The Paris Traveler

I let things slide last week and didn’t challenge your knowledge (or  mine for that matter) about Paris but now’s the time to fire up your brain cells. 
Question:
How many bridges span the Seine river?

 16
 26
 36
 46

A number of beautiful and not-so-beautiful bridges carry pedestrians and traffic back and forth between the right and left bank and onto the city’s two islands. Each has its own unique tale to tell and place in Paris’ history.  These are three of my favorites.
 The Pont Alexandre is surely the  most over-the-top beautiful bridge.  It was built for the Paris Exposition of 1900 taking visitors from the …read more

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I recently sent one of my poems (not this one) to be included in the Jack Kerouac exhibit that will be taking place on the 23rd of September in Paris at the Cabaret Pirate in front of the BNF (Bibliothèque Nationale de France), which got me to thinking….  How could I have not seen that my poem, This Is Paris To Me, fits in perfectly with my blog! 
                                                                                     THIS IS PARIS TO ME
Cobble stone streets; and chic cafés.
Strolling down the Champs Elysées.
Going into the Madeleine,
or riding the Bateaux Mouches on the Seine.
That is what you must do and see,
but this …read more

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I love the way the monuments in Paris have been cleaned over the years, but I also loved the way many of them looked before they were cleaned. The age, the grime and dirt associated with hundreds of years of history just gave off a certain energy of having seen and been through so much. It just doesn’t seem quite the same when we see buildings like Notre-Dame, the Conciergerie, or the Pont Neuf as bright and shiny as a brand new penny!
The Pont Neuf which means the “new bridge” in reality is the oldest bridge in Paris.  Construction began in 1578 under …read more

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The Travel Channel at b5media has another theme day. Our mission:  write your best article on, or about, the best of something.  Well when you’re talking about Paris, trying to pick the best of anything is like asking a parent, “Which child do you love best?”
Impossible to answer, right?! As any well-adjusted parent will tell you, they “love all their children equally.” If push comes to shove, they might say one is better at sports, while another is better at music, but all in all, their children (in their eyes) are the greatest!  Who’s to argue?!
Well this assignment is very similar. Can you …read more

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What I love about Paris is that it’s made up of many special moments. Moments where you feel like part of a tableau vivant, or just caught up in a wonderful, fully aware, moment where you realize that you wouldn’t want to be anywhere else in the world, but right where you are.
It could be a place where the beauty overwhelms you, or a scene unfolding before your eyes and you feel almost like an intruder; perhaps watching a couple in love. Or it might be a passing glance with a stranger that makes your heart skip a beat.
No, Paris …read more

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