May 06, 2020
Paris Always Walk Independent Tours is offering, virtually, to you a glimpse of the unique #Montmartre #Paris in #lockdown
Paris Always Walk Independent Tours
#PARIS #COUNTDOWN #LOCKDOWN: 7 DAYS to GO
Countdown, starting today, May 1, 2020, till the ease of #confinement on May 11, 2020 .
Come along- when ever will be possible for you- to #discover and #explore this bohemian quarter of #city of #love : Montmartre Village.
Today, May 5, 2020 Paris Always Walk Independent Tours is offering you #Paris in #lockdown view from #SacreCoeur, never seen before, since the existence of this most visited uphill spot of the #city of Paris.
#Coronavirus pandemic has hit France as well. Since March 17, 2020, the country has been in #lockdown, with rather harsh restrictions , both for the protection of the population and for helping the medical staff to deal with the pretty high number of hospitalized people.
Not only doctors and nurses have been front- line fighters, but all the workers, on back stage: medical researchers & scientists, IT specialists, police force, electricians, rubbish collectors, boulangers, firefighters, military, pilots, bus drivers, post- office staff, farmers, and many more food suppliers and transporters.
For all these brave
people, every day, at 8pm -applauses , expressing gratitude, all over the Montmartre Village / Paris.
#Confinement means restrictions. #Parisians can go jogging or walking or working out, between 7pm and 10 am, in #Paris. ( under ‘ La Mairie de Paris’ local rules).
It also means that the traffic has been reduced to almost zero, except public transport and essential needs transportation. The impact on nature is highly positive. The air pollution has decreased significantly. The air is more pure than ever, mainly on ‘ Butte Montmartre’.
In Montmartre Village on discover steadily more charming spots with typical #Parisian lanterns and red climbing roses:
or with double- flowered white lily (lilac), described for the first time by the #Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus in 1778. Symbol of #Love in many countries, even a state flower ( #NewJersery – #USA), in Eastern #European countries such as #Greece, #Cyprus or #Lebanon is associated with Easter celebration and called ‘paschalia’, from ‘ Pascha’ in #Greek language.
At the end of the 19th century, after the Second Empire of #Napoleon III ( 1871), the booming economy gave the people of #Paris more hope for a peaceful time, with no wars: it’s the beginning of a ‘ new era’ known in the history of #Paris as ‘ La Belle Epoque’ (the Beautiful Time).
It’s the beginning of the preparation for the ‘ Universal #Exhibition’ and of remarkable achievements in #architecture , fashion, artistic life, literature, food and entertainment, today the rich cultural #heritage of #city of #light –
In #Montmartre Village it is #MoulinRouge ( the Red Windmill) the famous #cabaret. Considered a place of #decadence at the beginning (1889) , #MoulinRouge turned, very soon, into an attractive- getting -together place, where song, dance, wine, music and food where making- the Parisians- flooding in. Among them, the young, promising artist.
Did Moulin Rouge become one of the most well-known #cabaret , not only in #Montmartre Village #Paris, but in the world, thanks to an artist, or the artist became famous due to Moulin Rouge? That’s the question!
Indeed, the #French #artist Henri de Toulouse- Lautrec ( 1864-1901), the rich -poor soul, a wealthy painter in a bohemian Montmartre #Village, was one of the ‘ habituel de la maison’ a friend of the dancers and singers- on and back- stage- whom he diligently portrayed, painted, illustrated with sincere admiration.
Toulouse- Lautrec ‘s popularity was large among both Montmartrois ( people of Montmartre) and his artist fellows.
The #French post- #Impressionist painter, Eduard Vuillard ( 1868-1940) painted his friend in ‘Toulouse- Lautrec a Villeneuve-sur- Yonne’ (1898).
One year after the opening of Moulin Rouge, Toulouse- Lautrec painted ‘ La Dance a Moulin Rouge’ ( 1890) a vivid scene of #French #CanCan dance and the fashion trend of the end of the 19thC in #Paris of ‘ Belle Epoque’.
See more of Paris Always Walk photos and videos taken during the #lockdown #Paris, visit its Instagram / Twitter / Face Book.
Join in virtually, at the time being, Paris Always Walk Independent Tours #countdown #lockdown.
#staysafe
Text& captures by Jillian. E Andrei – Founder/ Independent Local Guide