Colourful graffiti
Monday walks,  Paris,  Photographing Public Art,  Street art

A rainy day in Paris

September 17, 2024 / 38 Comments

Some people walk in the rain, others just get wet

Roger Miller

On the first day of our most recent visit to Paris we both walked in the rain AND got wet – very wet! But we had a lot of fun too and found some places to explore out of the rain that made the day memorable. After all, what is a bit of water if you’re in your favourite city?

So here is a rather soggy Monday Walk for Jo, with plenty of street art for Natalie to enjoy!

The rain didn’t come as a surprise, it had been forecast for several days previously. So we’d come prepared with umbrellas although they proved insufficient against the heaviest rainfall first thing in the morning!

Eternelle Notre Dame

We had pre-booked tickets for a VR experience, Eternelle Notre Dame, so made our way in the pouring rain down to the river and across to the Île de la Cité. I was pleased that I’d taken a photo the previous evening looking across to Notre Dame, when we’d been thrilled to see the iconic spire restored since our visit last year. It was fairly dull yesterday but nothing compared with today’s weather! As for last year, just look at that sunshine! But also, so much more scaffolding and no spire.

Large cathedral with scaffolding and cranes
The reconstruction of Notre Dame, 2023
Large cathedral with scaffolding and cranes
The reconstruction of Notre Dame, 2024

The entrance to the VR experience was hard to find. But once found, we were allowed to wait inside until it opened, along with a few other equally soggy visitors!

The VR experience

We were fitted with headsets and also some rather heavy backpacks before being briefed. The experience worked much as the Egyptian one we did in London a little while ago, although I didn’t find my headset worked quite as well; the picture was blurred and the sound faint at times. However it was very effective, taking us through the history of the cathedral from its first building through the 19th century restoration and addition of the spire, to the fire and the work now ongoing to reconstruct and repair.

Our virtual guide took us high into the ‘forest’, as the lattice of wooden beams beneath the roof is known. From there we were led out onto the parapet around the south bell tower for an amazing ‘view’ of Paris. These sections of the tour that took us to the highest points of the cathedral were among the most fascinating, along with the opportunity to look over the shoulders of medieval stone masons and other craftsmen as they worked.

The exhibition

Afterwards we had a look at a free exhibition about the work being done. A guide talked us through some aspects (in excellent English), including the harmonisation of the organ which has to be done at night when it’s quiet and will take six months in total. Everything is on track for the promised reopening in December this year. I can’t wait to come back next year to see inside.

Animal face carved in stone
Part of a cathedral wall with statues and a large round window

Stone carving display in the exhibition and the real thing viewed from the platform outside

When we came out the rain had almost stopped. So we had a stroll across the island to the Place Dauphine, where we had honeymooned, stopping there for a hot chocolate. It was that sort of a day!

Bicycle decorated with flowers
In the Place Dauphine

Tunnel des Tuileries

We crossed the Pont Neuf to the Right Bank and went down to the quayside. Where once traffic thundered along the banks of the Seine, there has more recently been a concerted effort by the city authorities to divert cars etc. away from the river and open it up to pedestrians, cyclists and runners. As part of that scheme, the 860-metre-long tunnel that runs beneath the Quai François Mitterrand was given over to street artists in the summer of 2022. The works were intended to stay in place for a year but since the initial project other (possibly unauthorised) street artists have made their mark on the tunnel’s walls.

I was alerted to the sheer amount of street art here when I saw a post from Teresa of My Camera and I a month or so ago and determined to visit. It was the perfect place to explore on this wet morning. We walked all the way through, taking plenty of photos. I enjoyed trying to capture the shadowy figures of runners passing in front of the art as a slow shutter speed was essential in the dim light.

As we emerged there was more art on the walls either side of the path as it ascended. I was interested to note a collaboration between artists from Paris and Bogota, where we had seen such wonderful street art last year.

Colourful graffiti
Collaboration with Bogota

The Olympic flame

By now we were near the eastern end of the Tuileries and could see the Olympic flame burning beneath its balloon. We had watched on TV as it was it lit during the Olympic Games opening ceremony on an equally wet day. Now the Paralympic Games were on, and it was once again burning. Access was limited to people who had pre-registered and although we might have been able to do so on our phone on the spot we decided we were happy enough taking photos from a distance. I shared a couple of shots while still in Paris, as a ‘postcard’, so I thought I’d play around a bit for this post.

Monochrome photo of a large balloon with colour added to a flame below
Olympic flame in the Jardins des Tuileries
Gold statue of a woman on a horse with a flag
Joan of Arc statue on the Rue des Pyramides
White marble sphinx
The Sphinx of Sebastopol, Pavillon de Flore

From here we walked up the Rue des Pyramides where we found lunch in a typically Parisian café. After that we concluded that our still-wet shoes were becoming a bit too unpleasant to wear and headed back to our rental apartment to dry both them and us!

I visit Paris often; this, my most recent visit, was in September 2024

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