Paris…
Vores lejede studio lå ved denne hyggelige gågade ud til en skole.
Dreng foran slikbutik?
Mens børnene venter på at farmand shopper, kan de lære at tegne jakkesæt eller læse en bog om det…
På vej til Bordeaux.
Bordeaux.
Musée des beaux arts var under ombygning og derfor lukket
Øv!
Saint Émilion
Arcachon – Atlanterhav og østersby — og tidslomme
Tilbage i Paris – Jardin du Luxembourg
Though I’m back in Denmark my blog hasn’t finished travelling (nor has my mind…). I still need to catch up on my trip to Paris – and later maybe some more about Rome.
I had some wonderful days in a grey and beautiful city.
Niko and I tried Velib’ (Paris’ city bike) for the first time, and I was happy with the flexibility, but found out I don’t have the patience for all the traffic lights and the lacking flow. It was still amazing experiencing the city in another way, and it costs the same as a metro ticket.
I visited several museums, among these my all time favourite, Centre Pompidou. There was a big exhibition on Edvard Munch, but as I saw another on him one year ago in Denmark, I skipped it and went directly to the permanent collection. It’s classical 1900 art, with avant-garde, pop art, op art etc., but I will never get tired of it. My French art historian friend from the language school in Rome opened my eyes to François Morellet, an op artist. At first, his painting didn’t talk to me at all.
But, engineer, he uses geometry and mathematical formulae to create the structure of the paintings. Thus, when you know his idea and the title, I find that the work opens up: “6 répartitions aléatoires de 4 carrés noirs et blanc d’après les chiffres pairs et impairs du nombre PI” (6 Random Distributions of 4 Black and White Squares According to the Even and Odd Digits of the Number Pi).
I also went to Bibliothèque Nationale Française where there was an exhibition on Casanova. It was interesting and well done, but it’s (too) hard to transform a life and a work into something visual.
Niko and I went to MAM, Musée d’Art Moderne next to Palais de Tokyo in 16th arr. I don’t know why I had never been there, it was so vast and filled with 20th century art, including a big and interesting focus on Robert Delaunay. Go there, the huge permanent collection is free!
More serious was the Mémorial de la Shoah museum in Marais about the Second World War and the Jews in France. Having studied vergangenheitsbewältigung (coming to terms with the past), I found it very interesting, the theme and the way the museum was arranged. This is also free, and I think you should go there.
This is le Mur des noms, walls with the names of all the Jews who died during the war.
I’m not sure if it’s because I just adore French, or because French street art/funny things on walls are more interesting, but I tend to notice it a lot when I’m in France.
(This wall is too white to be white)
(Regarde le ciel / Look at the sky)
And so we did.
(Announcement [to the citizen] of this planet… This is not a test: Love your neighbour)
Paris, classic, but still lovely
… trying to get over my hangover after a crazy Christmas night out…
I loved being in Paris again. But Italy kept haunting me…
And it still is.
Paris is beautiful as always. I had butterflies in my stomach just driving to the centre Sunday evening. Our flat is small but gorgeous, and our little street in Marais is to die for.
Nathan and I are enjoying life with food, wine, walks, looking and talking. Our first night, we found our feet in the new city with a lovely glass of Ricard, but still starting every sentence with “Grazi… merci”, “per favo… s’il vous plaît”, “buongior…. bonjour”. Still adjusting.
Paris is a never-ending book of street art and when I first walked out this morning, I saw this:
I think it’s my tenth time in Paris, so I take in the city in another way than Nathan who has never been here before. But with a bit of patience and my desire to find out what all the monuments actually are, it’s working very well. Having been so absorbed in Roman architecture, I had almost forgot all about Gothic churches. But how my eyes enjoy looking at something else than Baroque grandiosity! The construction of Notre Dame began in 1163, and the cathedral is widely mentioned in Victor Hugo’s Notre Dame de Paris, which I just bought. When a book costs under 5€ – rule of thumb: buy it.
Paris streets are just cute à mourir
Girls passing their time browsing books outside the legendary Shakespeare & Co. bookshop.
The original owner of the bookshop, George Whitman, just passed away last week. Apparently he is an icon, and I guess this is something he wrote. I like it – and might relate a bit too much to it sometimes.
One of my favourite buildings in Paris is Grand Palais. Constructed with steel and glass, it was inspired by Crystal Palace in London and meant for the Universal Exposition of 1900. I’m crazy about the Art Nouveau of this building; hard staircase made in steel but looking organic and soft. Despite its monumentality, I find a special peace in this place.
Consequently, when we walked in, we were surprised to discover – a whole new world of an amusement park inside!
It was very interesting to see. It was too much of a good thing, so kitsch, so much steel, to me charged with so many meanings and connotations of modernity. You might think I should get out of my ivory tower… But I’m having fun in here!
Today we had a lovely evening walk to Montmarte. It’s certainly too cute, but they really know how to get Christmassy, a thing Rome did not manage.
The happy travellers say goodbye
I hope I haven’t let too many Danes down writing in English… It will probably be a good mix of languages futher on.
Oh, and by the way… Finished that paper I never really talked about, but that was the reason for all this sweet globetrotting.
Il dolce far niente 