Palais du Luxembourg, Paris, December 1946.
Among the countless stuff gathering dust in my drawers is a stamp collection which will be donated to Grand-baby Gonzalo in due time. And another collection of first day issue envelopes. Not too sure how it’s called in English. The envelopes, sometimes postcards, were issued on the day of a particular stamp release. Such as above, the first day issue of a stamp representing the Palais du Luxembourg in Paris, housing the Senate. December 1946. The war was barely over. Life had reclaimed its place. See the “élégante” bottom right, near the stamp:
Palais du Luxembourg, 1946, detail. Having retained Scotty’s Time-travel consulting services, we can now hop back to present times. Warp one, Scotty.
Le Luxembourg today. I am pleased to announce that lawns are now open to the public. After centuries of ignoring the English who have always happily trampled their lawns, the French lawns are now open to the public. Maybe the Park authority has bought Kikuyu grass? Warp two, Scotty.
Place de la Concorde, Paris. may 30, 1947. Universal Postal Congress.
Concorde, c. 2015. Probability of rain: 105%. (It is Paris)
Invalides. March 11, 1946. “Penicilin expo”. The invalides, was the first “VA” hospital. Built to care for the wounded of the Napoleonic wars. Napoleon is buried there. Warp!
Invalides today. “Scotty, would you mind straightening the ship?”
“Yes, Sir. Straightening ship.”
The stamp says 1947. East wing of the Louvre. But I think the photograph is from the early 20th century. See the woman’s dress on the right and the straw hat on the gentleman’s head, far right. Jump!
East wing of the Louvre. Early 21st century.
July 2nd, 1947. The island of la Cité, as seen from the Pont-Neuf. Hang on tight. Scotty’s so-called “finetuning” can be a bridge wide.
Island of la Cité from the Pont des Arts. The Pont Neuf (New Bridge) is straight ahead. Anyone recognize the pointed tower to the right on both shots? Those buildings used to house the Police Judiciaire. Including Commissaire Maigret. I hear they have now moved to a soul-less brand-new building North of Paris. I hope they changed the typewriters for computers.
January 6th, 1947, Notre-Dame. Paris, not Alabama. “Science exposition, UNESCO month”.
Same old, same old.
1947. La Conciergerie, where Louis 16th and Marie-Antoinette were held prisoners during the Revolution. Hop!
Paris-Plage, c. 2015. The quays in the summer are transformed in “beaches”, bringing sand from far-away places. “Panem et circenses” the Romans used to say. To keep the people happy, give them bread (pane) and (circus) games (circenses).
Thank you for jumping around on Equinoxio’s Time-Space shuttle. I can guarantee that though addictive, hopping around will not transform you into “Frogs”. Enjoy the rest of the week.
Equinoxio 
Thank you so much for the gift of stopping the agent search and glorying in the scenes of Paris. Of all the places I’ve traveled and seen and lived, Paris (along with Mexico City) remains in the favorite column.
Hi Janet. Yes, Paris, despite its many flaws remains one of the 2-3 magical cities of the world. Glad you liked the post. I’m working on another on Paris. But will post other stuff before. (And getting ready for our yearly trip to Paris in July)
Hope all is well with you.
B.
Those are great! It’s so fun to see them then and now scenes. So much has changed and so much stays the same. I hope Gonzalo enjoys the stamps. When will you take your Paris trip this summer?
Yeah. I like the change and permanence. Some stability in a chaotic world. 🙂 The stamps? Who knows. We’ll see. He’s already building an interest in books. We just bought a few in Colombia on themes he could relate too: At school. In the garden. And told him the stories on each page. Now he picks the book at night, making like he’s reading. Fascinating.
Colin loves books. We have tons. It’s great. He picks them up and brings them to us all the time. And he knows the stories already. It’s supposed to be very good for their development to read to them from the very beginning.
That is great. We also have tons of books, but not many for kids. Maybe I should delve into the shelves. (It is very good to read as we all know)
I wonder what they use La Conciergerie for now?
It’s a museum. You can visit Luis XVI’s cell… Haven’t been in a long time.
Thank you for showing me places I may not see otherwise. A grand tour. Hugs
Thank you Scottie. Glad to have you on board for those crazy trips! I hope you are getting better and better.
Yes, thank you. I didn’t even know I had lost jaw bone. They have done two bone grafts so far. I am still tired early but have more energy during the day and I wake up earlier. Yes! Hope all is well for you also. Hugs
We’re ok, thank you. Glad they may have found the source. And at least treated the jaw and teeth. Be good Scottie
Very beautiful. Brings back some lovely memories of time spent in France.
Hi Coeur de feu. It is a beautiful place. (Rotten weather most of the year though, only slightly better than London or Brussels, but still lovely)
I think I may have asked before but I forgot: when were you there last?
Ten years ago. sigh.
No, no… That has to be remedied ASAP. 🙂
(Get your tickets now.) (Well, not now, Air France and the trains are on strike) 😉
They are? I didn’t hear about that ! Maybe next April ✈️
Striking is a French national sport.
Next April sounds like a good plan. 🙂
🙂
Waou, I love those post cards ! j espere que le temps chez vous est moins humide qu’ici et que tu peux les conserver au mieux.
Ces Love Lockers .. je deteste! tellement contente qu on s’en soit enfin debarrasses.
Merci pour ce petit air de Paris, sans les greves 😉 X
Salut ma grande. Ces cartes 1er jour ont près de 70 ans. Pas trop humide ici. La saison des pluies n’a pas encore commencé et même comme ça, c’est pas l’Asie. 🙂
Les cadenas, Dieu merci ont été virés. Le grillage remplacé par du verre il me semble. Un peu dommage, mais il n’y avait pas de solution.
Et oui Paris. J’attends avec impatience le mois de Juillet. As-tu prévu un saut en France cet été?
Bz
Mais oui !!! Tu y seras en juillet?!
Haha, “frogs”! Nice one. 😀 No worries, jumping is entertaining and instructive so we’ll take the chance. 😉
My father was passionate – or better said, obsessed – with stamps, but he had no first-day envelopes as far as I know. Unfortunately his collection hasn’t been kept in a proper environment so many of the stamps got stuck to their album sheets (or whatever they’re called). Dunno who would care much about stamps nowadays.
It’s nice to see those buildings being maintained (and advertised) instead of being demolished to make room for steel&glass abominations. Some people care about their history, unlike others.
Stamp collections are really things of the past now. Once an investment I don’t think it’s worth much any more. Like you say nobody cares. And the envelopes? Maybe 2 to 5 Euros at best. I will use them as historical props. 🙂
Ah Paris …. Nous y étions la semaine passée … C’était la première fois pour mes enfants ….
Oh. Quelle aventure. 🙂
Malgré les grèves et tout?
Combine de temps?
Qu’avez-vous vu?
Ont-ils aimé?
(Je suis curieusement tout ému. Voir Paris pour la première fois! C’est génial. Et pourtant… J’aimais pas trop quand j’étais enfant)
🙂
Nous étions pris la voiture donc pas de soucis 😊 et nous avons échangé le métro contre le « batobus ». Un concept que je ne connaissais pas mais que toute la famille a apprécié. Nous avons passé 3 jours à visiter les « basiques », Tour Eiffel, champs de Mars, Invalides, Arcs de Triomphe, Notre Dame, Jardin des Plantes, Louvres …. C’était un rêve pour mes enfants, ma fille (12 ans), a également été très émue, et tout particulièrement devant la Tour Eiffel. Nous y retournerons, mais plusieurs fois, pour découvrir un Paris plus intime, quartier par quartier ….
Le batobus est génial. En général quand on est à Paris, on prend le passe Navigo, et si je ne m’abuse, ça inclut le Batobus. Pas de feux rouges, de voitures ni de circulation… Le Jardin des plantes est un de mes endroits favoris. Moins de monde. Et la Seine! Le plus beau fleuve du monde! 😉
Ravi. Et découvrir quartier par quartier est une des meilleures méthodes. (Avec de bonnes chaussures!) Bonne semaine.
Merci Brieuc 😊
🙂
I often think that today’s talent shows where the judges give a red light or a green one, those singing shows, are the bread and circus of the era!
Anyway, lovely details in all those stamps and pictures! So much to look at!
You mean “American Idiot”? I mean, Idol? Totally so. And yes there are many details. I will start including those envelopes in further posts, my dear Neige. 🙂
Was in Paris today, near Canal Saint Martin. But I spent most of my day in St Louis Hospital. No fun though most of the people I met were friendly, gentle and smiling. Many thanks, Brieuc, and have a great day.
Hmmm. Saint-Louis? Pas de souci, j’espère?
Euh, ben si, une sorte de gros soucis quand même et qui durera. Mon état physique est bon et stable. Je mène une vie normale. Je fais juste très attention à ce que je mange et à dormir suffisamment. Ceci me permet de partir en Guyane et en bateau, sans restrictions.
Merci, Brieuc, et un tout bon bout de semaine à toi.
Hmmm. Ennuyeux. Mais si l’état physique est bon et il ne faut que surveiller l’alimentation et le sommeil… tout le monde devrait en faire autant. 🙂
Et tu vas aller en Guyane en bateau? Vraiment? C’est génial.
Bonne semaine Gilles.
Thanks for the collective memories!
De rien mon amie. 🙂
I have your post saved to read at leisure…
(Until I clean my inbox)
All good, despite the strikes and general French lunacy?
Fantastic post ~ creative and showing the beautiful Paris in all its past and present glory. Well done 🙂
Thank you. I will share some more vintage material soon. Have a great week.
Lovely pieces of time travel, Brian 🌹🌷. I thought all the padlocks had been removed from the bridge, or is this an oldish photo?
Thank you kate. Oldish yes. 2015-ish. They removed tons and tons of stupid padlocks. The new panels are glass. Scratchproof I hope. 🙂
Paris est toujours magique.
Très beaux timbres, en passant ….
🙂
Timbres superbes. Chaque timbre à l’époque était une véritable oeuvre d’art. Gravure fine. Détails. Le sommet vers la fin des années 60. Après… Ça s’est dégradé. 🙂
(Mais j’en ai encore un paquet à partager)
Love those old postcards. I bet you have an impressive collection.
They’re true pieces of history. I have about a thousand. Most worthless. 1 to 10 dollars maybe? But their value is in the… representation? Evocation? (That might be French) of other times and places. I have made a selection of the most meaningful which I will post from time to time.
Ah, quelle collection. Et quelle ville 💜
Et oui. “La plus belle ville du monde”? (No offence to the others) Plus ça va, plus je le crois. Et je connais un paquet de villes dans le monde. 🙂
Je ne sais plus si je te l’ai déjà demandé, tu es d’où en France?
A +
De Bourgogne, à côté de Dijon. Et je suis d’accord en ce qui concerne Paris 🙂
🙂
Bourgogne? Magnifique région. Et quels vins! La famille d’un de mes meilleurs amis (Lyonnais) est de Meursault. On a fait de ces dégustations dans la vieille maison de famille… De l’or liquide…
Bonne soirée ma grande.
Ah, magnifique en effet. Et je ne pourrais être plus fière de la route des grands crus que je ne le suis déjà. Et les dégustations dans les vieilles maison de famille, ça me connaît 😉
Merci, et bonne journée à toi 🙂
Etrange comme on peut soudain retrouver chez d’autres, des détails enfouis dans la mémoire… 🙂
Bonne nuit et sweet dreams…
Brian, wonderful collection of first day issue stamps. The stamps, the postcards and your photos make for interesting moments in history, terrific! ~ Mia
Thank you Mia. Flattery will get you anywhere. 😉
You’re only too kind.
My only aim in those posts… (I was just wondering whether I have an aim) is for people to have a good time? No. Well. Yes, that and to take them on some sort of different dream… Am I making sense?
🙂
Brian, I enjoy your posts tremendously, in a roundabout way they remind me of my grandmother in many ways, which is a welcomed memory. She had collections of this a that, her big things was museum prints. And yes, you are making perfect sense. Please have a lovely Tuesday, I hope your weather is as nice as ours is right now, not too hot, yet the days have been sunny and warm with an ocean breeze. ~ Mia 🙂
Thank you Mia. 🙂
Warm and sunny here. Rainy season not started yet, thank God.
Miss the ocean breeze though. 😉
Be good
Great old time photos… shows how much of the city hasn’t changed
Indeed. Just cleaner, especially the buildings. Now we have to find over 100 million Euros to stop Notre-Dame from “falling to crumbles”.
Lovely collection of stamps and cards. Sending kisses to baby Gonzalo 🙂 Missing my little Leila.
Thank you. Will pass the kisses on. I’m sure you miss your little one(s). Health allowing can you start planning a trip?
I have booked a flight in September. Gave myself a couple of months. Will miss all the birthdays though.
Birthdays? Just re-do them. Another cake. Who says one can’t have two birthdays in a year? 🙂
What pleases me most is that you have your flight booked. That is very good news. Plenty of time to recover. Attaboy!
Interesting post and fantastic images!
Thank you again. I like the comparison between old and “recent” photographs. Not much has changed. Monuments are just cleaner and better restored
🙂
I adore this post. I always find myself perusing the old stamped postcards in flea markets across Paris. Sometimes I even buy them!
Don’t we all? 😉 Though in my case I already have drawers full of old postcards and I don’t how to give them a new life. Apart from that post. 🙂