Paris Mosaic

A series on Water in Paris. Part 3: Non-Drinking water In the 19th century, Baron Haussmann, who was in charge of reorganizing Paris to make it more sanitary hired Eugène Belgrand as Director of Water and Sewers. Mr Belgrand with great foresight created not one but two water systems. One of course for treated drinking water which is expensively processed stuff and the other a network of non-potable from the canal Saint Martin and the Seine. The less expensive untreated water is used for watering parks, decorative fountains and cleaning the streets. There are 12,000  bouches de lavage from which water flows into the gutter. They are turned on by sanitation workers with green brooms and directed by soggy rolls of old carpet. The water flow and the green broom push the accumulated debris along to the sewer openings. Tout un système! The non-potable water is also used in the high pressure sprayers that clean up after markets and festivals. 1 600 kilometers of streets are sp…

A series on Water in Paris Part 2: Drinking water The Seine furnishes half of the drinking water to Paris and the region. Other water comes from aquifers and aqueducts. One of the aqueducts, the aqueduct de l'Avre, brings water, using just the force of gravity, to Paris from the Avre river in Normandy 102 kilometers away. The chief engineer for the project was Fulgence Bienvenüe who was also the creator of the Paris metro. The aqueduct entered into service in 1893. The aqueduct flows mostly underground before crossing the Seine on a bridge designed by Gustave Eiffel between Saint Cloud and the Bois de Boulogne. The bridge is a footbridge and an interesting destination for an outing. See our article. There has been indoor running water in Paris since 1781, albiet there were only 125 houses connected at that point. The great strides in indoor water came under Baron Haussmann in the mid 19th century and by 1884 two-thirds of Paris was connected. There are multiple water tr…

A series on Water in Paris Part 1: La Seine We all associate the Seine with Paris even though this river only runs 13 of its 776 kilometers in Paris. In fact La Seine starts not too far from Dijon on a plateau at a place called Source-Seine. Its origins are several springs of clear ground water that flow together on the surface forming a small stream. A spring has always been an important place throughout history and in this particular case the source of the Seine was known and revered back in the time of Gaul. This spring was the kingdom of the goddess or nymphe Séquanna and she gave her name to the river in about the 1st century. The Seine, in French, is called a fleuve. We don't have a specific word for this in English. A fleuve is different than a rivière. A fleuve flows into the ocean and a rivière flows into an inland body of water. France has 5 major fleuves and many, many rivières. Today the Seine's flow is controlled by a series of lakes and canals upstream tha…

It is said that the entirety of the ancient world’s knowledge could be found in the Royal Library of Alexandria (Egypt), built in the third century BCE. That might be so, but for what sometimes seems like the entirety of the modern world’s promulgators of, places for and perks from knowledge, all you need do is take out your Paris Metro map, nestle into a quiet corner and wish yourself bon voyage through the encyclopedia of station names*: Following the famous? (You may have to look some of these folks up, and we’re leaving out ones whom even your French fellow commuters might not know!) Alexandre Dumas, Anatole France, (Bibliothèque)-François Mitterand, (Bobigny)-Pablo Picasso, Bolivar, (Champs-Elysées)-Clemenceau, Charles de Gaulle-(Etoile), (Chaussée d’Antin)-La Fayette, Emile Zola, Félix Faure, Franklin D. Roosevelt, George V, (Javel)-André Citroën, Michel-Ange (of Sistine Ceiling fame), Pasteur, Pierre et Marie Curie, Robespierre, Victor Hugo, Voltaire, etc. Jumping …

You know you're becoming Parisian when taking the Paris Metro does not sound like fun. For Parisians it is synonymous with métro, boulot dodo and the daily commute. There are some fun aspects to the Paris Metro though, you just have to take a minute to find them. Here's a few people's take on how to have fun with the Paris Metro. Gilles Esposito-Farèses, Physics researcher, poet and word play specialist made an entire map of the Paris metro, making an anagram of each station's name. Here's a few of his gems. See the full map on http://www.gef.free.fr/metro.html the blog of . With this map you'll be surely lost, but laughing ! Anagrams of Paris metro stations : Opéra : Apéro Marcel Sembat : L'as Camembert Sevrès-Lecourbe : Lèvres courbées Simplon : Mon slip Tuileries : Réutilisé George V : Over egg Campo Formio : I am from Coop Les Halles : Less a hell FUSAC's station : Porte de Saint Cloud : Ce tordu désopilant Shari Leslie Segall wrote abo…

Eco initiatives sparking a green revolution in Paris [Image source:  Jose Llamas on Unsplash] Paris has been a beacon of sustainability for many years now, championing eco-friendly initiatives in our global fight against climate change. The goal is for the city to become Europe’s greenest by 2030 and, as the home of the Paris Agreement from the 2015 UN Climate Change Conference, it stands to reason that this city should lead the way and inspire others around the world to make ambitious changes. So, just how is Paris continuing its eco revolution and what can other countries learn from France when it comes to creating a sustainable future? Examples of eco initiatives for green revolution in Paris Incentivised electric vehicles Paris has made significant investments in reshaping its transportation landscape to prioritize sustainability. Electric vehicles are heavily incentivized here, with a growing network of charging stations dotting the cityscape for those driving i…

Do you know this rabbit? You've probably seen him hundreds of times, but can you recognize him out of context? This is Serge, the RATP Mascot Rabbit for safety in the Paris Metro. You mostly see him down low - at kid's height - on the insides of the doors not far from the "loqueteau"* reminding kiddos to keep their hands away so as to not be pinched. The RATP Mascot Rabbit has been around since 1977 and was first drawn by Anne LeLagadec. She chose a rabbit dressed like a child because rabbits express fragility, softness and run around without paying attention to their surroundings (so she said). In 1986 the safety rabbit was redrawn in a yellow  jumpsuit to make him more visible and he became the unofficial mascot of the Paris metro. He even got a name: Serge, after Serge Maury who drew this second incarnation. In 2014 a new version of Serge was unveiled. Fresh stickers of Serge, who is now wearing a t-shirt, jeans and sneakers, were progressively affixed to th…