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This is the Modern World (Thursday)

By James on September 25, 2010 in Art, Musings, Travel

After the Louvre, it was definitely time to dial it back a notch.

We slept in, and then walked out back towards the Centre Pompidou, to see l’art moderne. Ducked down an alley to find a little crepe place; they spoke perfect English so I was a little skeptical. And I’ve not eaten a lot of savory crepes I really liked. Picked one with chevre and apples, and Steph got ham and brie. Very, very yummy in the end.

Similarly, the museum was very toothsome. Our favorite by far.

Pompidou has two types of art; there’s the modern giants such as Picasso, Calder, Braque and Kandinsky, and then there’s a variety of your more contemporary out-there stuff. Latter is on the 4th floor, former is on the 5th. You have to access the 5th from the 4th, and I applaud the forced exposure, even though I didn’t like most of the contemporary stuff. Oh, and they have different rotating exhibits on the top floor, which seems to be mostly highlights of one particular artist’s oeuvre.

There was supposed to be an exhibit on Mondrian, a personal fave of mine on the top, but it wasn’t there. Instead we wandered into an exhibit on the artist, Arman, who neither of us knew. To quote the museum propaganda, “Arman developed a body of work very much of its time, making art from manufactured objects produced by the consumer society.” In other-words, he took objects, e.g. trash; musical instruments; car parts, furniture; and used them as paintbrushes or destroyed/recomposed them in new ways and presented the outcome as a painting or sculpture. We like Warhol a lot; we liked Arman a lot.

After, we went to the Museum proper. Currently there is an exhibit commenting on the inherent sexism of the official canon of western art, old and new. Some of this was clever and convincing, most was unfortunately blunt and obscure. We went upstairs pretty quickly.

There was a little bit of the stuff that gives modern art its negative stereotype of being ugly and easy, but mostly great stuff here. Beautiful, strange, moving… Some of my favorites:

Le Corbusier, Nature morte au violon rouge, oil on canvas, 1920.

Machine Forms | Iakov Chernikhov

László Moholy-Nagy, Composition A.XX, 1924, oil on canvas

Robert Delaunay: Autoportrait, 1905-1906

Man Ray, La femme, 1920, B/W Photograph

Karl Blossfeldt, Urformen der Kunst (Book of Photogrpahs)

Bella Au Col Blanc, Marc Chagall, Oil 1917

Richard Mortensen, Eure, 1955

Yves Laloy, Untitled, Oil

Lucien Hervé, Installations portuaires, Smyrne, Turquie, 1960

Anyway, on and on, more below in our photos.

Also is a lovely little gift shop on the mezzanine level selling contemporary and beautifully designed objects—household appliances, hairdryers, gifts—very diverse and very nice. I bought Steph an over-sized cocktail ring; the “stone” is plastic filled with a milky gray liquid and a small bubble. It works!

After the musuem, we chilled on the plaza for a bit. Next stop was the boutique Merci.

Tucked away in a back yard, we didn’t immediately detect the main entrance, but instead saw two different storefronts: one for the cafe and the other for a flower shop. Between these two though, there was a gate that leading to an inner courtyard, with a sweet, red Fiat parked inside. Merci is comprised of three floors of a airy, windowed factory, selling a mix of fashion, “useful objects” and home decor.

The café alone could stand alone as a highlight. The walls are lined with second hand books in several languages, and there were delicious cakes and wine on hand for us weary shoppers. The hostess was one of the most welcoming of the whole trip, and they brought us water without asking (this never happens over here).

Its obvious from the wares that there is an emphasis on sustainable design and upcycling in the store, but I latter found out that the designers who are offering their goods on sale here are foregoing their profits, so all the brand new items will cost you around 30% less than the normal sale price. In turn Merci will donate 100% of their profits from goods sold to a foundation benefiting impoverished children in Madagascar.

Keeping on the conscious tip, we ended the evening at Le Grenier de Notre-Dame, a small vegetarian restaurant on a small street devoted to butchers that just so happens to be right near our flat. They specialize in meat-free alternatives to traditional French cuisine, and it was very tasty. Even my reluctant dinner party said it was done right. Although the music selection was completely bizarro and bounced from opera to French chansons to American R&b. Anyway, nice to forgo another meal of just bread and cheese!

P.S. One of my favorite candies are gummies from candy-maker Haribo in Germany. Just let me say that the selection of their confections is 10x greater here in Paris, and I am in heaven. They even sell a few different “greatest hits”, combining different gummies and licorices in one pack. “Haribo Polka” is manufactured especially for the French market, and boy, is it awesome!

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Champs-Elysées or Chump Elysées

By Steph on September 22, 2010 in Fashion, Musings, Travel

Yesterday (Tuesday) was another full day for James and I. We spent the morning leisurely enjoying breakfast and then went on a long walk down the Champs-Élysées starting at the Arc de Triomphe where I witnessed a minor car crash. The driving around that arc is insane. I was mesmerized and then *bang* two cars collided. No one was hurt. We wandered down the avenue and through the “golden triangle” admiring all of the fashion houses. It is amazing how much wealth exists in this city! The street was beautiful and so were the stores. I couldn’t help but have some moments of introspection, though, as we would pass beggars on the street outside of such high and lofty establishments.

Our walk continued and we stopped in a few stores. I am not sure why, but every store we went into looked like a tornado had gone through with crowds of shoppers vying for space. Literally tons of people frantically shopping to very loud dance music. At one point two women edged me out of the way of a mirror I was trying to use to try on some shoes. I had to give up and move on. Also, every store we were in had a constant “beep beep beep beep” of an alarm going off the entire time. Add to that the sound of the unbearable euro trance blasting out of the speakers and you had two very cranky Fishwicks exiting the store. We did find some super great clothing, though!

After we were done shopping we chose a cafe to eat lunch outside. The food was delicious but the waiter was very brusque with me. We had ordered a bottle of filtered water (by accident) and were halfway through it. James was also drinking a glass of wine. I was just placing my bottle of water on the table for a minute while I was rifling through my bag to find my sunglasses. The waiter rudely moved my water bottle off of the table and practically slammed it down on a stool next to me! I know that could have happened at home…but it just felt weird. It seems like I keep making these mistakes.

We’ve had a great experience in Paris…but A LOT of the time I get the feeling that I have to walk on egg shells in this city. I’ve been told not to take a photo (at the fleas—OK probably shouldn’t have done that but it was really something that would’ve been fine in the US), today we weren’t allowed to sit against a certain wall in the Louvre but there were no signs saying otherwise and people were sitting two feet away from our spot and it was OK. I don’t know the language so I’m trying to overcompensate for that, etc etc. I’ve also been bumping into people / things left and right. I really do feel like an awkward American!! This morning it was really awful. We went into a small patisserie for breakfast and as we usually do, ordered in French. Typically things go alright. Today they didn’t. The language barrier created an awkward start. Finally it was understood that we were to sit down and order food in a separate room rather than at the counter. As we rounded the corner into the small dining area in this tiny little place I slammed right into one of the cafe tables where an older couple was eating. I turned around to say “pardonne-moi” to see two very kind smiling faces say “It’s OK”. But because I was looking at them as I stepped forward, I banged my head on a very low staircase. SO embarrassing.

Breakfast was very good, albeit we both decided that we’ve maxed out our capacity for bread, bread and…more bread…but more info on tonight’s dinner from James in the next post.

Back to yesterday: After shopping we headed down to the GORGEOUS Jardin des Tuileries. It was beautiful. We stopped at a really lovely fountain on the way in and took some photographs. After meandering through the garden we decided to check out Printemps which is a high end department store. It was sort of like a Tyson’s galleria but smaller scale and way more expensive. They even sold designer toilet paper!Afterwords we headed up the street to find the H&M. While we were standing at a stoplight about to cross the street a woman pulled up on her bike next to me. I looked over and realized it was Garance Doré!! I am a huge fan of hers. I looked at her, starstruck, and she noticed me looking. I opened my mouth to say hello but completely froze. I turned to James and said “Garance Doré is RIGHT next to me!!” He looked over. I am pretty sure she saw that I recognized her and when I turned back towards her, she gave a small smile. Then she maneuvered her bike around the crowd and disappeared down the street. She was looking very chic in a long skirt, oxfords, and a sweatshirt. I noticed that she was wearing a very beautiful ring. I am still bummed that I didn’t say “hi’ at least…but c’est la vie. At least I didn’t do something idiotic like ask for an autograph or a photo. I know it was her and I’m really glad to have seen her.

All in all it was a really amazing day. We came home afterwords and I IM’d Margaret and Emily immediately to tell them about the day. We cooked some food at this awesome apartment and went to bed early so we could get up and over to the Louvre early…

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Le Marais (Monday)

By James on September 21, 2010 in Books, food, Musings, Travel

The Marais is one of the oldest and picturesque parts of Paris, characterized by its unique 17th century buildings and being a centerpiece of the Jewish lifestyle in Paris. This is a lively neighborhood with, from what I can tell, a bit of hipster lifestyle scene; lots of trendy bars, shops, and eateries.

We started out the day armed with a blog print-out of all the best vintage shops in the area. Steph deftly wove in and out of the numerous alleys and quickly and somewhat dejectedly ascertained that they weren’t up to her high standards. Luckily, there were plenty of other shops with all manner of twee housewares and accessories to occupy us. The highlight of the day was discovering two paper stores, one selling fine writing sheets, pencils, and handmade blank books, the other specializing in inks, calligraphic instruments, and postcards. At the former, Papier +, we bought an album to house all our Paris pics in, in the latter, Steph bought some nibs and ink, and me, fancy postcards adorned with all manner of French delicacies I will never taste.

I was able to taste and enjoy the best falafel I’ve ever had at L’as du Fallafel. Luckily all the upscale boutiques and stylish cafes haven’t edged out all the traditional Jewish fare in the area. We sat on the curb, chowed down; best food I’ve had here yet.

The main focus for contemporary art in France is also in this part of town, at the Pompidou Center. The Pompidou Center, also known simply as Beaubourg, is all about modern and contemporary 20th-century art. To keep the exhibition halls uncluttered, the architects put the building’s ‘insides’ on the outside, with each duct, pipe and vent painted its own telltale color: elevators and escalators are red, electrical circuitry yellow, plumbing green and air-conditioning blue. Around this time we also figured out how nasty French public toilets are. Steph was unable to go there, and we had to vamoose without going into the museum, although we checked out the architecture and design store (we’re planning to go for a proper visit and lunch later in the week).

After using the modern and clean facilites in our flat, we went out to the bank of the Ile, and I wrote postcards while Steph did some pen and ink drawings with her new equipment. For some reason, several police boats sped down the Seine in front of us, occupants armed to the teeth with automatic weapons! Hope they caught the guy.

For our anniversary dinner, I tried to get a reservation at one of the best “cheap” (not cheap) places in the Latin quarter according to Gridskipper. Dining here is a touchy subject; it seems many chefs are outright hostile to the vegetarian schtick. At least I had been told as such. I figured, hey, any good place is happy to offer a basic accommodation to one customer. We walked in a few hours before dinner time and I piped up: “Est-il possible de préparer un repas sans viande? Je suis végétarien.” The host looked pained and gave his reply:

Discouraged, and we tried a place that looked a little touristy near the flat (and it was) but we had a great fix-price 3 course meal (pasta is the name of the game for me I’m discovering) with a nice Bordeaux and stayed up people watching and chatting. Bonne nuit!

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Sacré Coeur, Pere Lachaise, Montmarte and Dinner with Friends

By James on September 20, 2010 in Musings, Travel

Yesterday (Sunday) we arose from a full night’s rest and took a brisk morning walk around our neighborhood which is called the latin quarter. It is an amazing neighborhood. We ate perfect buttery croissants and cafe au lait as our petit déjeuner. I actually wanted a more elaborate confection, but could only sputter out “Je voudrais un croissant” when it was my turn. I guess the other choices’ pronunciations were a bit more “difficile.”

We spent the morning perusing the the most famous flea market in Paris; the one at Porte de Clignancourt, officially called Les Puces de Saint-Ouen, but known to everyone as Les Puces (The Fleas). The flea market was unbelievable! A miniature city of stalls full of vendors selling their wares. A winding market where you can find anything from furniture to beads, to missing parts from antique commodes, textiles, paintings, antique toys, broken letterpress parts, old signs, vintage clothing etc, etc. Each vendor also acts as a stylist, creating a wonderful tableau – I’m convinced Anthropologie steals all their interior design from these folks. Taxidermy and large shells seem to be au courant. The place feels enormous and we had fun getting lost wandering down the alleyways.

From Les Puces, we jaunted over to Monmarte, the old bohemian neighborhood. Famous in days past for absinthe, its imbibers, and artists on the dole. We started at the Basilique du Sacré-Cœur, is a Roman Catholic church and minor basilica, built in 1875 to “expiate the crimes of the communards.” Its construction marked a wave of religious renewal after the bloodshed of after the Franco-Prussian War and uprising of the Paris Commune. The building was beautiful, but perhaps even more so was the Paris skyline from the church steps (even though vendors were hocking beer and some jerky was playing “Knocking on Heaven’s Door”). The neighborhood itself was very touristy at first, but we manged to stumble deeper down into the more residential area of shops and cafes. We had coffee and a tart and I swear I saw Abe Vigoda locking up his bike.

In the late afternoon, we metro-ed out to the famous cemetery, Pere Lachaise. There were a ton of tombs I wanted to visit, and luckily Steph was there with her extraordinary navigational abilities. She was a little creeped out I think, but helped me find everyone I was looking for. We paid our respects to: Honoré de Balzac, Guillaume Apollinaire, Sarah Bernhardt, Eugène Delacroix, Max Ernst, Théodore Géricault, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Molière, Marcel Proust, Gertrude Stein, and Oscar Wilde. Unfortunately, the bell clanging guards drove us out before we paid our respects to Frédéric Chopin, Colette, Jim Morrison and Heloïse and Peter Abélard. C’est la Mort.

After a quick rest, we were able to get in touch with our friends Marianne and Chris, who are living here until May. We met in front of the re-known Shakespeare & Company Bookstore, and were able to find a local, cheap and authentic place for a 3 course dinner, complete with apertif, wine, and brandy. It was a beautiful night, and felt wonderfully Parisian. Nice to be able to converse and have a French speaker in the group; the dining out thing is steal a little stressful without being fluent. Thanks to them for a lovely second night!

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The Latin Quarter and the île de la Cité

By Steph on September 18, 2010 in Musings, Travel

After a two hour nap (i.e. our entire nights’ rest) we dragged ourselves up and out the door for lunch at a brasserie around the corner from the apartment. The place was full to the brim with people-watchers and couples gazing and smoking. Everyone seemed to be enjoying the sunshine and crisp weather. Our interaction with the waiter was our James’ first attempt at conversation in French. It went well, but the waiter suddenly switched to English halfway through the ordering process. James proceeded in French, while I spoke as little as possible in English. I muttered “merci” a few times. AWKWARD. The next time he came around it was not so weird and he started speaking in French again. For the remainder of the meal it was this way until it was time to pay the check. James did really well. He’s memorized many of the phrases we will be using this week.

I have been considering learning a language (maybe French?) when we get back. It’s possible that this is one of those grandious plans one makes on vacation while hyped up on caffeine, feeling ambitious and not burdened by the day to day responsibilities of life. I am so envious of people who have mastered multiple languages! At any rate, the french-speaking went much better after the ice-breaker lunch and we were more confident for the rest of our day interacting with shop keepers and market workers. We bought groceries at this fabulous french grocer (Monoprix) that sells food, wine, cosmetics, clothing and housewares. Sort of a Harris Teeter, H&M and Ulta miniaturized and combined? a I bought some excellent bobby pins that are much better than the kind I find in the US. James looked at jeans and I had to talk him out of buying a silly hat.

We walked most of the Latin Quarter today and also walked the grounds at Notre Dame. During our trek home we stumbled upon Shakespeare and Company. It turns out we are on the same street. Today there is a wine-tasting / festival on the left bank, right outside of our front window. The live music just stopped but had been playing all day long across the street. Lots of people are milling around and tasting the wine.

We are so exhausted. We will make some food and go to sleep early to get a good start for tomorrow!

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Paris Day One: 5:44 am

By Steph on September 18, 2010 in Travel

We have arrived! The commute was a bit harrowing…more from James on that:

The apartment is so parisienne and lovely. I will definitely be posting photographs of the amazing wallpaper. We are exhausted.

-Steph

So, the subway from CDG to the rest of the B line was down. I was able to sort of discern this from ominous loudspeaker messages and some hidden signs. We found where the coaches ran from, and I was in the good company of many confused French speakers as well, so didn’t feel too disheartened. Found a ticket desk, and was able to spit out “deux billets” and a “Je ne comprends pas” after that. Finished the transaction in English and we bumbled to the right bus with a little help and exaggerated pointing to my map. Arrived at Paris Nord after a sort of depressing voyage through the Parisian Queebs, did a few laps, found the B line, and stumbled into the breaking day in front of Notre Dame. Breathtaking!

And now, nap time.

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Lover’s Start

By James on September 17, 2010 in Music, Travel

I do believe I’ve found the perfect video to symbolize our departure. The title, the name of the band, the mad dash with suitcases, the yearning for escape from the workaday world, Jacques Brel; its all there!

How To Dress Well – “Lover’s Start”