“A bath for 30 cents? That’s a week’s wages!” The year is 1900. We stand before the unassuming entrance of Passage de la Piscine, but picture instead the bustling Quai des Fleurs nearby. Imagine a time when the Seine wasn’t just for transportation, but held floating palaces of leisure. These “Grands Bains Parisiens,” these grand Parisian baths, offered a chance for the city dwellers to escape the grime and, for a price, enjoy the luxury of a heated swim. Thirty cents might seem a trifle today, but for many working-class Parisians at the turn of the century, it was a luxury reserved for the fortunate few. The children of the river workers, like those captured in the vintage postcards we’ve seen, likely never experienced such extravagance. Passage de la Piscine today might not hold the grand baths of yesteryear, but it whispers of a time when Paris found its pleasures, however fleeting, on the water.
Église Notre-Dame de l’Air
Beneath what appears to be a simple stone and wood structure lies a history interwoven with faith aviation and community.