Paris Plage - The River Seine Turns Into a Beach Front

A Seine-side holiday. That, in a nutshell, is what Paris Plages is all about – complete with sandy beaches, deckchairs, ubiquitous ice cream sellers, and concerts for French and foreign guests. Holidaymakers at the Bassin de la Villette (Paris 19) can also borrow books free of charge, play beach volley, take an aquagym class in a mini pool, or kayak around the lake – or, of course just chill and enjoy. The Seine’s banks become pedestrian and the beaches are spread across different spots:

• (Louvre/Pont de Sully, Port de la Gare and Bassin de la Villette). 

From the Louvre to Pont de Sully This was the first beach that opened in 2002. It spans three kilometres through historical Paris, and features a swimming pool, concert stage, and open-air attractions (rollerblading, tai-chi, wall climbing, boules etc.). Refreshment areas, play areas and deckchairs are available for your time out unwinding by the river.

• Bassin de la Villette. 

This is the latest addition to Paris Plages, and opened in 2007 round Bassin de la Villette (Paris 19). It stretches from Rotonde de Ledoux (nearest Jaurès Metro station) to the former Magasins Généraux (in Rue de Crimée) and features a proper water-sports complex (with rowing boats, kayaks, pedal boats and dinghies) alongside quaint quay-side restaurants and boules courts. Every year, Paris Plages begins around 20 July and lasts four weeks.

All Paris Plages beaches are open non-stop from 8.00 am to midnight. 2012 : Paris Plages will start around July 20.

Amour Glamour - Robert Doisneau - Photographer

"L'amour ne meurt jamais de besoin, mais souvent d'indigestion." -
(Love never dies of want, but often of indigestion.)* -Ninon de Lenclos, seventeenth
century writer and courtesan

Romance is of course, a matter of personal taste. One person's favourite love song will send another diving for earplugs. Couples who met during a blizzard probably find it highly romantic to spend the occasional evening with their feet up while devouring a big tub of ice cream. That's the great thing about romance. It's completely personal.

Most people. however, seem to agree on one thing - That Paris is inherently romantic. There's something about the combination of riverbank sunsets, snug restaurants, effortless elegance and affordable champagne that strikes a chord in almost everyone's heart.

When we look at Robert Doisneau's famous photo of a couple snatching a kiss on a Paris street, something subconscious convinces us all that if we could only be walking past the Hotel de Ville right now, we would too feel the urgent need to grab our loved one and clamp ourselves to their lips. Like the tousled young guy in the photo, we might even take the cigarette out of our mouth to do so.

Doisneau snapped hundreds of Paris street scenes (I strongly recommend checking his photographs, link at the bottom of the blog), some of them impromptu, others less so, but it's no coincidence that 'The Lovers' is his best known photo. Their clinch seems to sum up the city in one primal gesture

It doesn't matter that the picture was posed - Doisneau took it in 1950 as part of a photo report for life magazine, and pragmatically chose the Hotel de Ville as a backdrop that would be easily recognisable to foreigners. So it's art, not life, but who cares? It is an image created by someone who loved the city and what it stood for, and it's brilliantly acted too - the male model is squashing his nose against his partner's  face so passionately that she hangs almost breathless in his arms.

And the backdrop is perfect - the heat of the embrace is set against the dull, damp weather and the disapproving glance of a lady passer -by (who was not posing), while behind the couple, an office worker buttoned up tight in his overcoat, a beret clamped over his knitted brow, suddenly seems to have realised what is missing from his life - romance. The lovers, meanwhile, turn their backs on the dullness around them and live the Parisian dream. And we all want to be right there, right now.

What is it about Paris that does this to people? Is this the sheer density of kissing couples per square kilometer, or the almost infinite number of viewpoints where you can stand with your loved one and gaze out across glittering lights? Or is it simply expectation - you're almost obliged to feel romantic in Paris the same way that you laugh before a famous comedian even opens his or her mouth?

Well, yes to most of those rhetorical questions, but they aren't the only reason for the city's success.

Links :
An english site about Robert Doisneau
See Robert Doisneau's amazing portfolio

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 *Advice, perhaps, for couples planning a romantic candlelit dinner in Paris...