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  (texte en français ci-dessous) Chicago boulevards When you arrive in Chicago and start driving through the suburbs, you will quickly notice these huge boulevards with their central two-lane arteries and the adjacent lanes on each side, all planted with trees and lined with magnificent mansions. Built over about 7 decades since the 1870s and intended to justify Chicago's motto (Urbs in horto - the city in the garden), it now gives a particular character to the city and especially to its neighborhoods far from the center; they are thus connected by greenways where residents can go running and/or enjoy the lawns to relax when the weather is nice. They also provide access to a whole set of landscaped parks, often with recreation pavilions, small lakes, beaches, and sports fields. The system is in fact so original that it has been classified as a historic monument since 2018 for at least forty kilometers. As it was developed, it attracted wealthy families who settled on its banks in

(texte en français ci-dessous) Welling Court 150 murals To see the Welling Court 150 murals, the largest public space dedicated to this art in NYC if not in the USA, you will need to go to Astoria in Queens. If you like walking, you just have to follow Walk in NYC # 6, along the East River, part 3 . It starts on Roosevelt Island and explores this part of the city. The murals will be about halfway through the walk, just past Socrates Park which houses contemporary sculptures. Both locations are free to visit. The Welling Court murals project began in 2009 when locals gathered at Ad Hoc Art, a street art gallery in Bushwick. They wanted to ask artists to come up with ideas to make their neighborhood more pleasant. It only took a few months for the first murals to appear, about forty in all. Since then, in June and annually, they are covered by others and gradually colonize all the walls of the district. This means that from one year to the next, you will

  (texte en français ci-dessous) Chinatown Chicago Chinatown Chicago is one of the largest Chinese communities in the United States and continues to welcome new immigrants, making it one of the most authentic in the country. Founded in the 1912s by the powerful Merchants' Association to escape the discrimination that the Chinese population was beginning to feel in the city center, the neighborhood was limited in its development following racial tensions with other adjacent communities. This makes it an easy place to explore on foot, filled with shops with colorful signs that are impossible to read if you don't know the language, and a constant buzz of activity on its two main streets. If you want spices, vegetables, cakes or clothes that you can't find anywhere else, this is the place to go, as well as a newer pedestrian complex where you'll find shops on two floors and of course, everywhere, architecture and patterns reminiscent of China. A cha

 King Drive, Bronzeville (texte en français ci-dessous) Perhaps one of the best ways to experience Bronzeville, Chicago's historic black neighborhood, is to walk along Martin Luther King Jr. Drive from its intersection with E 47th St to its intersection with E 32nd St. In the span of 14 blocks and with detours along S Calumet Ave, you will have explored much of its cultural and activist heritage and, with any luck, had the chance to chat with some of its residents who will tell you more about the place. This is what the self-guided Walk in Chicago # 12 offers you to do (see link below), adding a final section towards the Illinois Institute of Technology and its modernist architecture. King Drive, as the boulevard is now known, was once called Grand Boulevard and when you stroll along some of the 19th century Victorian mansions that line it, you’ll understand why. It’s also the heart of Bronzeville, the black metropolis that had its heyday in the 1930s. Y

  (texte en français ci-dessous) Hispanic Society Museum & Library The Hispanic Museum and its library are located quite far off the beaten path in Washington Heights in Upper Manhattan. Follow Walk in NYC # 15 and this is where you will end your route; it is also a place not to be missed if you are in the area. It will take you about an hour to see everything and to get there, you will first have to cross the Audubon Terrace flanked by superb statues and lined with 8 American Renaissance Beaux-Arts style buildings. You will then be able to thank Archer Milton Huntington, an heir to the Southern Pacific railroad company, for creating there this imposing ensemble at the beginning of the 20th century, on land previously owned by James Aububon. His architect cousin drew the plans and his sculptor wife decorated the terrace. He also brought in other cultural institutions to occupy the adjacent buildings. He actually envisioned this as a new cultural enclave in this still rural but dev

  (texte en français ci-dessous) Graceland Cemetery, serene but hunted? It is at Graceland Cemetery, a large rural cemetery north of Chicago, that many of the people who shaped the city are buried. Designed as a park preserving natural places, there are so many different trees surrounding the graves that it has become an arboretum and therefore a serene place quite suitable for walking. At the beginning of the 20th century, moreover, there were so many visitors that entries were limited to Sundays and public holidays unless you had a pass. Little by little, however, the fashion for coming there faded and the paths have now regained their calm. In any case, it is an astonishing and very romantic place on the edge of small Willowmere Lake which is located at its northern end, where the most extravagant tombs of the place are also concentrated, often designed by famous architects. Some rest not far from their creations, by the way. If you arrive through the main entrance which is located

  Only in NYC - Seulement à NYC 12 photos taken in Manhattan or beyond with no explanation for the pure pleasure of their graphism - 12 photos prises à Manhattan ou au-delà, sans explications pour le plaisir pur de leur graphisme. More photos and some ideas for unusual self-guided walks on the Walk in NYC site - Plus de photos et des idées de promenades insolites auto-guidées sur le site de Promenades à New york.

  (texte en français ci-dessous) Chicago monumental sculptures When, around you, there are only skyscrapers, each one taller and more beautiful than the other, one solution, if you want to decorate the public spaces at their feet, is to order monumental abstract sculptures This is what architects, decision-makers and various commissions did in some places in Chicago starting in the 1960s, hence replacing the traditional commemorative sculptures with more modern and unexpected works. A walk in the Loop is therefore an opportunity for original artistic discoveries, and here is a sample of what you can see on your way if you follow one or more of the four Walks in Chicago which explore the city center: The first photo is undoubtedly the city's most famous monumental sculpture, the Cloud Gate, commonly nicknamed the Bean. It is located in Millennium Park and was designed by Anish Kapoor. Its creation was a technical feat and when you go there, don't forget to

(texte en français ci-dessous) Sylvan Terrace, Washington Heights, Manhattan It is in Washington Heights towards the northern tip of Manhattan that you will find Sylvan Terrace, a street of 3-storey wooden houses built in the 19th century when this part of the island was still mainly covered with fields. After several changes of facades over the years to adapt to evolving architectural fashions, the place finally regained its original character and uniformity in the 1980s. It's when the whole area was designated a historic district, and funds were unlocked to allow its restoration. Today, filmmakers looking for a typical street of the time will often set up their cameras there with some actors in costume. Originally however, the cobbled street leading to a flight of stairs onto St Nicholas Avenue (named Kingsbridge Street at the time) provided only access to the 1765 Morris-Jumel Mansion which is at the other end. It is only in 1882 that Sylvan Terrace houses sprang up along this p

  (texte en français ci-desssous) Marina City Chicago Marina City Chicago is located along the Riverwalk in Chicago and you can't miss it. First of all, it is the sight of cars stored on 19 floors in alcoves that is astonishing. There is color, joy and imagination there and it makes you forget the gray and somewhat dated appearance of the two 65-story round towers which form the main part of the complex. Higher up, semi-circular projections all around and on all floors are reminiscent of gigantic ears of corn and this is another remarkable feature. What is less surprising, however, is the extensive use of reinforced concrete. This allowed these two towers to be the tallest in the world made in this way during their inauguration, but it is a material that ages poorly and the modernity of the time is substituted today by thinner and lighter glass structures with steel. The whole complex, however, remains a masterpiece of creativity, undoubtedly because its shape and its location ecli

  How long to make a print? This is a question that I get asked regularly and as I have just made 7 small prints ( see article on this subject ), here are the details of the process and an estimate of the time it takes each time: The 1st step is to decide what theme I'm going to explore and think about what photos I have or could take. Before, I also listened to what people told me about what they would like to find when they see my work and I noted the type of formats they favored. It's a little difficult to measure these scattered times but let's say 4 hours in total. Once the theme is chosen, I decide on the number of engravings I will make, their sizes and the material I will use, wood or linoleum. For the material, it depends on what I have in stock, but I like wood for the lines it leaves on the final result and which I integrate into the composition, so it is often the wood that I use now. This all takes another 2 hours. The first concrete and more m