... and some street art again

The Batignolles area in the 17^th arrondissement used to have a covered market of the old Baltard type. It was replaced in the 1970’s by this quite dull building. Well, the building – in addition to the market - now also offers a number of flats for older people and via Google Earth and the site “Le Jardin des Moines”, we can see that there is a calm and nice space on top of the market roof. I talked to some people who live there and they seem to be satisfied, so maybe I shouldn’t be too upset about the destruction of the old building.

To make the building look a bit less dull also from the outside, I was pleased to see that it recently has been decorated by four street artists. One has realised that the arrondissement was lacking street art, and this project is obviously at least partly sponsored by a popularly voted City of Paris “participatory budget”. 

I was especially pleased to see that one of my favourite street artists, Seth, has made some remarkable illustrations (see also top picture), obviously referring to kids and reading - just opposite the street where he has painted, there is a library, specializing in youth literature. I have already written about Seth here and here.

The other - excellent - artists are Pastel FD…

… Ratur…

… and Jaw. 

You can see read more about the artists here: Seth, Pastel FD, Ratur, Jaw.

Yes, at last... !!

YES, at last… Some trees have taken on green colours…

I found the way back to “my” old park, Square des Batignolles, and got it confirmed – the spring signs are at last here.

The ducks could even take their siesta without standing on one leg as they do when it’s cold (see previous post).

2024 Olympics?

At least some 150 statues disappeared in Paris during the WWII occupation. Three of them were in “my” park. They were named “Belluaire” by Maurice Ferrary (1852-1904), “Circé” by Gustave Michel (1851-1924) and “Nymphe et Dauphin” by Antonin Larroux (1859-1913).

On this site, you can read more in detail about the destruction… “ of all metal monuments and statues for the purpose of remelting, unless considered to be of historical or artistic interest to the new regime….”.  After the war, it has been possible to reproduce and reinstall a few statues, but not the ones in “my” park.

I suspect the very active gardeners in the park to be behind the initiative to for a while put something back on the pedestals… and also to reproduce the throws of the discus and the javelin. It’s obvious that there is a campaign ongoing to make Paris an Olympic city in 2024 – see also my preceding post. 

I should have booked….

This was yesterday evening. Yes, it was the evening after a very hot day (some 37°C, 100 °F) and it was the “Fête de la Musique” (World Music Day)….  Didn’t feel like, having the energy, to go for all the places where music was played, like previous years, I just wanted to have a little meal with some friends in my immediate neighbourhood. I should of course have booked a table. This is what we met. This is actually what I like about the area where I live - the number of nice bars and restaurants… but it was a bit of a fight before we found a place to sit.  These pictures were all taken in an area within one or two minutes’ walk from my flat – yes, it’s a nice area!

The alternative could have been a picnic in the nearby park, but…. (pictures taken 9 pm).  

Cold

We have had some cold days…  No snow, blue sky, but there was ice on the ponds in the nearby park, “Parc Clichy-Batignolles Martin-Luther-King”. Most of the birds were gone…

… possibly to the neighbouring park, “Square des Batignolles” – “my park” with its “waterfalls” and moving waters. No ice here, happy birds!    

A park by night.

This summer it was decided that some of the larger Paris parks should stay open 24 hours a day. This was also the case with the Clichy-Batignolles – Martin Luther King Park on which I have posted a number of times.  This previous rail shunt yard – for a while thought to be the Olympic village if Paris had got the 2012 summer games - has now since a number of years been transformed into a very popular park surrounded by residential and office buildings – many still under construction.

I took a walk one night. Here we have a comparison of day and night views.    

Spring in "my park".

I haven’t quite finished with Brittany, but will make a little interruption. Just have to illustrate the SPRING, again of course in “my park”. (A already showed the top photo on Facebook. Sorry for the repeating.)

All the flowers were waiting for a visit, but not all were as lucky as the one showed on the top.

Here are some more general views.

Work in progress.

I may be repeating myself, but living close to what once was planned to be the Olympic village – if Paris had been chosen for the 2012 games – I’m so impressed by what’s now going on, how the old shunt yard has been transformed into a park (already very popular) and how the buildings around the park, a mixture of housing and offices, are sprouting up quite quickly. This is why I once more wish to show a bit of the ongoing activity around what’s named Parc Clichy-Batignolles – Martin-Luther-King. (See previous posts e.g. here and here.)

I guess that the pictures are self-explanatory,…

 … but maybe a few comments:

A special look at the future Palace of Justice, designed by Renzo Piano (also the architect of the Centre Pompidou, the Shard in London…), supposed to be in operation in 2017.

A wish not to cut "La Petite Ceinture", the railway, abandoned since the 1930's, that was created around Paris in the middle of the 19^th century to interconnect the then newly created major railway stations (see previous posts) has led to newly created tracks and a need to interconnect the northern and the southern part of the park by a bridge for the pedestrians. (Will there ever be any traffic on these tracks?)

The only old buildings in the area which will remain are the warehouses of the Paris Opera for their scenic equipment, designed by Charles Garnier (see here), who of course made something more spectacular with the “Opera Garnier” (see here and here).

This newly created very populous area will clearly need – and get - some new local transport connections, metro line 14 being prolonged with stations in both extremes of the park (opening in 2019 – see here) and also the prolongation of the circular tram line (opening in 2018). 

            

A little touch of winter.

It seems that we have had the mildest winter since 1900. However, the winter made a (last?) try this weekend. Early Saturday morning, “my” street looked like this. The gates to “my” park were not yet open.

Two hours later I could enter the park.