February 26, 2018

Église Notre-Dame du Val-de-Grâce

The Church of the Val-de-Grâce is a catholic church in the 5th arrondissement of Paris, designed by François Mansart and located inside the Val-de-Grâce Military Hospital (Hôpital d’instruction des armées du Val-de-Grâce). Its large dome is a principal landmark of the skyline of Paris. The church was founded by Anne of Austria, Queen Consort of Louis XIII, as part of a vow which she had made for the safe delivery of her son, the future Louis XIV: Construction started in 1645 and finished in 1667.

The church is accessible by visiting the Musée du Service de Santé des Armées (Museum of the Army Medical Corps), which is interesting in its own right.

February 25, 2018

Jardin des Colonnes

The Jardin des Colonnes is a park in Paris, located on Place de Séoul, near Montparnasse and the Eglise Notre-Dame du Travail. Its name comes from the surrounding housing development, designed by brutalist architect Ricardo Bofill, of Espaces d’Abraxas fame.

February 23, 2018

Jardin Atlantique

The Jardin Atlantique is a public park located on the roof of the Gare Montparnasse railway station.

February 22, 2018

Église Notre-Dame du Travail

Eglise Notre-Dame du Travail is a catholic church located near Montparnasse, in Paris. It was built in 1902 for the numerous construction workers (travailleurs) in the area. It is architected around a bare metal frame reminiscent of a factory.

February 21, 2018

Musée Bourdelle

The Musée Bourdelle is an art museum located in Montparnasse, Paris. It preserves the studio of sculptor Antoine Bourdelle and also contains more than 500 of his works including marble, plaster, and bronze statues, paintings, pastels, fresco sketches, and Bourdelle’s personal collection of works from other artists. Admission to the permanent collections is free, but there is a charge for temporary exhibits.

February 19, 2018

Modern art & architecture of Rotterdam

Since its historic center was almost completely destroyed during WW2, Rotterdam was rebuilt in modern architecture after the war. In the last few years, many new towers have arisen and many new iconic buildings designed. The cityscape is also dotted with many modern sculptures.

February 18, 2018

Rotterdam walk: Along the Nieuwe Maas from Oudehaven to Kop van Zuid

Starting from the Cube Houses in Oudehaven, I first crossed the Nieuwe Maas on the way to Noordereiland, using the Willemsbrug bridge. I then continued to Wilhleminaplein and, after a detour through Rijnhaven, reached the Hotel New York and the tip of Kop van Zuid. Finally, I crossed the river again on the Erasmusbrug.

February 17, 2018

Cube houses (Kubuswoningen)

The Cube houses (Kubuswoningen) are a set of innovative houses built in Rotterdam in the 1970’s and designed by architect Piet Blom.

February 16, 2018

Laurenskerk (Rotterdam)

Laurenskerk (Grote of Sint-Laurenskerk) is a protestant church in Rotterdam. It is the only remnant of the medieval city, the rest having been destroyed during the Rotterdam Blitz in 1940.

February 8, 2018

Self-publishing a book with CreateSpace and Amazon

Recently, I finished a book publishing project I started around last Christmas. The book is titled “12 Partitions pour Xylophone & Métallophone à 8 Barres” and contains sheet music of French children songs that can be played on toy metallophones (aka glockenspiel) or xylophones. To self-publish the book, I used CreateSpace, a subsidiary of Amazon. It is now for sale via Print-on-Demand on all Amazon stores :

Update Jan. 2019: I have made an English version of the book, titled “12 Songs for Toy Xylophones & Metallophones: Vol. 1 - Children’s Songs from France”. It is available through Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP), since CreateSpace is being shut down by Amazon. Check out the Amazon US store, the UK store and the Japan store. The publishing process through KDP is pretty similar to the one with CreateSpace, with basically the same options and workflow.