landscape – Page 68

The Sunday porch: paint and vines

September 27, 2015August 20, 2017 Cindy at enclos*ureLeave a comment

These are not really porches, of course, but two café doorways and a storefront.

They caught my eye while we were walking around the Sainte-Catherine or Sint Katelijne neighborhood of Brussels, which is just northwest of the Grand’Place and La Bourse.

The one pictured above is on Rue de Flandre.

I believe I snapped this blue café, above, on Quai au Bois à Brûler, facing the site of the old Saint-Catherine Bassin or canal port, covered over since the 1870s.

I like the way the ivy is used as both a decorative windowbox planting and low privacy screen.

Above, a mass of vines shades a closed storefront, also along Rue de Flandre.

Rue de Flandre is a good street on which to find an interesting restaurant. We liked Viva M’Boma (old-fashioned Belgian food, emphasis on meat/offal) and Domaine de Lintillac (dishes from the southwest of France, emphasis on duck).

Click on any photo above to enlarge it.

Pont des Arts, Paris

September 25, 2015September 25, 2015 Cindy at enclos*ureLeave a comment

This summer, the much put-upon (literally) pedestrian bridge between the Left and Right Banks of the Seine had a new look. These pictures were taken in early September.

For some years now, tourists have been attaching “lovelocks” to the open iron railings. Their collective weight has threatened the structural integrity of the bridge, and the authorities have removed them more than once.

Now the sides have been removed again and replaced by boards covered with fake printed graffiti — not better looking, but lighter.

The boards were said to be scheduled to be replaced with plexiglass sometime this month.

Pont des Arts 4, Paris, Sept 2015, enclos*ure — The railings at the entrances to the bridge have been left alone for now.

Pont des Arts 7, Paris, Sept 2015, enclos*ure — “Graffiti can’t be stopped.”

Canal Saint-Martin, Paris

September 23, 2015March 8, 2018 Cindy at enclos*ureLeave a comment

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On this visit to Paris we walked along the Canal Saint-Martin for the first time — starting at the Jaurès metro stop and then leaving it near the Place de la Républic (where the canal goes into a tunnel and then re-emerges after Place de la Bastille).

Along the way, the little derelict enclosed garden* above caught my attention. I found it touching and rather beautiful in its neglected state.

The canal was built between 1802 and 1825 to bring more fresh water into the growing city. Boats also transported grain and other materials. Traffic declined after the mid- 20th century, and there was talk of paving it over in the 1960s. Since 1993, it has been designated as an Historical Monument.

Today, the formerly working class, now gentrifying area is very picturesque, if still a little down-at-heel in spots. It’s definitely worth a detour from the more usual Paris sights.

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Above, Square des Récollets.

ADDENDUM: There’s an interesting video clip of the canal in 1926 here.

*It was at Rue Eugène Varlin and Quai de Valmy.

Montmartre Cemetery, Paris

September 22, 2015March 8, 2018 Cindy at enclos*ureLeave a comment

Another quick look down.

We were walking along the Rue Caulaincourt bridge over the south end of the cemetery when we spotted this pretty planting arrangement in yellow below.

Cimetière de Montmartre is the third largest of four necropolises built in the early 19th century, just outside the Paris city boundaries.

It was placed below street level, in an abandoned gypsum quarry, which had previously received the hundreds of bodies of those killed in the riots of the French Revolution.

The entrance is at the end of Rue Rachel, under Rue Caulaincourt.

The Tuileries, Paris

September 16, 2015September 16, 2015 Cindy at enclos*ure1 Comment

We were lucky enough to be in Paris and Brussels all last week. The weather was wonderful: slightly cooler than Stuttgart and — my photos below not withstanding — very sunny.

Tuileries fountain, ca. 1900, photochrom via Library of Congress While taking pictures at the grand bassin rond in the Tuileries Garden, I remembered this turn-of-the-century photochrom (above) from the Library of Congress.