Visitors to Paris tend to stay within the central area of the city – let’s face it, there are so much to do one need not venture further out in any case – and as a result, perhaps the only tall buildings they would have noticed are Tour Montparnasse and those at La Défense (and you can spot them right from Champs-Élysées). Otherwise, Parisian architecture seems rarely topping the sixth or seventh storey in height, much less constructed with plenty of steels, metals and glasses.

Down by Port de Javel, standing on Pont du Garigliano, one may not recognise Paris if not for the Tour Eiffel which stands beyond the horizon of tall modern buildings. It is still quite pretty here, with less human traffic (at least that was the case when I was out there this evening) and the feeling that the dynamism of Paris is something that I would need a lot of time to fully understand. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that I would be able to find time somehow to soak all the knowledge in.

I quite like walking around the Marais quarter, which is lively and bustling but also attracts a certain kind of fashionable crowd (not that I am one of them – and I doubt I could afford to be one either), making it an interesting people-watching neighbourhood. More importantly, the quarter did not undergo a Haussmann “re-looking” (a casual French term for makeover apparently) and therefore plenty of interesting architecture to check out too.

Hôtel particulier is one of the features which I think of as a link to the romantic past of the streets here, thanks to the favours bestowed by the royalties and the peers of French court once upon a time. The grand urban mansions usually come with entrance courts and gardens, and if you could cast your imagination a little back, if only back to the days where Impressionist artists could cast paintings of garden strolls in Victorian dresses and suits, the gardens would be just perfect for socials and interludes in between attending various soirées that one had been invited too.

Today, a number of these hôtel particulier have been converted into administrative buildings as well as museum spaces. Some of these are free to visit (e.g. Musée Cognacq-Jay, Musée Carnavalet, la maison de Victor Hugo) so there is no excuse to not get acquainted with the idea of grand Parisian townhouses. I should revisit them too. It has been a while.

The seat of major EU institutions are in Strasbourg, among them the European Parliament and the Council of Europe. The buildings are modern, mostly glass and steel, which is quite a contrast to the quaint city centre area of Strasbourg, where Alsatian architecture (often feels Germanic) dominates. Of course, the city has been in both the hands of French and German over the centuries, so it’s natural that the influence from both cultures can be deeply felt.

Outside the European Parliament, this sculpture above drawn me to it. From afar, I initially thought it was the figure of strong protecting the weak, or a mother holding a child. Upon closer inspection though, it was more like entertwining embrace of a couple, encased in a loose heart shape. Designed Ludmilla Tcherina, this is a strong imagery of Europe that has a heart.

The Strasbourg Cathedral is one seriously impressive structure. Its height tall beyond anything that I’ve ever seen, standing majestically at 142m into the sky, it took over 400 years to construct this Romanesque/Gothic cathedral which is lavishly adorned with stone figures. It does get rather overwhelming, so I zoomed the camera in and photographed this small part of rose carvings instead. And instantly loving it.

The weather in Strasbourg this weekend is not quite like what I’ve gotten used to in Paris in the past few weeks (read: sunny) and is everchanging. One moment, it’s warm and sunny, and the next windy and chill-inducing. I was out for lunch today with my friends, sitting at the outdoor restaurant at Place du Marché Gayot, which was very pleasant until we started to shiver and wished we wore something else that were not shorts, mini-tees, skirt and sandals. We skipped desserts in favour of bulking up our outer-wears…

I have a lot of kiwis to eat. Last week, at the market, I bagged a small basket of about a dozen kiwis which come at le petit prix of €2. Awesome! Sure they don’t all look pretty and perfectly oval, but does it really matter how they look?

Among the many, I’ve found this, which sliced to a natural heart shape. Isn’t it cute? I have another which sliced to resemble mitochondria, the power house in every single cell of our body. I debated which to post, but thought I’d skip the geeky kiwi (I can’t help it if I notice the shape – I am a biologist) and go with the heart-warming option. ;)

A new series of sculpted installation (made from rusty steel) has just been peppered along Ports de Paris which opened today. Such serendipitious coincidence that I went awandering near Parc André Citroën and came across a few of them. I haven’t time to check all of them out though. Accordingly they could be found along River Seine running from the park to the Eiffel Tower.

Created by Edgardo Carmona, the pieces by the quay-side gates of the park include the artistics (carnival musician, bike juggler, ribbon gymnast), the day-to-day (umbrella blown with the wind) and the amusing (man with beer – after a late night out maybe – and dog, both peeing to a lamp post). I wonder what else are installed upriver from here.

You’ve seen me posted entries of various street arts and mural paintings of Paris. Here’s another creative one – which is used to not only decorate the wall but also to frame the elements of the building, i.e. windows and doors. Pretty good job for a building that seems to be in need of major restorative works.

While I find the roar of the animal amusing, the picture is still slightly disturbing. It’s the body. I can’t wrap my imagination around it and no matter how I look it over, it still feels all wrong. Not my kind of art perhaps. If you want to see this for yourself, head over to rue Neuve Tolbiac, near Bibliothèque François-Mitterrand.

I pass by this bronze sculpture of a bird several times a week. In fact, each time I go for a run. Considering I would also complete numerous rounds of the loop of the park in Cité U, I’d see it for a few times within the hour that I huff and I puff my route in synchrony to whatever high-beat music I have loaded to my iPod.

Entitled Pájaro XIII (to signify the 13th such bronze statue by the same sculptor?) by Juan Soriano, it is part of collection from Centro de Arte de Reina Sofía. Unsurprising, given that it sits in the garden to the Spanish House. The thing is though, this sculpture is superfamiliar to me, even before I found out from where it came from. Now I wonder if I have saw something similar when I was in Madrid a few years back?

When one evokes the image of “shopping in Paris” one often thinks of the designer labels, the haut couture, strolling down Avenue Montaigne and the likes. Truth be told, it seems there are places to shop everywhere in the city, and I’m still trying to figure my way around, where best to get certain items etc.

What one would also commonly see in Paris would be open food markets (different locations around the city but there’s always some any given day of the week), flea markets (look out for signs for brocante antiques, usually at weekends) and then small craft markets, like this one at Boulevard St Germain. Passing them en route to Chloé’s, I didn’t really stop to look at the handful of stalls properly. This market is not there at all time, but I’ve definitely seen them here before. I suspect it could be a regular feature, perhaps once or twice a week?

I haven’t been enjoying picnic this much in my life until the last couple of months. I’ve lost count of the number of times when I packed a bag of food and drinks, plus a good book, and off I went to the park for a few hours in the sun with my friends. We certainly weren’t the only one with such idea, since the park was always packed, and today was no exception. We even got our own front row to a “spectacle”.

We called them ninjas. Let’s face it – they dressed the part. We have no idea what form of martial art are they practicing exactly but often time, we questioned their wisdom in choosing the park as the venue of practice. During the demo by the master, everyone would form a circle and observed. The ninjas then were paired, equipped with rope(s), and proceeded to tie each other up (in slow motion) in the craziest conformation possible, including strangling position. There were lots of kids around observing. I shudder at the thought of them playing at home, saw some ropes, and decided “I can be a ninja too and let’s do what they were doing at the park”…