10.9.10

Invitation - Paris City Hall

(I got the Internet back!)

Yesterday evening I was invited to the Paris City Hall. I will revert to the reason further down. It was a good opportunity to see the building not only from the outside.

There was a similar, but smaller building, here since the 16th century, but the Commune events in 1871, led to this building being burnt down. A new building, the present one, stood ready in 1892, to a large extent copied on the previous one.

The inside contains a number of large reception rooms. We were invited to the so called “Salle des Arcades”, which may not be the biggest nor the most spectacular one, but defintieley good enough.

Each pillar has a painting, the ceilings and the floors are spectacular.






































I was especially attracted by the Baccarat crystal chandeliers.
There were nice views of the inner court and the Notre Dame.
So, the reason for my visit was a meeting of an organization called “PARISIEN D’UN JOUR”, which is part of the Global "Greeter" Network. You can read more about this by clicking on the widget in the sidebar. The City of Paris sponsors the activity and stood for the invitation.

“Greeters” are volunteers who work as (unpaid) guides in a number of cities around the world, NYC, Chicago, Toronto, Melbourne, Buenos Aires, The Hague, Paris…. We are some 180 in Paris and it’s expected that we shall have guided some 7.000 visitors by the end of this year. We would rather make tours with smaller groups and concentrate on specific neighbourhoods, more unusual or “hidden” places. You may of course use this free-of-charge-service for yourself or recommend it to friends.

I joined a couple o f weeks ago and have so far made four tours. The latest one was this week with four very nice visitors from Minnesota - Rebecca, Michael, Jason and Nick. We made a three hours tour of the Belleville area.
I wish you a nice weekend!

35 comments:

Anne in Oxfordshire said...

Sounds like a lot of fun, and how great you must be as a guide :-)

So sorry we did not have time to meet up .. was only there for two days after I came back from Cahors.., but I did manage to meet Karin, who showed me around her area a bit .. Next time for definite. have a good weekend too.

Yaëlle said...

Hello Peter!!!
alala j'y étais aussi avec une autre nouvelle recrue. mmm pourtant j'ai regardé autour de moi pour voir si Luisa et toi n'y étaient pas....grrrr
la prochaine fois, j'appelle!

Bravo pour tes chouettes posts sur le Portugal...ça donne vraiment envie d'y retourner.

A bientôt, bisous

Lo said...

Wonderful photos of City Hall, and what a wonderful opportunity for visitors to Paris.

Wish I could pop over right now and have you take me on a tour........perhaps some day......

Berit said...

Amazing building, and so beautiful:)
Good luck in your job as a guide, and have a nice weekend:)

Greetings from Norway.

Berit.

Dianne said...

What a wonderful idea Peter and I can imagine you would thoroughly enjoy meeting people from other climes & showing them around your fabulous city.
The Town Hall is just soo... opulent and the chandeliers exquisite. Thanks for this lovely post.
~Dianne~

James said...

Hi Peter.
It's so beautiful in there. I had a feeling it would be nice but it's even nicer than I thought.

I think you are a perfect Paris greeter!

Paris Paul said...

Beautiful photos for a beautiful gesture. From what Karin's told me about her visits with you, i'm sure you're a perfect guide!

Trotter said...

Hi Peter! I’m back!! Have never been inside that building!! It's wonderful!!
Interesting your Greeter activity! I'm in the line for one of the future trips! Hopefully soon...
Have agreat weekend!

Adam said...

Good on you for volunteering for that. You are an ideal person for the job!

Catherine said...

your expertise about your adopted city places you perfectly to be a wonderful greeter - good luck with the tours - does it operate here in mexico City???

Olivier said...

sympa cette invitation et cette visite, dire que je l'ai jamais visite.

hpy said...

Une nouvelle activité qui - je pense - te convient à merveille.

joanna said...

Wonderful Peter
I know you will enjoy showing the "lucky" tourists your favorite hidden places of Paris.

Your photos are exquisite and I agree with the chandlers it was what
attracted my eye in the very first photo.

Joanny

Leena said...

I am really happy for you about this guiding but even more happy for tourists who will get you !
Warm greetings from Joensuu area, where nowadays are more bears and particularly really unpleasant deer keds (Lipoptena cervi, the deer ked or deer fly )than berries because of hot and dry summer.
But now our backyard is already full of yellow fallen leaves of birches like sunshine down there :)
Good and happy Sunday to you!

Simony said...

Now I know who to call to be my guide when I come to Paris!
Pretty soon you will have some good stories to tel us about this new experience! Enjoy!

Rakesh Vanamali said...

Who more in expertise than you to show the world what Paris and its wonders are?!!

Wonderful pictures, every single one of them! Glad to note that you are back online!

Shionge said...

This is so cool Peter, can I call you if I visit Paris again :D

alice said...

Moi je dis que certains visiteurs ont bien de la chance!

le banc moussu said...

I didn't know "parisien d'un jour". It's very nice of you to give part of your time to make people discover our beautiful city.
Christian

Cezar and Léia said...

Bonjour dear Peter!
OMG, those Baccarat crystal chandeliers are magnificent and this place is really enchanting!
Glad that you enjoy this tour!
Hugs
Léia

Nathalie H.D. said...

Congratulations Peter for giving some of your time to those free visits. Visiting a city with a local certainly makes things so much more interesting ! Your guests must have been delighted to have a guide as nice and knowledgeable as you. I hope they treated you to a glass of champagne at the end of it :-)))

Nathalie H.D. said...

And thanks for the Town Hall visit, that was GRAND !

Mystica said...

What wonderful photographs and thanks for the links!

Kate said...

Peter, My visits to your blog always inform me about the city and amaze me because of the beauty of the photos, which I never tire of viewing! You are a PERFECT guide because of your knowledge and gentlemanly personality. The group from Minnesota were genial, of course! It's known as "Minnesota Nice!"

Claudia said...

I've been delighting myself with your holiday pictures! In 2007 we also drove to Portugal in the Summer stopping in Salamanca and Bilbao!
I'm glad you enjoyed the Iberian Peninsula and loved to see Mattias and Paloma having a great time in the swimming pool in Sesimbra. We had one of the hottest months on record in Lisbon this August... I fled to the cooler beaches of Algarve to escape the stifling heat.
Thank you for you encouraging comments on my blog, Peter. It's good to be back!

arabesque said...

i would love to walk around those hidden alleys and rue of paris, but first things first, i have to visit le tour eiffel. a must! ^0^

the city hall looks like an old castle, very historic and unforgettable.

ps: even though you're busy, i;m glad that you're still giving us mini tours of Paris and more.
always enjoyed visiting your blog. ^-^

Sciarada said...

Buongiorno Peter, a good initiative and a great experience!

Jeanie said...

First of all, Peter, I think this would be a wonderful experience, and personally, if I had the opportunity to be in any tour group you were leading, I know I'd get the best tour of them all!

Now, a question -- the exterior of the City Hall and the location looks very much like L'Hotel de Ville. I find it hard to believe that two buildings looking so similar from the outside would be so close in Paris -- on the other hand, Paris is filled with so many fabulous buildings, I'm not sure anything would surprise me! It it the same? Thanks!

Unknown said...

And I thought Lisbon City Hall was gorgeous! :-)))

Karen said...

Peter, it's nice to see that you signed up. You will be so good at this and make many visitors happy.

Hello to Yaelle...

lasiate said...

Peter invité par le maire de Paris, le début d'une nouvelle carrière ?

krystyna said...

I congratulate you, Peter!

Your historical knowledge about Paris,
intelligence and love of Paris
are important advantages
in this
voluntary work.
Right person in the right place.


Thanks for great photographs!

claude said...

T'inquière Peter, ça va ! Je repasse plus tard.

Unknown said...

Merci Peter pour ce joli reportage.
Thank you Peter for this beautiful article.

Jean-Claude
www.hello-paris.fr
www.parisiendunjour.fr

Vagabonde said...

I caught up with your posts. I have been gone from my computer almost 5 weeks now. I enjoyed your pictures from Portugal, Spain and Arles. I may call on you next time I am in Paris (maybe next May) in your capacity as a “greeter”as I am sure there are many places that I do not know anymore after all those years away. The urban artists are very talented – I’d like to know where to go in Paris to see their art.