.
welcome back, I've now added Sweden to my wishlist of places to see, it looks beautiful thanks to your wonderful photos, but best of all I love your mum's family photo, what a blessing to have such a large family!

hpy said...

Je ne me rappelle pas ces peintures (qui me paraissent récents, d'ailleurs) mais c'est vraiment sympa comme graffiti. Ou pour en éviter.

Anonymous said...

I am amazed the murals are not defaced by graffiti people. Nice post, Peter.

Chuckeroon said...

So, how nice to see you back, and with a big flash of colour. There is no denying that cities like Paris and London are so much brighter these days...wonderful to see the Abbesses stairway.

Tks for including "the far cold North"....such a contrast: the Nordic and the Gallic.

Greetings, to you Peter, from RuT.

Jessica said...

I used that metro when I visited Paris in 2003! That's so neat. I took some blurry pictures of the walls but they didn't do the space justice the way your photos do. Very nice, Peter!

Delphinium said...

les escaliers tournaient tellement que j'ai failli vomir en les prenant. :-)J'ai dû me retenir à la barrière et j'entendais encore la dame plus haut qui jouait de l'accordéon. Alors j'ai eu envie de ressortir à l'air libre et d'aller serrer la pince à Michou.
A ne pas confondre Michou Pachu avec Machu Pichu.

Anonymous said...

Oh, great motifs for photographers. I didn't know there are such paintings. Or are they rather new?

Anonymous said...

That would be a lot of stairs with a suitcase! But you could stop and look at illustrations, and rest.

Wonderful! The autumn light now always make me think of Paris.

alice said...

As-tu prévu ce quartier à notre programme de la mi-novembre? ;-)

claude said...

Je ne dirai pas que je connais le métro de Paris sur le bout de mes dix ongles, mais presque.
Cette station est superbement décorée. Tu as vraiment le chic de dénicher des curiosités. Je viens de te faire de la pub chez Daniel, et j'aifait un petit tour en Suède.

Thérèse said...

Incroyable! Certainement revivifiant quand on part au "boulot" le matin si on lève les yeux bien sur.

Mona said...

Gosh! I would certainly love to walk those steps!! The paintings are exquisite!

France is full of more & more surprises for me!!

Anonymous said...

It was nice to see your post from Sweden, especially those old photos.
My cousin has a house in Göteborg, he lives there with his Spanish wife, their daughter is grownup.
It seems to be very pleasant city, I have been there only once, when we went to Scotland, not much memories about it.

Beautiful paintings on the walls of Metro!
Thank you for your comments on my site!

Starman said...

Strangely, in all my métro use, I never used the Abbesses station.

Rakesh Vanamali said...

Splendid pictures Peter! I'm amazed at the intricate detail!

Loved the first picture!

Cheers

Rakesh

claude said...

Peter, je suis un peu inquiète au sujet D'Andrea Gerak. Elles avait déjà été absente très longtemps et elle m'avait dis avoir été souffrante. J'espère qu'elle va bien.

Nathalie H.D. said...

Peter, je suis arrivée au métro Abesses avec des amis il n'y a pas longtemps mais comme il y a beaucoup d'étages on a pris l'ascenseur et j'ai raté ces extraordinaires escaliers. C'est absolument FABULEUX! La prochaine fois je fais tout à pied !

Merci pour ta jolie déclaration d'amour aux femmes, à toutes les femmes, chez Delphie, j'en ai pris un peu pour moi et je partage bien volontiers le reste avec toutes les autres !!!

PeterParis said...

azer:
Upwards.. or downwards only? :-)

marie-noyale:
Je ne sais pas de quand datent ses décorations. Il semble qu'il y avait aussi quelque chose avant celles-ci, mais je ne sais pas si il y avait quelque-chose d'origine, éventuellement peint en blanc plus tard? Je ne rien trouvé sur le net.

shionge:
You have to pay the metro ticket of course! :-)

PeterParis said...

ming:
I understand from Virginia that you are preparing your suitcase!

krystyna:
Thanks! Happy to be back in the blogging world!

suspetal:
Well, at least some of them, but it's always nice that some decorative efforts are made!

PeterParis said...

virginia:
Yes, let's decide to have a walk in the stairs (up or down?)! As it seems that there will be number of people around, I guess someone can offer a helping hand if needed.

tash:
Thanks for visiting! I said above that unfortunately I have not been able to find the history about these mural decorations. They seem to be quite recent, but there were other paintings before, but since when...? Anything from the beginning and the covered by white paint...? I haven't found and good source.

per:
Every effort to make our cities look nicer are welcome!

PeterParis said...

olivier:
Il faut quitter Evry de temps en temps! :-)

cergie:
Bien sur que j'ai fait les deux! Tout pour le blog!

marie6:
There are many places to put on the wish list; Malta would be on mine!
(Thanks for not tagging! :-))

PeterParis said...

hpy:
Donc, tu es quand' même pasée par ls escaliers! C'est bien! Pour l'histoire des peintures, voir ci-dessus!

abraham:
I guess they use the lifts!

chuckeroon:
Yes, you are right, a lot has been done the last years to make our cities look nicer; certainly true also for London!

PeterParis said...

jessica:
Cameras are getting better and better!

delphinium:
Malgré cette malaise dans l'escalier, tu sembles en pleine forme!! :-)

april:
I agree! New or old..., see some comments above! :-)

PeterParis said...

ruth:
Yes, the suitcase should not betoo heavy, I agree!

alice:
Oui sans doute! Quel jour reste a voir. Tu restes un seul jour?

PeterParis said...

claude:
Merci pour la pub!

therese:
Tout le monde n'a pas la chance d'habiter ce coin!

mona:
... and there is much more to see!

PeterParis said...

leena:
Yes, it's quite nice. I may of course be a bit partial! Try it again and make yourself an opinion: :-)

starman:
Well, it's still there and you are always welcome back here!

rakesh:
Thanks... and welcome also here!

PeterParis said...

claude:
Je comprends. Je ne sais rien. Je t'envoie un mail.

nathalie:
Bien sur, tu as bien fait de prendre pour toi!

marie6 said...

I've awarded you a BFF. Drop by my blog to see.

PeterParis said...

marie6:
Sincere thanks for this honour!

hpy said...

DD me disait l'autre jour qu'il aurait envie de faire un saut à Paris avant Noël, je crois que c'était pour voir les décorations, mais c'est sans doute encore un peu trop tôt. On verra bien, et je tiendrai au courant (électrique pour faire une belle illumination).

sonia a. mascaro said...

Great reportage, Peter! Your photos are always splendid.
Thanks, you did a good work here.

Emilieee said...

Hi Peter, love your first pic! So cute! Did you visit every subway station to capture all the drawings? Salute! ;))

PeterParis said...

hpy:
J'espère que tu me donnes des nouvelles avant d'arriver!

sonia:
Thanks!

emily:
This is just one station, but with a lot of pictures! :-)

Catherine said...

Dire que je prends toujours l'ascenseur aux Abbesses !
J'étais restéé au temps où les escaliers étaient tristes et gris.
J'ignorais tout des fresques qui les recouvre. La prochaine fois que je descends à cette station, je prends mon courage à "deux pieds" et je grimpe.
Formidable.

Roberta said...

Peter, I just LOVE your posts on the subways of Paris... I find myself passionate about subway stations, and want to be sure to see the most special when I am in Paris this summer...

I adore the paintings in this station! I was gasping and ooh-ing and ah-ing as I scrolled down. Though I still love the one at the top the best. ;-)