Paris Archives • Folksy Travel by Bill Smale

April 27, 2026April 27, 2026

enjoying Paris

this trip was done last year but it looks like I might be back again in a month or so so I wanted to put these photos up.

Elegant dinner enjoying Paris — The following photos were from an elegant dinner I had with my college buddy from Japan.

Beef with sauce enjoying Paris — A nice piece of beef with the sauce

French onion soup enjoying Paris — At the hotel the onion soup was very delicious and it was ““French “

An old shop Bill Smale — This old style shopfront was just fascinating. Instead of automobile it says motor car. The shop is, or was, specializing in getting people and things sent to many places possibly in the world

Buffet breakfast Bill Smale — The buffet breakfast had some of my favorites especially lots of bacon

The French motto which is in English, “liberty, egalitarianism and brotherhood“

The old Bourse, stock exchange — At the old Bourse which is now a museum and has an excellent restaurant

Inside the old building with a cement structure designed by a famous Japanese architect/artist

Famous restaurant artwork — Artwork on the table at this famous restaurant

After the meal final are you finding a place we can have a cigar

The hotel knew it was my birthday since they had a copy of my passport and so they brought me this and sang a song sad go back go back

Babysitting a dog, a Jack Russell named Dolly

Gelato — A day cannot be completed without gelato

Neighborhood crowded bar — This is obviously the place to go in the evening. It was a very young crowd.

Nice meat — A really beautiful piece of meat with a nice wine

Old bridge at the park — The old bridge on the right it’s not in good shape so people are not allowed to use it

The two dogs — Dolly on the left and King on the right

Small parking spaces — Parking skillfully on narrow streets and small parking spaces

Putting in a new window — These guys were trying to fix this new glass window and it was looking like a little complicated

Little Italy — A very popular name for Italian restaurants

Interesting name for a restaurant. And I was interested to see there is such a thing as “French tacos”

Sangria — I didn’t know you could get sangria in such a cheap container

Dolly reemerges — Dolly finally comes out from the nice warm spaces

July 17, 2025July 17, 2025

Hopping around Paris you will see really interesting things and experience many interesting people. Remember to always greet people every time you meet them and to leave with a greeting as well. You can find many interesting museums to visit at one which I recommend. It explains the Dreyfus affair.

Deadly angles — Watch out for the deadly angles

River trip — You can take a trip on the river Seine

Blanket hiding — What do you think would be hiding in the blanket. Actually it’s a miniature pincer that wants to keep warm in the cool of Paris

Something hiding — We see something hiding here too

It’s a Jack Russell with a head cone to keep it from licking a wound

Arcade — A typical arcade with a café outside

Old Peugeot — An old Peugeot where everybody can take photos

Famous tower — A tower of somebody famous

Large space — Enjoying a large space looking at the Concorde

On the bridge — Hopping around Paris managing the dog

Hawaiian Poké bowl is even a thing in Paris

Ice cream — The two dogs on a walk but I can’t reject ice cream

Hopping around Paris painting — I just liked this painting

The Dreyfus affair — Dreyfus was accused of treason, and easy target to be framed partly because he was Jewish. But after five years the person who framed him confessed. You can visit this museum which has many artifacts of the Jewish presence in France.

Dreyfus Museum front — The front of the Dreyfus museum

Visiting Notre Dame — Notre Dame is now complete and available for visits free of charge

Impressive pulpit — a very impressive pulpit

Interesting pipe organ — an interesting design for pipe organ

Clean and bright — my friend noted that before the fire the inside of Notre Dame was very dark due to dirt and suit and hundreds of years of aging. Now it is clean and bright

Beautiful design — a beautiful design with the ceilings in the Royal French blue

I’m not French so I guess I am not a bastard. This is a famous French bakery

Wonderful dessert — a wonderful dessert thoroughly aged in Brandy

A real French croissant — My first croissant in France. It is so much different than what a croissant in the US taste like.

A beautiful park with a bridge whose foundation is crumbling and needs reconstruction

Duck and potatoes — Roast duck whiz cheese mashed potatoes. The best mashed potatoes I ever had

Great restaurant — a great restaurant. I highly recommend it

Piling on the pillows — With King you could pile on all the blankets and pillows and she wouldn’t mind

Day of the dead — I found this very interesting. It reminds me of the day of the dead in Mexico

Picasso Museum view — Looking out the Picasso Museum

Picasso figurine — Picasso worked in many genres. He was more versatile than I had ever imagined. You should visit this museum to get a good perspective of his versatility.

June 7, 2024June 7, 2024

Paris – Villa Savoye

in the outskirts of Paris there is this very interesting and modern looking home built in the 1920s by a famous French architect. Below is a link to further information.

Villa Savoye

The cars parked down below in a garage inside the area color in blue. What was unusual at that time is the servants quarters were built on the first floor.

The problem that plagued the house for years was water. What many architects now know is that building roofs and tops of buildings with flat areas creates many opportunities for water to start leaking below.

May 30, 2024June 7, 2024

Paris – around the city

Christian Louboutin shop was explained to us as the shop of the designer who invented the stiletto heel

The smaller version of the statue of liberty

The long, skinniest boat I have ever seen

Ponte Alexandre III, a symbol of Russian French alliance

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pont_Alexandre_III

May 23, 2024May 23, 2024

paris – museum of modern art

i’m visiting the museum of modern art in Paris we focused on the Palais de Tokyo. The interior cement lining infrastructure was constructed by a Japanese artist.

This speaking mouse is also present at several museums throughout Europe

These old people in the retirement home move around this section of the museum, completely automated.

He designed the mirror floor of the center part of the museum. I found it walking around the floor and looking down at it was extremely mesmerizing

May 2, 2024May 2, 2024

Paris food

This was my hamburger with sauce all over it, very French, sauce on everything

Beef tartar on the right in abundance. The portion was way too much for me but I learned it was named after the tartars who often didn’t have time or the proper cooking equipment to grill the beef. I suspect they had it raw because they had to go kill some people on a fixed schedule.

Coffee ice cream dessert. I was surprised this time all the desserts were extremely sweet, much more than I had remembered.

The menu from the restaurant in Versailles

The typical morning breakfast at the hotel

This is a very local and traditional cuisine restaurant. The food is not fancy but it seems it is very well known for its excellence

Our friend has a niece who works in this restaurant. It has been open only for less than a year but a few days after we ate here they received their first Michelin star

The central theme that night was potatoes

August 18, 2023August 18, 2023

Paris

The ride on the TGV was very comfortable and pretty fast

People were lining up for at least window shopping and maybe a few of them were actually interested in dropping a few thousand euros for something they probably didn’t need. But then again, the name is everything in Paris.

Even Kenzo has a presence near the Champs Élysées

The Champs Élysées is the street where the elite meet to eat and also where they celebrate the heroes of World War II; Churchill, Roosevelt, and of course Charles DeGaulle.

We did see a few Lamborghinis here and there and of course they were gold

What would Paris be without an accordion player entertaining us with the 1940s music of Edith Piaf while keeping company with a dog with sunglasses

This guy looking at me, was about ready to approach to try to get me to delete the photo of this scam game of ball under the glass

The Basilica of Sacré-Cœur de Montmartre

Leprechauns in Paris, driving old Citroen

For some reason, I was captivated by this model

Even in the train stations, the French have to show us how artistic they are

I just had to have the recommended steak and it was pretty good

He was crying because he lost his clothes

As I said, before, every city has to have its ferris wheel

So this is where Louis add, Marie-Antoinette lost their heads

I found out my friend Alain can’t get a job back in Paris, driving his old Citroen for tourists

These guys have a cloth with grab loops on each corner, so when the police show up, they grab the loops and it becomes an instant runaway bag

August 17, 2023August 17, 2023

Paris Louvre 2

As you may remember from French history, there were no more attached heads to put crowns on so this museum seemed to be a good place to keep them.

I wonder if Napoleon was putting the crown on Josephine in front of the pope

This was the zigzag line to view the very tiny Mona Lisa

What I read is the Venus de Milo is so famous because of its most perfect preservation, and it was one of the few artifacts left in the museum after the looting Post Napoleonic war

August 17, 2023August 17, 2023

Paris Louvre 1

Millions of people go to visit this museum every year. I really recommend it. Not because of the inexpensive price of €17 but it is just worth your time and effort so plan to spend at least three hours to five hours walking around. Plan to go before 3 PM because it closes at 5:30. It is better to go at about 1 PM or in the morning. The one attraction is the Mona Lisa and there are hundreds of people lining up to get close so that is at least a 15 minute line.