• Menu
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Before Header

  • About Us
  • Lexicon
  • Contact Us
  • Our Store
  • ↑
  • ↓
  • ←
  • →

Balloon Juice

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Wake up. Grow up. Get in the fight.

Whatever happens next week, the fight doesn’t end.

Let me file that under fuck it.

Oh FFS you might as well trust a 6-year-old with a flamethrower.

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

Only Democrats have agency, apparently.

Authoritarian republicans are opposed to freedom for the rest of us.

Hell hath no fury like a farmer bankrupted.

People are weird.

Not so fun when the rabbit gets the gun, is it?

We can show the world that autocracy can be defeated.

We need to vote them all out and restore sane Democratic government.

We can’t confuse what’s necessary to win elections with the policies that we want to implement when we do.

Stop using mental illness to avoid talking about armed white supremacy.

When I was faster i was always behind.

Just because you believe it, that does not make it true.

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

Prediction: the gop will rethink its strategy of boycotting future committees.

There are no moderate republicans – only extremists and cowards.

Washington Post Catch and Kill, not noticeably better than the Enquirer’s.

In after Baud. Damn.

The low info voters probably won’t even notice or remember by their next lap around the goldfish bowl.

The arc of the moral universe does not bend itself. it is up to us to bend it.

The fight for our country is always worth it. ~Kamala Harris

Mobile Menu

  • Seattle Meet-up Post
  • 2025 Activism
  • Targeted Political Fundraising
  • Donate with Venmo, Zelle & PayPal
  • Site Feedback
  • War in Ukraine
  • Submit Photos to On the Road
  • Politics
  • On The Road
  • Open Threads
  • Topics
  • COVID-19
  • Authors
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Lexicon
  • Our Store
  • Politics
  • Open Threads
  • 2025 Activism
  • Garden Chats
  • On The Road
  • Targeted Fundraising!
You are here: Home / Photo Blogging / On The Road – Steve from Mendocino – Paris 9/10

On The Road – Steve from Mendocino – Paris 9/10

by WaterGirl|  January 14, 202110:00 pm| 15 Comments

This post is in: Albatrossity, On The Road, On The Road After Dark, Paris After Dark, Photo Blogging

FacebookTweetEmail

On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.

From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.

Submit Your Photos

One more Paris post from Steve tomorrow night, and we will be at the end of our trip to Paris wit Steve.  It’s been a lovely trip.

In case you missed my comment last Friday:

By the end of next week, we will be at 325 On The Road posts since I picked this up in April.

That’s 325 amazing sets of photos from all of you, and I want to thank each person who has submitted photos.

After the 10 for the coming week, there are no more submissions in the queue.  I would be surprised if we are out of memories to share, so maybe we are all holding our breath or are feeling overwhelmed by everything that is going on around us?

If you have an idea for a photo series, like this set from Steve from Mendocino or the Scotland set from Albatrossity, send me an email with your idea.  If you have photos to submit for the early morning OTR, send in your pics!

Otherwise, we’ll be taking a break from On The Road.

Hopefully it will just be a short break!  A few people wrote with ideas for a series for After Dark, and we have 5 submissions for the morning next week.  It’s hard to focus right now, and next week will be quite the crazy ride, so maybe a week off from On the Road After Dark isn’t a terrible thing.  If submissions show up in my mailbox, I will definitely put them up.

Steve from Mendocino

A few tidbits from here and there around the city.

On The Road - Steve from Mendocino - Paris 9/10 7

Fall colors in the late afternoon on a Paris boulevard.

On The Road - Steve from Mendocino - Paris 9/10 6

The coulee verte, having been created on a repurposed railroad line, includes tunnels that have been made to feel friendly and safe.

On The Road - Steve from Mendocino - Paris 9/10 5

There are occasional little surprises like this decorative mini-garden along the roughly 3 mile length of the coulee verte.

On The Road - Steve from Mendocino - Paris 9/10 4

Food stall in an open air market.

On The Road - Steve from Mendocino - Paris 9/10 3

American cities are designed on a grid, and the street numbers generally jump by 100 with each new block.  Older cities like Paris have mostly twisting streets with no immediate logic to them, and building numbers increment one digit at a time.  This can make it difficult for a pedestrian to estimate how far it is to the destination because a few large buildings can vastly increase the physical distance to the desired building number.  When I first visited Paris, wooden building numbers like this one were common.  I have no idea how many still exist, but they were one more exotic element for a visitor from the U.S.

On The Road - Steve from Mendocino - Paris 9/10 2

Cranes and pullies are used the world over to lift large objects into apartments and offices.  These somehow seem otherworldly to me.

On The Road - Steve from Mendocino - Paris 9/10 1

Old street lamps, probably in Place Vendome.  Yes, I hand colored the light bulbs.  I thought it looked cool.

On The Road - Steve from Mendocino - Paris 9/10

One of exactly two sunset photos I’ve taken in my life.  I stopped because I lost interest.

FacebookTweetEmail
Previous Post: « Great Headline or Greatest Headline Ever?
Next Post: Operation Lollipop: A Preview Of President-Elect Biden’s Vaccination Plan spy v. spy flyouts»

Reader Interactions

15Comments

  1. 1.

    Lapassionara

    January 14, 2021 at 10:06 pm

    Again, these are wonderful, and I thank you for enriching my life.

  2. 2.

    Steve from Mendocino

    January 14, 2021 at 10:07 pm

    I’ve always had a gut distaste for Centre Beaubourg, but Suzanne’s defense of the architecture caused me to actually think about what it is that bothers me. Personally, I find that the saturated colors clash painfully with everything around it. Tone those down, and the structure itself would not be such an eyesore. My wife rather likes the colors, but hates the structure. We agree to disagree, but she’s totally wrong, of course. In any event, it’s not the modernity that bothers me. That’s inevitable in a modern city. I just find that the Pompidou administration had no taste in their approach to all things aesthetic (although I understand that Pompidou himself had a great appreciation for food).

  3. 3.

    HinTN

    January 14, 2021 at 10:08 pm

    That’s a sunset picture that’s worth having. Wow

  4. 4.

    Mary G

    January 14, 2021 at 10:17 pm

    I just love the little details you highlight, like the cranes and streetlights. Thank you so much, and if you find more photos, please do send them in.

  5. 5.

    Kristine

    January 14, 2021 at 10:21 pm

    That pocket garden is so lovely!

  6. 6.

    Lapassionara

    January 14, 2021 at 10:25 pm

    @Steve from Mendocino: I do not love the Centre Beaubourg, but the good news to me is that it is not a tall glass and steel structure like most of the buildings built in the 1960’s, especially in NYC.

    I am sorry that I missed the era when Les Halles was actually the belly of Paris, instead of a shopping center.

    but still, to me, being a pedestrian in Paris is the good life. The buildings do not dominate the streets, and there is so much to see along the way. Thank you again for sharing your photos.

  7. 7.

    JanieM

    January 14, 2021 at 10:27 pm

    — Such a varied set — most of them make me feel like I’m right there at street level, enjoying the details.

    — The street numbering one made me chuckle. I was going to say something snarky about Boston, since compared to Milwaukee (just for example, and because I’ve lived in both of them) you could hardly call Boston a grid. But if I pull up first Boston and then Paris on Google Maps, I can see that Boston does have a lot of neighborhood-scale grids, even if few of them are nicely oriented NESW like Milwaukee. Whereas by comparison, Paris doesn’t have a whole lot of right angles.

    — Trying to figure out street numbers was one of my adventures on my first trip to Ireland in 1979. I was looking for the birthplace of GBS at 33 Synge St. in Dublin, and I didn’t realize that the numbers went up one side and down the other, unlike every place I’d lived in the US, where typically the numbers were odd on one side of the street and even on the other, with the low numbers at the same end either way.

    — As to sunsets, we differ. I love taking pictures of sunsets……as ungeometrical as they are. ;-)

  8. 8.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    January 14, 2021 at 10:31 pm

    @Lapassionara:

    I am sorry that I missed the era when Les Halles was actually the belly of Paris, instead of a shopping center.

    Me, too! I usually rent apartments when I’m in Paris, but I pretty much never cook, not being very good at it in any case, but when I walk through the markets I’m always fascinated by the fish and meat and poultry stalls. I do buy fruit and cheese

  9. 9.

    Steve from Mendocino

    January 14, 2021 at 10:32 pm

    I just noticed for the first time — the storefront behind the woman in green is Chevaline, a horse meat vendor.

  10. 10.

    CaseyL

    January 14, 2021 at 10:35 pm

    Just looking at the photos, I **love* the coulee verte, and with all my heart want to walk along it.  Your travels in Paris, shared via these photos, have been just amazing.

    The hoists and pulleys for hauling large objects to upper floor dwellings used to be used extensively in cities here in the US.  Mostly the old neighborhoods on the East Coast, I think, before elevators and freight elevators were a thing.  The potential mishaps hauling things up like that were a staple of old movies and cartoons, for perilous and hilarious effect.

  11. 11.

    Lapassionara

    January 14, 2021 at 10:40 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: we rent apartments too. There are so many ways to have a good lunch in Paris, with a baguette sandwich from a bakery or some bits of pate from a deli. I am hoping to be able to travel again, maybe by fall.

  12. 12.

    pablo

    January 15, 2021 at 3:45 am

    I Ex-patted to Berlin a year and a half ago with the anticipation of numerous visits to Paris, Rome, Madrid etc, explored Berlin and tripped to Amsterdam, then BOOM, Covid.  Now I dream.  I’m 73 so time is of the essence, and vaccine is not in the picture till summer (Germany seems as fucked up as the US) thanks for the pretty pics and stories, I might as well be stuck back in ATL, but walking distance in Berlin wins hands down.

  13. 13.

    Albatrossity

    January 15, 2021 at 8:17 am

    Gorgeous, per usual! And that’s a pretty good sunset picture too :-)

  14. 14.

    rlc

    January 15, 2021 at 9:46 am

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: re: food stalls in the marche couverts

    The French seem to have a word for what my wife and I do about half of our evenings in Paris: “picnic”.  First you stop by the fromagerie, then pick up some charcuterie.  Each will happily sell you 100g of stuff you point at.  The slicing is correct. Then stop by the poissonerie and pick up a dozen huîtres.  Usually there are several varieties, and in the marche couvert, usually $1-2 each.  You can spend 10-20x that in a South Bank huitrerie.  I always travel with an oyster knife, but you can pick up one cheap in the several shops remaining that are the ghosts of historical Les Halles.

    I have to share a story here about buying oysters in a marche couvert.  So the lady vendor didn’t speak a word of English, and I’ve got maybe 10 words of wretched spoken French.  And she was catégorique that she would not sell me oysters in the shell to take back to the hotel and let spoil.  So I had to pantamine that I had an apartment with a *refrigerator*.  All of this was done in good fun.  I eventually succeed, and boy they were good.  She was very happy to see me in my next visits to buy fish and various sorts of shrimp.  Incidentally, in 3 visits to Paris, I visited the 3 poisonneries in my local marche couvert quite a few times, and it was with great pleasure to see the same vendors light up with smiles to see me on the 2nd and 3rd trips.  Goddam do I love Paris.

    Now our picnic is missing two things, which we can easily fix.  One is fermented, and the other informed by yeast.

    We do this in all the other cities we visit, too, but the table is different in say, Bucharest, or Queretaro.

    Those of you renting apartments, who do you go through?  I am worried that AirBnB is deteriorating.

  15. 15.

    TomatoQueen

    January 15, 2021 at 11:46 am

    Never have had or will have the chance to go, so I depend on these things to pretend I’ve been. That woman in green is Paris, August 26, 1944.

Comments are closed.

Primary Sidebar

Image by MomSense (5/21.25)

Recent Comments

  • JML on House Bill Passes (Open Thread) (May 22, 2025 @ 8:19am)
  • stinger on On The Road – frosty – Chasing Birds (May 22, 2025 @ 8:17am)
  • Baud on House Bill Passes (Open Thread) (May 22, 2025 @ 8:15am)
  • catclub on Wednesday Evening Open Thread: An Exemplar for Our Global Embarrassment (May 22, 2025 @ 8:14am)
  • Betty Cracker on House Bill Passes (Open Thread) (May 22, 2025 @ 8:13am)

PA Supreme Court At Risk

Donate

Balloon Juice Posts

View by Topic
View by Author
View by Month & Year
View by Past Author

Featuring

Medium Cool
Artists in Our Midst
Authors in Our Midst
War in Ukraine
Donate to Razom for Ukraine

🎈Keep Balloon Juice Ad Free

Become a Balloon Juice Patreon
Donate with Venmo, Zelle or PayPal

Meetups

Upcoming Ohio Meetup May 17
5/11 Post about the May 17 Ohio Meetup

Calling All Jackals

Site Feedback
Nominate a Rotating Tag
Submit Photos to On the Road
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Links)
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Posts)
Fix Nyms with Apostrophes

Hands Off! – Denver, San Diego & Austin

Social Media

Balloon Juice
WaterGirl
TaMara
John Cole
DougJ (aka NYT Pitchbot)
Betty Cracker
Tom Levenson
David Anderson
Major Major Major Major
DougJ NYT Pitchbot
mistermix

Keeping Track

Legal Challenges (Lawfare)
Republicans Fleeing Town Halls (TPM)
21 Letters (to Borrow or Steal)
Search Donations from a Brand

PA Supreme Court At Risk

Donate

Site Footer

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Comment Policy
  • Our Authors
  • Blogroll
  • Our Artists
  • Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2025 Dev Balloon Juice · All Rights Reserved · Powered by BizBudding Inc

Share this ArticleLike this article? Email it to a friend!

Email sent!