Wednesday 25 January 2012

Sharing some of my favorites

Warning. Don't click on the links unless you have a whole day to spare. Seriously...

Winter in Preuilly is interesting, especially if you're fond of just sitting around in front of the fire drinking cups of tea. I haven't yet made a start on the painting I have to do, because the room I have to paint - the entry hall - is a bit too cold and not conducive for paint drying.

So I thought I would share one of the websites that have held my attention for the past few weeks: CPArama, a collection of old postcards. More specifically, the photos of the Paris metro which can be found here.

It is interesting how many options for transport were available for people who could afford it: trams, buses, cars, horse and cart, and how excited people appear to be to have their photo taken. The fashions are pretty good, as well.

I am also struck by how empty the streets were, although this may be a function of the photographers working early in the morning so that you could see the street rather than the people.

Anyone who knows Paris will love these views and recognise many of them. Even if you haven't been to Paris before type some of the street names into Google Streetview and compare the old views to modern Paris. Many of the buildings are the same, some even with the same businesses trading.

Simon

7 comments:

william said...

je vous conseille delcampe .fr pour les cartes postales de collection c'est une mine d'or...

Simon said...

Thank you William - that took up a whole afternoon just looking at postcards of Preuilly!! :¬)

The Beaver said...

Simon

This site also is interesting .One can compare : before and now

http://parisavant.com/

chm said...

Thank you Simon for posting a postcard of my neighborhood. The third one.

I can almost see my apartment building in the far right at the beginning of rue Lecourbe.

That intersection — bd Pasteur, ave de Breteuil, rue de Sèvres and rue Lecourbe — is known now as Place Henri Queuille. You can see Lycée Buffon in the center before it expanded on the right. It was built in the 1880’s. So this picture was probably taken around the turn of the century.

The houses on the left, with shops, were replaced by the Institut d’Optique, which went out of business, or moved somewhere else, in the last twenty years or so.

The structure was “classée” which means it could not be torn down and replaced by something else. It has been restored and the inside turned into apartments.

Cousine,
The last postcard shows the end of avenue de Breteuil, very close to where we had that nice lunch you, Yves, Ken and me last year. Thanks for the link.

Simon said...

Charles Henri. So you mean one of those children could be you?? ;¬)

chm said...

LOL Simon. Can't stop laughing! LOL and LOL

The Beaver said...

Charles Henri

I wanted to tell Simon that I know someone who will be happy to see his third postcard but decided to put my link with the chosen picture.

Hope you are doing well in the desert

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