I could get used to this. The days may be crappy during the week but come weekend, it’s glorious and sunny (still cold though – afterall it is winter). I really have nothing to complain about since this means I could explore the city without looking like a drowned chicken. It’s really only at weekend that I usually try to venture a bit further from my normal haunts.
This weekend however, I’m not exactly skipping along the cobblestones of streets unknown in the 17th or 20th arrondissement. Having the last of Christmas shoppings to complete plus a few meet ups with friends, I’m still wandering about the usual neighbourhood. The Palais de Justice was formally a palace but today a complex that includes the law courts. Sitting tight and looming large over about half of Île de la Cité, it also houses the Conciergerie and Sainte-Chapelle (which in order to visit, one would have to go through security checks that’s similar to that going to the various judiciary offices).
As you may have also noticed, just beyond the Palais de Justice is one of the towers of the Notre Dame Cathedral. Seriously, Paris of old makes a very compact city when you consider just how close all the important and main sites are centralised. That’s another story for another day. Later.
I like the library network in Paris. With just one membership card, all the public library is accessible and so I can get books out from any of the branches run by the city council. And it’s free! (Membership with access to multimedia costs something like €35 per year – still a bargain if you ask me.) Since I noticed something interesting may be available at the branch of Baudoyer, away I went.
Just outside the entrance to the building complex of Mairie du 4ème where the library is housed, there are several interesting and eye-catching Christmas trees at Place Baudoyer. Oh they are festive, green with hints of reds, and fitting as festive decoration. On a closer look though, these trees are made using recycled material. More specifically, plastic bottles of carbonated drinks. How cool is that for an idea and to raise awareness!
Ps: as I took this photo, a woman stopped next to me and started chatting (in French no less) of the importance of caring for the environment, why these trees are magic and potentially a lead for my next photo of the day. I’m just thrilled she thought I fit in enough to strike a conversation with me :D
I still haven’t started my shopping list (eeep!) but I am constantly on the look out for presents, hoping to see something that will inspire me, for the light bulb moment (ding!), for just the right gift for the right person at the right price. Not easy, I tell ya.
It was tempting to get these cute little kitties, except they’re on the pricey side. Apparently even ornamental items don’t come cheap in the festive season (or any other season when you are in Paris). The price tag I spotted marked €18, but I didn’t exactly investigate further if that’s the price for a single cat or the set of three. Worth buying?
Artists and performers unite. As the sun set, Nuit Blanche will take over the city and transports interested art revellers into new worlds, some more peculiar than others (let’s face it, we don’t all understand every art movement there is), through various parcours that has been designed for the night arts festival.
Even as I walked about the city today, I’m already seeing unusual presence. A bit like, say, the world of Harry Potter colliding with the muggles’. This guy was spotting a pair of hoof-like feet, thus towering over everyone (he must have had 2 feet advantage of me!) and when he walked, you guess it, it sounds like a horse is coming through. He became a faun, all in the name of arts.
In many ways, Paris is still locked in the past. Look at the skyline a hundred years ago, and look at it again today. There aren’t many differences to be found. Sure there may be a crane or two appearing near the periphery limit, but centrally, it has stayed true to how Baron Haussmann had intended the city to be. This picture could have easily been shot decades ago. (I was at the top of Centre Pompidou for this photo, in case you’re wondering.)
This is a good time to introduce you to Paris Avant, a site that posts pictures of Paris of today and yesteryear, side by side, every day. To date, over 1650 pairs of photos have been published. Truly amazing effort by Frédéric Botton. (And here I am, struggling to be up to date with my daily entry – how embarassing. I’m working on it, I’m working on it. I promise.)
With my friends from Dublin visiting, and seeing today’s also the first Sunday of the month when many museums and historical landmarks are free to visit, we opted for the Museum of Modern Art at Centre Pompidou. It has an amazing collection, ranging from the “classics” (Picasso, Miro, Gris etc) to the quirky (there are pieces I have yet to decipher) – just the perfect place to spend a lovely afternoon together.
Something outside the windows kept catching my attention – the Basilica of Sacré-Cœur. And with it, it brought to mind an exhibition by Henri Rivière which I saw a couple of years back, displaying some prints of 36 Views of Eiffel Tower, which in turn was inspired by Hokusai’s 36 Views of Mount Fuji. Can I call dibs on photographic version of 36 Views of Sacré-Cœur? I can’t imagine it would be easy with a point-n-shoot camera, especially for distant views. Now that we’re coming into winter too, daylight hours are limited (I do need to work) and absolute clear days at weekends may be hard to come by. We’ll see…
Pixel art is fun, pixel art in bedazzled tiles is even more entertaining.
Spotted on a wall somewhere in the Marais (I cannot for the life of me recall the street name right now), this space invader is sitting pretty with coloured alien antennae (note the matching colour scheme) and a special one that sparkles and dazzles. Is there extra point for zapping the alien via that particular antenna? ;)
As a child, growing up, my first memories of computer/video games are of Mario Bros (ah the days of game cartridges and square Nintendo box), Space Invaders (black 8″ floppy disks!), Pacmac and Pinballs (giant machines at the arcade, anyone?) but somehow I seem to have outgrown them quicker than I’d anticipated. Nowadays it’s all nostalgia and reminiscing the past, and me unable to play wii without embarassing myself.
I have previously introduced Sainte Geneviève, the patron saint of Paris. Today, we shall talk about Saint Denis, a martyr who was Bishop of Paris a long long time ago and the patron saint of France (how’s that for a trump card?). And to make sense of the story of this headless saint, we should also talk about Montmartre.
Saint Denis was said to have been beheaded at Montmartre (giving rise to this name that means “mountain of the martyr” – but on all accounts, there are 2 other possibilities on how Montmartre came to be known as what it is called today) but a devout bishop that he was, it didn’t stop him from continuing to perform his duty to the God. He picked his head up and started walking to the north, all the while preaching a sermon as it should (I figure that must be one of the miracles to propel forth his beatification) until he came to a spot where he decided it would be his final resting place.
A cathedral/basilica bearing his name stands today at that spot, and he has plenty of royal companies in burial, as all but three French kings have their final resting places here. I still haven’t visited the cathedral, and if you’re wondering where I find the statue above, well, it’s from the left portal of the west end of Notre Dame Cathedral.
Boy it feels “heavy” in the city. No wonder everyone seems to have escaped to the beaches, fake or otherwise. Anything for a little bit of fresh air and cooling breeze. On passing Paris-Plages today, the quay was absolutely packed with adults and children alike, and a stroll along the beaches revealed various on-going events. Best to enjoy with ice cream in hand, I believe.
From simple sun-bathing or sand-playing, to enjoying a game of petanque or two, to watching performances by street artists, to enjoying a short massage session at the pop-up massage stands. And giant Disney-inspired sandcastles can also be found, and they’re quite the attraction as various camera (including mine) went a-clicking busily around it. I know, I am such a tourist :p
In Paris, you don’t have to go to the beaches. The beaches come to you instead ;)
The mairie has been busy since the weekend, constructing the quay-side beaches which make their appearances annually in July and August, for approximately 4-5 weeks. When I passed by this evening along Voie Pompidou, the landscapers were busy putting in the final touches while anyone unauthorised were barred from entering Paris Plages.
Trucks and trucks of sand have been brought in, new lounging chairs set in intermittent distances, and shower areas set up too. Now, nobody’s allowed to swim in the Seine (and I’m not sure if anyone would really want to either, without taking on the risk of disease) so the beaches would be use mainly as sand pits and sunbathing spots. However, there is also a floating pool near Pont Marie for a quick cooling dip and aquagym. And over at Bassin de la Villette, I believe there would be an artificial wave good for surfing too!
Paris Plages 2011 runs from 21 July to 21 August at Voie Pompidou, Hôtel de Ville and Bassin de la Villette. Click here for the full programme.
