les quais, les parapluies

[naomi_traveller]

Well, it's good I was feeling better today because the weather was much worse. I have paid well for the folly of leaving my umbrella at home. The general theme for today was "the famous monuments that have surprisingly little shelter from rain tour".

Comments

[sarcastic_halli]

So are you supposed to not be optimistic about the weather, or just in general, in Paris?

[naomi_traveller]

It was too funny. I didn't want to ruin it by asking!

[moonsend]

Yay for tasting and for a crêpe.

Glad to hear you're feeling better.

[irontongue]

My regret about Hausmann is that much of medieval Paris survived into the 19th c. only to be destroyed by his renovations, and I for one would have liked to wander those medieval streets. At least there are photographs...

[naomi_traveller]

Ah, I have the same regrets. But then I think, it probably wouldn't have survived the 1960s and 70s push to make everything out of concrete, and we still would have lost medieval Paris without the grand monuments and allées.

It's especially striking, having seen a similar approach done poorly in other cities. Much as I mourn what it replaced, it is pretty awesome in its own right.

[irontongue]

That is quite possible! Which other cities are you thinking of?

London has had a continuous makeover throughout its history; of course, a good bit of the medieval city disappeared in the Great Fire of 1666 (sigh).

[naomi_traveller]

Moscow and Beijing and Madrid, I think are the worst offenders. (I loved Madrid, but its city plan made no sense to me.) In England, York and Ripon are very nice, if you like medieval.