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 It's cold, gray, a little rainy... It's the perfect moment to have a little tea. Like this nicely dressed lady that I photographed at a terrace near Beaubourg (she probably had a macaron or two, wrapped in this ugly white paper on the table!) The French tradition of tea is not as strong as in England or China, but the market is apparently increasing (2 ou 3 French people drink tea against 1 out of 3 ten years ago). It is still considered as an "elite" beverage, and more feminine than masculine. There are several nice Salon de Thé in Paris ; the most famous ones are probably Mariage Frère (a tea specialist) and Angelina (an upper class hang out). If you're interested, here is a little selection of other cosy addresses (in French).
 I know, this looks like a very basic message - kinda like "aren't we treating men like consumable goods nowadays?" but I loved the graphics. It's not really a graffiti but a printed paper glued to a vent pipe, that I photographed in the Beaubourg area. The garbage can is typical of Paris (with its transparent plastic bag to avoid bombings - that is, to avoid that terrorists hide a bomb in it). It's not exactly the best photo I could choose to start the week, but it really caught my eyes. BTW, I have no idea who did that, so if anyone knows...
 Regular visitors to Paris Daily Photo surely know who I believe to be my oldest fan: Tomate Farcie (stuffed tomato)! I could not help but thinking of her when I came across this restaurant on Boulevard Sebastopol. I did not try it, I just found out on the web that they mostly serve dishes from Provence (a French Southern region). Have a good weekend everyone.
 I'm just back from dinner with the Benauts - and Michael who showed them Montmartre and Le Sacré Coeur this morning - at the excellent Le Georges restaurant on top of the Pompidou Center (also called Beaubourg Center) and here his the view we could see from the table we where sitting at until the sun went down for good. We had a lovely time and I'll post more photos on the making of later. But right now I just want to go to bed! Have a nice Sunday - and a good Labor day weekend if you're in the US.
 I met up with some friends the other night to catch up after vacations and drown a few sorrows for the upcoming rentrée, and discovered this bar called La Cordonnerie. Located at 142 rue St Denis, this former shoemaker's shop now boasts some of the cheapest beer and happy hour in town, along with what I'd consider to be the aged clientele where those points are extremely important!
 Despite the Paris Mayor's determination to eradicate cars in Paris, you can still find some - even parked on the sidewalk, LOL. OK, you guessed, this model is for kids (I found it in the 3rd, not far from République), but within 2 years you will find new "grown up models" (probably a bit larger!) for rent by the hour after the same principle of Vélib. The system is not to be confused with the one I already introduced here, for with Autolib (it will be their name) you will then be able to take a car at one end of the city and drop it at the other end. They should be electric - although electric cars are extremely expensive and not very efficient for the time being - and the rental price should be "reasonable".
 It's early July, France is soon to be closed! French people often go on vacation between July 14 and August 15 (not all necessarily for a whole month though) so it seems like a prefect time to renew shops and outlets. The BNP bank has had a pretty clever idea to hide the work they do in many of their branches; cool screens. I found this one on the Boulevard de Sebastopol and also Boulevard Saint Germain, but I'm sure they can be found in many other places.
 I've always heard the expression "the Devil is in the details" until yesterday, in a television series I heard one of the characters say "God is in the details". And when I saw this photo - that I took at Place des Vosges on Sunday - I could not help but think of it. Well figuratively of course, because on this occasion God is French Sculptor Jean-Pierre Cortot (1787 - 1843) who designed the 4 fountains that you can see on this unforgettable place. BTW, I had a message from CNN who thanks you all very much. Non US based people who are interested in the France coverage can tune in to CNN International throughout the week and US based people, who I believe don't have access to CNN International can check www.cnn.com/france.
 I did a little compilation of your contributions [thank you very much for that] for the CNN survey and it was really interesting to see how, for most of you, what best defines France's reputation is... food! I then could not help but posting what I had for lunch today when I met Elisabeth - one of the earliest visitors to PDP - who is currently in Paris at the moment (see a photo of her with Michael on the making of). Yes people, in Paris, on the Place des Vosges, at La Guirlande de Julie's, red snapper is served with its head! I did not eat the latter, but enjoyed the dish very much. Have a nice week.
 I'm back! And what is the first thing I did after dropping my suitcase at home? Well I rushed to the Arts et Métiers Museum to take a photo! Why? Because, like in many cities in Europe, last night was " The Night of Museums", an event that was created in 2005 by the French ministry for culture. The principle is to open some of the museums late at night (until midnight generally) and to let people go in for free. Huge success, as you can see in this photo that I took around 11:30 PM in front of the Foucault's pendulum.
 This won't tell you much if you're not French, but this phrase (which means something like "hit the road, you jerk!") has now become so famous that they even make graffiti out of it. It was pronounced some time ago by President Nicolas Sarkozy, while visiting the Salon de l'Agriculture (International Agricultural Show), in reaction to someone who let him know in a pretty aggressive way that he refused to shake his hand. The scene was caught on tape, posted on Youtube and... was seen almost 3 million times! Here is the "subtitled" version. As for me, I took this advice very seriously and... left the country! I'm currently on vacation until May 19.
 Not far from the Beaubourg center, by the Saint Merri church, I found these big portraits that are usually not there... They look like rabbis to me, so I suppose they were installed on the occasion of a Jewish celebration. Anyway , they give the neighborhood a festive aspect which is good. It's already Le weekend, it feels good, even though I've worked only 3 days this week ;). Update: thanks to my visitors (see comments) I know now these 3 men are a Rabi, a priest and an imam.
 I had never heard of this Falun Dafa movement before I took this photo. Funnily, 2 days ago I came across them again, marching in the streets of Paris - probably to celebrate the new year. Let me take advantage of this festive occasion to thank you all for your very nice wishes and compliments that you made lately. Like I said many times here: you are my fuel; without you, I would have quit PDP a long time ago ;)
 Here we go! Today is the last day of the year and I thought of posting this "newspaper lady" that I found yesterday in the Beaubourg area on my way to the hardware store! It must have been a lot of work to create this piece of art for her "dress" is actually made of newspaper directly glued to the wall. Love it. Shame it's not signed - or I did not see the signature. If anyone knows the artist, please let me know. Don't forget tomorrow is the 1st of the month, therefore a city daily photo bloggers theme day; we are all (so far 101 participants throughout the world!) supposed to post our best photo of the year... Hold your breath!
 Several of you emailed me asking " I'm coming to Paris next week or so, how difficult will it be to go from the airport to town and to move around Paris afterwards?" Well, good news, the strikes are coming to an end and even though some strikers still don't accept to give in, it's very likely that everything will be back to normal next week. And don't forget, you can still use the Velibs to move around Paris now!!
 I already mentioned it several times here - and you may know it anyway - but the statue of Liberty that you can see in New York has been given to the Americans by the French as a gift. Several mock ups and replicas have been made prior and after, like this one I recently found in the Musée des Arts et Métiers, a fantastic museum near Place de la Republique where you can also see the first - French - planes, the first - French - bicycles, the first - French -television set (1931!) and several displays about buildings and constructions. That is where I photographed this mock up.
 It's been a while since I've shown you a lovers couple on PDP, so here is one. I found them at the " Technoparade", kind of like the Gay Pride except that it's not gay! Same principle, same music, same joy but not the same age range. In this Parade, anyone older than 18 looks misplaced. I was LOL!
 Pretty soon it'll be cold in Paris and it won't be easy to have lunch outside. So, before it is to late I took this shot. No much to say about it, just that I like the effect of the awning blinds...
 If a picture paints a thousand words like in many cities I imagine, you can come across street artists who will paint/draw/sketch/take your portrait "in just 5 minutes" if you are willing to sit for it. This particular photo was taken near the Café Beaubourg, but you can find them in many places, most notably at Place du Tertre - Montmartre.
 During the responses from this photo, I noticed that Steverino said in Chicago that they refer to pigeons there as "flying rats". Well here you go, the Parisian version. Do you think they vary that much from city to city, continent to continent? I'm guessing they do, but only a pigeon expert could tell. I do know that they all seem to do their business the same way all around the world!
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