Paris Day 5 ~ Part 1

Monday was my birthday. We decided not to go to Giverny this day, not being sure what the transport would be like on Easter Monday. On the other hand, a lot of places that would normally be open were closed, including one of the museums still on my wishlist.
So we took an easy day...a leisurely morning, and then we got the metro over to Parc Monceau, always a favourite (apart from all the joggers!). It's full of odd follies and memorials. There's a plaque commemorating the first jump with a silk parachute, too.

Chopin

Here, for your safety, this area is inaccessible to the public.
Dangerous Tree
This tree is diseased, a lignin/wood-eating fungus has developed in its wood and roots,
causing it to become fragile and dangerous.

There is a children's playground, and pony rides - and a very boy-themed carousel. I really liked that submarine with shades of Ten Thousand Leagues Under the Sea.

Paris Day 4 ~ Part 4

 A last few photos from the cemetery.
It's been far too bright to do any photo editing recently, but a rainy day today (and a day off) has given me time to catch up a little.
The blackbird was sitting on the yew hedge having a good preening session. I think that the cemetery must provide a habitat for quite a lot of wildlife - a couple of mornings later we were walking up the side of it and saw a jay in a tree.

Paris Day 4 ~ Part 3

Montparnasse Cemetery.
I didn't have a lot of time there, as it closes at six - there's a bell beside the main entrance and it starts ringing as a warning. But I really enjoyed a short wander round. The contrast with the old monuments and the modern buildings around them was quite startling...In one photo you can also see an old windmill.

Juvenile chaffinch....

I got a new (hopefully) squirrel-proof feeder this week. One plus (??) from the squirrels is more spilled seed on the ground, so we've had the chaffiinches, who are ground feeders, around more.
This is a little juvenile one. But tonight I noticed he had finally decided to brave the Globe Feeder. It might actually, for the time being at least, be effective, since I saw a squirrel reduced to foraging on the ground today when the only options with seed in them at the time were the globe and the nyger feeder.

The windows badly need cleaning!

Paris Day 4 ~ Part 2

 In the afternoon we walked along the Promenade Plantée. Being Easter Sunday and beautiful sunshine (mostly) it was almost as packed as the Champs Elysées had been on Friday. So it wasn't easy to take any photos of the actual walk, just the city views seen from it.

I presume the first photo is some sort of nest for bumblebees or ladybirds or suchlike. It was actually quite near the end of the walk. This is the first time we didn't continue walking on to the Bois de Vincennes - instead when we got to the end of the main part of the walk we found the metro station at Daumesnil, which was on one of "our" lines, and brought us along an interesting overground route most of the way.

Favourite cards

May was not a productive month - most of my favourites are from the mixed media challenge on SCS. I think that was helped by the fact that there were two Fridays on which I wasn't working!

Paris Day 4 ~ Part 1

Day 4 was Sunday, and we were starting to flag a little after all that walking.
In the morning, I went to the second-nearest bakery, and got some tasty croissants for breakfast plus some even tastier patisserie to stand in as a birthday cake on Monday. I was so glad that I went - I wasn't sure they'd be open on Monday, being Easter Monday and a lot of places were going to be closed, and in fact they were closing for a week's holiday so they wouldn't have been open on Tuesday either. We went to the local market which is an organic one on Sundays, and then to the Luxembourg Gardens, buying salads and bread for lunch on the way. I'd been planning to get something in the market, but we should really have got there a bit earlier; somebody else bought the last three onion tarts as I stood in the queue.

 Most of these are just street shots. I'm not sure what the fourth one is meant to be - but having recently watched The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec, it rather reminded me of the dinosaur in the film. The first one is the front of a hotel on Boulevard Raspail.

bakery

Flower seller at the Metro entrance, Marché Raspail

Where we were staying...

On the street round the corner from our apartment, was a beautiful Art Deco building dating back to 1910. Several well-known artists had studios here, including Man Ray. This photo shows the typical decor - and reflection in the window from a tiny little triangular park just opposite it. Then a wide-angle view, and a close up of some of the ceramic detailing, created by Alexander Bigot.

31 bis, rue Campagne Première

These are some of the beehives in the Luxembourg Gardens. Last time we were there, we actually saw the beekeepers working on them. This time, we arrived just after the hives had had their Spring inspection, with the following results;  out of 21 hives, 2 didn't survive, one was found to be in weak condition, and the remainder were all thriving and would probably to be divided to avoid a swarms.