Paris

I was in Paris last weekend. It was very chilly in comparison to Nice- 12 degrees C instead of 24.

I stayed in the 15th arrondissement at a little cheap and cheerful hotel, close to Parsons Paris
where the SCBWI Illustration workshop was being held.

The hotel was fairly close to the Eiffel Tower so I spent some time wandering around the foot of the Tower and the Champs-de-mars.

I was in a silly mood, so I made this image of the Eiffel Tower using a few of the photos I took.

This is a bridge over the River Seine just by the Eiffel Tower - Pont d'Iéna. Built between 1806 and 1813 and improved in the 1930s , the bridge links the Champs-de-Mars/Eiffel Tower and the Trocadero.

There are 5 arches ornamented with the Imperial eagle motif, just visible. One of the bateau mouches [fly boats] is just about to go under the bridge.
This is the old école professionnelle et ménagère de jeunes filles across from my hotel . It was originally a school to train young working class girls to become domestic servants or other occupations [eg seamstresses]. Its now an ordinary upper secondary school [lycée] for both boys and girls.


My Gran was a lady's maid for an aristocratic family in London in the the early 20th century, so I've always found social history of the period interesting.

I wish I knew more about my Gran's experiences but she was never too keen on talking about her early life; even though she would have been considered a success- Ladies' maids were very high up in the heirarchy of domestic servants.

She told us about having her hair shingled and being considered very fashionable, taking tea in various fashionable tearooms on her days off, meeting my grandfather [he was in the Scot's Guards] and even seeing the Hilton Twins [who were famous conjoined twins], but kept her experiences as a servant pretty much hidden.


The Artillerie at the bottom of the Champ-de-mars; the Gorgon's head and dragon's were pretty fierce looking.
The Artillerie building is really elaborately decorated. It also seems to have a lot of bullet holes in the walls , maybe from the 2nd world war.
The Eiffel Tower early on an autumn morning; from the bottom of the champs-de-mars. The leaves on the trees were just starting to turn brown.


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