A mailbox

This is what many Paris mailboxes look like. Some have got some quite interesting "street art", many have just been tagged. This one is perhaps something "in between". You could possibly ask yourself whether they all should be cleaned and repainted or not? Even historically some tagging maybe of interest? Today we can see some on ancient buildings, monuments... and we are then quite happy to see them. Look what was written, drawn...on the walls of Pompeii, in the Paris Saint Paul Church... and there are thousands of other "unauthorized" inscriptions.

Red men...

I found a red man among the trees close to the Paris Observatory (see previous post).  Actually, he stands on a pedestal, on which you, until 1942 and the Nazi occupation, could find the statue of François Arago (1786-1853), a man with a lot of activities, but his statue was obviously placed here, close to the Observatory, due to his being – also - an astronomer, known for his works on the (French) meridian. I talked about it and on him several times, e.g. here.

I found out that the red man, sniffing some kind of a flower, was placed here, very unofficially, by an artist called James Colomina… and then I learnt that he had placed another (little) red man on the Pont Mirabeau.  

I have already posted about this beautiful bridge, built during the last years of the 19^th century (here and here), but I felt that the bridge was worth some more photos. Those days, the decorations were important - there is even a man with a (tagged) flame… reminding us that we can see another flame close to the neighbouring bridge (see posts e.g. here and here).  

On my way to the second little red man, I felt that I had to take some photos of the Seine banks under a particularly blue sky.  

No cars, no motorbikes...

There are Sundays, when some central Paris streets are supposed to be open to pedestrians only. There are a few Sundays, when the whole of Paris is closed for cars, motorbikes, scooters… This was the case last Sunday (yesterday), a date of course chosen to coincide with the UN Climate Action Summit today (Sept. 23), preceded by the Youth Climate Summit.

We should perhaps know that less than 1/3 of the Paris households now own a car and that this is a continuing tendency. There is an aim, by the present mayor, that in 2030 no petrol driven vehicles will be allowed inside the Paris limits.  

Well, for the moment, on this specific day, taxis, buses, bikes, roller-skates… are allowed.

Stockholm - again

I spent a few days in Stockholm, excellent weather, nice company… I have already posted about Stockholm (see here and here), so I will try not to repeat myself. If you are a Swede, or have visited the country, you will probably recognise where some of the photos have been taken… and maybe you will realise that the first ones are linked to visits to museums – Nationalmuseum (the top picture), Waldemarsudde, Millesgården, Thielska Galleriet, Dansmuseet.

One nice thing with Stockholm is that there is a lot of water around. You can even visit some of the museums by boat.

Crossing a bridge, I happened to meet the Royal family – on their way to the opening of the Parliament session. (Security measures in Stockholm are not comparable to the Paris ones.)

… and finally, here are just some photos from the  “Gama Stan” (the Old Town) and from the “Söder” (the South) quarters.

A little pause...

I will not be posting for a little while. Will spend some time in Stockholm. But... I hope to be back rather soon!