La Defense and le jardin d'acclimatation

Wind screen trying to protect from the wind.

Auchan

I think that this is the largest grocery store that I have been in in Europe.  The prices on fruit were

great.  You could buy laundry detergent in large bottles and rice in what looked like a 

20 pound bag.  Too much for us to be interested, but it was fun to look around. 

Gummy candy paradise.  Lots of Haribo available.  I did not check to see

about gelatin. 

Endless cheese on both sides of this aisle

I was looking for something to make hot chocolate on these cold mornings.

Not too many choices but lots of unsweeten chocolate powder.

This table full of shrimp brought Lily to mind.  Look at all of that seafood.

I am unfamiliar with the Tomate Torino from Spain, of course.

They look a lot like Roma tomatoes but much larger.

Seeing this large oval shaped tomatoes started my camera frenzy.

When we reached the Bois de Boulogne and Jardin d'Acclimatation, we were surprised

to see a sign outside of the grounds telling us that because of the Louis Vuitton Foundation

the price was 16 Euros each.  Whoa.  Fortunately we were able to go to the park for only 1,50

Euros each.  And to our surprise the ticket man let these two senior citizens in for free.

The jardin is one of our favorite spots in the Bois de Boulogne.  It is designed to delight the 

hearts of all children.  When we first got there at about 1 pm there were not very many people around.  By the time we left the park had just the perfect amount of parents and children

looking at the animals and going on rides. The ride above is a lazy boat ride along a short canal.

A burro or two are hiding behind me.

You can just see the cow lying on the muddy bank behind me. 

Children taking lessons in two different locations.  They looked like seasoned 

riders to me. 

The mountain habitat for goats and deer.  There are a few animals hiding 

behind the bushes on the left.

We were very surprised at how fast this ride was.  

Almost exciting enough to tempt us.  

We noticed that two of the people who were on the ride when we first saw it, stayed

on to go around and around a second time.

We caught this cute little girl with the goats.  Fortunately she did not

seem to be wearing anything that would tempt a goat. 

We know what great eaters goats are. 

A couple of llamas.  They did not come to try to eat anything

that we had or spit on us. 

The Louis Vuitton Foundation

As far as I can tell, the foundation was created to encourage art and culture around the world.

Until May the display is a selection of Chinese artists (in a time of turbulence

and transformation).  Poetry, drama, cuisine and visual arts 

are among some of the displays and exhibitions.

When we were here two years ago  the building was partially constructed. 

A few examples from this site on the internet

http://ashadedviewonfashion.com/blog/chinese-art-foundation-louis-vuitton-paris

 

Architect  Frank Gehry

A small lake in the garden where it is possible to rent a paddle boat.

You can just see a red boat in the background.

This is a home for carrier pigeons that dates back to the era following the Prussian siege of 

Paris about 1860.  I am finding it very difficult to find information about the tower

and the pigeons.  I wish now that we had taken pictures of the information available at the tower. 

Or that I had taken time to read more about them.  I just assume it would be easy to find

the information I am looking for. 

I have read on several sites that the tower and the carrier pigeons date back to the siege.

However, the information in the park made it very clear that this was inaccurate.  The tower was

not constructed until after the battle with the Prussians.

Just me and the little red hen.

We saw parents taking a picture of their small child sitting on top of the rhino.  For some reason

the Professor seemed reluctant to try to crawl on top of it.  It does make a

better picture with him standing beside it.

Worker repairing thatch on building in the jardin.

This little character is pasted onto the wall at the Concorde station for line 8.  It is a huge advertisement for a Disney production.  The purple plastic seats are real, but as you can see, this little metro worker looks almost three dimensional.  Next time we are at the stop we will

definitely have to take more pictures.

We have seen these bicycle drawn "carriages" all over Paris.  Of course, neither one of us has any desire to take a ride in one.  On this very rainy day, you can see that this one has the passenger seat covered in plastic very much like you might cover a baby's stroller.

Speaking of cabmen, in my effort to find out more about the pigeon tower, I looked up a hopeful

reference on a newspaper page from August 18th, 1875.  I did not find the paragraph with a reference

to the pigeons, but I came across this piece of news that I thought you might enjoy as much as I did.

PARI S CABMEN. — T h e Paris correspondent of the Pall-mall Gazette writes under date Sunday : " The cabmen here during the recent rains became really unbearable, perhaps from overwork. One curious case of incivilit y i n the first place and assault i n the second, has been brought int o court. Durin g a heavy downpour a cabman who had forgotten his waterproof pulled u p and attempted t o seek shelter inside his vehicle. His fare naturall y objected t o this arrangement, and a fight ensued, which ended i n the fare being dragged out of the cab. The struggle was being continued on the pavement, when a couple of policemen, gallantly quittin g the shelter of a doorway, arrived on tbe scene, and having separated the combatants, who looked as if they had been pulled out- of tbe river, installed themselve s i n the cab, and took down the depositions of both parties. I t is expeoted i t wil l go hard wit h th e coachman; i t has already gone pretty hard wit h th e fare.