Invisible Paris

The Morrison Hotel Mystery

The death of Jim Morrison is not the only mystery in the Rue Beautreillis. On this street where the leader of The Doors spent the last few months of his life and where he (probably) died, another door stands curiously alone. But what is it?

The last bastion standing

Today only one significant element of the city’s 19th century fortifications remains standing. Where is the Bastion n°1 and what purpose does it serve today?

The World's Oldest Surviving Basketball Court

How did a game invented by the YMCA in America cross the Atlantic in the late 19th century, and why has this Paris court survived so long?

The Longest Street in Paris

An attempt to find the soul of the city's longest thoroughfare.

Belgium by the Seine

A trip to Elisabethville on the trace of old postcard locations leads me to abandoned beach resorts and experimental 1950s architecture.

Thursday, 21 December 2017

Invisible highlights in 2017

I'm afraid that once again the blog took a bit of a backseat in 2017, with less than a dozen posts across the year. Despite the blog format struggling against Facebook or even the longer tweet format and tweet threads, I was nevertheless pleased to see that my post on the La Banane from June is now the 7th most read ever on Invisible Paris!

Walking Paris from A to Z

Not so long ago I stumbled on an official list of all the streets in Paris. Looking through the list of over 6,000 roads in the city, I noticed that the first on the list - Chemin de l'Abbaye - and the last - Boulevard de la Zone - are at the outer limits of Paris, and at opposite sides of the city. Would it be possible then to walk through the alphabet, from one side of the city to the other?

Where to buy my Paris Cityscopes guide

After a long but enjoyable process, my Paris Cityscopes guide finally went on sale in August. I am not very strong on self-promotion, but I am very happy with the result of the book, and now hope as many people as possible will (want to) read it! Find out here how you can get hold of a copy.

Berlin sur scène: a Paris-themed Berlin interview

This summer saw not only the publication of my Paris Cityscopes guide, but also the Cityscopes guide for Berlin, written by Joseph Pearson, an author and academic based in the German capital and editor of influential local blog ‘The Needle’. To mark this double publication, Joseph and I exchanged questions and answers on our respective cities. How Berlin-like is Paris and how Paris-like is Berlin? Find out on our respective blogs!

"Nairn's Paris" in Literary Review

I have written a review of the republication of 'Nairn's Paris', a guide written in 1968 by seminal architectural critic Ian Nairn, that you can find in this month's edition of the Literary Review magazine.

If you are not familiar with the idiosyncratic work of Ian Nairn, I recommend you read this article published 30 years after his early death, which also includes clips of his equally quirky television programmes.