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Day 215: Il faut se méfier des mots

“One must be wary of words.”

As warning goes, it is not too far wrong from the truth. We often forget how powerful words can be. One careless word, one inconsiderate phrase, that’s all it takes to hurt someone and cut deeply. The scar invisible, yet nonetheless there. Turn to another facet, however, words are all powerful, inspiring and motivational. These have healing power, to lift one’s spirit up. And empty promises, these are perhaps the most damaging of all. They break trust and create wariness.

This 3D installation by Ben Vautier is set up high on a building at place Fréhel, at the intersection between rue de Belleville and rue Julien Lacroix (en route to my favourite Thai restaurant, Krung Thep). It depicts two puppet-workmen who are busy setting up this chalkboard, all oh so casually. For anyone seeing this for the first time, it’s easy to do a double-take, wondering who are up there working on putting this notice board on.

Day 214: Chirp chirp

I’m not a super smartphone kind of person. As a matter of fact, I barely know how to use my low-end smartphone. Thus, Angry Bird is something that deludes me until quite recently. And only then it’s because I’ve heard some friends talking about it, advertisements at the cinemas showing it, my brother’s everchanging avatar on Facebook from one Angry Bird to another, and through video parody (of Adele’s Rolling in the Deep, no less).

Suddenly I’m seeing birds everywhere. Not necessarily Angry Birds though, such as this decor about the door of a shop at rue Tiquetonne. A branching sculpture sat above the main entrance with tens of colourful (wooden?) birds perching along the branches. These are much more adorable and friendly, but could still probably fly well when thrown at someone physically. Hmmm…

Day 213: Cultural station – Arts et Métiers

A number of métro stations in Paris are not your typical stations bombarded with advertisements and just tunnels and stairs to get places. These are known as cultural stations. At times, the cultural aspect is rather temporary but for others, they’re more permanent fixtures. My favourite so far? Arts et Métiers.

Just to put things in context, Musée des Arts et Métiers is a museum of all things scientific and inventive. It is a shame that this gem of a place is often overlooked by visitors of Paris. In 1994, during the bicentenary celebration of the Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers, the métro station was redesigned to evoke the atmosphere of Captain Nemo’s Nautilus from “20,000 Leagues Under The Sea”, a science-fiction written by Jules Verne (of “Around the World in 80 Days” fame). It’s quite a perfect tribute, don’t you agree?

Day 212: Musée de l’Orangerie

Given a mention of Paris and Impressionist art, most would think Musée d’Orsay right off the bat. I don’t blame them. It is a magnificent museum and perhaps my favourite among the many in this city. However, just across the Seine, there is a smaller museum that boasts a quaint collection of Impressionist art. It’s a pity that this place is often overlooked by visitors but for me, that’s good news because it means it’s never too crowded at Musée de l’Orangerie.

The main attraction of this museum though lies in two oval rooms, forming the sign of the infinity loop. Within the rooms, eight rectangular painted landscapes with waterlily can be found. This is where Monet’s masterpieces are on display for everyone to admire. It is so very easy to just sit in quietly (there are benches in the centre of the rooms) and gaze at the paintings. Of course, to get the real thing, I could also take a trip out to Giverny. If only time is not such a premium nowadays…

Day 211: Cimetière du Montparnasse

Culturally, I’ve been taught that cemetery is one place you don’t go to unless (1) it’s part of funeral/burial ritual, (2) it’s a designated prayer day, and (3) it’s dictated as part of specific ceremony. My grandma would be horrified to know that I’m visiting one as if it’s a place of attraction. However, in Paris, that’s what some of them are considered. You could even get a map that marks out the graves of the “stars” of the cemetery.

Perhaps there’s an energy of morbidity around. With Hungry Ghost Festival taking place soon, and having just visited an exhibition on Voodooism at Fondation Cartier, it seems natural to take a walk at Cimetière du Montparnasse nearby. Truly, it’s a very well-kept compound, with a sense of calm and zen. It is also fascinating, given it’s a multi-denominational cemetery, with interesting and varied monuments setting one grave aside from another. Just look at the one above. It could have easily passed for an art display anywhere, if you discount the other graves that you could see in the background.

Day 210: Mr Chat

Mr Chat!

I’ve walked rue Bonaparte quite regularly, thanks to the presence of a number of delicious shops along the street, but tonight, for the first time, I spotted this Mr Chat. Of course I don’t see it during the day, since it’s hidden within the shutters of this shop, lowered only after close of business.

I particularly like it that Mr Chat is so happy, reading away his time. I’m not unlike him actually. Have I told you how book-buying happy I’ve become lately? I’d say, by now, if I am to move, I would need at least 2 boxes for the books that I’ve acquired. And I’ve only live here for a few months. I think this habit is just going to get worse with time, but in a good way, right? I mean, it’s books, and it’s about reading. Surely it can’t be bad… ;)

Day 209: So alone…

The risk of dreaming is loneliness? At least that the hypothesis postulated by Aerosol in this art-graffiti wall of his.

Dream is a two-edge sword. On one hand, we could not not dream. To not have dreams is to live a monotonous existence, without anything to look forward to and nor something to aspire for. At the same time, to dream also means to put ourselves in a state of fantasy, imagining something that we may put too much hope on, and hurtful when it’s misguided.

What we should aim for is a balance between the two. Afterall, isn’t much of our lives about balance in one way or another? Too much of something is bad enough, too much of nothing is just as tough. However, I don’t see loneliness in either scheme of dream. Am I missing some obvious link?

Day 208: Everybody goes to the Louvre

The city is becoming void of locals as everyone goes away for their summer holiday. Its effects be seen everywhere. Shops closed for their congés annuels, less passengers on the bus (still plenty on the métro though, which tourists feel more secure taking than buses), free flowing traffic for a change… When August rolls in, there would be even more who leaves Paris. I wonder if there would be more tourists than residents then?

Over at Louvre though, there are still throngs of people passing through at all time. Quite a stark contrast in comparison to the quartier where I work. It seems regardless of the time or day that I go by the palais, the queue is always long and a ton more other people are posing for various photos including play look-I-can-pinch-the-top-of-IM Pei’s-pyramid. Obviously this is the social quartier of the season ;)

Day 207: Little Red goes to the wood

The marketing team behind this poster has quite a sense of humour.

The mairie is currently encouraging its residents and visitors to appreciate the green spaces and tropical woods surrounding the city. They are not wrong you know. There are a lot of beautiful green spots in Paris that one could explore, and I don’t mean just Luxembourg or Tuilleries Gardens. In particular, the focus is on Parc de Bagatelle, Bois de Boulogne and Bois de Vincennes.

Anyway, I digressed. So while the mairie is trying to forge a culture close to nature, are we all supposed to turn into a curious Little Red Riding Hood? There is a wolf lurking somewhere out there, with a sly grin in his face. Hmmm… Still, the poster brings a smile to my face every time I see it. While a photograph of a poster is not terribly exciting, I still feel it should be shared :D

Day 206: Cultural station – Kiosque des Noctambules

The very first time I walked past the kiosque des noctambules (sure, I didn’t know the name back then either) I was perplexed by its colourful bejewelled state (who installed a glass bead-like art sculpture here?) and then noticed people coming up from underneath. Curious. A quick investigative effort revealed that it is the entrance to the métro station of Palais Royal-Musée du Louvre.

A contemporary art piece by Jean-Michel Othoniel, it was commissioned for the centenary celebration of the inauguration of métro in Paris. First introduced in 1900, métro line 1 was used to transport visitors of the city to enjoy the sites and sights during the Exposition Universelle of 1900. Back then, the line runs between Porte Maillot and Porte de Vincennes and Palais Royal-Musée du Louvre was one of the eight stops of the line. Pretty steep in history eh?


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