Paris for Vacation: October 2006

Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Important number for the Neigherberhood

The standard emergency number for Police is 17

The nearest local police station is the unité de police de quartier Muette located at

2 rue Bois le Vent. Tel: 01 44 14 64 64 (about 7 minutes walk form the flat)

The most important commissariat is located at

58 av Mozart. Tel: 01 55 74 50 00 (about 16 minutes walk form the flat)

Saturday, October 28, 2006

Comments of Miss Nancy. Y, October 2006

We thoroughly enjoyed our holiday, and were very happy with the apartment

and its location. I will be recommending it to friends who plan to go to Paris

in the Spring.

Sunday, October 08, 2006

Finally a law forbidding SMOKING in FRANCE: Effective in two stages Feb2007 and 2008

I have been waiting for this law for so many years, finally it will take effect in 2007 and in 2008 in cafes and Restaurants. The city of Paris will soon be more enjoyable...

French smokers are bracing for a major culture shock in the coming months as the country prepares to follow several of its European neighbours and enact a ban on smoking in public places.
On Saturday, a parliamentary committee recommend a prohibition, and Health Minister Xavier Bertrand indicated a government decision has been taken.

Health Minister Xavier Bertrand fired the opening shot last month when he said he would like to ban smoking in places like restaurants and work spaces, but would exempt nightclubs, casinos and France's 34,000 tabacs, or bars that sell tobacco. He said he wanted the ban to be announced by decree in October and implementedin February.

Passions flared again last week after the newspaper Le Monde published the initial conclusions of a parliamentary commission that is due to report to the health minister in October. The commission came out against a decree, saying that the ban should be enacted as law after parliamentary debate. It also advocated a total ban on smoking; the only exception, it said, should be in private homes.
There is 66,000 people dying every year from cigarettes in France. The country has nearly 12 million smokers, or about a fifth of the population, according to Insee, (the national statistics institute)

A strong majority of people in France (78 %) favors a ban on smoking in public places, according to a survey conducted in February by the IFOP institute. The survey canvassed smokers and nonsmokers.

Friday, October 06, 2006

About the Pont Neuf

The Pont-Neuf (New Bridge) was an instant success, not only because of its width but also because it was the first bridge with no houses, giving Parisians a view of the Seine that they had not previously had.

The first stone was laid by his son, Henri III, in 1578, in the presence of the Queen Mother, Catherine de Médicis, under the direction of Baptiste Androuet du Cerceau. Interrupted by the League troubles, work started again under Henri IV who opened it on 20 June 1603. He christened it four years later with the name it bears today.

It was designed by a team of five architects, and is made of two sections; one has five arches and askew piers, the other with seven arches with the same askew piers; the sections are joined by an artificial traffic divider formed by joining two small islands: the île aux Juifs (Jews Island) and the île du Patriarche or de la Gourdaine.

The statue of Henri IV mounted on a horse stands on this platform, replacing - at Louis XVIII's wish - the one broken up by the revolutionaries, which dated back to 1614. At the request of Henri IV, above the second arch was the "La Samaritaine" pump which provided the Palais du Louvre (Louvre Palace), the Tuileries and the neighbourhoods with water from the Seine. On its main face there was a bas-relief in gilded bronze of the meeting of Christ and the Samaritan at Jacob's well. The building was topped by a bell tower and an astronomical clock, which were demolished and replaced a century later.

The Pont-Neuf (New Bridge) is in many respects the first of the modern bridges in Paris and the most famous. Its design marks the end of the Middle Ages. With its superb design and decoration, it was the central feature of the grandiose royal architecture to be found along the Seine. It linked the Louvre, the Abbaye de Saint-Germain (Saint-Germain Abbey) and the Left Bank in royal times.Although planned during the reign of Henri II, in 1556, the construction of the bridge was opposed by the Provost of the merchants and the stallholders installed on the other bridges who could see no need for this bridge.

The masses were very enthusiastic about it, and for two centuries it was recognised as a rallying point for all the sophisticated and vulgar pleasures of the capital. A saying has it that one was sure to meet "a monk, a white horse and a street walker" here. If the number of people seeking amorous encounters was certainly large, it was matched by the number of shady characters, thieves, conmen and bandits of all kinds.

Small business flourished with second hand booksellers and other itinerant merchants. It became the centre of a permanent, milling fair. But it was also a prestigious location and public exhibitions by painters from the Académie Saint-Luc were held here on the day of the Fête-Dieu (Corpus Christi).

More recently, the modern artist Christo wrapped it up for two weeks between 23 September and 6 October 1985, leaving only the roadway uncovered. The Pont-Neuf was restored in the middle of the 19th century; its arches were lowered to compound curve arches in order to reduce the slope of the humpback.

The Ville de Paris has undertaken major building and waterproofing work. Started in 1990, they will be spread over several years.

Built in 1578 and 1604.

238 m long, 20 m wide, it is divided into two sections separated by the divider where the Henri IV statue stands.

Seven arches on the main branch of the Seine, five on the small branch, all made of brick and, to all intents and purposes, semi-circular.

The span of the arch is 15 to 19 m on the large branch, 10 to 16 m on the small branch.

About the Pont des Invalides

In 1821, the engineer Claude NAVIER was entrusted with the task of conducting a survey for the location of the present day Alexandre III bridge. NAVIER's idea was to cross the Seine without support points, using a revolutionary technique for the day, leapfrogging contemporary English and American achievements. On 7 July 1824, his plan for the first Invalides bridge, a single span suspension bridge, was ratified by royal order.

Unfortunately, before even being completed, part of a suspension chain broke, followed by tilting of the pylons taking the weight of the deck. The situation was so worrying that the structure had to be demolished before ever being opened.

Granting the request of those wishing to maintain the view from the Invalides, the Administration decided to shift the bridge to the west, opposite the Boulevard de la Tour-Maubourg. The engineers VERGES and BAYARD de LA VINGTRIE designed a new suspended bridge with three spans of 24m, 68 m and 25 m supported by 20 m gantries. This structure entered service in 1829, but as early as 1850, it showed such signs of fatigue that access had to be restricted.

With the universal exposition coming up in 1855, it was demolished and construction of a new stone bridge, designed by LAGALISSERIE and SAVARIN began from 1854 to 1856. It used the existing abutments and piers of the previous suspension bridge. Only the central pier was new. It was decorated by two allegorical groups, Victory on land by Victor Vilain upstream, and Victory at sea by Georges Diébolt downstream.The lateral piers are decorated with military trophies bearing the imperial coat of arms, and are the work of Astyanax and Scévola Bosio.

Despite the voussoir restoration work done in 1876, settling of some 25 to 30 cm occurred in 1878 and the ice of the winter of 1880 finished by carrying off two arches of the bridge, which were restored by the end of the year.

Now stabilised, the bridge has been little altered since then, other than widening of the pavements in 1956.

Designers
LAGALISSERIE and SAVARIN

Construction date
1854-1856 Widened in 1956

Total length
152 m

Usable width
18m: 14 m roadway, two pavements of 2 m

Construction principles
Stone bridge, four arc of circle arches of 34m, 36m, 36m and 34 m span.

Decoration
The piers are decorated with stone figures and trophies

About the Pont Bir-Hakeim

It was in 1878, for the Universal Exposition, that an original metal footbridge was built on either side of the Ile des Cygnes, and called the "Passy footbridge". It was much used by the inhabitants of the 15th and 16th arrondissements. However, to meet the needs of the Universal Exposition of 900, plans were drawn up to replace it by a bridge combining a railway and a road. In late 1902 a competition was organised by the Metropolitan railway and Seine Navigation departments for a two-tier bridge, with a road bridge on the lower level comprising two lateral roadways separated by a central walkway and, on the upper level, the metropolitan railway viaduct supported by metal columns resting on the central space.

The author of the project was Louis BIETTE, in association with the contractors DAYDE and PILLE. Formige, a Paris municipal architect, was responsible for the decoration. He hired three sculptors; Gustave Michel, who produced the cast iron groups aligned with the piers at the arch springs. There are two groups, one representing "boatmen", the other "ironsmith-riveters". For their part, Coutan and Injalbert are the authors of four allegorical figures decorating the structure on the Ile des Cygnes.The Pont de Bir-Hakeim is in fact comprised of two unequal metal structures, each comprising three cantilever type spans, separated by a monumental stone structure on the upstream tip of the Ile des Cygnes. The metropolitan railway viaduct on the top rests on a series of elegant pillars, whose highly ornate decoration unfortunately disappeared when the structure was strengthened from 1930 to 1940.

Called the Passy viaduct until 1948, the work was renamed the Pont de Bir-Hakeim to commemorate General Koenig's June 1942 victory over Rommel in the Libyan desert.

It is now included in the supplementary register of historical monuments.

Designers
Louis BIETTE, assisted by THOMAS, engineer, and FORMIGE, architect

Contractor
DAYDE and PILLE

Construction date
1903 - 1905

Total length
237 m

Usable width
Lower level: 24.70 m
Central walkway: 8.70 m, two pavements of 2m, two roadways of 6 m.
Upper level: 7.30 m

Road bridge
Two structures with three spans of 30 m, 54 m, 30 m for the large branch and 24 m, 42 m and 24 m for the small branch linked by a monumental gantry (abutment common to both bridges) on the Ile des Cygnes. Bridge arches made of metal girders of variable geometry. The centre spans are cantilevered.

Decoration
The Pont de Bir-Hakeim was the site of much artistic activity. Cast iron motifs: grotesque masks, scallops.

Decoration of the piers by Gustave Michel. The two groups are reproduced four times, one of boatmen (1), the other of ironsmith-riveters.

Sculpture on the stone abutment one the Ile des Cygnes representing Science and Labour by Coutan, and Electricity and Commerce by Injalbert.

About the Pont Charles De Gaulle

The new bridge, situated between the Pont d'Austerlitz (Austerlitz Bridge) and the Pont de Bercy (Bercy Bridge), which are approximately one kilometre apart, is located in the continuation of the rue Van Gogh and in the subways under the square of the Gare de Lyon (Lyon Station).

For the past ten years, the South-East of Paris, between the Pont de Bercy (Bercy Bridge) and Pont d'Austerlitz (Austerlitz Bridge) has seen profound changes. Extensive work has already been carried out (Palais Omnisports de Bercy (Bercy Omnisport Stadium), Ministère des Finances (Finance Ministry), Parc de Bercy (Bercy Park), Bibliothèque de France (National Library) etc.In 1986, the Conseil de Paris (Paris Council) decided to build a new bridge, to work in parallel with the Pont d'Austerlitz (Austerlitz Bridge), the busiest in the capital, so as to provide an improved link between Bercy and the Left Bank of Paris and between Lyon and Austerlitz stations.

The new bridge, situated between the Pont d'Austerlitz (Austerlitz Bridge) and the Pont de Bercy (Bercy Bridge), which are approximately one kilometre apart, is located in the continuation of the rue Van Gogh and in the subways under the square of the Gare de Lyon (Lyon Station).

On completion of a European competition launched in 1987, the selected project was the one proposed by the architects Louis Arretche and Roman Karasinski; it is charaterised by its discrete nature and a willingness to respect the lie of the river, and not to adversely affect the appearance of the Austerlitz viaduct, about 150 metres away. The structure is made of steel decking designed like a plane wing, placed on steel pipe whorls on 2 piers with three continuous spans of 68, 84 and 55 metres. Work began in 1993 and was completed in the summer of 1996.

Built between 1993 and 1996.

Designers: Louis Arretche and Roman Karasinski.

Total length: 207.75 m. Effective width: 31.60 m. Deck 18 m. 2 pavements, each of 5 m. 2 separators, each of 1.80 m.

Continuous metal girder bridge with three spans of 68, 84 and 55 m. Decking push towed into place and made up of two lateral bearing caissons linked by a bearing plate. The upper plate is made of spanwise prestressed concrete. The surface is made of plates curved in the shape of an aircraft wing.

About the Pont de La Concorde

The Pont de la Concorde (Concorde Bridge) is the work of the engineer Jean-Rodolphe Perronet, Director of the Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées (National Public Works School), founded by Colbert. He built it from sections of dressed stone recovered from the demolition of the Bastille during the Revolution - a very rare commodity. Like the square of which it is an extension, its name changed with events - Pont Louis XVI (Louis XVI Bridge), Revolution, Concorde, then Louis XVI again at the Restoration, and finally Concorde as from 1830.Successive rulers enjoyed decorating it with statues. In 1810, Napoleon had the effigies of eight generals who died in action during the Empire campaigns placed on it. The Restoration replaced them with twelve white marble monumental statues of four great Ministers (Colbert, Richelieu, Suger, Sully), four soldiers (Bayard, Condé, Du Guesclin, Turenne), four sailors (Dugay-Trouin, Duquesne, Suffren, Tourville).

These colossal statues made the bridge so heavy that they eventually had to be removed and taken to Versailles. The bridge was widened between 1930 and 1932 by the addition of two spans upstream and downstream, while cleverly retaining the original shape of the bridge.

Although very busy with traffic, it has fine views of the Concorde Square and of the Palais-Bourbon.

Built in 1791.

14 metres wide.

Five masonry arches built in the form of an arc, of 25, 28, 31, 28 and 25 m.

Foundations on stilts and a framework roadway.

It was widened to 35 m in 1931 by building, upstream and downstream, two bridge sections which reproduced the lay-out of the old structure, supported on separate piles sunk using compressed air.

About the Pont MARIE

Owing to disagreements between the owners of the houses and the administration responsible for bridge maintenance, the structure quickly fell into disrepair and during the night of 1st March 1658, the Seine in flood carried off both arches on the Ile Saint-Louis side along with the twenty houses built on them. This disaster claimed sixty lives, quite apart from the loss of property and buildings. It was only in 1660 that a wooden bridge restored a link, along with a toll-gate in order to finance the rebuilding of the stone structure. This only began in 1667 after Colbert intervened and the two arches were at last finished in 1670. The houses were not however rebuilt. Indeed the memory of the disaster of 1658 led to the demolition of other houses in 1740, fearing a further accident due to flooding. The decision taken in 1769 to do away with all constructions on the bridges of Paris led to their complete disappearance in 1788.

The Pont Marie was one of the group of three bridges designed to open up the Ile Saint-Louis when its urbanisation began in the 17th century. It joins the island to the right bank and is the counterpart to the Pont de la Tournelle, along the same axis but on the left bank side. This system was completed by the Pont Saint-Louis joining up with the Ile de la Cité. This bridge was the due to the obstinacy of the enterprising Christophe MARIE, who as early as 1605 proposed its construction and after whom it is named. However it was only in 1614 that the King approved the project. The first stone was laid in the same year in great pomp by king Louis XIII in person.Unfortunately, the canons of Notre Dame opposed the project, to the extent that building work could only begin many years later.

It was opened to traffic in 1635, more than twenty years after the first stone was laid, but its history does not stop there. Further dissent sprang up between Christophe Marie, the canons and the owners of the island regarding the construction of houses on the bridge. These fifty odd houses were finally built by the carpenter Claude Dublet.

As of this date, the structure underwent no particular changes. Like most of the old stone bridges, its "hump" was gradually reduced, in particular during the restoration of 1850 to 1851, but this did not significantly change its appearance. Since then, the Pont Marie has retained the appearance we know today. It is curious to note that the eight niches which have decorated the structure since the 17th century have never been filled with statues.

Designer
Christophe MARIE

Construction date
completed in 1635

Two arches on Ile Saint Louis side collapsed in March 1658 - Repaired in 1670

Total length
about 92 m between abutments

Usable width
22.60 m: roadway 14.60 m; two pavements of 4 m

Construction principles
Stone bridge with five semicircular arches, with spans of between 14 and 18 m.

Stone piers and abutments, built on wooden piles, front and back dihedral cutwaters.

Decoration
The cutwaters are topped with niches, never filled with statues.

About the Pont SAINT LOUIS

In about 1630, a first wooden bridge, called the Saint-Landry bridge was built diagonally between the Quai de Bourbon and the cross-roads of the Rue de Chantres and the Rue des Ursins. This structure however collapsed on 5 June 1634 under the weight of three processions. It was replaced in 1656 by a nine-arched bridge which had to be demolished the following year after being seriously damaged by flooding.In 1717, letters patent decided on the reconstruction of a "wooden bridge between the Isle du Palais and that of Notre-Dame". This led to a seven-arch bridge called the "Red bridge" owing to the red lead paint with which it was covered. It was swept away by floodwaters in 1795. Beaumarchais then tried in vain to have a metal bridge built in its place. Finally, under the supervision of the engineer, DUMOUSTIER, a 70 m long and 10 m wide two-arch bridge was built in 1804, mainly of oak protected by copper plates and tar. It was demolished in 1811 following partial collapse and was replaced by a two-arch wooden footbridge, itself replaced in 1842 by a single-span gothic style suspended bridge built by HOMBERT and called the "Passerelle de la Cité".

In 1862, this bridge was replaced by a single-arch metal bridge with a span of 64 m and 16 m wide. After several river traffic accidents, this bridge was struck on 22 December 1939 by a vehicle causing the explosion of a number of gas pipes. Twenty people were thrown into the river, three of whom drowned.

On 7 July 1941, an old footbridge resembling an iron cage was temporarily installed and was a true eyesore for such a prestigious junction between the two islands.

After several vain attempts to reach a technical and architectural solution, the decision was finally taken in 1968 to install a structure whose plain lines were to render it unobtrusive in the shadow of such a high-profile site as Notre Dame.

The current bridge is the seventh built on more or less the same site and joining the Ile Saint-Louis and the Ile de la Cité.

Designers
J.F. COSTE and LONG-DEPAQUIT

Construction date
1968-1970

Total length
67 m

Construction principles
Two box girders of 67 m span.
Reinforced concrete covering slab.

About the Pont MIRABEAU

Built in 1893.

Width 20 m.

Three metal arches of 32, 93 and 32 m, seven steel cantilever girders.

Each girder has two symmetrical halves, each supporting the other at the keystone by means of a hinge.

Supported on piers by picot pins; supports on abutments with pin tie.

Abutments on piles.

There is a recording of the poet's APOLLINAIRE voice reading his verses on cylinder, before the death of Apollinaire, by the Studio-Laboratoire des Archives de la Parole (Voice Archive Studio-Laboratory) which had started to record famous voices in 1911 at the Sorbonne. This is certainly the oldest recording to celebrate the Seine. The Pont Mirabeau dates back to 1893. Its three arches are very beautifully worked in steel. This was carried out by Résal, the engineer on Alexander III bridge and the Debilly footbridge. With this material it was possible to bring the central arch to a height of 100 m, which would not have been possible had stone been used. Its delicate parapet gives it an old-fashioned charm, and four plump bronze statues stand astride the prows of boats that form the cutwaters of the piers.

About the Pont de Grenelle

In 1827,a 192 m long wooden toll-bridge was built. It was designed by the architect MALLET, at the initiative of the developers of the Beaugrenelle district.

Despite a number of repairs and the rebuilding of four spans between 1849 and 1873, it began to collapse under the increased weight of traffic as a result of a celebration given on 13th July 1873 in honour of the Shah of Persia. This incident swung the 1874 decision to replace it with a six-arch cast iron bridge designed by the engineers VAUDREY and PESSON.

It should be noted that following the construction of this new bridge, instruments invented by VAUDREY were used for the first time in 1875 to record deflection during loading and vibration tests.

On the Allée des Cygnes which separates the bridge into two symmetrical halves of three spans, a circular area was prepared in order to take a bronze scale model of Bartholdi's Statue of Liberty which dominates the port of New York. At the inauguration of this statue in 1885, Bartholdi deplored the fact that she was facing east and turning her back on America. It was only at the universal exposition of 1938 that he was to be granted posthumous satisfaction.From the beginning of the century, the bridge proved to be incapable of handling the rise in road and river traffic and also began to show signs of major cracking and corrosion. The decision was thus taken to rebuild it in 1961 as part of the programme to renovate the Front de Seine riverbank district.

A new bridge was designed by the engineers THENAULT, GRATTESAT and PILON and built between 1966 and 1968. It comprises two main metal spans of 85 m, crossing the two branches of the Seine, a 20 m span above the Ile des Cygnes and two 15 m concrete spans over the right and left bank expressways.

The downstream tip of the Ile des Cygnes was modified to take the Statue of Liberty and was joined to the bridge by a pre-stressed concrete walkway 34.50 m long.

Designers
THENAULT, GRATTESAT and PILON, engineers

Contractor
DODIN CFEM

Construction date
1966-1968

Total length
220 m

Construction principles
Metal bridge consisting of seven welded girders making up two main spans of 85 m on each of the two branches of the Seine, and a 20 m span above the Ile des Cygnes.

A pre-stressed concrete walkway 34 m long joins the bridge to the Ile des Cygnes islet.

Decoration
Statue of Liberty on the downstream tip of the Ile des Cygnes.

Paris for Vacation