Paris. A long day

For breakfast this morning we headed down rue Lepic in order to take the Funiculare up to the place du Tertre.  On the way, as we came to  the area around the Abbesses Metro station, we discovered a "second-hand" market which appeared to have everything imaginable: clothes, furniture, records, old telephones and antiquities of every kind. Lots of hustle and bustle!

The Market

In any city places fall in and out of popularity both generally and with individuals. So it is in Paris.  Years ago we loved the Cafe Francoeur.  It was staffed by some wonderful young women, all multilingual, and all good fun.  More recently, however, we have turned to a pleasant little place on the place du Tertre, Le Sabot Rouge.

Le Sabot Rouge

Later we decided to hop on a bus to go to  the place de la nation.  This is a huge place at what was once one of the entrances to the old city of Paris.The central monument, "The Triumph of the Republic", is a bronze group set up to mark the centenary of the French Revolution.  A personification of the Republic, looking towards place de la Bastille  stands on a globe in a chariot pulled by lions and surrounded by various symbolic figures.

The triumph of the republic

At the entrance to the square are two columns which surrounded the entrance to the cours de Vincennes. The columns are surmounted by statues of kings Philip II and Louis IX.

Detail from one of the columns

Our next stop was at the place de la Bastille where the Bastille prison stood until its storming and its subsequent physical destruction between 14 July 1789 and 14 July 1790. No vestige of it remains.

The July Column (Colonne de Juillet) which commemorates the events of the July Revolution (1830) stands at the center of the square.

The July Column

Detail from the base of the column

Heading home, we stopped on the rue de Rivoli and were caught up in a massive motorcycle demonstration.  It was apparently organized by the French motorcycle club and there must have been more than 5,000 bikes racing through the streets while their riders shattered eardrums with whistles and the sounds of acceleration.  Of course this absolutely demolished traffic in one of the busiest areas of the city, an event quaintly described as "une perturbation."

"Une perturbation"

And that was our day!