They are eight. Eight female statues seated on Gabriel’s sentry boxes all around the Place de la Concorde. They represent eight French cities: Brest, Bordeaux, Lille, Lyon, Marseille, Nantes, Rouen and Strasbourg.
Caesar the lizard really wants to get to know Paris. He has heard about it since his childhood. His parents, his grandparents, his aunts, his uncles, his cousins speak of the capital, like always. Obviously, his whole family is crazy about this city. He is the only one, him the youngest, to have not seen with his own eyes the legendary beauty of the great lady. He has made up his mind, tonight, he is escaping from home. He has prepared his backpack with some food, a flask of fresh water. Now he is ready to leave his native Burgundy, his village of Charbuy.
We have this feeling that this monument has always been there and obviously, it is the oldest monument in Paris, even before the founding of the capital. Its manufacture dates back to the ancient Egyptian civilization. It was classified as a historical monument in 1937.
What if I wandered around Paris and landed in a specific spot and looked around… That would be great! The sky is a bit cloudy but that does not affect my inner joy. I know the rain won’t be there. Tomorrow maybe, but not today.
Once upon a time, on the Place de la Concorde, in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, there were two fountains. Located on either side of the Concorde obelisk, there is the Fountain of the Rivers to the north and the Fountain of the Seas to the south.
The weather is wonderful, and yet, I decide to visit the Louvre Museum. It’s not big, it’s huge! A great program in perspective. I take the metro, it’s so much easier and more convenient than the car. I choose to join the museum from the outside to get an overview. Shops in the basement aren’t really my cup of tea. So here I am in this amazing Napoleon courtyard which welcomes a transparent glass pyramid causing, back then, heated discussions. In the end, it fits perfectly and absolutely does not harm the surrounding buildings.
It is on a beautiful summer from another time, a beautiful calm and soothing day, a beautiful afternoon to remember, that a young mother whispers to her very young child: